Rant of the Day: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RHYME?

It's easy to lament the loss of anything resembling melody in much of today's popular music.  But I guess that is a subjective thing....one man's "melody" is another man's--er--non-melody.  But never mind that (for now).  Whatever happened to that old thing called "rhyming"?  It drives me insane when I catch a random snatch of rap music blaring out of a car window, wherein the attempted rhyme-scheme, by almost anyone's standards, would be considered completely lame!  For the purposes of this rant, I careened about the web in search of some of the more florid attempts at lyrical rhyme in some of the songs of the past few years.  For example:


"Don't try to treat me like I ain't famous,
My apologies, 
Are you into astrology?
Cause I'm tryin to make it to Uranus."
Jadakiss and Kanye West, in "Gettin' It In".


"There's no need to lie folk, 
Why you sleepin' wit ya eyes closed?"
Timbaland, "Get on the Bus" 


"Heart cold as assassins,
I got no passion
I got no patience
And I hate waitin."
Jay-Z, "Big Pimpin" 


And my personal favorite....


"Young, black, and famous, 
with money hanging out the anus."
Mase ("Can't Nobody Hold Me Down")




Never mind the content...THEY. DON'T. RHYME!!  Was a time when lyricists relied on something called the "rhyme dictionary".  Every great lyricist of days gone by kept a well-thumbed copy close at hand.  Today, there are several web versions.  It's really quite easy to find words that actually, perfectly rhyme.  For years, I've relied on www.rhymezone.com  , a very handy site, which also provides definitions, antonyms, synonyms, along with perfect rhymes.  I wondered why more of today's budding tunesmiths don't refer to this very helpful tool?  Too constricting, perhaps?  Well, just yesterday, I was appalled to discover that this practical, useful site now features a brand new category: NEAR rhymes.  Where is my medication?  Just for kicks, I wanted to see if they considered "famous" and "anus" to be "near rhymes".  Yup...they do.  Along with "waitress," "Vegas" and "spacious". 
We are so doomed (which rhymes with 'Schenectady').