The incomparably inspirational and pimptastic Texan Mac Brown and I were partaking in a conversational exchange the other day and he brought up the topic of ageism in Hip Hop; how rampant it is, and how most 25 year olds, if they haven’t made it yet- need to just walk away. after a brief moment of consideration, I had to agree. To generalize- mastery in most careers that human beings undertake take years to achieve. The best and brightest are often the oldest as they have spent years honing and perfecting their craft, Nature then deals a cruel twist of fate as many who finally gain enough knowledge and experience to be considered masters do so around the time their bodies start to fail; limbs grow weak, minds feeble. Yet and still– you start young, and master old. Unless, of course, you want to a rapper when you grow up. If you want to be rapper, you must start young, master young and quit before you’re 35 lest you be ridiculed as the feeble, out of touch old man, a has been, or worse a barely made it but never really was.

Its hardly arguable that the rap industry is a cruel one to to choose to join. One must have certain level of masochism in them to choose a career in a field that treats you like shit, lifts you to enormous heights only to revel in your guaranteed demise. Yet and still, every block in every city, suburb, ghetto and trailer park in the US (fuck it all over the world) has a cat who is shooting for the stars with his (or her) dreams of rapping. Mostly these dreamers are teenagers, for they intuitively know that as soon as they hit 20, if they aren’t close to a deal, they have maybe 3 years before its all over before it even started.

We’ve all seen it… outside the club, on the corner, late night at the Waffle House, that 25 year old cat hustling his demo to any random person who seem like that might listen to a hip hop song on occasion. Or to the nice White lady hes’ trying to charm out of $10 with his silver tongued wordplay. Or even worse– the cat bussing tables at Cheesecake Factory, scribbling rhymes on receipt stubs during breaks. Worse still… the dude signing a major label deal at 21.. releasing an album at 23, and being dropped from the label, a 1 hit wonder at 25 destined as nothing more than footnote in Hip Hop’s long history.

In other areas of sports and entertainment, this type of ageism exists, but to a lesser degree. In sports, you start young because that’s when your body is at its peak- its a generally understood and accepted fact. In film, television and other music genres, there is a certain preference for youth- but its not unheard of for critical acclaim and respect to go to older generations, or even people who are 34.

Not in rap. By pursuing a career in rap, you are actively attempting to have a career in an industry where you are very likely going to be washed up and forced out before you turn 30. Where 90% of the time, you lost before you even really started, and a good year doesn’t mean a whole lot. So whats all this mean? That we need to feel bad for rappers? Fuck no, Fuck a rapper. All it means, is that when you see that cat hustling his CD on the corner, give him a minute of your time. Reality will hit soon enough like an eviction notice, but for now-you’re talking to one of the few people left in this worlds whose dream’s haven’t died yet. And if you are that 25 year old cat still aiming fir the stars, I’m not one to kill dreams… but you might want to start looking at other career options. It may sound harsh, but if you don’t like it, Mr. Brown says it best: “truthhurts.com is thataway.”

The rap game eats its young and shits out its old. Is it any wonder those chosen few who make it and get that brief moment to shine, milk it for all its worth?