Stray Shots: Young Thug, Jay Z & The Hip Hop Age Limit

Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.

As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is myself, Andre Grant and Ural Garrett. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”

Does Young Thug’s Comments Prove Hip Hop Has An Age Limit?

Andre: This topic is droll to me. Only because Hip Hop as a medium is filtered through the consciousness of the young. That Young Thug is representative of that youth is both awe inspiring (his muddled garble can be considered its own language) and a supplement of the old-fogey idea that music has gone by the wayside. It’s that idea — that music is now some undecipherable thing —that marks the reason why Hip Hop has often kept a strict age limit. Like the Eskimo’s or life before social security, no one really knows what to do with their elders. For Hip Hop, at least before 2000 or so, it just seemed to forget about them. So their lives once filled with attention and offers and the like died down quickly. Think like the dot-com bust, or the great recession of 2008. But things have slowly begun to change, and 2014 was the perfect representation of that difference. Almost all of the best Hip Hop albums released last year were by groups reuniting after long absences (G-Unit, Dilated Peoples, DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9) or just straight up old-heads. Common’s Nobody’s Smiling was hardly a youth movement. In fact, it came as close to great Hip Hop gets to finger wagging, but it was supplanted by a textured conversation surrounding Chicago violence (definitely another kind of youth issue) and it was executed flawlessly. Dilated People’s Directors Of Photography, had almost no youth topics presented at all. Cormega’s Mega Philosophy was also fantastic and there were many, many others. Even the leaders of the youth movement themselves were older than usual. Where are the Lil Bow Wow’s, Lil Wayne’s or Lil Romeo’s of this Rap generation? They’re non-existent I think because either people no longer care for the very, very young giving them their Hip Hop or our post-adolescence is becoming significantly extended. I’m going to put an equal bet on both.

So when Young Thug comes out and says that he wouldn’t buy a Jay Z album, I roll my eyes significantly. No one “buys” things anymore, anyway. Even the concept of “ownership” itself is up for grabs. We stream, we lease, we ride-share. We do no buy. So, yeah, he wouldn’t buy a Jay Z album because he doesn’t need to buy a Jay album. I doubt he’d buy any album so long as he has Internet connection and a rudimentary understanding of how downloading works. So the very question itself is indicative of how we often do not understand what the young are even saying. And the two sides rarely meet in Hip Hop — the elders and the youth — because they are speaking two different languages at that point. Plus, we treat our elders so much better now. Jay Z has jumped into so many different ventures that he now makes Rap albums for prestige. It’s so uncanny and just plain smart that it’s almost annoying. 50 Cent loses more money than new artists make in lawsuits and Dr. Dre just made a billion off of selling headphones and cool to Apple. Granted, this isn’t Rock, where uber successful artists tour for seemingly ever. But Hip Hop doesn’t have a “classic” dileneation yet. In fact, Hip Hop doesn’t have separate categories yet at all. That’s how young it is. When it finally does, then we can talk about people touring forever and ever. As it stands, any artist can take over all of Hip Hop at any time. Not a bad trade off.

Ural: Conversations regarding “agism” in Hip Hop have been a long time coming and only natural considering the culture’s age itself. It was only a matter of time before something cultivated by youth would grow to eventually be detested by some benefactors. Regardless of how Young Thug feels, there may be a point somewhere in regards to how generations view taste and understanding. This makes sense considering how split Hip Hop has become in terms of what subject matter in older MCs tackle. There’s no doubt Jay Z was living a lifestyle that would put Thugger to shame during his days co-owning RocaFella minus the subversive homo vibe. One viewing of BackStage proves that. Right now, Hov has traded the oversized Rocawear shirts and throwback jerseys for luxurious stuff most people can’t pronounce. Jay is married to Beyonce, has a celebrity kid and buys multi-million dollar streaming services. Is Young Thug really going to understand that particular lifestyle change considering he currently rides with someone who has a history of financially messing over artists? If anything, Mr. “Danny Glover” probably feels “Big Pimpin” is more relatable than “Tom Ford.” The music industry is enjoying a single focused era where being young and dumb is celebrated and truly growing up is respected.  There are examples of rappers failing to not only act their age but tragically attempting to capture trends like a 50-year-old uncle who’s still goes to the club. Remember Fat Joe’s “Instagram That Hoe” or Busta Rhymes “Twerk It?” However, that doesn’t mean both sides are always going to contextually understand each other. Call it arrogance or overflowing confidence, but the future of Young Thug’s career isn’t on trial here. The question is whether or not artists over a particular age can go the distance this side of Ozzy Osbourne, The Rolling Stones or Frankie Beverly and Maze.

Musically, it’s no secret that Hip Hop by nature is ultra-competitive and simply put; anyone can get it. Hell, there are rappers still trying their hardest from all angles to take Jigga down from his god-like pedestal just as older rappers came at Kendrick Lamar after his “Control” verse. Everyone from all generational points are fighting in something equivalent to the wild west. Sometimes in life, respect is only relative to those within one’s scope of knowledge. In Thug’s case, he baptized in the waters of T.I., Lil Wayne and Lil Boosie. Doesn’t matter how much many may feel about those artist in comparison to the general consensus of what is considered great. Of course, there are moments where the stars align and gaps are bridged. This happens just as often. Last year alone, Schoolboy Q got a feature from one of West Coast rap’s most underrated veteran Suga Free on his Grammy nominated debut Oxymoron. Maybe one day Hip Hop will evolve into a utopian society worthy of having a slew of rappers well into old age performing like they’re still in their prime. Until then, watching everything unfold remains entertaining.

Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.

Ural Garrett is an Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.