have beck's hip hop leanings been overstated?

probably. ive never heard any hip hop in becks music.

Except for the, ya know, rapping...

You mean how much Bowie liked disco, probably (i.e. a fair deal, just not as his primary schtick). His breakthrough hit owed everything to sampling a hip-hop breakbeat (Johnny Jenkins' "I Walk on Gilded Splinters"), and the chorus for "Loser" originated from his own self-assessment re: trying to rap like Chuck D. But I still think it's overstated by both overzealous boosters and embarrassed-whitefolks detractors: Odelay had "Hotwax", "Novacane", "Where It's At" and "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" -- less than half the album. Guero has "Que Onda Guero" and "Hell Yes" and that's it. You might as well say he's got a huge Latin music grounding.

i remember seeing a picture of him sitting in fron of a turntable and on it was some Tuff City 12". probably wasn't his though.

Is it possible what he does was more unusual or notable in 1993 than if we were to debut today?

we=he

Musically? Probably (there wasn't no DFA in '93). I don't think there's many contemporaries in the lyrical field, though.

His first single came out when the Beastie Boys ruled the AlternaNation, and I think he began to be associated with them in peoples minds, further strengthened by that first Dust Bros. collaboration. "Loser" and "Beercan" both sounded like they should have come out on Grand Royal. Since then I agree that it's been overstated.