Mainstream versus underground doesn't necessarily have anything to do with content. It's not so much about what kind of beats they use, what they rap about, the way they dress, or if they use autotune. The MAIN demarcation between mainstream and underground is commercial success. People get mainstream/underground confused with conscious/non-conscious music. Just because somebody is "underground" doesn't necessarily mean they are conscious, and vice versa, just because somebody is mainstream doesn't necessarily mean they are unconscious.
You've had conscious artists like Nas or Kendrick Lamar who have had mainstream commercial success. Likewise, there are underground artists who spit gangsta rap, mumble rap, or whatever is the latest mainstream craze. They just haven't had success with it, which is why they remain underground.
Conscious/non-conscious isn't so much about content either but rather purpose. For example, when NWA came out, they pretty much introduced the genre of gangsta rap. However, they were doing it more from a "news reporter" perspective, letting listeners know what goes on in the hood. After they became popular and gangsta rap took off, other people who chose to do gangsta rap did so primarily for commercial purposes, because it sells and they think that's what people want to hear. So you can have two people both spitting gangsta rap, but one may be considered "conscious" and the other non-conscious.
Whatever style of rap you make, if you do so with originality in not trying to copy anybody or what's supposed to be popular or what will sell, but rather with a purpose to be true to yourself and your community, then you're being conscious. If you are rapping strictly to make money or to try to "make it" or you are otherwise fabricating things that you have never lived, then you are being non-conscious.
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