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

[Mike Otherz]

KRS and G Rap is still relevant to me and as time passes, these old rappers from the 80's dropping the best sh!t.

 

[ThaDoc]

Nas?

Dude's a legend but this.

 

[Rominati]

Puff


Its crazy his whole ciroc campagain and his moves with ross in the past couple of years. Im willing to say Puff is more swagged out and relevant now, than back in them Vote or Die, Run the City, MTB days.

 

[The Guru]

LL had a few albums people were not excited about but they did check for them coming. For me personally Common and Mos Def i always checked for.

 

[Wacky D]

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.

hes right. think about it. the longest a rapper usually remains as a legit genuinie contender is 3 years, 5 if hes lucky, 7 if hes really that dude.

its not like that anymore where most of the guys "on top" have over-stayed there welcome and havnt made a real hot album in 5 or more years. another big reason why were are living in the dark ages of rap. its not about rap anymore.

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.

so nice i had to read it twice.

you said it better than me man.

nas is kinda in that same vein as well. his releases stay relevant because he has a way of using controversy to build the buzz for his releases. im not knockin. just saying. the last nas album that was actually poppin like that was "God's son".

LL takes this easily.

 

[HoLLaBaCK]

I'll agree with the OP. However Hov's relevancy thru that 15 > Nas's relevancy thru that 15.

I say that cuz Nas took breaks here and there, Hov's had a major release damn near every year thru that time period.

 

[HoLLaBaCK]

hes right. think about it. the longest a rapper usually remains as a legit genuinie contender is 3 years, 5 if hes lucky, 7 if hes really that dude.

its not like that anymore where most of the guys "on top" have over-stayed there welcome and havnt made a real hot album in 5 or more years. another big reason why were are living in the dark ages of rap. its not about rap anymore.



so nice i had to read it twice.

you said it better than me man.

nas is kinda in that same vein as well. his releases stay relevant because he has a way of using controversy to build the buzz for his releases. im not knockin. just saying. the last nas album that was actually poppin like that was "God's son".

LL takes this easily.

While I respect everyone's opinion ya'll can't be serious breh. Hov career > LL's career in every sense of the word! Sales, catalog, relevancy, fan base, etc. LL hasn't been hot since Mr. Smith.

Honestly I get it @ this point Hov is like the Yankee's, u either love him or hate him. However to deny that Hov has the single greatest rap career we have ever seen or may ever see is crazy.

 

[FreshAIG]

LL Cool J was relevant in 2000

 

[FreshAIG]

but did you get that feeling when he dropped albums? like the streets was buzzing and couldn't wait? lol, not so much. thats what im talkin about. nas and jay-z are still arguably the kings of new york, right now today. nobody really cares if LL or Ice Cube drop albums except old school rap fans (like me), you dont feel the electricity like that for them albums though. busta neither

There is zero buzz in the streets when Nas drops an album now. Stop it

 

[Wacky D]

LL being relevant thru what are considered to be all the greatest time periods of rap >>> jay-z's longevity.

jay wouldnt have remained a major player in years like '84-96 with alot of the stuff he dropped, especially with the stuff hes been droppin since '06. also, alot of his relevancy is the beneficiary of smoke-n-mirrors and foul play like my man said.

i seriously question anybody who thinks jay's longevity is superior to that of james todd smith.

 

[FreshAIG]

Nobody is buzzing about Nas albums anymore in real life.

 

[H.S.]

Every solo Nas album has went gold or platinum going back to 1994. If he's not relevant, no one is.

 

[Ziggiy]

Every solo Nas album has went gold or platinum going back to 1994. If he's not relevant, no one is.

Quoted for realness

 

[Long Live The Kane]

Nas is not gonna sell a ton of albums or set the streets on fire , but Life Is Good will be as big as most non-superstar releases are now a days...his presence is still felt in the game enough to pass any "relevance" threshold, unless we're setting it unrealistically high

 

[torcher]

I never understand the whole who's relevant convo. Alot of people don't consider Nas relevant anymore but when he drops his album I guarantee he'll double somebody like Waka Flocka (somebody who most consider relevant) in sales