Grown Rap
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
Ben Franklin’s truism on the aging riddle can easily apply to hip hop. Since the beginning, the culture has been a playground for the young and reckless. A genre whose stars struggle against the gravity of time and sputter into twilight before maturity.
The visual poetry in Jamel Shabazz's "Back in the Days" depicts hip hop's youthful early years. An emerging scene where b-boys and b-girls assume the stance that became hip hop. A slight lean with defiant arms crossed and head cocked. Shabazz's images illustrate a nascent counterculture — wild, young, and free.
Purchase “Back in the Days” from a local bookstore or on Amazon if you can’t wait.
Alas, youthful springs are not eternal, and time can be unforgiving for those who overextend their stay in hip hop’s rapture. It was the genre’s elder statesman, Jay-Z, 50, who said in a 2017 New York Times article that he thought rap was a young man’s sport. Yet, he and a cadre of emcees are disproving the notion that rap is no country for older men.
Stream my "Grown Rap" playlist on Spotify:
So, how does one age gracefully in hip hop? You 'keep it real,' or more in-line with the times, you 'keep it 100.' Genuineness continues to be embraced by rappers who made their names in the early aughts. It just sounds a little different now.
On Royce Da 5'9"’s, new album, "The Allegory," the 42-year-old Detroit lyricist displays an unapologetic evolution in subject matter. A maturity that comes not at the expense of verse.
“In need of capital, in search of a loan and it's a few bankin' institutions who got the remedy
But this is America, where credit is for the privileged and profit is not my amenity
I'm just here to get popped by the cops, get popular so I can be discredited in a documentary...” — Royce Da 5’9”, “Mr. Grace - Intro,” The Allegory (2020)
Many of us run through our youth mortgaging our futures only to inevitably wake up unhinged. Our outlook on life is a view through a familiar window, but with a different perspective. As if through a new pair of eyes.
On Jemele Hill's podcast, "Jemele Hill is Unbothered," Phonte, 41, of Little Brother, talks about opening up on his 2018 solo album "No News is Good News." On the record, the North Carolina emcee talks about his experiences with health, marriage, and infidelity. It's a vulnerability earned through experience. "I had to go inward," said Phonte on the podcast.
"And Pops, my health is doin' pretty good despite you
I try so I don't die at 54 just like you," — Phonte, "Cry No More," No News is Good News (2018)
Serious stuff, right? So, older rappers have forgotten how to have fun? Negative! The aforementioned emcees can still rock with the fervor of their younger counterparts. So can, Run the Jewels (RTJ). The group composed of Killer Mike, 45, and El P, 45, have consistently put out quality albums since joining forces in 2013. Their latest single, "Ooh La La," featuring Greg Nice, 52, from 90's rap group Nice and Smooth, and hip hop legend DJ Premier, 54, is a boom-bap party anthem.
Don't take my word for it, watch the official video for "Ooh La La," by Run the Jewels on YouTube:
*Mark your calendars, Run the Jewels will drop their next album, RTJ 4, on June 5th.
When I was in my 20’s, I joked with a friend that when we hit middle age, we'd be listening to old hip hop songs on the easy listening radio stations, ‘yacht rap.’ The hard edges of the music we loved would be sanded down for elevators and grocery stores.
The cool thing about aging is realizing how often you've been wrong. In this case, pleasantly wrong. The emergence of emcees contributing to ‘grown rap’ is every bit as exciting as when they first came out. Artists like Nas, 46, and Black Thought, 48, continue to represent the vanguard of lyricism.
Perhaps, younger music fans listening to DaBaby aren't rocking RTJ or Jadakiss, 44, but at the end of the day, to borrow from the Foo Fighters metaphor, we're all on the same "sonic highway." We're just in different lanes.