Hip Hop stars still hustling

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Posting this now, I'll come back and read it later.
No Respect For Hip-Hop’s O.G.s: Why Many Legendary MCs Still Need to Hustle - The Daily Beast

The gist: Bands from 70s - Steely Dan and Rush - are playing sold out arena shows.
Rappers and Hip Hop royalty like LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Ice Cube are still working clubs or playing together on tour.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Their music doesn't age as well, IMO. I listen to 80s rap now, and it just sounds dumb. It had its place and time, but i dont care to hear it anymore.

 

[JackReacher]

80s rap is miles better than the garbage rap of today.

 

[JC]

I will get off your lawn now Jack.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I don't think too many people regardless of race, in the 40-50 age range want to go to a rap concert.

 

[JackReacher]

DC is full of them.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

The boy band reunions seem to make a truckload of money too.

 

[Webster]

Having gone to more than my share of rap concerts during the 1980s, most of these acts never played more than medium-sized venues during their prime. And lets just say that almost none of them were known for their live performances.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Having gone to more than my share of rap concerts during the 1980s, most of these acts never played more than medium-sized venues during their prime. And lets just say that almost none of them were known for their live performances.

I thought Public Enemy was great live. I saw them several times, a couple with just them, a couple when they were touring with Anthrax and a couple when they were opening for U2. I saw Snoop and Dre probably 20 years ago and they were great too.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Wu Tang Clan.
2 Live Crew.

All of the above mentioned rappers are better than Steely Dan and Rush.

I suspect a lot of it race-related. I like rap. I listen to old stuff a lot. That said, not sure I - 40-year-old white guy - would go to a Wu Tang concert.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Yeah, I'm 41 and the last rap concert I went to was Outkast well over a decade ago, probably 2002 or 2003. Before that, it would have been when A Tribe Called Quest toured with the Beastie Boys in 2000 or so.

 

[As The Crow Flies]

I'll leave the debate on the merits of 80s/90s rap to you fine people. That said - there's nothing at all wrong with Steely Dan or Rush.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Never seen Steely Dan. Rush is great live.

 

[Webster]

I thought Public Enemy was great live. I saw them several times, a couple with just them, a couple when they were touring with Anthrax and a couple when they were opening for U2. I saw Snoop and Dre probably 20 years ago and they were great too.

I saw them twice and came away unimpressed. I really liked their music but I couldn't understand a word that Chuck D was saying and I thought that they were very flat as performers.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Talented musicians have better success than novelty acts? You don't say.

Of course, that doesn't explain Kiss.

 

[TyWebb]

I don't see this as a comment on cultural differences and more a continuation of supply and demand.

If those acts could sell out Madison Square Garden, they would. They can't, so they are booked at smaller venues.

 

[Iron_chet]

I saw RUN DMC in the early 2000s and was not expecting much. They had a bit of renaissance because of the remake of It's Tricky. Holy Crap what a show.

First thing they did was tell everyone to get up and rush the stage and dance, bouncers were not impressed. Show was in a 1600 seat theatre and I swear the balcony was moving. They stayed and signed autographs for 90 minutes after. It seemed like they were jazzed to play a sold out show after falling off for a while.

Generally speaking I don't think live Rap shows are as good as Rock shows in huge venues anyway but as said above, if they could sellout MSG they would play there.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I would be very curious to see the age breakdown of people who go to the most concerts. I'll bet it's very high for under 25-30 and very high for over 55-60.

How else do you explain how the top tours are George Strait, Billy Joel, Paul Simon/Sting, One Direction, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry...

I'm 41 and most of the top grossing tours are singers/bands who were before my time, or geared at teenagers.

There aren't too many acts from the 1980s and 1990s on these lists.

 

[Webster]

I saw Run-D.M.C. a few times during their peak, the last of which was in 1987 at MSG with the Beasties. The next time that I saw them was in 1997 at Tramps and their setlist was identical to the MSG show. I then saw them a few years later at a charity event where D.M.C. basically couldn't rap and had Jam Master Jay do most of his lines and once again it was the same exact setlist to the other two shows.

 

[I Should Coco]

The article's commentary about the lack of "classic rap" radio probably isn't relevant today; I'm sure there are plenty of kids digging "old school" rappers via Pandora. Doubtful that over-the-airwaves radio moves the needle much for the 25 and younger crowd.