when hip hop start to swirl and mash

The real Golden Age was when these boundaries started crumbling: the early 2000s. The years from 2001 to 2006 were defined by collaborations against type and regional stars finally reaching the mainstream. Kanye West led the charge, rapping about both social issues and material success with a flow that redeemed the oft-maligned Mason Betha, and doing so with the co-sign of Jay-Z and Common. It’s easy to see his wide range of customers and collaborators as a result of his hunger: the Kanye we know would understand that the road to stardom is paved with production credits for Made Men album cuts and uncredited Nas loosies. But his pragmatism framed all of hip-hop as a continuum, and his ability to tailor his style to everyone from Trina to Consequence displayed common ground between previously unthinkable realms of rap. Freeway and Mos Def don’t seem so far apart in 2016, but hearing them go verse for verse on ‘Two Words’ (the B-side to ‘Through The Wire’) in 2004 was revolutionary.