Best thing to do is sample and copy first. I learned this the hard way. Basically, by doing that it intrigues the artists more because they normally want shit they are familiar with(stuff they have heard before or something similar to sopmething they have heard before). When you venture out and do original music I have learned that it intimidated a lot of the artists I was trying to work with because they didnt know how to rap over it. They all liked the music, infact its about the same thing you hear on the radio right now, but I was doing whats hot right now 5-7 years ago, so rappers were not exactly trying to **** with it because it wasnt familiar too them, I am from the westcoast also (los angeles) so they all wanted that westcoast sound, but I was doing trap sometimes and they couldnt **** wit it. That's my experience anyways. You will probably sell more beats that way like I have been since I changed. What I would do is once you start to blow up as far as actually having some tracks with your name on it and some good production then try and open an artist up to your vision, until then rappers are normally just trying to do their "own thing" on "your beats". However always do you, thats the number one thing is to be yourself, but remember your running a business when your trying to sell your music. So remember from a marketing point of view something that someone is familiar with is easier to sell rather then something new.
Just a thought, my 2cents, i hope this leads you in a positive direction.
