Longevity in any career is admirable, but to have a lengthy, successful career in rap is a blessing for many artists. We've watched as rappers have rotated in and out of the hip hop limelight in our social media-driven culture as many artists catch waves and eventually fall off. Jadakiss has been a well-respected emcee for decades, and The Lox rapper caught up with HipHopDX to reflect on what it's like to be involved in the industry for this long.
"To have a career as a rapper is a beautiful thing," Jadakiss said. "You can pull out the Great Wall of China list, probably longer than that, of dudes who have hit songs and had special moments in rap, but the career part, it might not be that long. It might just be the white picket fence. Dudes who had a lengthy, healthy, sturdy, career. It's a beautiful thing."
Jadakiss added that he recognizes that many artists have "moments," but he likes the direction where hip hop is headed in. "We just gotta get to the next stage of what it's gonna be. Get the authenticity back up. Lyricism, along with some of this new digital stuff that's going on. It's coming, though. It's taking a little slow, cardio ain't really there for it, but it's coming."
He continued, "There's a lotta dudes that can rap, really rap. [YBN] Cordae, Russ, Drake, J Cole... a lot of these dudes is super nice. A lot of 'em. I like Young Thug. A lotta people might think I don't like Thug. I listen to Thug more than I listen to a lot of them. You gotta listen to the music and absorb it. Some people are seeing him on a centerfold or something and just automatically judge him. You gotta listen. He's saying some incredible sh*t."
Jadakiss also noted that hip hop is the only genre of music that gets broken down into factions like West Coast, East Coast, Down South, etc. The rapper said that's not done with country, R&B, or pop. "It's not West Coast Pop," he said. "They trying to figure out a way to put everybody against each other 'cause it's growing fast." Watch his clip below.
