This post was inspired by seeing Coolio on his show Coolio’s Rules.

So I finally got to catch Coolio doing the rapper-turned-reality-show thing and felt like vomiting in my mouth. I was pretty young when Coolio was hot and considered him decent and to see him doing a reality show was just real sickening to see. Now I know he’s getting his cake and if I was in his shoes I would do the same thing but it got me think when should rappers retire?

When does being a rap personality get old? Flava Flav,even though he’s now more popular than he’s ever been, has become popular for all the wrong reasons. He’s an old man pretending to be fifteen. Isn’t that sad? I’m not saying it is, I’m just asking. Today I was at the grocery store and saw a father and son shopping, and the father looked like he was 65 and his son was probably 35 and they both dressed like Nelly in 2000. When do old heads need to retire from the “hip hop look” even though that look is outdated in itself and “act their age”.

I used to think rapppers’ should retire at the age of 30 because at that age you shouldn’t be rapping about frivolous partying, selling drugs, and/or banging hoes. Even if you don’t rap about those things, it’s even worse if you are the lyrical rapper over 30. But now most rappers are nearing their thirties or are damn near 40. Also if you look back at history, some of the greats only blew when they we’re in their late twenties and achieved iconic status in their thirties.

Coolio, for instance, gave us “Gangsta’s Paradice” when he was 32. Jay-Z was 30 when he sold 5 million with his third album Vol…Hard Knock Life. DMX dropped It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot when he was 28. Eminem dropped The Slim Shady LP when he was 27. Kanye dropped The College Dropout when he was 27. Need I go on? All these artists really popped off when they we’re in their thirties. So this begs the question when should rappers retire?

I think five albums should be enough to say what you need to say, get your paper and bounce. Let the younger generation get in and get out. Since no great music is coming out we might as well turn hip hop into a factory where every year new artists are breaking and old artists are bouncing. We should even have this same mentality with managers, directors, moguls, websites, etc. Who wants to see a Hype Williams video anymore? Get Rik Cordero a budget. Who cares about Diddy? Can’t we replace him with Foxy’s brother, what’s his name? The point is, in with the new and out with the old. Ya heard me?

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