Hmmmm...as much as I hate to admit it, even if the Bay HAD fully blown up, the situation probably would have ended up like what happened w/ the Southern Cali street Rap scene. What I mean is that Bay Area rappers MIGHT have had major success for (MAYBE) five-to-seven years (like Southern Cali did, when they were on top from '89 up to about '96 or '97), but eventually the Bay scene would have been "pushed aside" by the media for whatever new sensation might have come in the game (Southern, East Coast, Midwest, wherever). That's just how the mainstream media works--they have an "out w/ the old, in w/ the new" attitude towards everything, no matter how good it is, and they don't like to see anything stay on top for too long. Either that, or some politician would have eventually singled this-or-that Bay artist out for being "a bad influence", causing the major labels to dissassociate themselves from the Bay (and hard Rap in general).
And who knows? Even if the Bay HAD "blown up" completely on a national level back in '96 or '97, there's a very good chance it might have eventually become oversaturated and overplayed in the media to the point where folks would have become sick of it...Still, I miss Pac, like any other rap fan w/ a brain would...
PEACE!