OUR LEGENDS AIN’T WORRIED
October 25, 2021
There is a saying that goes, “Youth is wasted on the young”. Luckily, for the legends that I’m discussing today, youth is a state of mind and nothing can shake a veteran that’s about putting in that work.
I. MELO SCORING OVER 20
This shouldn’t even be a big deal but here’s why it is. So many people counted out that boy Melo for no reason. Some tried to say it was his “attitude”, others said he was confused about his role, and others just flat out thought father time had finally caught up to the B-More legend. Well survey says that’s cap!
That boy Melo is proving his longevity just like his banana boat buddy King James. Even other stars across the league had to express their disbelief about the criticisms regarding Mr. Anthony. Melo has been proving himself to be a valuable asset to the Lakers franchise. Something he wasn’t able to fully show with Houston or OKC. He’s been on a steady trend upwards since his redemption via Portland and now even in Year 19 the sky’s the limit for the legend named Carmelo Anthony!
II. JADAKISS WINNING VERZUZ
Verzuz is a revolutionary platform started by legendary producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, that pits togethers the powerhouses of music in a battle of catalogs! This platform is important to the culture because it makes our legends relevant again by putting money in their pockets and exposing to new opportunities with the recent exposure provided by the battle. However, there is an undisputed Verzuz champion and it’s the guy from Yonkers that had a baldie at 19 for no reason and wears timbs w/ shorts. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, D-Block’s finest, Jadakiss!
Kiss proved that lyrical manslaughter is always respected no matter what. After besting Fab during his first Verzuz appearance, Kiss made another entrance into the Verzuz battlefield alongside his L-O-X brothers to battle the Culture Gods, the mighty Dipset, most known by its 3headed monster—Killa Cam, Capo, and the poster child for Bandanas, Juelz Santana!
People were instantly writing off Kiss and the LOX because the cultural dominance of Cam and the Diplomats resonated with the youth so hard, people didn’t see the LOX overcoming those anthems. But that night the Diplomats was looking like they lost all their immunity and was facing 25 to life. Kiss went so crazy he had the Dips in shambles off Clue tape freestyles! Jadakiss may not have had that youthful dominance that Dipset had but he learned kids across the world real good that night. Even kids was just dressing up as Jadakiss for hallowen this year! (probably at the direction of the parents but the point still stands). Jada stuck to his guns and when people tried to write him and them Yonkers boys off, he showed up like Melo breaking another scoring record! Truly remarkable!
MIGHTY MIGHTY D-BLOCK!
III. NASIR’S KINGLY RESURGENCE
Man out of the legends discussed during this article, I gotta be proud most of my guy Nasir! The Queensbridge hero truly showed up these couple years. After a critically slammed fully Kanye produced album, people once again questioned “Is it Over for Nas?” “Should I listen to Illmatic for the 9Billionth time?!”. I personally enjoyed the Kanye produced album NASIR, but whether I enjoyed that or not, Nas shut all critics mouths for good when he linked up with the underdog HIt-Boy. Hit-Boy and Nas seem like a random hookup but Hit-Boy been unconsciously prepped for this moment for a while.
Hit-Boy got to produce maybe the biggest stadium banger of all time, “N***** In Paris”. Besides all the Ye stuff he had the Drake banger “Trophies” under his belt. He maintained consistency blessing the streets with his collab Dom Kennedy tapes and scooped a grammy for producing the late great Nipsey Hussle’s “Racks in the Middle” single. Wait a minute and the boy got production credits on SICKO MODE!
All his previous successes showed that he was ready to give Nas the soundtrack to properly convey his thoughts without forcing him to stay in what Hit-Boy dropped. Those tracks I mentioned sound nothing like each other but they still banged in their own way. Which is what exactly what Nas needed. He’d never fail with lyrical content but Hit-Boy had the ability to keep Nas current.
With the first King’s Disease, Nas showed us he still had plenty to say and he could give us bangers while he said them too! Nas even got his first grammy off this album, he didn’t even get a grammy for what people considered the greatest hip hop album of all time, Illmatic. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Nas delivers a sequel that is undoubtedly better than the first! His lyrics on point, the beat banging, and his songs has a new breath of life that doesn’t get tiresome.
Nas showed that he doesn’t have to play to the tune of today’s sound but he also showed he doesn’t have to boom bap us to death to stay true to himself. Even with songs like YKTV or SPICY, Nas don’t start rapping like Quavo or NBA Youngboy he stays himself while trusting Hit-Boy’s. production. This idea is expressed with the lyric, “imagine lil uzi on a primo beat, imagine n-a-s on a migos beat.” Which shows Nas isn’t afraid to experiment and he doesn’t have to lose himself while doing so, peace god!
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