LL Cool J believes rappers who constantly worry about the “right age” to make hip-hop are allowing fear to limit their potential.
During a new episode of What Now? With Trevor Noah, released on Monday (Oct. 5), the hip-hop veteran discussed why longevity remains a major topic in rap compared to genres like rock, where artists can continue performing well into their later years without their age becoming a central issue.
According to LL, one reason for this difference is that hip-hop is still a relatively young genre.
“It’s a new genre,” he explained. “The genre itself is so young. It’s only 50-some years old itself as a genre.”
The Queens-born rapper noted that many of hip-hop’s pioneers are still active, meaning the culture is watching its earliest generations grow older in real time. However, when artists begin questioning whether they can still make meaningful music as they age, LL believes fear is often behind those concerns.
“Some people kind of obsess over, like, appropriate age to make hip-hop and all that,” he said. “But I think the majority of [the] time, when you hear people obsessing over that, that’s just fear talking.”
LL encouraged artists to stop treating age as a reason to doubt their abilities and instead embrace the challenge of maintaining their relevance.
“Don’t say that it’s not appropriate to be hot at a certain age now because you really just afraid you can’t do it anymore,” he said.
The veteran rapper also reminded artists that growing older doesn’t mean losing the people who support their music.
“Your fans are still around,” LL added. “You still have fans.”
Watch the full conversation about aging in hip-hop below.
