The Art of Dialogue

Former Outlawz Rapper, Napoleon, Says Snoop Dogg Is Disrespectful To 2Pac 

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Napolean, a former rapper for Outlawz, says Snoop Dogg takes subtle digs at 2Pac when he discusses the late rapper. Speaking during an interview with The Art of Dialogue, Napolean explained how Allen Hughes and Snoop both make themselves look better while praising Pac.

“Some of these individuals, they very slick,” he began. “You have the Hughes brothers, you have certain individuals like Snoop, for example — they have a way where they acting like they praising Pac, but they[‘re] putting him down. Like [Allen Hughes] said, ‘[Snoop] dimmed his light for Pac to shine.’ They do it in such a slick way so you can be like, ‘Oh wow, he’s not a hater.’”

Read More: Snoop Dogg Says 2Pac Inspired His “Pimp” Style

Snoop Dogg Speaks At 2Pac’s Posthumous Hall Of Fame Induction

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 07: Presenter Snoop Dogg speaks about 2017 Inductee Tupac Shakur onstage at the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Barclays Center on April 7, 2017 in New York City. Debuting on HBO Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 8:00 pm ET/PT (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Allen Hughes is currently working on a biopic of Snoop Dogg. The comments referenced by Napoleon stem from an interview Hughes did with the Rap Radar Podcast, in which he explained how Snoop was one of the biggest stars during the 1990s. “You got a guy [Snoop] that was the rockstar of that era,” Hughes said. “And in the same era, he’s on trial for murder… and thank God, [he] beats the case. And then you got all that little window where Snoop dimmed his light for 2Pac. I never understood that back then. I remember Snoop just dimming his light and letting 2Pac shine when Snoop was the guy, y’know?” Check out Napoleon’s recent comments on Snoop Dogg and Allen Hughs below.

Napoleon Calls Out Snoop Dogg

Hughes previously worked on the docuseries, Dear Mama, which released earlier this year. It followed 2Pac’s mother, Afeni Shakur. Be on the lookout for further updates on his biopic for Snoop Dogg on HotNewHipHop.

Read More: Snoop Dogg Mad That Tupac “Took His Shine,” Outlawz Rapper Napoleon Claims

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The post Former Outlawz Rapper, Napoleon, Says Snoop Dogg Is Disrespectful To 2Pac  appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Tupac Wanted Biggie To Join Thug Life

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A member of Thug Life, Macadoshis, recently revealed in an interview that Tupac wanted Biggie to join Thug Life. He told The Art Of Dialogue that he remembers meeting and smoking with Biggie, sharing that he “[remembers] him being like, real down to Earth.” He also claimed that if the timing were different, he thinks Biggie could have definitely become part of the group.

We got an opportunity to meet Big,” Macadoshis revealed. “We went tour and we was doing the Thug Life tour. We started out at Jack the Rapper and ‘Pac actually bought Big up to the room. We was staying at the Marriott Marquis and Biggie came up to the room and he was hella cool, bro. I remember him being like, real down to Earth. He kicked it with everybody, smoked a blunt with him and we was just chilling with him,” he shared.

Read More: Biggie Smalls Allegedly Cried When He Heard Tupac’s “Hit ‘Em Up” Diss

Macadoshis Thinks Diddy Prevented Biggie From Joining Thug Life

The artist continued, explaining what was going on with the group at the time that they met Biggie. “We was moving forward with the Thug Life album at the same time Big was with Puff. So, it was not a conflict of interest, but I don’t feel like Puff was tryna let Biggie really come over there and do no Thug Life shit at the time while he was working with him,” Macadoshis shared. He added, “He wanted to be the first to break him and bring him out. He only had ‘Party and Bullshit’ out during that time. So I think that’s what really kinda held it up.”

Macadoshis explained, “It’s just the timing was kind of off. I think if ‘Pac and Big would have got together before he got with Puffy then it definitely would have been a go. But at the time he was already with Bad Boy so I think that kind of like, put the stall on bro being apart of the group. But it was official though. It was definitely a thing. It was just bad timing.”

Read More: DJ Drama Believes Tupac & Biggie Would’ve Been As Rich As Jay-Z, Diddy & Dr. Dre

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Melle Mel Believes Ja Rule Tried To “Sound Hard” Like 50 Cent

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His sit down with The Art of Dialogue has stirred many Hip Hop pots, and another clip has Melle Mel back in the center of controversy. For decades, there has been a Hip Hop beef that just doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. 50 Cent and Ja Rule have co-existed within the culture without too many dust-ups, but when they arrive, the spats command attention. Whether they’re trading verbal shots or issuing disses in interviews, Fif and Ja remain foes.

Music legend Melle Mel has seen the ebbs and flows of Rap since its inception. The Hip Hop pioneer is quite opinionated about the genre, considering he watched it take shape in real-time, and in his latest interview, he offered a few thoughts about 50 Cent and Ja Rule. He noted that many rappers could be better if they didn’t attempt to emulate their peers. “What is it that you need to say? You could be the n*gga that made a song about a pool party, but you f*cked around and listened to Meek Mill. And you f*cked around and did some dumb sh*t.”

Melle Mel Uses Ja & 50 As An Example

To emphasize his point, Mel mentioned the two warring rappers. “It’s just like when 50 Cent was doing this sh*t. And then when Ja Rule…and that was probably one of his last big records.” He was referencing Ja’s hit classic, “New York.” Melle continued, “If he woulda just made that record a pure New York record, it would have been a way bigger record. But he went the route of trying to sound hard because 50 Cent sound hard. And it was still a good record, but I’m just saying. If he woulda just made it a pure New York record like how Jay-Z did with his New York record. See what I’m saying? If he woulda went along the same lines as that.”

Elsewhere in the clip, Melle Mel discussed how the street life is a detriment to Hip Hop. He argued that “consciousness does have its place in Hip Hop, but everybody is too scared about not being hard. And that’s the destruction of the whole game.” Watch the video of Melle Mel on The Art of Dialogue discussing Hip Hop, 50 Cent, and Ja Rule above.

Melle Mel Calls Out Nas & Kendrick Lamar For “Talking Sh*t”

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Melle Mel says that Kendrick Lamar, Nas, and many other of today’s biggest artists aren’t truly great because they “talk a lot of shit.” The iconic Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rapper explained his reasoning during his viral interview with The Art Of Dialogue. Speaking with the outlet, Melle Mel criticized numerous other artists in response to Billboard‘s recent Top 50 Rappers of All Time list. He landed at No. 48.

“What did JAY-Z say that you could consider truly great? You just like the song,” Melle said. “As far as how I felt about hip-hop, I’ve never liked what nobody was doing. I don’t even like the shit that I did after I did it. I’m trying to do some other shit. It tarnishes the game and then it tarnishes society as well. Don’t take hip-hop all that serious. The bottom line to all of this, whether you believe there’s one great MC or whether you believe that there’s 500 great MC’s, this is just some n***a talking shit.”

Melle Mel’s Grammys Performance

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) Scorpio and Melle Mel perform onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

From there, he explained he explained that JAY-Z can get away with “talking shit.” “This is just some n***a talking shit and everybody is caught up in all that shit. JAY-Z, that n***a can talk shit. Who’s the number two guy on that list? [Kendrick Lamar] is just another n***a talking shit. I’m not gonna put him number two. [Nas] another n***a talking shit… How you gonna take a n***a talking shit that serious? Who is this n***a and what has this n***a done for you to take whatever has come out his mouth serious? That’s why the streets is fucked up.”

Melle Mel touched on a number of other topics during the interview as well. At one point, he attributed Eminem’s legendary status to being white, argued that DMX & Tupac were better actors than rappers, and much more.

Melle Mel’s Interview With “The Art Of Dialogue”

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Kevin Gates Defends Eminem After Melle Mel’s Criticism: “He In My Top 5”

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Kevin Gates came to Eminem’s defense during an interview with TMZ, earlier this week, revealing that the legendary rapper is one of his favorites of all time. The comments come after Melle Mel argued that Eminem is only considered an all-time great because he’s white. Mel made the remarks during a controversial interview with The Art of Dialogue in which he also criticized Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne.

“He in my top 5,” Kevin Gates told the outlet. “He the truth. Who can make a song like ’Stan’?” When asked further about Mel’s comments, he added: “Listen, I don’t get in all of that. It’s only two types of people. It’s real people, and it’s fake people. Real people do real things, and fake people do fake things.” Gates isn’t the only one to come to Eminem’s defense. 50 Cent, Fat Joe, Papoose, and more have all spoken out in disagreement with Mel’s comments.

Eminem’s Hall Of Fame Induction

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 05: Inductee Eminem performs on stage during the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on November 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

As for Mel’s original argument, he had been discussing Billboard and Vibe‘s recent Top 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time list. Regarding Eminem’s placement, he said: “Obviously, he’s a capable rapper. If we was talkin’ about sales, he sold more than everybody, if you talkin’ about rhyme style, okay, he got a rhyme style. But he’s white! He’s white! So now, if Eminem was just another n***a like all the rest of us, would he be Top 5 on that list? When a n***a that can rhyme just as good as him is [No.] 35? That had records and all that. He’s 35. He’s white.”

“So, you know, anybody can be as mad as they want. They can feel how they wanna feel,” Mel continued. “If you don’t think that race plays a part in the equation in how great he is—I heard one of the dudes that’s down with him, [Royce Da 5’9”], I heard he’s just as good as Eminem. Why ain’t he as big as Eminem? Because he’s Black! None of that sh*t [is] hard to figure out!”

Kevin Gates With “TMZ”

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Fat Joe & Papoose Defend Eminem After Melle Mel’s Comments

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Fat Joe and Papoose have come to Eminem’s defense after the legendary Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rapper Melle Mel criticized him during an interview with The Art of Dialogue, last week. Mel argued that Eminem is only considered one of the greatest rappers of all time because he is white. Fat Joe and Papoose disagreed during an Instagram Live post on Monday.

“I disagree with that because even though Eminem is Caucasian, you cannot front on his skillset, man. You can’t deny that skillset!” Papoose said, to which Joe replied: “No way. As much as I love and worship Melle Mel, I think he’s wrong with this one.”

Eminem At The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 05: Inductee Eminem performs onstage during the 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on November 05, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

The two both clarified that they are huge fans of Melle Mel, despite adamantly disagreeing with him on Eminem’s talents. “Listen, I love Melle Mel. He’s the originator of his style. He’s amazing, lyrically. I still listen to ‘The Message.’ And I know Melle Mel!” Papoose said. “I look up to him, man. He’s a legend. I could go on and on about the respect that I have for him.” He added: “Lyrically, dudes are still not touching [Melle Mel]. But honestly, that skillset that that boy Slim Shady got, you can’t — nah, man.” Fat Joe also labeled Mel his “icon.” “He’s one of my Top 10,” he said.

As for Melle Mel’s exact comments, he explained that he can recognize that Eminem is talented, but said being white has a lot to do with his popularity. “Obviously, he’s a capable rapper. If you was talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you talking about rhyme style, okay, he got a rhyme style,” Melle Mel said. “But he’s white! If Eminem was just another n***a like all the rest of us, would he be top five on that list, when a n***a that can rhyme just as good as him is [number] 35? … If he was a Black rapper, he wouldn’t even make the list probably.”

Fat Joe & Papoose’s Response

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Melle Mel Says Lil Wayne Can’t Be The Best-Ever Because He Uses Autotune

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Melle Mel says that Lil Wayne should be eliminated from the conversation for the best rapper of all time because he uses autotune. The iconic Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five rapper explained his reasoning during an interview with The Art Of Dialogue. Mel had been responding to a list of the greatest rappers of all time, which placed Wayne at No. 7.

“How could you know? How?” he asked. “If his voice is on autotune, was something wrong with his voice for them to put the autotune on his voice? Or is it just something that they did in the studio to give it that rawness? But how could you know?”

Melle Mel At The Grammys

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: Melle Mel attends the 65th GRAMMY Awards on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Wayne’s placement inside the top 10 of the list wasn’t the only issue decision Mel took issue with. He also didn’t agree with Kendrick Lamar ranking as the second-best ever. He argued that Lamar has no influence over hip-hop. “I don’t know what records he made like that,” he said. “I might know one or two of them, but I don’t think you even hear Kendrick in the club like that.”

The controversial takes didn’t stop there either. Mel also claimed that Eminem is only considered as great as he is because he’s white. “Obviously he’s a capable rapper,” he said. “If you was talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white!” 50 Cent took particular issue with that comment and fired back on social media. He wrote in part: “I am not sure if it would be what it is today with out artist like Eminem. Shit I am not sure I would be who I am with out him but you know it is competitive so n****s gonna hate.” Additionally, Melle Mel also claimed that Busta Rhymes should be ranked higher on the list than Jay-Z.

Melle Mel On Lil Wayne’s Legacy

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Melle Mel Says Says Kendrick Lamar Doesn’t Influence Hip-Hop

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Melle Mel says that Kendrick Lamar doesn’t have any influence over hip-hop and shouldn’t be considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. He explained his reasoning for the controversial take during a conversation with The Art of the Dialogue in a recent interview. Despite admitting Lamar is talented, he explained that no one “wants to rap like” him. He also said Lamar’s songs “don’t translate into the street part of hip-hop.”

“I don’t know what records he made like that,” he went on. “I might know one or two of them, but I don’t think you even hear Kendrick in the club like that.” Mel added that regardless of his talent, it “doesn’t translate into the No.2 rapper of all time.” He continued: “Nobody wants to rap like Kendrick Lamar. Nobody wants to rap like Eminem. A lot of people wanted to rap, like ‘Pac and Biggie.”

Melle Mel At The Grammys

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: Melle Mel attends the 65th GRAMMY Awards on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Mel’s comments on Kendrick Lamar aren’t the only controversial opinion he shared during the interview. In another viral clip, Mel also said that Eminem is only considered one of the greatest ever because he’s white. “Obviously he’s a capable rapper,” Mel said. “If you was talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white! So now if Eminem was another n***a like all the rest of us, would he be Top 5 on that list when a n***a that could rhyme just as good as him is 35? That had records and all that? He’s 35. He’s white.”

From there, Mel compared Eminem’s talents to Royce Da 5’9″ while mislabeling him as “Royce Da 6’9.” “And anybody could be as mad … They could feel how they wanna feel,” Mel said. “If you don’t think that race plays a part in the equation of how great he is — I heard one of the dudes that’s down with him, Royce Da 6’9″ or one of those – I heard he’s just as good as Eminem. Why he ain’t as big as Eminem? Because he’s Black! Ain’t none of that shit hard to figure out. Eminem gets a top spot because he’s white.”

Melle Mel On Kendrick Lamar

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Silkk The Shocker Says Jay-Z Turned Down $100k For Their Collaboration

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Silkk The Shocker says that Jay-Z shot down a $100,000 offer for their 1999 collaboration, “You Know What We Bout.” Instead, Silkk says that it was bigger than money for him. Silkk The Shocker reflected on his relationship with Jay-Z during an interview with The Art of Dialogue published earlier this week.

“Our relationship was dope because when I did the song with him, I thought I had a budget for him,” Silkk recalled. “I was like, ‘Yo, I got a hundred racks’ — that’s a lot of money back in the day too! I’m sure he could’ve used the extra $100,000; who ain’t gonna use that? When I hit him up, I’m like, ‘Yo, the song is dope, you killed it. Where I should I send that bread to?’ Jay was like, ‘Nah, it’s good, man. Just keep it and we’ll figure out something later on down the line.’”

Silkk The Shocker On “The Art Of Dialogue”

“He won’t do it for anybody, though; he won’t even do music for anybody. What I came to learn was that it’s bigger than [money] for him,” he added. “To me, that’s consistent with [where he is] today — if you look at him, it’s not a fluke that he’s successful.” Silkk continued: “I don’t care how rich you are, you gonna be like, ‘Man, send my bread.’ But he was just dead cool. He ain’t even second-guess it like, ‘Yeah, send me half of it.’ The good part about it: down the line, I kinda did something for him and I just thought it was solid.”

“You Know What We Bout” was featured on Silkk the Shocker’s third studio album, Made Man. The project debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 selling 240,244 copies in its first week. Silkk previously discussed the making of “You Know What We Bout” during an appearance on Drink Champs in 2021. The song also features Master P and was originally supposed to feature DMX, but a tight deadline prevented that from happening. He also revealed that Jay-Z submitted his verse at the last minute. “Salute to DMX too, he really wanted to do it, but he probably was just like, ‘I’ma get it in the morning, I ain’t got time to do it.’ So I just had to go with Jay,” he explained.

“You Know What We Bout”

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Beyoncé & Tupac Would Be A Couple If Late Rapper Was Alive, Big Gipp Claims

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Of the many superstar couples in the music industry, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are undoubtedly one of the most successful. Of course, their relationship hasn’t been without its struggles – markedly the time Hov spent getting friendly with “Becky with the good hair.” Still, they’ve maintained a united front through it all. According to Big Gipp, if Tupac were still alive today, he would be the one romancing the Houston native, not her husband.

Rapper Tupac Shakur poses for photos backstage after his performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois in March 1994. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)

The Goodie Mob member spoke with Art of Dialogue recently. He obviously didn’t hold back on speculating about the love that could’ve grown between Bey and ‘Pac. It all began when Gipp was asked about Billboard and Vibe‘s “greatest rappers of all time” list, ranking Jay-Z at No. 1 and his deceased contemporary at No. 4. Like many other hip-hop heads, the 49-year-old wasn’t in total agreeance with the artist’s placements.

“To me, Tupac… Only reason you inching Jay-Z past Tupac is because he got goddamn Beyoncé,” the Atlanta native began. “You take Beyoncé away, he ain’t got shit. Bar for bar? Yeah, he might rap better than ‘Pac, but ‘Pac came with the heart. That’s different, it’s just different. You can never beat the heart, bro.”

Gipp went on to point out that, while some artists are undeniably technically talented, others have a natural swagger that gives them the needed edge. “Just like the difference between Jordan and LeBron,” he explained. “Jordan, technical. That motherf*cker technical. LeBron? Gangster. Goon shit. Two different styles. If ‘Pac was here, who do you think the girl would have been with?”

Later in the same interview, the “Cell Therapy” hitmaker points out that Tupac had a budding acting career before his untimely death. “That boy was a triple threat. He did groups that was successful, solo albums that was successful and movies that was successful,” Gipp said of his late friend. “Hands down. If he had lived, he would have smoked everything walking.”

As it turns out, Big Gipp has been spilling plenty of tea about the industry lately. Apart from his thoughts on the relationship that Beyoncé and Tupac could have had, he also recalled the time the “All Eyez On Me” rapper famously confronted Biggie Smalls. The altercation took place at the Soul Train Awards decades ago – read all about it here, and check back later for more hip-hop news updates.

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