We’ve heard those words before,”I’m going into retirement”, from sooo many different hip hop artists, such as Jay-Z, Master P, Eminem and so forth. But for some reason, they just can’t leave the game alone. They all come back one or two years later with a debut album. Jay-Z is by far the worst, if you ask me. He has retired like 4 times, but just keeps coming back. I don’t and won’t believe it anymore if he says it again. Now, it just seems like a big publicity stunt to get people to buy their CDs because it’s the last time they will hear from them.

Now, Lil Wayne is claiming that he will retire, but no time soon. His retirement plan says that he will stay in the game no longer than 8 more years.Wayne claims that he always said that he wouldn’t rap anymore after the age 35. Ha, he says that now. A lot of people agree that rappers and hip hoppers shouldn’t be old and should retire to allow new game to come into the industry. But Jay-Z being an old head, of course, doesn’t agree. He says that it shouldn’t be made easy for the youngsters coming into the hip hop game. If they want to be on top, they’re going to have to work hard for it. Heck, it wasn’t made easy for Jay. Back then, there wasn’t as much competition as there is now, even if a lot of them are low-level rappers. People like these stars because they make good club bangers. After Lil Wayne retires, he’s looking to own a basketball team.

There’s always been hype about the hip hop industry and how many of the rap artists that enter into the game come out hard and then go soft. One of the first rappers to do that was Ja-Rule. He rapped about women, money and cars with hardcore lyrics while rockin’ a bandana and hip hop jewelry; but a couple albums later, he had a love Jones. Many of the songs he released there after were love songs featuring singers like Lil’ Mo and Ashanti. A lot of his fans didn’t like the new Ja and he eventually fell off. Even other rappers took notice of the bad boy gone soft and started beef — remember when 50 Cents came out with that controversial hit?

Well, Ja Rule isn’t the only one that has “fallen off track”, but there’s a new buster in town. Kanye West is best known for his ill lyrics and old school approach, but his new album is definitely different than his hardcore self. Many fans are mad about his new R & B, techno-beat feel. You may have already heard a few of them, like “Love Lockdown” and “Coldest Winter”. Some congratulate his attempt to sample new waters while others are mad about another good rapper gone bad.

His new album has a more R & B sound and those that have heard it — well, some are a bit disappointed. There are a lot of heart broken songs on there, but it doesn’t really seem to be talking about a girl of interest. Some folks have speculated that he could be making this album for his late mother…who knows?

What do you think?