....pulled me into an rap artist, their music or their image. In fact, it's never even been a requirement of mine to connect with an artist to enjoy the music. Either I like a song or I don't. Nothing else matters. I never cared about authenticity either 'cuz I figured most cats were lying anyway...

When I was a youngster in the 80's, everybody looked old as fuck to me, Africa Bambaataa, Run DMC, Doug E. Fresh, all the way to KRS, Kane, Rakim, Salt'n'Pepa, PE....So age was never an issue.

And even in the early 80's, alot of hip hop had a "Get This Paper" or at least a "Fake it 'til you make it" sheen to it. So I never really paid attention to any brokeness. Kool Moe Dee, Slick Rick and later a Tribe Called Quest had videos on tv, so they were rich to me. lol

If you're equating hunger and energy with youth, I can see that, but even then, it's still about the overall vibe of the song, rather than the rapper themselves.