New York lifers Fat Joe and Remy Ma did just that last week, taking over as temporary hosts for gossipy daytime TV mainstay The Wendy Williams Show. My favorite pastime is watching rappers trying to do things they’re completely unqualified to do. A day-by-day breakdown of Fat Joe and Remy Ma’s week-long stint as hosts of The Wendy Williams Show Here’s a roundup of recent ventures from veteran rappers who are thriving, adapting, and stumbling through life now that their hitmaking days are mostly behind them.
The last several weeks have given us a glimpse at the ups and downs of what this can look like, resulting in a mixed bag of nostalgia that can be safe, fun, or just plain weird. As they enter middle age, they often have to step outside of music to stay visible. In a genre where anyone over 30 is at risk of, fairly or unfairly, being labeled as “washed,” it’s a balancing act for rappers to maintain their cultural relevance without watering things down or settling into niche territory. Pitchfork writer Alphonse Pierre’s rap column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, Instagram freestyles, memes, weird tweets, fashion trends- and anything else that catches his attention.