and the way you framed it was in direct relation to what old school is to *you*. Like... verbatim.

This is absolutely about you getting older because "old school" is always relative to the generation at hand.

You ask if it makes sense to classify Common the same way we classify SHG and that framing only makes sense to people our age, but to a 19 year old that's ALL old school.

Your OP header was "I can't take this old school shit" which is very much a statement of someone who is getting older and unhappy with the fact that the things they came up on are now considered old school.

The name you choose to refer to an MC from the 90's or 00's is 100% arbitrary so yeah, it makes sense to refer to Common as old school whether or not he "feels" or "seems" "old school" according to my frame of reference because he's old as a motherfucker and I've been listening to him for half my life.

No matter how you frame it this is absolutely about your age in relation to ever changing world around you.