As Hip-Hop continues to progress and evolve, some of the genre’s elder statesmen have lost their connection or understanding of the landscape. Fat Joe recently admitted that he is confused by the current state of Hip-Hop, specifically certain sub-genres.
The Bronx rapper sat down with Jordan Rose from Complex and gave current Hip-Hop a controversial label. “I encourage the youth and I love the youth, [but] I’ve sat in traffic and [heard the music] — I felt like they were playing devil music right next to me,” he exclaimed. “I’m like, ‘Yo, what the f**k? That’s Hip Hop?!’ They got some weird sh*t going on.”
Rose pointed out how Joe has previously sat with Tekashi 6ix9ine, prompting him to reiterate that he supports the youth. Still, he questioned how the genre has gotten to this point and simultaneously saluted some of the diverse pillars of music that he either grew up on or alongside. “I f**k with them, I’m always gonna salute them. I don’t know how they spiraled into this particular sound,” he added. “Hip Hop’s so diverse — we got Lauryn Hill, we got Biz Markie, you got Eric B. and Rakim, you got Nas… You’re not gonna open this sh*t and hear the same sh*t.”
Fat Joe shared another complaint about how redundant the sound has become, making it hard to distinguish the subject matter. “Sometimes when I’m listening, especially in New York youth, I’m hearing the same sh*t, the same beats, and I’m like numb,” he stated. “I’m like, ‘Yo, this is crazy.’ [Back in my day], if we had a love song, it’d be LL [Cool J] going, ‘I need love / Sometimes I stare at the room, I hear my conscience call.’ [Now], if you hear a love song, it’s over the same beat [as] ‘I’ll kill you! F**k ya mother!’ It’s the same sh*t! I’m confused.”
Jordan Rose mentioned the sexy drill subgenre that has risen in popularity in New York thanks to Cash Cobain, Chow Lee, Bay Swag, and more. He suggested that Joey Crack would sound good over that type of music, but the Terror Squad leader shut the idea down. “That’s definitely not in the works,” he said emphatically. “I got a love song with f**king Babyface.”
LL Cool J recently called out the lack of quality songwriting in today’s music. “There’s nothing wrong with rapping about money and success, and there’s nothing wrong with rapping about pure sex — I love them both,” he told The New York Times. “[But] there has to be more to it than that, to me, in order for a project to be compelling.” Coincidentally, the two linked up with Rick Ross on “Saturday Night Special” last year, a track from LL’s September 2024 album The Force. Listen below.
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