Yet,
talented rap artists who reach the age of
40 suddenly become passé to younger
fans who crave to follow the next popular
fashion trend, or beg their parents for the
newest pair of $200 sneakers. Considering
that older artists thrive in other genres
of music, why is it that Elder Emcees have
difficulty maintaining success? A custom may
soon exist that dictates proficient old-school
emcees be considered washed up by younger,
less skilled rap artists – a hypothesis
put to the test by the much hyped KRS ONE/Nelly
lyrical battle.
“There’s a certain
image in rap,” Lil Wayne began, “and
most Hip-Hoppers are young. As far as an older
person being a rapper, it’s like you
don’t even wanna hear him even if he
got the best thing to say. You wanna know
who the younger dudes are. Even Jay-Z said
his time was over and to me as a fan, I didn’t
wanna buy another Jay album. But the only
person I give the utmost respect to is Jay.
Jay-Z is the teacher. I listen to Jay and
I don’t even have to listen to nothing
else.”
When prodded for clarity on
the subject, however, Lil Wayne admitted that
there was another reason why he doesn’t
gel much with old-school rap artists: Doug
E. Fresh. Wayne maintained that the icon-like
figure from rap’s Golden Age tried to
sue him over lyrics he used in the hit “Bling
Bling.” Turned out that ‘ole Doug
felt Wayne’s lyrics on “Bling
Bling” were a bit to close to those
he dropped on the 1987 rap classic “The
Show.”
“I got a lot of respect
for him (Doug E. Fresh) but I’ma speak
on this,” Lil Wayne said. “That
guy tried to sue me for that. That’s
why us young cats in the game don’t
really deal with those old cats in the game
‘cause they’re so mad that they
didn’t get paid like we’re getting
paid.”
Lil Wayne, though, also said
he held no bitter feelings toward the rap
legend.
“It probably was people
way over his head,” Wayne surmised.
“He probably wasn’t even listening
to the song at the time so I take that back.
But his people? Yeah, they really tried to
do us bad with that one.”
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