Latest rap star Soulja Boy and ancient rap star Ice T are fighting on YouTube. The 17-year-old who got famous on the Internet (over 60 million views for his music video "Crank That") is using the site to demonstrate how fresh he is, and how irrelevant Ice T (age 49) is. The fight started when Ice T said that Soulja Boy "singlehandedly killed hip-hop." Soulja Boy answered by looking up Ice T on Wikipedia and mocking him on YouTube for being old. Ice T returned with an apology — and then trashed Soulja Boy even harder. All three clips below, along with Kanye West's commentary.

Ice T slams Soulja Boy:

Soulja Boy mocks Ice T:

Ice T hits back:

This isn't about the music any more. Ice T is right; Soulja Boy is the Nickelback of hip-hop. "Crank That" (or at least the remix) is catchy, but his other work is either awful or forgettable. For example, his second hit "Yaah" is a belligerent, childish celebration of being rude.

But the quality of Soulja Boy's music doesn't matter. Ice T has revealed his age and his irrelevance. "Watch the YouTubes," he says, sounding as out of touch as Ted "Series of Tubes" Stevens. Now the argument isn't over the Soulja Boy's talent but over his relevance. Ice T says, "you can't hurt my career 'cause I'm caked out." But all that means is that Soulja Boy can't hurt Ice T's career because it's over anyway.

By escalating the fight, Ice T just helped Soulja Boy keep his young career going. He gave Soulja Boy a chance to talk about Ice T's age (listing things that are younger than Ice T — like Wal-Mart — is a nice touch) and announce that "the game has changed, there's new n——-s out, and nobody wants to hear that old shit no more." Soulja also earned the support of Kanye West, who blogged:

Soulja boy is fresh ass hell and is actually the true meaning of what hip hop is sposed to be. He came from the hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound and a new dance with one song. He had all of America rapping this summer. If that ain't Hip Hop then what is? A bunch of wannabe keep it real rappers that ain't even relevant, recycling samples trying to act like it's 96 again and all they do is hate on new shit?