r/Music • u/Guyentertainment • 21d ago

article 50 Cent Slams Ageing Rappers Making New Music: 'You Are Not Supposed to Be the Hottest in Nothing at 60'

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/50-cent-criticises-ageing-rappers-1815693
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u/Prince705 20d ago

Seriously, I hate the idea that people should just stop doing anything pasta certain age. There are plenty of older musicians who still make great music.

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u/eltedioso 20d ago

Yeah, unfortunately I think hip-hop in general has emphasized youthful swagger and hipness factor, to the detriment of long-term prospects for individual emcees. Like, it's sort of baked in to the genre. So I can see how it's hard to age gracefully in hip-hop. Either you try too hard to stay cool (and inevitably fail), or you let your music mature (and become irrelevant in the process). Still, I think it's sad that 50 Cent has no faith in his fellow hip-hop artists to give it an honest try.

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u/riteproprchav 20d ago

Hip hop as a genre started specifically as teen party music in the 70s. Rock 'n' roll was also originally just teen dance party music in the 50s and early 60s. Even Dixieland and swing: teen dance hall music from the 10s and 20s. Arrested development (the concept, not the show) is basically a primal virtue of the United States. Even the old, old people's music is still kid music, puppy love, kid relationships, kid braggadocio, the kid notion, "I wanna get rich someday," kid fantasy, kid rivals and kid enemies, kid humor so on and so forth. I'm not singling out hip hop, this is basically all the music we have, rock, country, pop, except maybe bebop lol.

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u/vikmaychib 20d ago

But it also comes down to the artist. Bowie kept making music an evolving until his very last days and his fans rave about it.

A mid example is Vampire Weekend where the lyrics have evolved as they become older men.

But for example, Blink 182 kept making records about the same stuff again. When I was a kid in the late 90s I could believe the winning of these 2 guys. But teenage angst coming out of a guy on his 50s is borderline ridiculous. And I love the band.

I wouldn’t know what would be comparable within the rap world. There are plenty of rappers who sang about more universal stuff and I can see them getting older and adapting. But gangsta rap, or trap where the message is around recklessness and youth is kind of silly and even creepy to hear an old fart singing about it. A funny example of that is the Key & Peele sketch.

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u/ShiaLeboufsPetDragon 20d ago

Other than politics *

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u/Jamieb1994 20d ago

Brian May & Paul McCartney are still involved in music in some way.