Continuin off my last question: Rapper's age and adjusting to the newer sound/style in hip hop?

Jay-z, by definition, is a sell-out. When you have an artist like Jay-z who has so many die hard fans, it is hard to call him a sell-out. Anywho, Jay-z knows what hip hop fans want because he is one. He doesnt show any concern with staying with his original sound. Like they say: "in nature, anything that stays the same dies". As an artist you need to evolve or people will get bored. The "Rakims" out there are guilty of both "A" and "B". While Rakim has undeniable skill, his music is not as entertaining as Jay-z's music is. At the end of the day, it IS entertainment.

Old school Hip Hop is and was the true stuff! Almost Everything coming out in the last 6-8 yrs. has been watered down, Poser Rap. I think the reason though is two fold. Most of the old school hip hoppers are middle aged and growing old(On to bigger and more lucrative investments). The new crop of artists, aren't connected to, or ,are not allowed to keep that raw style going. I'm guessing the producers, not the artists, are the culprits. Puff Daddy is all that!" Puff". AS SOON AS HE GOT RID OF THE COMPETITION! Everything changed. I think our current society has benefited from less Gang related music, but it also has produced the watered down stuff we choose to listen to today. From pre- 2000 the lyrics were raw and the beats were raw(but coincidentally so was the behavior). I guess you can't have it both ways. With our society becoming more integrated and watching American Idol every week. The good stuff will be harder to find. I like the Chic MIA. They wouldn't even let her into our country, because she Dissed the Bush! Now thats Old school.

Much of your argument would depend on the artist in question...Doesn't Slick Rick warrant much respect from the hip hop community and Rakim does on some level, but why should theses pioneers change up when what they've done got them where they are today...The point you bring up with Rakim and Jay being close in age but Rakim career started long before Jay's did makes me wonder if Jay ever picked up a copy of "Paid in Full"...

Rakim took some shots at trying to remain relevant (selling out, if you will) when he made his come back. "Stay a While" a.k.a. the worst Rakim track ever was an attempt to stay relevant. The Master was an entire album of Rakim trying to stay relevant, which is why it's terrible compared to the rest of his work. Neither of his solo albums were hugely popular though, so he'll never be accused of selling out.

The difference between Jay-Z and Rakim is Jay-Z didn't become popular until nearly 10 years after Rakim was first popular, so people never knew Jay-Z with an old school style. Being a nobody in hip hop for 6 or 7 years was a blessing for Jay-Z.

I couldn't agree more. Jay-Z is a sellout, an old sellout. I really hope he decides to change his ways and make his legacy more than a bunch of club hits and a few street anthems. He has to consider these things as his days are numbered. 'Jockin Jay-Z' was a failure and I expected more from a Hip hop veteran, something more mature in nature, something with depth that would last beyond a club or a trip to the mall in a car. He's too old to be making music like that, he has changed and his fans have too, so why not make music that reflects that change and growth? jay Z is stuck in 1999 but I'm not, which is why he could never be my favorite rapper. he still thinks he's 25 years old. Jay-Z is the ultimate sellout, the ultimate sellout. Furthermore: 30 is NOT the new 20, it's the same old 30. Its important to grow with the fans that made you instead of trying to appeal to a demographic with whom you have a superficial relationship. I can guarantee that the people who supported Reasonable doubt close to 13 years ago, are disappointed with his latest efforts. Shame on Shawn, shame.

It's not always the artist, at times it's the audience that changes. Jay-Z and Rakim may be close in age, but as you mentioned, Jay wasn't really popular until over a decade after Rakim saw success, and Jay saw his success at a time where Hip Hop was so much more mainstream than it was during Rakim's time on top.

I'm not sure really..

Look at Erick Sermon, he was out and was popular around the same time as Rakim, but he managed to come out a few years back and garner commercial success with "Music" for a second, then he lost it. I think it has less to do with trying to switch up and more to do with the listening public's tastes. More often than not the people who buy music are not interested in what someone has to say but what's hot at the moment. If we could convince a million white kids that the newest Rakim cd was hot he'd be popular now too.

C) Rakim cant adjust because he doesnt discuss the same topics as other rappers in the mainstream lol.

To each their own. Maybe to Rakim, making a different kind of music would be selling out to himself. He pioneered a sound, and a lot of people prefer that sound over the new stuff. Why should he change? Maybe he isn't trying to appeal to kids.

Its kind of like asking why Ice Cube only makes gangsta and political songs and why doesn't he start making love songs. Maybe for someone like Snoop Dogg, making more R&B-oriented music is natural and he's trying to evolve. But for Ice Cube, he has to keep the music true to himself. That's just his thing. A lot of his fans wouldn't respect him if he started making love songs (me included). And a lot of Rakim's fans wouldn't respect him anymore if he started making more pop songs.

Rakim chooses to make music for the *LOVE* of it instead of for the *DOLLARS* in it.

Co-sign Sag and Mechanical on those statements.

adjusting would be a lot of work for rappers now a days... it dosent take anything to become famous thanks to youtube and myspace. but if everybody adjusted then there wouldn't be as much creativity