Hip Hop as a culture is still relatively new.. this is the first time that rappers are ever older (q-tip,Jay-Z,Common) this is the beginning of what Hall of Fame Status will be.

Hall of Fame (foundation and Bricks)

Living
Jay -Z
Public Enemy
Kanye West
Tribe Called Quest
De La Soul
Naughty by Nature

Dead
Biggie
Tupac
J-Dilla

If Weezy and Kanye are the future, you can find me in the 90’s with Jay, Nas and BIG.

Jay isn’t too old to rap, but he’s way too old for that annoying-ass Pop record he just put out.

Jay has simply come to a different kind of musical hurdle: making new material as interesting as old material. Old material: drugs, money, hoes and death. New material: wealth, health, maybachs and taxes. If anyone can do it it’s Jay, I think he just has to recognize the problem.

Moneda, now THAT I agree with. Its a balancing act that Jay is going to have to do..to keep evolving but keep the fans interested in his material. I mean..I think the fans are interested, but not at the level that they once were..

When i was a teen, i liked that the rappers were a little older than me. I thought rappers my age were corny because they had no life experience to talk about but missing the bus and playing nintendo.

What both Moneda and Barbie are talking about is a new class of hip hop that has been created through rapper evolution. In cases like T.I., Jay-Z, and Fifty Cent, they can no longer continue to rap about their street experience, as they now are all in maybachs and hob-knobbing with the elite. Thus, the topic then switches to the money they have acquired, as well as the fact that they have now transcended to the upper class of wealth.

In my opinion, T.I. has done this transition the most seemlessly, going from street anthems like on Trapt Muzik and Urban Legend, then the persona he displayed on his later albums like T.I. VS. T.I.P (an album where he actually acknowledged his new persona as a different person).

As for ageism,here’s something to consider: There is an annual concert held in Oklahoma called “rock-lahoma” and it features all 80’s hair metal bands. It has consistently done great money, and is a financial success. So why is it that rock bands are able to hold a fan base, close to 20 years after there success, but older rappers get treated like second class citizens?

Well put. My opinion: form of hate. Good music is good music. Rarely hear other genres feel some type of way. As long as it makes you feel good and you vibe with it (which is the feeling hip hop or music in general is supposed to do) then what’s the fuss?! No offense, cuz I don’t mind @ times, but we would be super blown if all we heard about was ice cream paint jobs and waking up to turn our swags on -_- lol. idc if you’re 89, if you’re giving me *that* feeling: AGE AINT NOTHIN BUT A NUMBER

Moneda hit the nail on the head. I think that’s the challenge for vets making the new stuff sound just as interesting or more than their prev. material.

Rae imo has achieved that successfully with OB4CL2.

co sign #3

Rae is 41. Yet it’s Jay who always gets flack for being “too old.” Makes absolutely no sense as an argument.

Great piece, Missy.

After seeing a couple of co-signs I’m feeling the need to clarify: by no means would I like to hear Jay-Z rapping about wealth, health, maybachs and taxes. I believe Jay has the capability to successfully make money while rapping about these things, but I’d rather he not. There have been very few times since the mid-90s that I’ve felt like Jay was making music for my demographic. “Moment of Clarity,” “Lost One” and the cut he made about the Katrina disaster stand out as pretty much the only material I can listen to from Jay that doesn’t make me wince and wish he’d retire. There’s a breadth of subjects I’d like to hear covered by someone with Jay’s talent for nuance and wit, but he’ll probably never touch them ’cause they don’t make “cents.”

Oh my god! I love you guys! I was sure the comments were going to be filled with ‘Jay = Matlock and the Golden Girls’- esque comments.

I don’t have much to say because you all hit all the great points.

For real you don’t hear anyone giving Paul McCartney or Bruce Springsteen any slack for their age or when Johnny Cash was alive he was old doing his music thing.

hehe

hehe
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!

I co-sign with most of what’s been said. And while I don’t wince as often as Moneda does, I do agree that there is no law that states a rapper needs to use his/her lyrics to give a first-hand testimony of what they did that day.

Jay proved he can still tell stories with American Gangster. Speaking of which – as he seems to get inspired by film, maybe he needs to hit the cineplex more often for new material.

There’s a whole big world out there beyond the South of France.

I think that part of the impulse to write off older rappers has to do with the impulse in some people to always want things that are “new and fresh,” whether it be in their music or anything else.

I also think that it has to do with hip hop traditionally being primarily a youth movement. The first generation of hip hop is gettin’ old and people are trying to figure out what that means for the culture.

I believe the age issue is one of people still seeing Hip-Hop as a hobby that people are expected to do before finding some soul-sucking vocation for the rest of their earning years. While the issues you deal with as an adult are different from what you deal with in your 20’s, the thing about Hip-Hop is that you can always tell a story differently with a little creativity.

There’s a breadth of subjects I’d like to hear covered by someone with Jay’s talent for nuance and wit, but he’ll probably never touch them ’cause they don’t make “cents.”

^^ this is always the dummbest thing I see said on this topic… he has said countless times that he makes NO money on his music… if you dont like what he raps about dont listen, but dont make up shit as an excuse…

and if thats what you think BP3 is ALL about, maybachs and yachts, then 1 of 2 things happen, you didnt hear it at all or you didnt listen close enough…

“this is always the dummbest thing I see said on this topic…”

You must have thought especially “dumb” when Jay wrote it into one of his own fucking songs then, eh?

“and if thats what you think BP3 is ALL about…”

“Wealth, health, maybachs and taxes” were examples of what a grown, rich man may rap about when talking about his life, they were not meant to be an accurate summation of every subject touched upon in Jay’s most recent release. The fact that I needed to point that out to you is disappointing.

The reason why we pit the older rappers vs. the newer rappers can be found by reading this. Rizoh please post this link: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/Willie_Lynch_letter_The_Making_of_a_Slave.shtml

People complain that rappers are rapping about the same ol’ drugs, guns & hood shit, now people are complaining that the “gutter” rapper turned to some different shit.

It may have to do with rap’s relative youth as a genre. Remember it was still treated as a fad by many well into the early 90s. As I grow older myself I personally enjoy seeing this ‘grown man rap’ evolve, it’s healthy for the culture a whole. The ‘he’s too old’ argument is as poisonous to HipHop as the ‘you’re just hatin’ one is. Let’s Criticize the actual music.

What’s interesting is that I never hear people say this about Snoop, he’s well into his 40s isn’t he?

*Hat tip to BB*

“What’s interesting is that I never hear people say this about Snoop…”

I wanted Snoop to retire when he signed to Master P’s label…