LL Cool J believes artists who obsess over whether there’s an “appropriate age” to make hip-hop are letting fear dictate what they can accomplish.
Sitting down for a new episode of What Now? With Trevor Noah published on Monday (Oct. 5), the rap legend discussed why longevity remains such a major talking point in hip-hop compared to genres like rock, where artists can continue performing well into their later years without their age becoming the focus.
For LL, he believes part of the reason is that hip-hop itself is still relatively young.
“It’s a new genre,” he explained. “The genre itself is so young. It’s only 50-some years old itself as a genre.”
The Queens native pointed out that many of hip-hop’s pioneers are still active, meaning the culture is witnessing its earliest generations age in real time. But when it comes to artists questioning whether they can still make impactful music later in life, LL thinks fear is often the real culprit.
“Some people kind of obsess over, like, appropriate age to make hip-hop and all that,” he said. “But I think the majority of [the] time, when you hear people obsessing over that, that’s just fear talking.”
LL challenged artists to stop dismissing older rappers and instead view longevity as a challenge.
“Don’t say that it’s not appropriate to be hot at a certain age now because you really just afraid you can’t do it anymore,” he said.
The veteran rapper also reminded artists that aging doesn’t mean losing their audience.
“Your fans are still around,” LL added. “You still have fans.”
Watch the full conversation around aging in hip-hop below.
Watch LL Cool J Discuss Aging in Hip-Hop
See Rappers and Hip-Hop Executives With a Key to the City
