As Russia opened more to the world, it indeed started absorbing elements of many other cultures (I do not know, why you focus on African American culture here and call its influence a decline - it sounds racist). However it does not mean it lost its unique identity and did not develop over the time. Probably, as an emigrant you just missed it and now so disconnected from the motherland that you have no idea what's actually going on there. It's much bigger than what you can find in TV news (who watches TV nowadays?!) or on a few YouTube blogs. How many contemporary Russian artists or writers do you know? What do you know about the modern internet culture of Russians, which is bigger than everything else?
Do you know what modern Russians eat and where they go for a date? Are you familiar with TV ads that were so popular that they found their way into the language? Do you know what's going on on the roads and what part of life of modern Russian is dedicated to driving a car and everything around it? What do you know about national theatrical awards and have you ever seen any winning performance?
