I wrote about 03 Greedo’s music earlier today. My plan was to write about 03 Greedo all week, before his name landed all over social media last night when he called Tupac “a bitch ass n***a” in an interview with Billboard.
This is a whole tired ass recipe at this point. Rap blog asks rising young rapper (although at 30, Greedo can hardly be considered young) their thoughts on Tupac or Biggie, young rapper says they don’t really give a fuck about those rappers, the rap world goes after them, young rapper becomes “cancelled,” and we all go back to our lives.
We’ve seen this with Chief Keef, Lil Yachty, Lil Xan, XXXTentacion, and Kodak Black. And no matter how many times we’ve seen young rappers saying they don’t listen to Tupac, we react every time.
I only know one pac song. And one Biggie song! Didnt grow up listening to them if i was i was to young to remember! https://t.co/9r3o2CSyGX
— Glory Boy (@ChiefKeef) July 5, 2016
Lil Yachty and Lil Xan seemed to take the brunt of the backlash with their respective Tupac shade. Lil Yachty said a couple years ago that he couldn’t name 5 Biggie and Tupac songs, Lil Xan said last month that Tupac made “boring music.”
Yachty was scolded by the rap intelligentsia and written off as being disrespectful, Lil Xan drew the ire of washed up old heads everywhere that seemed to take very serious, personal offense to his claim.
2Pac took shits that were more interesting than lil Xan. Your name is lil Xan, your name is a sleeping pill.
Dumb no talent no skill, non rapping rappers.#LilXan— MichaelRapaport (@MichaelRapaport) March 8, 2018
Not gonna lie, I would have gone the rest of my life not knowing who Lil Man was, if not for this headline. https://t.co/XnKMzXfSlu
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 7, 2018
Even fuckin’ Waka Flocka, who was once as radical and upstart as any of the “mumble rappers” drawing the ire of older rap listeners, got heated at Xan’s claim.
LiL Xan banned from hip hop
— Waka Flocka (WakaFlocka.eth) (@WakaFlocka) March 7, 2018
I don’t consider myself a Lil Xan fan, I’m aware of this rapper but do not choose to listen to him, but I really couldn’t care less about his thoughts on Tupac.
What does this obsession even stem from? Neither Lil Xan or Lil Yachty makes music that sounds remotely like Pac’s music, why do we feign all of this exhaustive shock and anger at kids who were not alive when Tupac was making music?
Hip-hop is very different than it was in 1996, that is how the world works. Things change in 20 years. Kids listen to different music than the people that are older than them listen to. WHY IS THIS NEWS?
I get that we all like clicks, I like clicks too! But there’s and endless amount of stuff to talk about that actually pertains to music that isn’t about Tupac and Biggie. I have learned nothing new about the artist that is Lil Xan from hearing that he thinks Tupac is boring.
https://twitter.com/broazay/status/973342621472116736
As the new generation of rappers takes the form of hip-hop further to the left, old heads have repeatedly decried the lack of “lyricism” or “real rap.” Anything new or different has thus become “mumble rap.”
The Tupac question is the tangible product of the culture wars between old heads that see ’90s-era rap as the pinnacle of the art form and younger rappers that just don’t give a fuck. Then the Michael Rappaports of the world can get all jacked up and go on a Twitter rant about Lil Xan… but WHY?
I enjoy listening to rap music made in many different eras. I enjoy reading about young rappers’ budding careers. Whether these artists listened to music made before they were born is not relevant or interesting!
Please, stop asking rappers about Tupac.