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Originally Posted by louder
I'd argue that kids who were bumping the likes of Lil Jon and Soulja Boy a decade ago didn't care about Illmatic either.
Illmatic was always for those who appreciate the more intellectual and technical side of rapping, and are into poetry and storytelling, as well as jazzy boom bap production.
Believe it or not, there are just about as many kids who actually respect the legacy of hip hop and delve into the past as those who simply like to "turn up" to a bass heavy banger. Not all of them are braindead druggies who just wanna hear some mindless party music. They do appreciate the album form. Hence why Kendrick and J. Cole albums sell about 3 times more than Future and Travis albums without trying to cater to the radio and the clubs.
Illmatic still serves as the golden standard. 20 years later, every new huge, notable rap release still draws comparsions to it immediately by blogs and fans alike.
Khaled's album was one of the highest selling hip hop releases of the year and it featured a Nas solo track titled "Nas Album Done", enough side.
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I was going to mention Khaled but.. eh... I don't really like to talk about Khaled
You're right though. For all the bitching I do about "kids" there's a lot of young folks who are more "serious" about hip-hop being "serious" than I've ever been in my life. They sometimes take it to absurd extremes, acting like any rap that's "fun" is just automatically dumb. (This is not the case with any genre; indeed sometimes "dumb" is what makes music brilliant, as most folks who love punk understand.. see Spacemen 3, Butthole Surfers, Ramones... each a little "dumb" in their own way).
For instance, I know a lot of younger hip-hop folks who just abhor anything that's popular, and see it as a betrayal of hip-hop's political and social power and purpose. They'll sing the praises of MellowMusicGroup and BLU, or Jedi Mind Tricks and Immortal Technique. Of course, these kids are missing out on most of the best hip-hop music ever made, but it's encouraging to see that not everyone just wants to get blazed and turnt or whatever. Some folks actually wait for Takib joints ... still!!
These kinds of rap fans are the ones more likely to revere Illmatic.
Earl Sweatshirt is a good example too. He approaches hip hop songcraft from a "poetic" angle, and that's a Nas move.