And what seemed like forever is a mighty long time...

The Dynasty
written by Just K

It’s really odd timing for the self-proclaimed best rapper alive to drop a rock album, especially when he is currently supposed to be prepping the Young Money album. And in a time when attention spans are shorter than a four-minute song, releasing a single that’s almost 5 minutes in length with 5 different artists (not to mention the need for a great deal of editing) is an interesting choice. There is a very noticeable void in rap and I believe that Weezy’s Young Money crew is poised to fill it. Wayne is currently the most popular rapper, possibly artist, performing right now and he’s got a roster full of talent. If he takes his fame, adds their abilities, and properly capitalizes on the wide-open door of opportunity, Young Money Records could end up being the next big dynasty. Whether he makes those moves or not remains to be seen, but think back a bit.

When was the last time a record label really dominated the airwaves for an extended period of time? What was the last hip-hop Dynasty?

The last I remember was Roc-a-fella Records at the beginning of the millennium. They had album after album of heat from 2000 to 2003. In that time span you had The Blueprint, The Truth and The Reason from Sigel, both State Property albums, Freeway’s debut, and then came the surprise signing of Cam’ron and The Diplomats. And believe it or not, somewhere in there Amil managed to drop a platinum album. Bleek dropped a couple decent joints and there were a whole lot of hit singles that came out of that Roc-a-fella crew. By the way, don’t forget Just Blaze and Kanye were in house producers at the time. Sick.

And before that, don’t forget the Ruff Ryders. X was killing EVERYTHING. Eve was the newest femcee on the block and she was the real deal; the Pitbull in a Skirt was nothing to play with. And The Lox were given the freedom to make the hood joints they wanted to. And Swizz Beatz was dishing out hits left and right.

And there was Def Jam in general. Jay-Z was Roc-a-fella/Def Jam. DMX was Ruff Ryders/Def Jam. Method and Red – Def Jam. Ja Rule and his arguably classic debut was Murda Inc/Def Jam. Foxy Brown and her unforgettable “I’m nice around mics like Pippen” line came out of Def Jam. LL Cool J and Onyx…you guessed it. Honorable mention goes to the sick Belly Soundtrack, which was released on Def Jam. Oh yeah, and the first mixtape to go platinum with The Professional. Damn.

Around that same time period you can throw in Cash Money and No Limit as well. The freaks still drop it like it’s hot for Back That Azz Up. Middle-aged white people still think Bling Bling is a hip new term. I still get hyped when Make Em Say Uhhhhh or Hot Boys & Hot Girls comes on (I’m the lightning in bad weather//I’m the n***a in the picture on your girlfriend’s dresser). These two labels foreshadowed the eventual vice grip southern rap music would have on hip-hop.

And now we have…a big gaping hole. I wonder if Young Money has it in them to fill it. They’ve got the star, the females (one MC, one singer), the south, the north, the way north (Drizzy) and a decent chance. Let’s see what they do with it.