S. Samuel
As rappers are connecting closer to their fans through social outlets like Ustream and Twitter, rap veteran Kool G Rap explains why you won't catch him spilling his guts on the Internet.
Although he has a staff who keeps his social networks afloat, Kool G said intentionally avoids displaying his personal life for fans.
“I can’t really get with it, you know…to me what people [are] doing is basically putting a camera in their house and giving to the public,’ Kool G explained in an interview. “I mean, I can’t do that, you know what I mean. It’s like, I got G. Rap, that’s for my fans, that’s for the public. Who I am behind closed doors and my family or myself is something that I keep for myself. That’s part of the old school of me I can’t let go…I got people that are constantly promoting on Twitter and Facebook…Once in a while I do my personal thing here and there, especially when it’s like people I’m shouting [out] that I have a relationship with, or there’s somewhat of an acquaintance.” (All Hip Hop)
Last December, Young Money’s Drake credited the power of social networking for helping jumpstart his career.
“Initially, I think I just didn’t know what would happen,” Drake recalls. “I was this rapper with a little bit of buzz, the internet was taking over, and I didn’t know the power of the internet at that point. The true power of social networking and the things we are so emmersed in now. There wasn’t an artist that had been 100% birthed from that outlet and I think to be discovered on MySpace, how I was found, and for it to somehow reach Wayne’s ears and for him to feel so confident about it and call me and to release a mixtape on the internet again and have a record somehow go #1 off a mixtape using the internet as a tool. It was all amazing because it was all a first, I can’t remember that happening in my day. Even if you think of 50 [Cent], [Kanye West], and [Young] Jeezy, I remember having hard copies of all of those tapes. I remember it being more about the radio.” (Global Grind)
Earlier this week, Grammy-winning rapper Lupe Fiasco said he is specifically not a fan of the Internet.
“Sometimes I wish I never found the internet. Sometimes I regret getting a laptop and Wi-Fi for logging into the internet because it is such a distraction. If you have any addictive personality, the internet will magnify it. You have to be careful on the internet. You’ll look up and be like, ‘D*mn, it’s been six hours.’ I’m still trying to figure out a way to take [web browser] Safari off my laptop. With the blogs, it’s like high school. I wasn’t the most popular person in high school, it was like 50/50. Some people liked me, some people didn’t, some people really didn’t f*ck with me.” (XXL Mag)
Kool G is currently working on his Riches, Royalty & Respect album set to drop later this month.
“This [album] is G Rap in 2010 and basically this album is about G Rap being a little more expressive than I normally do on any of my projects,” G told SOHH. “So this is G Rap and pieces of G Rap and not every song is related to real life incidents, I was creative too, but this is the first album where you can find a trace of that. I got [producer] Supa Dave for a few tracks. Supa Dave did a good four or five tracks on the album. We did the collab thing on a good portion of the album.” (SOHH)
Riches, Royalty & Respect is set to drop Tuesday, May 17th.
Check out a recent Kool G Rap interview below:
