S. Samuel
Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy recently gave his take on the state of hip-hop and, specifically, what contributions from West Coast music phenom Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West have done for the rap game.
Diddy showered K. Dot with accolades over last year’s good kid, m.A.A.d city forcing artists to step their skills up.
“I feel like the timing of these albums coming out and these artists deciding to be honest with themselves and raising the bar… Kendrick Lamar came out and killed us and really f*cked our heads up with some realness. I think that he’s responsible for starting it, but I think these other brothers came back real hard and strong and are very, very competitive. That’s when hip-hop or music is at an all time high when people know and they respect, “Yo, that album is dope and I want my album to be better than that album,” or, “I want to challenge that album.”” (VIBE)
Puffy also highlighted the importance of Kanye’s new Yeezus solo album.
“I think that this Kanye album, the only way I can describe it, it’s art, it’s an emotion and it’s him at his realest in its rawest form. It’s a confidence level that I feel like, blackness especially; it needs to be a theme song for them. They need to believe that all that crazy sh*t that he’s saying is the truth and I stand by it and I stand by the emotions if that’s how he felt, then that’s how records should feel. If Revolt was on air right now we probably would be dedicating the next three days to the back stories to making sure that we are promoting and being a useful tool to get their message out to get back to the mainstream media who doesn’t understand at times that’s who we are and how powerful we are.” (VIBE)
A few days before Yeezus dropped, Diddy hopped onto his Twitter page to warn rappers about the return of Ye.
“Attn. all MCs, RnB cats! If your about to put out a album anytime soon! Make sure your ready cause Yezzy murdered the Game! Thank God! True Artistry! Take Notes! @RevoltTV,” Diddy tweeted June 16th. (Diddy’s Twitter)
Last fall, West Coast rapper Game compared Kendrick to rap veteran Nas.
He compared him to one of hip-hop’s most respected MCs. “Kendrick is like our West Coast Nas, so to speak–lyrically amazing,” he said, while warning other rappers not to mess with him. “I hope no one ever beefs or tries to attack him lyrically. You will definitely lose. His mind is crazy.” Kendrick reminds him of someone else from Compton. “His career is real reminiscent of my early start, minus the bandana. Kendrick is neutral in this. That’s our West Coast Nas and everyone should support that.” (Rap-Up)
