By now, Rap fans know that many of their favorite artists often exaggerate, sometimes heavily, when writing songs. Many who have penned rhymes about killing people, hooking up with women, dealing drugs, and other deeds haven’t come close to living the lives they’ve spun tales about, but it has become such a staple in music that fans no longer seem to mind.
Beanie Sigel recently joined Noreaga and Co. on Drink Champs, and during their conversation, N.O.R.E. revealed that early on in his Rap career, he didn’t know that his peers were embellishing the truth. “When I first came into the game, when I first started rappin’, I didn’t know how to exaggerate,” said Noreaga. “I didn’t know that other rappers were making up sh*t in they raps.”
“So, a person had to tell me, ‘Relax. Like, you can’t be puttin’ all that sh*t.'” He asked Beanie if he went through a similar struggle. “I feel like in your early sh*t, you went through the same sh*t,” Noreaga added, saying that he didn’t know that rhymes weren’t supposed to include so much truth about an artist’s life. Beanie seemed to agree. “Everything was personal… I think you supposed to still do that,” said Sigel. “If you ain’t going through it, at least you got knowledge firsthand or next to it. Everything is a facade now. There’s no substance in it.”
Siegel suggested that music is “supposed to resonate” with people and believes that truth-tellers are needed. Check out the clip of the discussion as well as the full video of their Drink Champs appearance below.