Legendary artist Melle Mel has been on a tear this week, making comments that have been pretty controversial during his sit-down interview with VladTV. The strongly-opinionated 59-year-old icon previously declared that he would have no issue defeating Eminem in a rap battle, also speaking on why The Notorious B.I.G. would not have been successful in the earlier days of hip-hop. In the latest portion of his interview to be released, Melle Mel speaks about his comments that Jay-Z is “overrated”, giving the reason why he thinks that.
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“I think a lot of rappers are overrated. Yeah,” said Melle Mel before celebrating Jay-Z’s skills as a businessman. However, the legendary emcee says he wouldn’t put Hov at the top of his most skilled rappers list. “No, because the main problem I have with dudes like that, with a lot of these dudes, when you made it, you made it. Now you out. Forget the street guy act. You’re not street like that. I’m not even a street guy, I’m a hood n***a. I’m not a street n***a ’cause I know I’m not gon’ be out on the street like that. And then, to take it a step further, these guys live in the big houses, they live in the best neighborhoods, there ain’t no street dudes around, but you’re gonna have this street dude thinking that being on the street is the right thing to do and the right person to be? You gotta give the people that’s left in the hood something to hold onto to make it out of the hood.
A lot of this hip-hop sh*t made the ghetto permanent. You ain’t supposed to stay there like that. That’s why I say a lot of them is overrated because what they’re doing is they’re selling a product and then after the product is sold, now they’re still thinking they got product to sell. And they don’t. You live a nice life. Their kids are never going to see the inside of a jail or the inside of a public school, thank god.”
Melle Mel says the system “promotes” a culture that he wishes were no longer the norm where he says the hood “won’t win” if it continues on as it is.
What do you think about Melle Mel’s comments about Jay-Z and other rappers that fit the mold?