Hip-hop has often been described as a young man’s game. Since its humble beginnings, the genre has always been about the now, the flash of what’s new and what’s next, without ever truly paying homage to what came before. The rampant success of young acts such as Soulja Boy and Plies had me, a 31-year-old recovering hip-hop addict, headed right to easy-listening rehab. No Ice-T on me, but the fact that Lil Wayne is considered a veteran at the ripe age of 26 should tell you something.

Recently, however, something changed. Throughout the summer I started nodding my head more and more to tracks by Nas, Busta Rhymes and LL Cool J. No, I didn’t buy a satellite radio and crank up the old-school station. These were new songs. And it seemed as though some of hip-hop’s most seasoned veterans (or, as the kids say, “old-ass rappers”) hadn’t faded into the night. Apparently many of these artists still have a couple of hot 16s left in them. Granted some rappers (Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg) transcend age, but even those artists can catch the wrath of a 16-year-old kid who thinks they should hang up their mics. I challenge that kid-and anyone else who feels to same way-not to rock to Nas’s “Fried Chicken” or Busta’s “Don’t Touch Me Now (Throw Da Water on ‘Em)” because, at the end of the day, good music is good music, regardless of an MC’s age.

That being said, we don’t need to go crazy with the old-man rap. I don’t want to hear a new Rev. Run album or see a Salt-N-Pepa music video featuring Keyshia Cole. I still prefer my really old rappers where they belong: on reality TV.