Can you be a TC and still be considered underground?

lets be honest the majority of answering material on here is 'mainstream'....so getting yourself straight A's in answering questions regarding lil wayne and T-pain can see a regular joe scoot up to TC status in no time. So is scoring the TC badge a symbol of being a sellout? is it a symbol of knowing about hip hop in general or is it (god fofbid) simply a symbol which means " I know more about lil wayne than you do"?