Are Jay-Z and Nas the only rappers ever that have been relevant for 15+ years?

[kermit da hustla]

C'mon breh, people still checking for Jay albums, you don't see how crazy his stans are?

who??? i'm serious. i know a lot of nikkas who fukk with rap, and none of them care about jay-z. you really think nikkas were checking for blueprint 3? dude is a s crossover as it gets. he's as much of a pop artist as nicki, making his sales irrelevant. i will give you nas, because the dude has remained relevant for a long ass time, and dudes are still excited when he has a new album to drop (although, to be honest, i haven't cared about a nas album in a long time). but jayz?

 

[OnlyInCalifornia]

When wasn't Nas appreciated? Cause even during Nastradamus and I Am he was moving units and hot in the streets. SD might've been a little error, but he fell back and killed it with a comeback with HHID and shut shyt down again.

Nah...there was a point in time before 'Ether' where Nas was not hot. When I said appreciated I meant by people pumping him up and making all his music big. People were not really actively checking for him all over the country. That was the whole point in Jay-z actively saying his name and dissing him openly. Jayz felt how a lot of other people felt like his best days were behind him.

 

[Still Benefited]

We gon act like too short and E40 aint relevant more then 15 yrs now Fab should be at 15 too

 

[Gifted one]

who??? i'm serious. i know a lot of nikkas who fukk with rap, and none of them care about jay-z. you really think nikkas were checking for blueprint 3? dude is a s crossover as it gets. he's as much of a pop artist as nicki, making his sales irrelevant. i will give you nas, because the dude has remained relevant for a long ass time, and dudes are still excited when he has a new album to drop (although, to be honest, i haven't cared about a nas album in a long time). but jayz?

Jay crowd is more of a pop crowd, so yeah he does have people checking for him, peep some of the stans in some of these Jay threads going hard in the paint for him. Jay music has been hit or miss though, to me BP3 is bad, worst album by a top 10 rapper, and WTT is forgettable, his last good release was American Gangster and that came out 5 years ago I believe, I still have faith in his music though

 

[kermit da hustla]

wtt is a kanye album with jay riding his coattails, imo. but i see where you're coming from.

 

[Tom Foolery]

Believe dat

 

[Oroko Saki]

LL Cool J - 20 years
Snoop Dogg - 20 years
Busta Rhymes - 19 years
Nas - 18 years
Ice Cube - 18 years
Fat Joe - 17 years
Jay-Z - 15 years

Im not even sure how long Too Short was relevant for, I think he was rappin in the early 80's

I have no knowledge of E40, couldnt name one of his albums

 

[Wacky D]

the keyword being "relevant", meaning when their albums drop it's an event and the whole rap world wants to check for it and sh!t like that. a lot of rappers have been "around", just lingering and sh!t, but they're not really relevant like that. i don't think people realize how rare it is to be a focal point for that long, especially in rap, sh!t is crazy. i'm sure some of yall will say LL but keep it funky, his albums aint been events since when? 93-95? dre been around too, and his albums are absolutely events, but he hibernates, he's basically inactive for 10 year gaps, ha

longevity is nothing to brag about these days. its all political now. i made a thread about this. it flopped on here but is flourishing on "the old board".

the fact that these guys are still major players in 2012 is moreso another sign of the death of hip-hop rather than an accomplishment. jay aint have a hot album in 6 years. before that, his last good album was in 2003. thats a 1 hot album every 9 year average.

rap been dead.

Busta has been relevant longer than both...

just because you d!ckride other niccas waves and try to hop on everybody's track, dont mean people are checkin for you.

And lol @ LL Cool J not being relevant for 15 years, he came out in 85 and he went gold 20 years later.

LL was indeed relevant for 15 years. really 16 years. '84-'00. and he did it when rap was rap and lasted thru 2 golden eras. really, his lengthy run of relevance is the only one that i respect.

lol @ some of these other names being mentioned.

 

[yesiambowling]

Ice Cube 1988-2006
LL 1985-2006

 

[Wacky D]

Word to Puff as well and Jadakiss, they have been relevant for 15+ as well. Or Puff 15 and Jadakiss 14.

jadakiss is actually a better pick than jay & nas.

people in here are just throwing out any random name thats still droppin albums. but jadakiss is a good pick. genuine buzz for that guy whenever he drops an album or mixtape, and his 1st hit was in '97.

i'd say only LL tops jada in this category. maybe ice cube could be taken into consideration out west.

 

[Non Sequitur]

Beast boys 86-04
Lil Wayne 98 - 12 (1 year left)
Snoop Dogg 93 -
Dr. Dre might not count
Ice Cube 87 - 06
Cee-lo 95 -

Good list, although you may have to stretch the definition of "relevant" for Cee-Lo.

 

[Absolut da poet ®]

what LL did was way more difficult and impressive especially back then when Rappers only lasted for bout a half-hour

People left him for dead in 89

White people (and mofos in general) still saying
"How you like me now" As part of their general speech

Alot of people thought he was


This shyt was ether before ether and not only did he overcome it by dropping one of the greatest hiphop albums and comebacks

He started another life and passed him twice

 

[FocusedDaily]

Black Thought would like to have a word with this thread...

As well as the guy in my avi.

 

[Harry B]

Good list, although you may have to stretch the definition of "relevant" for Cee-Lo.

He's always been relevant through different avenues though, straight hiphop, to more experimental hiphop to gnarls barkley to solo singing.
So yeah maybe not relevant as a rapper for 15 years, but as an hiphop figure.

 

[...and some waffle fries]

E-40 in the game 20+ yrs. he just put out 3 albums in 1 day. I not even a E-40 fan like that but you gotta respect that 20+ yr grind.
Wayne relevant but his raps not. Jay Z is relevant now because of his brand. He could put out a blank disc and it would sell.