Rakim shows rap’s elders how to flex their pedigree
thefader.comScHoolboy Q’s face, usually youthful and serene, was suddenly lined with irritation. The L.A. rapper was a guest on Lil Yachty’s podcast A Safe Place back in March, sharing light-hearted conversations about T.D.E.
groupies and getting robbed. But things turned when Yachty brought up a topic that hit close to home for the 37-year-old Q: rap fans’ dismissal of the music’s elders (or, in Q’s case, rap’s elder-adjacent). “They don’t respect us, cuh,” he groaned when Yachty’s co-host Mitch brought up fans downplaying Lil Wayne’s talents. “In what world could you be disrespecting Lil Wayne in 2024?” The problem, the three concluded, may lie in the crab-in-the-bucket culture of rap itself. “Ain’t no Morgan Wallen fans under Tim Graw’s pictures like ‘You old fuck, you old out-of-date bitch,” Yachty snickered, completing a 180-degree turn from the defiance he exhibited just a few short years ago.
The only way for legends to avoid being talked down by the kids, it seems, is to be a rapper’s rapper – someone whose talents have never matched their commercial success, but has secured their place in the hip-hop pantheon.
Rakim is perhaps the ultimate example, an artist who has truly earned the “God MC” title emblazoned on his chain. Hip-hop was a different kind of music before he dropped Paid In Full, a collaboration with Eric B from 1987 that’s now widely regarded as one of the best albums in history.
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