For many hip-hop enthusiasts, any sign of disrespect to pioneers in the genre is not taken lightly. Young Thug and Lil Yachty are examples of two emcees who had to learn this the hard way. Yachty was met with a healthy amount of backlash back in 2016 when he admitted in an interview with Billboard that he “honestly couldn’t name five songs” by 2Pac or The Notorious B.I.G.
A few months later, he followed up those comments by calling the Hip Hop legends “overrated” while on Pitchfork. In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lower, he opened up about the situation, admitting he never meant to offend anyone with his comments.
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“I never meant to disrespect,” he said. “I was just being honest. I didn’t have no media training, right? All I knew was to be an honest person. So someone asked me about whether it’s a Hip Hop lesson guide.
“My cousin would be honest. I’m going to tell the truth. I’m not like Biggie, Tupac, you’re going to say this every time, I didn’t listen to them but I didn’t say they were trash,” he reasoned.
In a new interview with HipHopDX, however, it seems like Yachty never really took the situation that seriously. When asked about if he revised Biggie and Pac’s catalog after the backlash, he answered, “I wouldn’t say study up, but I definitely went back and listened for about … 30 seconds. I’m good. If you’re good at what you’re doing then … art is art. Do you need to study Picasso to learn how to paint? No. If you care then yes, but if not, who cares?”
His nonchalant attitude echos a similar stance he took back in the fall of 2016 shortly after the controversy. “I’m sorry but I refuse to lie. If I don’t listen to biggie or think he is as big as everybody else why is that a problem lol who cares bro,” wrote the rapper. “I speak my mind. I might be the only new age artist speaking his mind.”
Well, at least he got the 30 seconds in.
[via]