Are Jay-Z and Nas the only rappers ever that have been relevant for 15+ years?
- Thread starter Pop123
- Start date
^youre in here championing busta rhymes. go sitdown. its already established that youre a chill fellow in the sports and real talk threads but you dont know hip-hop at all.
its not about whos still grinding after all these years. its about who has consistently made a big splash whenever they dropped for 15-plus years.
but yea, you hit the nail on the head with that jay comment.
its not about whos still grinding after all these years. its about who has consistently made a big splash whenever they dropped for 15-plus years.
but yea, you hit the nail on the head with that jay comment.
just think about what happens in rap when Nas or Jay-z drop an album. everybody and they mama pick it apart to death, everybody got an opinion, everybody's talkin about it, everybody tryin to get it early, etc... them n!ggas albums is always the most critiqued, among fans and professionals. i see some of the names yall droppin, i respect and appreciate most of them cats but they don't have that impact when they drop albums. ask any rap fan, whether they was born in the 70's, 80's, or 90's, to name the top 5 rappers and i promise you that over 80% of them lists will have Nas and Jay-z, it's just automatic man. and the reason that percentage aint higher is because a lot of jay-z fans won't list nas just because, lol, and vice versa.
I read somewhere once (ironically I think it may have been in a 50 Cent interview) that the average rapper's career is 5-7 years.
Of course, I don't know what he considers a career. I mean, for example, Jim Jones has a career.
Of course, I don't know what he considers a career. I mean, for example, Jim Jones has a career.
Omerta
All Star
A lot of people can't distinguish the difference between "rappers still rapping today" and "rappers who generate a lot of interest when their albums drop".
Right.
For example: I love Styles P. I'm excited when his new stuff comes out.
Is he super relevant to what's going on today? No.
Is the rest of the world eagerly anticipating the newest SP release? Nah.
Selling records and catching the eye of the hip hop community are two different things though. If Too Short drops an album now it's not gonna sell sh*t but bet that you're favorite rapper will probably listen to it. So if you're gonna define relevance in terms of the hip hop community checking for it then you must discount sales since they are not an indication of relevance in that sense..
surely you see and feel the difference between a Nas/Jay-z album dropping and a Too Short album dropping. and thats not to discredit Short, he was my introduction into rap, but come on
I agree but only to a certain extent. The only real reason that Jay's albums are more of an event than albums by hip hop legends like Short, KRS etc. are because he still sells and is still considered 'hot' in the mainstream. But the fact that he is 'hot' has nothing to do with his music being more relevant to hip hop heads but has to do more with money, label politics and image (Jay's being married to Beyonce for example). The Jay-z sales today don't come from hip hop heads but from pop fans. Take the pop listeners off his sales and you're left with the same numbers that E-40 sells which is strictly hip hop heads sales.
So if you ask who has been relevant to the hip hop community for 15 plus years it's only right that you get answers like LL Cool J etc. Otherwise, the question should've just been: who has been doing well on the charts for 15 plus years? In that case it would just be another Jay-z padding-yourself-on-the-shoulder-by-using-criteria-that-only-you-fit-to-establish-greatness kind of thread, which is quite played out already. Jay is not relevant because he has been the freshest rapper with his style for 15+ years but because he managed to keep people buying his records all these years. They are two completely different things, the first having to do with creativity and skills and the latter with marketing ability.
PaperEnterprise
It's the inner strength..
Nas that nikka! Jay he aite. Q U all day
hiphopfanatic
Pro
Nas? 