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
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”
[Via]