It ain’t dated to 96 a lot of early to mid 90’s stuff aged better because of the heavy samples that kept it from locking into one current hot sound a la Timbaland, Neptunes, 00’s Dre, Kanye’s sped up samples, etc
That is not what dated means. It still sounds old. You're not playing any of those songs to someone now without them instantly recognizing that those songs are old. And I could argue that something like "nikka What, nikka Who" sounds more current than the songs that are sample heavy.
And a lit ya'll are trying to have it both ways here. On one hand ya'll are passing off music like RD as aging better and saying Jay's music aged like milk and clowning saying the Timbaland and Neptunes tracks that aged worse. The same Spotify numbers you're using to argue his music aged like milk are the same ones that have "Big Pimpin" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulders" among his most listened to solo songs.


