Old Guy Laughing -
I've been sitting on this topic for a minute, but haven't really been inspired to follow through.
Last week's Game vs. Jay-Z debacle got me thinking about the many jabs that rappers have made about Jay-Z's age. He's 39. There seems to be an ongoing classic struggle between new artists trying to shine and older artists blocking (purposefully or not) blocking them. Are the older, more established artists just better? Does the listener prefer MCs that have lived and express a certain series of life experiences? Do MCs just make music for their cohort?
In the grand scheme of culture, music, art, and history, hip hop is infantile. Depending on who you ask, hip hop is only 30+ years old. I classify it as infantile, not based on it's inability to stand on its own as a viable art form; clearly its done that; but more-so on the fact that the people that formed the art and laid the foundation are still alive and relatively active within the community. The forefathers of the hip hop movement aren't dying (from natural causes).
With that said; in rock and roll and other genres of music, age isn't as much a factor as it is in rap. In Pop music, age is more of a factor, but artist (the good ones, at least) can often times make a transition from "Pop" music to rock, alternative, and/or a music genre that is more suiting to their talent. There seems to be an underlying tone in hip hop, that's it should only be for young people; teenage years - thirties.
Up until this point, many MCs haven't transcended into a long-lasting career as a rapper. (10 years isn't a long-lasting career in no other field but sports and MCing). Many MCs go on to produce and have more of an impact behind the scenes. But where does that leave the fan; the middle aged man that doesn't wanna "hop up outta bed and turn his swag on..." As a community, hip hop needs to embrace and appreciate the older cats; or the more established artists. I actually heard another MC say, that no rapper should rap after age 30. I won't name names.
The older MCs are still doing it strong in 2009. Here's a list of (some) MCs over the age of 30...
Spotted at Bossip.com
Ice Cube (June 15, 1969) – 39
Jay-Z (December 4, 1969) – 39
Raekwon (January 12, 1970) – 39
Q-Tip (April 10, 1970) – 39
Redman (April 17, 1970) – 39
Ghostface Killah (May 9, 1970) – 39
Fat Joe (August 19, 1970) – 38
Scarface (November 9, 1970) – 38
DMX (December 18, 1970) – 38
Method Man (April 1, 1971) – 38
Snoop Dogg (October 20, 1971) – 37
Common (March 13, 1972) – 37
Busta Rhymes (May 20, 1972) – 37
Black Thought (October 3, 1972) – 36
Eminem (October 17, 1972) – 36
Bun B (March 19, 1973) – 36
Nas (September 14, 1973) – 35
Mos Def (December 11, 1973) – 35
Beanie Sigel (March 6, 1974) – 35
Andre 3000 (May 27, 1974) – 35
Styles P (November 28, 1974) – 34
Big Boi (February 1, 1975) – 34
Jadakiss (May 27, 1975) – 34
50 Cent (July 6, 1975) – 33
Talib Kweli (October 3, 1975) – 33
Rick Ross (January 28, 1976) – 33
Cam’ron (February 4, 1976) – 33
Kanye West (June 8, 1977) – 31
Ludacris (September 11, 1977) – 31
Young Jeezy (October 12, 1977)- 31
In general, the hip hop community embraces these older MCs. I'm excited to see what role they will all play as they move into their mid-30s and 40s. It's relatively unheard of for an MC to be 40 years old and relevant in the hip hop community. Hopefully that will change as many of our favorite MCs are almost there. Let's just stop with the old jokes, aiight.
Comments
Wow...coolness, i didn't realize so many MC's were tapping at 40. Very good article, brah...
You missed MCs such as mf doom, dilated peoples, jedi mind tricks, aesop rock and others I cant think of right now, but otherwise a very good article. Plus there's people like me, 18 years old and who don't listen to the radio, but instead listen to rap thats good regardless of whether or not it turns our "swag" on. The younger generation will probably dominate the commercial scene, but classic rappers are classic rappers forever
amazing i real dnt thnk that all of those artist are above 30+ but u 4got to writte this big boy in the hiphop BIRDMAN
http: //oldschoolscholar.com/no-expiration-date-hip-hop-age-and-reverence/
What older MCs are these people really talking about? Old people caught up in popular culture have an issue with age because they have a "what have you done lately" mentality. But what most people need to realize is that an established, quality artist has a following. Nobody has been rippin' more than KRS and LL . Not even Ice Cube or Snoop. Snoop caters to the Hollywood-esque crowd but He is still Snoop although we need for him to create more mature content has a family as how he has exposed himself. Us Grown Heads in Hip Hop culture want our young people to prosper in it and entertain us. We are truly not shutting them out. It is actually the pop rappers who hate the Grown Heads because they have no culture to begin with. I mean who is The Game anyways? I never seen him rip with a live DJ back-spinnin beats. He is just another grunt who just snarls like he has boils on his ass. The truth of the matter is that
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