Videos by According2HipHop
Erick Sermon says Hip-Hop’s current embrace of its roots isn’t a coincidence—it’s a long-overdue celebration that’s been building thanks to a handful of pivotal projects and artists who’ve kept the genre’s golden essence alive.
In a recent conversation with Rock The Bells, Sermon credited the resurgence of “classic Hip-Hop” energy to a new wave of albums rooted in the culture’s foundational sound—from Nas to Pete Rock & Common, and most recently, Clipse.
“Nas and King’s Disease back to back was the beginning,” Sermon said, nodding to the Grammy-winning run that reinvigorated the Queensbridge icon’s catalog. “Then you had Common and Pete Rock [with The Auditorium Vol. 1].”
But it was Clipse’s latest effort, Let The Lord Sort ’Em Out, that Sermon believes pushed the movement into the spotlight. “I would argue with anybody that there were no eyes put on what we are doing right now until after the Clipse’s latest album came out,” Sermon said.
The way he tells it, those projects set the tone for what’s now happening with Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It campaign—an ambitious rollout featuring releases from Slick Rick, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, De La Soul, Big L, and Nas & DJ Premier.
But Sermon’s not content to just celebrate the movement—he’s contributing to it. His upcoming Dynamic Duos project, nearly mythologized at this point, will drop in three volumes. Volume One is a who’s who of hip-hop’s lineage: Mobb Deep, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, M.O.P., Conway The Machine, The Game, 38 Spesh, and even an EPMD reunion.
Fans got their first preview with “Back 2 The Party,” a feel-good link-up with Salt-N-Pepa that reimagines Stephanie Mills’ 1979 classic “What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin’.” The single channels old-school dancefloor magic, nodding to NYC nightlife landmarks like The Fever and Rooftop—a sonic time machine that celebrates the culture’s timeless energy.
Following that, Sermon reunited with Method Man & Redman for the fiery “Look At ‘Em,” before dropping “Like That,” an all-star collaboration with Snoop Dogg and a posthumous verse from Nate Dogg—a reminder that his brand of soulful, hard-hitting Hip-Hop remains both nostalgic and necessary.
If Dynamic Duos lands the way Sermon intends, it won’t just be another legacy project—it’ll be a statement that hip-hop’s roots still matter. And maybe that’s the real energy behind this so-called “classic rap resurgence”: not a return to the past, but a reminder that the past still moves the future.
So what does it say about hip-hop right now that its legends are leading the next wave?
