Chuck D Slams Older Rappers Who Still Rap About 'The Same Street Tale'

[BK The Great]

Nas did it correctly with Life Is Good, I still listen to that album a lot. Rapped about his divorce, raising his daughter, money problems and everything in between.

 

[Pop123]

Sex, Murder, Crime, Money is what America loves to listen to. That's just the harsh reality. That type of content is what sells and this is a business.

That’s facts to an extent. There are plenty of musicians who don’t rap/sing/whatever about deplorable things that are successful and thriving. You can argue the biggest three rappers in rap outside of Eminem (Kendrick, J Cole, Drake) ain’t really on that like that. Drake kinda is lol, but he’ll give you a different twist too with his shhit, some more mature suave type shhit.

Youth culture loves that stuff you mentioned…and hip hop is youth culture, just going off the numbers. That’s why ignorance is bliss, imo. Most adult rap lovers raising children to be decent citizens and paying mortgages and all that, their twist ain’t really hearing rappers talking about killing, selling and using drugs and objectifying women every song . You see them all throughout comment sections and shhit complaining about how awful this stuff is now and real hip hop being dead, etc…

To your point tho, their twist is probably not necessarily them things that Chuck mentioned either, lol. There must be some kind of middle ground between full blown demons/darkness and death glorification…and rapping about PTA meetings and sore knees and kids soccer games and shhit like that, lol. There gotta be other cool shyt to youngins besides killin and dealin and strippers. Also, do the youngins who love this stuff necessarily want to hear 40+ rappers pumping that?

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

It's goddamn silly. Mfers over 40 living in gated communities are rhyming about being in the hood and their dumbazz illiterate fans actually believe they are in the streets.

 

[Bugzbunny129]

At the end of the day, rap is entertainment…

Funny enough public enemy were probably one of the origiinal acts who towed the line being entertainment by way of true cultural revolution. Gangsta rap coming in to deflect that revolutionary spirit killed it in rap period.

Now its pure entertainment , with buzzwords like “culture” being thrown around to make it seem more then what it is; an act.

Still waiting on that mc who isnt an entertainer at heart. In the end i think thats what hurt the game. New rsppers today dont love “the culture” like the older ones did.


And not for nothing. I dont pur chuck in that category of dope mc who changed with the times. He gave up if anything.

 

[Art Barr]

@Bugzbunny129

salute to you.

I see you and recognize you warrior.



Art Barr

 

[Art Barr]

@mr Sam

@FreshAIG


Salute to you.

Like always.


Art Barr

 

[Mac Ten]

100%

And while Nas does talk about street shyt, it's from an introspective and more mature space. There is a lane for more mature rap and I do wish that more social commentary rap was a thing. It was during the golden era in the late 80s and early 90s before corporations bought up all the smaller labels and started pushing "reality" and ridiculous capitalist rap over everything else. The fun, black empowerment, and social commentary in rap was killed from a mainstream perspective to be not cool. It wasn't by coincidence either.

Yes he does…


He always drops a small gem for the listeners
“It’s always trendy to be the conscious MC”


Nas was rapping about these subjects before it became popular. The whole Untitled album was ahead of its time

 

[Left.A1]

I generally agree

 

[Wild self]

Maino knows better than to attack Chuck D, a member of the NOI.

Imagine the FOI going after him???

 

[Still Benefited]

Pusha T should be pushing the lord like his brother No Malice(the superior Clipse member).

 

[Mac Ten]

Maino knows better than to attack Chuck D, a member of the NOI.

Imagine the FOI going after him???

Maino ain’t gonna do that to Chuck D and any OGs(except for Hassan Campbell)

 

[LevelUp]

He's not wrong

 

[Mac Ten]

The creativity is lost, that's what it is. But it's a different time.

I'm happy Ghostface is still putting out music but I rarely feel like I need to hear it twice. I'll just go back and listen to "Supreme Clientele".

Chuck has to show and prove though. No more passes for older rappers. How does a 2024 rapper get in the creative space you were in back in 1989 with the Bomb Squad? Can you help them figure it out? Chuck had a whole team providing direction. The construction of Public Enemy effectively hid his limitations. How beneficial is his tutelage?

KRS still rapping, Kool Keith is still rapping, Chuck is talking when he could be the change he wants to see.

Chuck D could have had a Lord Jafar career at least…

Better drop a podcast

 

[TripleAgent]

He has a point, but MCs shouldn't be tapdancing for Bernie Sanders, either. He's done plenty of sucker shyt too.