Everyone has an opinion on the state of hip-hop; not everyone has five decades of credibility like Erick Sermon . The legendary rapper-producer is holding court in his midtown Manhattan studio, starting our nearly two-hour discussion with thoughts on why his veteran peers have aged more gracefully than succeeding generations. “They made records that was going to surpass and be able to live the test of time so they can still work forever,” he says. “This era is not going to be able to do that,