A few Tuesday’s ago (May, 19th to be exact) we saw album releases from Busta Rhymes, Method Man/Redman, & of course, Eminem. This was so far the biggest release date of 2009. All three acts that I mentioned are veterans in the game and well respected by their peers. Another thing they have in common: They’re all over the age of 30. If you think about it, most of Hip-Hop’s elite are over the age of 30. I guess it’s no longer a young man’s game. So I was thinking, since you see a lot of lists with titles such as “25 Hottest Celebs Under 25” or “40 Richest Under 40”, why not The Best 30 Rappers Over 30? But for this list, we got set some ground rules. #1 of course is the most obvious; you gotta be over the age of 30 (That throws out people like Weezy, Lupe, Drake, & T.I.). #2, you have to be 30 as of this list (Both The Game & Joe Budden will be 30 this year, but aren’t as of yet). #3, you got to be active and releasing records with new material that’s relevant (Rakim & Big Daddy Kane are legends but they don’t make this list). Other than that, the only requirement is being 3-0 or older. So, here’s it: The Best 30 Rappers Over 30 (Ordered from oldest to youngest). 30 is the new 20! Did I forget anybody? (Update: Fabolous replaces Beanie Sigel)
Ice Cube (June 15, 1969) – 39
Jay-Z (December 4, 1969) – 39
Raekwon (January 12, 1970) – 39
Q-Tip (April 10, 1970) – 39
Redman (April 17, 1970) – 39
Ghostface Killah (May 9, 1970) – 39
Fat Joe (August 19, 1970) – 38
Scarface (November 9, 1970) – 38
DMX (December 18, 1970) – 38
Method Man (April 1, 1971) – 38
Snoop Dogg (October 20, 1971) – 37
Common (March 13, 1972) – 37
Busta Rhymes (May 20, 1972) – 37
Black Thought (October 3, 1972) – 36
Eminem (October 17, 1972) – 36
Bun B (March 19, 1973) – 36
Nas (September 14, 1973) – 35
Mos Def (December 11, 1973) – 35
Andre 3000 (May 27, 1974) – 35
Styles P (November 28, 1974) – 34
Big Boi (February 1, 1975) – 34
Jadakiss (May 27, 1975) – 34
50 Cent (July 6, 1975) – 33
Talib Kweli (October 3, 1975) – 33
Rick Ross (January 28, 1976) – 33
Cam’ron (February 4, 1976) – 33
Kanye West (June 8, 1977) – 31
Ludacris (September 11, 1977) – 31
Young Jeezy (October 12, 1977)- 31
Fabolous (November 18, 1977) – 31