RESPECT YOUR ELDERS: HOW SIGNING VETERAN ARTISTS TO YOUNG LABELS HAS BEEN A CONSTANT TREND IN HIP HOP

As Curren$y builds his empire with industry vets Fiend and Mikey Rocks, DX wanted to look back at some Grammy-nominated comeback stories, some giant flops, and some cool minutia in between. Earlier this month, Curren$y signed Sir Michael Rocks of The Cool Kids to Jet Life Records.

Mikey will be joining former No Limit Records star Fiend at the fledgling label, which is primarily dedicated to free mixtape releases, spot dates and retail projects from the label's New Orleans founder and flagship artist.

To many, Curren$y and Sir Michael Rocks are of the same class of emcees. The Cool Kids were breaking into the media in 2006, the same year the former 504 Boyz emcee stepped out under a still-wet Young Money Records for "Where Da Cash At?" It was not until just two years ago that Curren$y was deemed a XXL "Freshman," but already the artist who has hopped from No Limit to

Young Money to DD172/Def Jam to Warner Brothers is assembling his own roster. The 30 year-old has signed a rapper five years his senior, and an upper-twenties "blog-rapper" peer. Is signing veterans and peers a re-emerging trend from several years ago? HipHopDX looks back to the history, triumphs and tribulations of this act.