For those saying ppl like Jay etc. are blocking young faces you gotta be kidding me.
When Nas, Jay, etc were coming up, Kane, Rakim , G Rap etc were still relevant and spitting. Fact is the new generation has ALWAYS has to make a name for themselves in Hip-Hop.
LL, KRS, Kane were dissing "old school" rappers in the 80's and they were so good that it put the Kool Moe's and Melle Mel's outta business.
The West Coast Cats stirred isht up in the late 80's early 90's. Then you had De La, Wu, Redman, Nas, Big, Onyx. The combo of all dem pretty much pushed the KRS, Kane and EPMD's out of the spotlight. Fast forward to the mid/late 90's and the West kept popping, but the South was really creating steam. That pushed out a lot of the NY and West Coasts Acts like Onyx, De La, Alkaholics, Hiero.
Then through the late 90's you had the Em, Common, 50, and the West Coast sorta died down sans maybe Game and a few others. Through all this time, some acts still transcend through multiple eras and survive.
LL (did for a while) Dr. Dre, (same as LL), Snoop, Nas, Jay, Em stayed relevant. For Dre, Snoop, Nas, Jay and Em, they all tried to bring ppl up (Quan, Beans, etc.) but none of those efforts met success. Meanwhile, the Wayne's and Kanye (sorta from Jay's camp) did become successful and shared the spotlight with the aforementioned group.
All along the way two themes should stick out.
1.) When the new crop wanted to get shine, by and large they did it on their own. All, got some kinda co-sign from a mentor (Kane - Jay, Dr. Dre - Snoop, G Rap - Nas). But this co-sign was not enough to make them stars only on that basis.
2.) Most of the older acts that make it try to bring ppl up. (Jay - Memp Bleek, Nas - Quan, Em - D12, Wayne - Jae Millz). But in ALL those examples, something about that artists that got the co-sign just didn't lead to success.
So again, to try to make it seem like the older cats are blocking the new ones...thas just not true!
art barr started rap
