West coast rap legend, Snoop Dogg has come a long way. Ever since he was discovered by Dr. Dre in the early 1990s, he has continued to gain popularity. Snoop Dogg was born Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr. in Long Beach, California. His name “Snoop Dogg” originated from his mother because she thought he looked like Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon.

Jason DeFord, known as Jelly Roll, is an American rapper and country singer.  He was born December 1984 Antioch,Tennessee.  He started out in hip hop, then went into rock, which means  whenever fans go to his concert they get any kind of music they may want to hear. Jelly Roll came from a middle lower class family and his dad was a meat salesman while his mom was dealing with addiction and mental health issues. Many of his songs speak about these topics. Jelly Roll was also in and out of jail for 12 years, which he speaks to the public about.

Both of these rappers converge paths at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky this year. This begs the question: how do old school and new school rap overlap?

When thinking about old school rap and new school rap, Ms. Conner argues she prefers old school rap because she understands the lyrics better and likes the beats better.  “These new songs, you hear it once or twice and the old rap songs you know it better and they continue to be played. Old songs don’t say straight up bad stuff, instead they say it in different terms that aren’t inappropriate.” 

On the other hand, when I asked Ms. Daniel what she thought about this topic, she said, “I prefer new age rap. I enjoy dancing and the older music isn’t always something that I think you can dance to; plus, I prefer the lyricism and the female empowerment that has recently begun migrating into rap music.”

When thinking about older and newer rap music, everyone can support music with a good beat and rhythm. This just shows that both Snoop Dogg and Jelly Roll can coexist together and the Rupp Arena hosting these artists allows the community to have the best of both worlds.