You’re far too kind.
And De la Soul, and Nas and Q-tip, and Puff…matter fact, shout out to any rapper that continues to release material as they get closer to their social security benefits. We need you.
We, being the hip hop artists at the beginning of our careers, and we, being the listeners that grew up on your music. Regardless of what anyone says, without artists from the various golden eras putting out popular and critically acclaimed music and succeeding in business ventures that continue to redefine hip hop’s capitalist capabilities, the parents of the art form will die and their children will run around without any guidance. Look at how the absence of the golden era greats (northern and southern) affected popular hip hop during the “Bling Era” (I’ll say 97-01).
And if the symbolism is too idealist for you, the cold hard fact is that without this old head movement, the careers of newer hip hop acts will continue to have a 35 year old ceiling. Seeing Tanya Morgan and Dres from Black Sheep at SOB’s last night confirmed for me that classic hip hop acts with the ability to tour late in their career extends the lives of the next generation and performing together combines fanbases who otherwise might not have listened to the other artist. And God knows we don’t need the generational gap to extend from the street to the stage anymore than it already has (hi hipster haters).
Cuz when you try hard that’s when you die hard – Kanye West
While a hoard of stick in the mud Hip Hop purists were trying to “Save Hip Hop” or “Bring New York Back” a few years ago, I was vomiting but the rest of the world was innovating. Leading the pack was everybody’s favorite award show guest, Kanye West. Love him or hate him, he was and is the crazy old janitor pushing the envelope to the recycling bin instead of the garbage can. Just as any newcomer in the late 90′s and early 2000′s were influenced by Jay and Nas, XXL’s Freshman Class and the subsequent late registrators have been influenced by Kanye in some way. More interesting, in my opinion is Kanye’s introduction of MIA and Santogold into mainstream hip hop. Both of whom, MIA specifically, bring a worldly perspective to the genre through production, lyrics and the perspectives of strong women.
Now if we can just set up some hip hop health care…
