Mt. Rushmore debates have been recurring with increased frequencies these days, because if there’s anything rap fans love to do, it’s ranking. In this case, Rushmore centers around the idea of hip-hop’s founding fathers, for simplicity’s sake divided up into era or category. Regardless, the discussions tend to celebrate rap innovators and legends, with a recent one from RapCaviar claiming the 2010’s Rushmore includes J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, and Drake.
Naturally, the omission of many notable names sparked further conversation, and today — the same day the Migos dropped off their brand new Culture III album — Offset, Quavo, and Takeoff found themselves asked about the ongoing Rushmore frenzy seizing social media. Speaking with The Shade Room, the pair opened up about their own thoughts on being frequently left out of the conversation, with Offset noting that groups seldom find themselves included in such debates.
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“They count us out cause we in a group,” says Takeoff, as Offset jumps in. “Say for instance, they say ‘name your top five rappers,” says Set. “They really count us out cause we in a group. Just like XXL Freshmen, during the time, we couldn’t be on it cause we was a group, and they don’t do groups. It should be a little circle with all three heads like boom boom boom on that Mt. Rushmore. Cause w done birthed a lot of this.” “Ya’ll talking eras,” adds Quavo. “We been it for the last five years. You gotta throw us in there.”
Earlier in the conversation, Quavo provides a bit of context to his point. “They don’t ever give us credit for the flow, the flow we created,” says Huncho. “We created this new genre of great music. Great artists came out because of the flow. If you take us away from the game, you’ll see the apocalypse or something…It ain’t necessarily about the sound…we saying your cadence is the same, it got some similarities.”
For more from Migos, be sure to check out their full interview with The Shade Room below. And if you haven’t already, give Culture III a spin right over here.
WATCH: Migos speak with The Shade Room