{"id":5843,"date":"2024-12-07T01:00:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T06:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=5843"},"modified":"2025-03-31T18:26:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T23:26:31","slug":"can-the-golden-age-stars-of-hip-hop-make-new-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=5843","title":{"rendered":"Can The Golden Age Stars Of Hip-Hop Make New Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the stars of hip-hop<\/span>\u2019s golden age approach their golden years, some confront questions about whether old blood can make new music.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s always awkward telling people what I do for a living. I\u2019m a rapper. I also work as a professor of hip-hop.<\/p>\n

I work at the intersection of artmaking and academic research. I write music as part of a greater effort to challenge antiquated ideas about learning, teaching and expertise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But I assume the awkwardness in conversations about work is related to stereotypes of hip-hop culture. Among many<\/a>, one of those assumptions is that hip-hop is only made for and by young people.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that ageism exists in and about hip-hop culture; in the U.S., ageism is everywhere<\/a>. But I would argue that ageism in hip-hop is especially strong because the first generation of rappers is only now reaching their golden years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

New rap categories<\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 2024, music producer 9th Wonder proposed a new \u201cAdult Contemporary\u201d category for rap music<\/a>. A month prior, 52-year-old Common and 54-year-old producer Pete Rock had released \u201cThe Auditorium, Vol. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to 9th Wonder, legendary hip-hop artist Q-Tip warned on the social platform X<\/a> that hip-hop fans might be turned off by a category with \u201cadult\u201d in the name. He suggested \u201cTraditional Hip-Hop\u201d instead, arguing that the music should all appear in \u201cone pot,\u201d lest it turn off younger listeners.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s called Adult Contemporary or Traditional Hip-Hop, several hip-hop legends have recently released new music that could fit into this category. In July 2024, the legendary lyricist Rakim, who\u2019s 56 years old, released \u201cG.O.D.\u2019S NETWORK (REB7RTH)<\/a>,\u201d his first album in 15 years. Two months later, 54-year-old MC Lyte released \u201c1 of 1<\/a>,\u201d her ninth studio album, and 56-year-old LL Cool J released \u201cThe Force<\/a>,\u201d his 14th studio album and his first in 11 years.<\/p>\n

Growing pains<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since hip-hop emerged as a cultural force more than 50 years ago<\/a>, people still seem to pigeonhole rap as music made by and for young people.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true that in hip-hop\u2019s early days, teenagers were at the forefront of the fledgling movement.<\/p>\n

A 1973 back-to-school party<\/a> organized by a 15-year-old girl from the Bronx named Cindy Campbell is often credited with birthing hip-hop. Grand Wizzard Theodore was just 12 years old when he invented record scratching<\/a> in 1977. The hip-hop careers of artists like Roxanne Shant\u00e9, Run-DMC and Ice Cube all began when they were teens.<\/p>\n

Being closely intertwined with the perception of youth culture isn\u2019t necessarily a good thing. It can compel critics to treat the music and its practitioners less seriously.<\/p>\n

Rappers, no matter their age, can be dismissed or treated as childish or immature.<\/p>\n

Call it growing pains: Unlike, say, classical or country, 50 years is a blip in the history of music. And for much of that time, critics regarded hip-hop as a passing fad. Then it was seen as an emergent subculture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only been a category at the Grammys since 1989<\/a>, and only recently has it been recognized as a commercial and cultural force with a global reach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, equating hip-hop with youth culture confines it to an arena it has long outgrown.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Imposter syndrome grows<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, as rappers age, some can seem uncomfortable about participating in a form that can be so easily dismissed.<\/p>\n

In 2015, filmmaker Paul Iannacchino Jr. released a documentary<\/a>, \u201cAdult Rappers,\u201d about working-class rap artists.<\/p>\n

All the people interviewed for the film rap professionally but aren\u2019t famous. They are mostly men. Most of them admit that they sidestep questions about what they do for a living. One unshakable takeaway is the embarrassment about their age.<\/p>\n

Even famous rappers aren\u2019t immune to this feeling. Before his move to instrumental flute music<\/a>, Andr\u00e9 3000, one of the greatest rappers of all time, lamented becoming the old rapper still making music beyond his prime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember, at like 25, saying, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be a 40-year-old rapper,\u2019\u201d he told The New York Times in 2014<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m 39 now, and I\u2019m still standing by that. I\u2019m such a fan that I don\u2019t want to infiltrate it with old blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9 3000 has been a gifted lyricist for decades, and remains so. If he feels this way, I can imagine that many other artists might feel that, at a certain age, they don\u2019t belong to the culture anymore.<\/p>\n

Or the culture no longer belongs to them.<\/p>\n

Forever young?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the fact that audiences have aged alongside the artists, it can still feel like there\u2019s pressure to stay tapped in to youth culture, lest they create music that, to quote Andr\u00e9 3000 more recently<\/a>, lacks \u201cfresh ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n

This might encourage some aging artists to attempt to maintain a youthful sheen that will resonate with young audiences. Think of it as a pop culture version of Oscar Wilde\u2019s novel \u201cThe Picture of Dorian Gray<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the novel, a man sells his soul for youth. Rather than physically aging, a painting of him ages instead, taking on the physical signs of his transgressions and pleasures.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still easy to think of hip-hop as confined to a frame that bears all the marks of youthful longings, rebellion and sins: juvenile vitality, sprightly beauty and vigorous hedonism.<\/p>\n

The expectations lead audiences to assume all artists have similar youthful aims and concerns. They can also lead artists to perform like they\u2019re young and write about the concerns they had as youngsters, despite their respective ages. The hip-hop artists who can\u2019t or choose not to pretend to be \u201cforever young\u201d are expected to \u201cevolve\u201d into moguls, actors, podcasters or reality TV personalities.<\/p>\n

Of course, those assumptions only end up limiting what artists of all ages can accomplish.<\/p>\n

Rappers at whatever level of celebrity you observe, famous and not famous, continue to create while embracing the inevitability of age. Nas, whose debut album, \u201cIllmatic<\/a>,\u201d was released in 1994, has had an outstanding run of albums in the 2020s.<\/p>\n

Jay-Z\u2019s \u201c4:44<\/a>\u201d showcased the rapper\u2019s changing sensibilities that have seemingly evolved as he has aged.<\/p>\n

North Carolina duo Little Brother\u2019s entire catalog displays awareness of the absurdity of avoiding adulthood \u2013 outstandingly so, I might add, on their 2019 album, \u201cMay the Lord Watch<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even emerging rappers like Conway the Machine<\/a> and 7xvethegenius<\/a> seem to be able to balance burgeoning careers without caving to youth-obsessed pretenses.<\/p>\n

Creating new, cleverly named musical categories to sidestep biases against aging probably won\u2019t solve the issue. In hip-hop, as in so many American industries, ageism isn\u2019t going away.<\/p>\n

For that reason, my embrace of being an adult rapper<\/a> will probably continue to make for awkward introductions.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019d rather have that conversation than pretend I\u2019m something I\u2019m not.\"The<\/p>\n

A.D. Carson<\/a>, Associate Professor of Hip-Hop, University of Virginia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every product\/service is selected by editors. Products\/Services you buy through these links may earn “Alliance Media Group and “Streamapse” a commission or revenue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the stars of hip-hop\u2019s golden age approach their golden years, some confront questions about whether old blood can make new music. It\u2019s always awkward telling people what I do for a living. I\u2019m a rapper. I also work as a professor of hip-hop. I work at the intersection of artmaking and academic research. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-streamapse-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5845,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843\/revisions\/5845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}