How LATE do you think is TOO LATE for a Rapper to blow?

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What age do you think a rapper needs to gain some sort of

I read in How to be a record producer that generally with the mainstream mainstream, females should blow by the latest 21 and males 25.

What are your thoughts on this?

Is there such a thing as too late?
 
Naturally, I'd say prolly 25 or 26. I mean Em didn't make it "mainstream mainstream" until he was what, 27 I think. Jay didn't blow until he was 26, hard to believe lol, cause I feel like he's been around foreverrrr. But it does make me feel a little insecure as far as today goes. It seems as though that number is getting drastically younger than from what it was 10 years ago. Today, it seems like you don't make it by 23 or 24, that's it. I mean look at all these people coming out in recent years, it's insane. Drake, I'd say blew up once So Far Gone hit, he was 23. You got Wiz, blew up with Kush & OJ, was 23. Big Sean's had a big following for a year now, he broke through at 22. A bit off the rails with this one, but still "rap", there's Tyler, he's only freaking 20. Obviously, we know about Soulja. Then though they are more hip-pop, New Boyz are only about 20 as well. It's worrisome lol. And I'm only 20 myself, but I feel like I'm lightyears behind them.
 
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Are you joking? It's music bro! It's never to late. Anyone who thinks that you can't express yourself because of your age thinks close minded. You could be a 70 year old rapper if you wanted to.. Heck I think Jay-Z might be the Bernard Hopkins of Rap...lol Lets see how long he stays around.
 
I think to be considered a valuable MC to a label you have to be a least 24 years of age. Nobody's tryna spend money on liars no more. Exposing yourself and surviving in this world financially should be your motivation until a UFO label abducts you (LOL). Age equals wisdom and thats what makes the speakers jump now-a-days.
 
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As long as it sounds good I'm okay with any age. But if one has been smoking all his life and his voice starts to get all hoarse in his 50s, he should probably stop, because it won't sound good anymore. Kinda what happened with Ozzy, although he ain't a rapper. Eminem is 38 and he can still kick off some pretty decent songs.
 
Nobody's tryna spend money on liars no more.
I'd like to start of by saying whattt??!?!
Most mc's these days claiming to be gangsters and thugs aren't much more than mommas boys that grew up in white urban communities that turn the real streets into "closed courses" in their music videos....

Not trying to rain on chrisMOE's parade, I'm just ranting about studio thugs. much respect to chris moe though
 
Are you joking? It's music bro! It's never to late. Anyone who thinks that you can't express yourself because of your age thinks close minded. You could be a 70 year old rapper if you wanted to.. Heck I think Jay-Z might be the Bernard Hopkins of Rap...lol Lets see how long he stays around.

You're right, you could be a 70 year old rapper if you want to but nobody will be buying your shit. On second thoughts you could be a novelty act and people would buy it but you wouldn't be taken seriously. The fact is the biggest demographic that's buying music is young adults & teenagers, a 70 year old rapper is not going to relate to these people in the slightest. The view from a major record label will be, "this guy's good but he's not marketable." It might be closed mindedness but that's just how society and business works. And Jay's been in the game for how long? He' not trying to break through at this age so I think your example is irrelevant.
 
Hip hop is a different world. Other music performers can be introduced at older ages...but if you aren't established by 30 as a hip hop performer, forget it. Harsh reality.

You can be underground since 16 and never blow til 30(example: Jim Jones, Plies, I think Flo Rida? But all them were known for years by hip hop heads before thier bigger records at later ages) with a trackrecord and fanbase that expanded over that time, but you ain't comin' outta no where over 30 and making an impact in hip hop.

It's also funny how people mention Jay-Z. He's prolly the only rapper to ever come out of no where at 27(and he was background working hard as hell way before that), and he's JAY frikkin Z! No one else in hip hop has money like dude, status like dude, success like dude, he's in a lane beyond comparison with "other rappers", and he's prolly the oldest to ever come out and have real longevity.

I always said i wouldn't rap past 25 and didn't. That should be what any determined hip hop artist sets as a goal. That way, by 25, if you're not so close you can taste it, you move the f**k on, cause even if you start making moves at 25, it can still be 3 or 4 years before you're introduced to the world. More Harsh reality.

Best option for a "rapper" when you get old is to start writing and discover and polish younger talent, get into other genres of music and fuse your hip hop to give your sound a longevity and crowd that will accept you out of no where in your 30s, take up engineering or producing/background music jobs, hell, even start up a label. Doesn't matter how old you are if you play the background, but how you gonna frontline coming out of no where looking like majority of your potential consumers' dad?

You can always pull a Birdman and bring out a buncha younger cats, get famous enough with them that someone would check for ya. But it will not work if you plan on frontlining.

Anyone who doesn't agree is prolly old, or know they won't make it before they get old and have nothing else to contribute to the world. FYI, I'm 32, so phukoff.
 
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It was about 5 years ago that EVERY rapper of significance was over 30.
It's just that fans didn't know it.

If you "quit" trying to be a rapper at any point, you shouldn't have started in the first place.
Just like producing, either you're doing it or you're not.
As Yoda would say "Either do or do not; there is no try".

The larger point is you can rap at any age (Rap is like every other genre in this respect too), but there's no point to 'rappin like a 17-year old' when you're 40+.
Rap has been done with adult concepts, themes and grown-ass images before.
Usually that's reserved for message rap.

If you're 40 still trying to WAIT for a label or some other entity to make you a rapper, well then you've got other problems besides your age.

I would check for a new rapper at 50 if he was sick with it.
Again, if your rap career is based on waiting for something or someone to make you exist....

It's 2011 and things have changed. There's a question to be asked if you're older and just discovered you like to rap and are going to make a serious career out of it.
I'd say the same thing for sports.

Aint like Bernard Hopkins decided to start boxing yesterday, but he already had world records for title defenses before he came across the casual boxing fans radar. Same with rap. So in that respect I agree with Derangedfunkedup.

But the caveat is Why would you be TRYING for that many years and not having ANY success and especially if you're lacking the kind of success that inspires you to keep going.

And More...
Your age should also scale with your ambitions.
I'll say that again...
Your age should scale with your ambitions


At 30+ you shouldn't be satisfied with what a 17-year old would be.
A record DEAL aint enough. Bytches and smokes and props aint enough.
As many grown-up rappers have done, you begin to think about ownership.
Again, I agree with DFunked.

So really if someone came to me and was like "Griffin, I'm age XX and I'm thinking about starting a rap career. Whadda think?"

I'd want to check where their head was at first, before I started doubting.
And finally I'd like to add, just because no one has done something, doesn't mean it can't be done.
 
I'll give all the rappers knocking on 30's door who haven't made it yet some advice. Forget every lyric that ever wrote about real shit and start writing bars like nursery rhymes and about love, then hire a producer to remix a 90's dance classic with a modern synth line... Make an album of 13 songs using this recipe and shazam *******!... Oh and if you can't think of anything that rhymes with your first line, it doesn't matter... Just use one of the following:

"O na na na"
"Oh, ooooo oh"
"Yeah-e-eah, yeah"
"Oh,oh,oh, ohhhhh"
 
If your rapping just to get big then quit. Its good to have goals but do it because you love it, not for the cash, fame and video whores. I dont care how old u are if you keep it real then real people would recognize that.. sadly the industry doesnt even see you as a rapper, they see you as a product, so **** the industry.. you really DONT need them. Do what you love doing, build a fan base, release a few singles, collect your royalties, perform here and there and be happy.

If i was a rapper and I wanted to get my music heard, id try getting on the radio. How? I'd build a honest fan base and perform at a few places. when i get bigger crowds i'd tell them if they like my music call the radio station and request me. keep that shit up until they ask who the **** is this and try to find out. eventually since so many people requesting it, ud get something out of it, wether its your track played or they call you in or whatever. thats what i would do.
 
The headline in this thread said make it, I interpreted that to mean mainstream make it, not local rapper who has to work a day job to subsidise his hobby make it. And the chances of that happeniong post 30 is very slim.
 
Make it...I think the quote was to Blow, like become that next dude.
There's pros and cons to this. At a young age, you're marketable, but you can't do anything yourself. You have ZERO control over your career.

If you're older, you can actually do many things yourself.
And you probably have the bank to do most of the stuff you want to do anyway.

Living off rap? At a young age? I think most cats is thinking about a fantasy life that doesn't exist.
If a label makes you, a label breaks you. Simple as that. *Most* young cats who can survive, came up under someone else or did something else and crossed over so it aint like they was brand new into the industry right from jump. And you got to survive for a minute before any real money is yours. You can blow and STILL be doing a 'day job' years later.

At any rate, if you aint got a high powered-player in your corner, it's almost impossible to "blow" at any age. I do think there's nothing sadder than seeing someone STILL thinking brand-new at an advanced age. "Yo, I'ma make these DEMOS and git a deal!"

The true reasons why 30 is a turning point is because....
1. Music Dreams are based off Hope and that can only sustain your fantasies for so long.
2. You lose your support team (family, friends, girl etc) when you don't show any progress after saying "This year is it" for ten years running.
3. You can't live at home and work a placeholder job forever (While you grind after your dreams)
4. Your own wife/ family usually becomes more important than a semi-serious hobby.
5. Dreamers tend to think 'more of the same' will eventually work. Like 'these two-dozen songs aint do it, but the next dozen (which sound exactly the same) will'.
6. Your peers are all moving on and doing stuff in their lives while you're still waiting for your big break.
7. You're stubborn. You're stubborn. You haven't listened to anyone who told you why you couldn't get on in your teens, why would you listen to anyone as an adult. And so you don't and keep walking around in the same circle and expect to arrive someplace else.
8. You don't mature or age. Being 30+ and still thinking, acting and pursuing a career- like it is that many years ago, like the landscape is the same as when you first had interest.
 
it don matter how old u r if u got the talent.. u might not be able to be marketed as a pop icon or hip hop icon in todays mainstream music world but who cares, mainstream is dying
 
Jay Electronica just got popular around late 2009 or so, and he's about... what, 32?

Curren$y is currently at his peak as far as popularity, even after leaving Young Money, and he's in his early 30's as well.
 
@Griffin Avid, My bad, your right blow was the term. I agree with alot of what you have said but woul like to add:

9. If it was going to happen, it would have happen already.
10.Your body starts to naturally slow down and sustaining drive, focus enrgy and passion becomes more and more difficult.
11.The older you get the less your brain is able to cope with new information, this industry i a learning game where you have to be adaptive.
12.You become less willing to take risks as the employment market get's tougher as you get older, especially if you have no qualifications because you spent your whole life dedicated to rapping.

This list could be endless.
 
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