By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
Jay Z is considered a Hip Hop legend to most music lovers, and Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole have been labeled two of the brightest of the new generation.
However, an old school emcee has a bone to pick with all three.
Hip Hop DX writes:
Melle Mel says he appreciates Macklemore including him and fellow Rap pioneers Grandmaster Caz and Kool Moe Dee in the video for “Downtown,” which has received criticism.
“He’s a good dude,” Melle Mel says to XXL. “He’s a real dude and he’s a friend to Hip Hop.”
The former Sugar Hill Records emcee says that Macklemore was the only rapper to reach out to the legends.
“I know for a fact that J. Cole or Kendrick Lamar or Rick Ross or Jay Z or any of these cats, they would not have done it, ever,” Melle Mel says. “They would not have done it. It took him to do it. And all those other so-called ‘real cats,’ they should hang their heads because somebody should have done it by now. They could have reached back to any of us. If you’re making records and you say you’re Hip Hop, you’re supposed to have a connection to what Hip Hop really is. And nobody made that connection until Macklemore made the connection. And I’ve had this conversation quite a few times since everything happened and had that little controversy of, yeah, the White boy, using the OGs, or blah blah blah. And like I said, none of those other guys would have ever done it. And it’s a shame that that’s the reality of what the game is right now.”
You can tell this man doesn’t listen to J Cole’s music. Whatever.
NOT. AT. ALL.
So he’s going to just bash three very talented black rappers to uplift a mediocre white one who just used him to get back in the good graces of Hip Hop heads. Interesting. Very interesting.
Is this dude serious? Jay, J Cole and Kendrick pay homage all the time. He’s just mad they haven’t paid HIM homage. This was just petty and unnecessary. No one has to big you up because you’re old. People choose heroes based off who they connect with personally. J Cole even made a whole song about how sad he was when he disappointed Nas.
Sh-t uncle toms come in all ages.
This is true.
lmao
*giggles*
After reading all that all I could think is “Whet?”
lol
Oh homage is constantly paid it’s just that they don’t cite him as their idol. This is all about a bruised ego.
Jay definitely had some greats in his Girls, Girls, Girls video, so he needs to come again!
Macklemore doesn’t give a damn about him though. He just wants to get some cool points from black people because we pulled his card last year.
Pretty much.
I hate when OG’s do this smh it’s so counterproductive if he likes Macklemore that’s fine that’s his prerogative. But why in the same breath tear down some of of the most influential rappers of this generation who have all paid homage.
This seems a bit petty and immature and even self serving honestly. For one thing, J Cole and Kendrick’s idols are Nas, Jay Z, Biggie and Tupac. They pay homage to them all the time as well. The younger generation has a different set of greats from the older generation. And Jay Z gives props quite often to the old school legends in his music. Especially his earlier work. He should just be honest and say he’s upset he isn’t someone they looked up to.
Ugh I’m annoyed. Macklemore is just a less annoying version of Iggy Azalea. We should not be praising him and putting down legit talent in the next breath.
I see he didn’t mention Drake. Shade or fear?
Probably fear. Who wants to be Meek Milled? But Drake pays homage by stealing lyrics right? I’ve noticed he’s taken lines right from the old heads in several of his songs. Lmfao.
And this is exactly why the music genres we create are eventually white washed and taken from us. If old school is pushing white artists too, what chance do the younger black artists have? What a shame.
Just no.
He’s almost 60 years old. He’s too old to be hating.
It’s a generational thing. Rappers coming up nowadays are going to look at Hov, Biggie, Nas and Pac like they are the originators. That’s who they grew up listening too. Meanwhile they may not ever come to know the greatness that is Rakim, Chuck D, Tribe…etc. They didn’t grow up in that era.
But Cole paid homage to Rakim on January 28th…Cole is always giving homage. Always. And Kendrick is going to look at people like 2Pac and Dre as idols. But we can’t overlook the fact that he had George Clinton and Ron Isley on his last album. Jay has paid homage too. This is just stupid to me.
He lost me with the Macklemore stanning.
He did no research at all.
All 3 have paid homage. He just doesn’t like the fact that they didn’t pay him homage.
It’s embarrassing to see old heads sell out and turn on their own people.