Ja Rule believes he can still be a major figure in hip-hop despite not having released an album in over 12 years.
The Queens native visited The Tamron Hall Show last week, where he talked about his upcoming album that he announced earlier this month. According to Ja, the album represents a fresh, new start for the rapper and proof that hip-hop doesn't have an age limit. The 47-year-old also said artists from his generation should keep making music so that the culture can grow gracefully like other genres, such as rock and roll.
"My album is called Can We Watch the Sunrise Together?" he told Hall. "If anybody's familiar with the significance of [a] sunrise, it's new beginnings, fresh starts [and] resurrections."
He continued, "For me, I think hip-hop is moving into that stage like how rock and roll did when we grew up — you know, this is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop… hip-hop is growing up, and I think it's time for artists in my age bracket to continue making music so we have those classic, you know, hip-hop stations and those classic, you know, hip-hop songs."
Age in hip-hop has been a topic of discussion over the last few months. André 3000 stirred the pot when he revealed he has nothing to rap about at 48 years of age that'll be relevant to the current generation of listeners, and many of his peers addressed his claims.
Lil Wayne reflected on 3 Stacks' comments and said during an interview with GQ that hearing a legend say something like that was depressing.
"I read a depressing quote or two from someone that I respect a lot in hip-hop and music period," Wayne said about André's quote. "They would ask, 'Why you ain't been doing music,' and they was like, 'Man what am I gonna talk about? I'm in my 40s, like what am I going to talk about? What you want to know about me being 40 and the life I'm living?'...I was like that's so depressing I have everything to talk about," Wayne said.
Sheek Louch and Styles P of The LOX also spoke about André losing his desire to rap during a visit to The Breakfast Club when they said the Atlanta legend should continue rapping since he has so much to say.
"It's a lot, man. Just how you word it and put it. You don't gotta — of course we not talking about being in the hallways or trapping and all that too much but it's a lot. Let us know what you been going through," said Sheek. "Rap about his travels. He's one of the greatest to ever do it. He could've rapped over the flute beats. Straight up. I think rapping about what is he gonna rap about is a good point of view. It gives different people different perspectives."
