Successful releases from veteran East Coast groups De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and the duo of Remy Ma and Fat Joe in 2016 proved that ageism is almost becoming nonexistent in Hip Hop.
This also includes The Lox who released Filthy America… It’s Beautifulin December following a 16-year wait from 2000’s We Are the Streets.
While on tour in Los Angeles promoting the project released through both D-Block and Roc Nation, HipHopDX Associate Producer Ural Garrett spoke to Jadakiss, Sheek Louch and Styles P last week about why the culture has no age limits.
“I think Hip Hop can’t be put in an age bracket,” said Jadakiss. “Rock and Roll, Country and R&B go on until they’re 75 hundred million years old. Only Hip Hop is with that. So we are breaking that. We look good, feel good and can smoke damn near all of these new rappers with no pun intended. It’s the competitive nature of the sport, you feel me?”
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Styles P added, “This is what you do. There’s no age bracket when you nice at it and I don’t think it’s a New York thing. People want real. People want real authentic Hip Hop they can vibe to. That’s why the N.W.A movie hit beautiful.”
Filthy America…It’s Beautiful had The Lox bridging the gap between rap purists and progressives with production from Pete Rock and DJ Premier alongside guest appearances from Fetty Wap and Gucci Mane. For D Block, it’s about touching all of Hip Hop.
“It’s about embracing the culture and knowing where we come from and where music is right now,” said Jada. “It’s about making a marriage of both of them. We do what we do for our contemporaries. That’s never going to change because that’s what made us, but we also have kids and understand where the game is at. So, we make a couple joints like ‘Secure The Bag’ and ‘The Agreement.’”
Just last year, The Lox were a part of the highly successful Bad Boy Reunion tour. A few weeks back, a Ruff Ryders 20th anniversary reunion show was announced. Here’s what the trio said about the event set for April 21 at The Barclays Center.
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“That should be a nice event, you know?” asked Jadakiss. “Everything is coming full circle in Hip Hop. As if you watch fashion. Music, fashion, everything. It comes back around. Video games, movies, whatever. The earth is a sphere and everything goes back around.”
It’s been over a decade since Hip Hop was graced with a volumed Ruff Ryders compilation and rumors have mentioned another one in the pipeline. However, the group is solely focused just on the upcoming show.
“We’re working on the show and then maybe a tour,” said Jadakiss. “It’s in Allah’s hand after that. I need you to go get 999,000 more people that fuck with it.”
The Lox also discussed upcoming projects both solo and collaborative, which includes the Jadakiss and Fabolous joint effort Freddie vs. Jason, Talib Kweli and Styles P with Wu-Block 2. Speaking on the follow-up to 2012’s Wu-Block, Louch said they’re several songs in.
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“We about six in, seven in right now,” said Louch. “We just started. Shout out to all of them.”
Styles P even discussed how big of fans they are of Wu-Tang.
“When you love what you do and you love the craft, it’s an honor to work with certain people out of craftsmanship,” said Styles P. “No ego, no pride to the side. We were playing Wu probably before we thought we could even make it. No record deals no nothing. School hallways shit. It’s an honor and respect to work with them.That’s legendary shit for their name to be combined with ours. ”
