The New York Times has an article about old school rappers and how they are making pocket change from there classic albums.

The wobbly sales of classic rap records of the ’80s also do not bode well for the artists’ future income. On the topic of royalties, Mr. McDaniels (DMC of RunDMC) said: “I do fairly well. I get a check every now and then. But I can’t live off it.” The use of samples, which requires rappers to split royalties with the composers of the sampled song, further cuts into profits. Mr. McDaniels called the situation “a nightmare.”