Elusive G-Unit member Lloyd Banks may not have dropped a solo album in over two years, however, the "Punch Line King" is letting fans know he still sees himself as an elite emcee.
Hopping on Twitter this week, Banks professed his greatness to more than 529,000 followers.
“voices tell me i’m the best..really don’t care if u don’t believe.,” he tweeted December 20th. (Lloyd Banks’ Twitter)
Back in 2010, rap star Kanye West crowned Banks one of the most overlooked artists in hip-hop.
“Yo man Loyd Banks prolly the most underrated MC in the game… Man he deserve to be top 5 at least!,” West tweeted Wednesday (September 8) night. (Kanye West’s Twitter)
Shortly following the accolade, Lloyd stepped up and revealed his reaction.
“Last night I was in the studio,” Banks revealed in an interview when asked where he was when he learned of the shout-out. “Somebody hit me with that and told me what [Kanye West] said as far as the Top 5 thing and I mean, it’s just like, for me hearing that, it’s like d*mn because I have the utmost respect for what he does as an artist, so I mean, it’s cool, I definitely appreciate it. I don’t think it was ever any bad feelings towards Kanye from anybody, just more of a competitive thing. Rap is like a sport, football they line up on a line and knock each other down. Basketball, they run up and down the court. It’s all about competing, you know, I think it just makes it that much better when you do collaborate after some time.” (Trace TV)
G-Unit head 50 Cent also gave his reaction to the unexpected Yeezy co-sign.
“I thought that was really nice of him,” 50 said about West’s co-sign. “A lot of artists, we appreciate each other without publicly saying it. It’s the competitive nature of the art form. A lot of what you see as beef is battling. It’s always been a part of the culture. It’s always been differences for no reason, like, MC Shan and KRS-One, ‘The Bridge Is Over,’ what inspired that? See what I’m saying? It’s hip-hop. It’s what keeps the art form fresh and keeps the artist thriving to be the best because it’s that competitive edge. They all want their next album to be the best one. I’d never turn away from working with [West]. He’s creative, a talented guy. I think people forget why we even know who he is. It’s based on music. It’s not his actual personality. Like Floyd [Mayweather], people misinterpret his confidence for arrogance, me the same, Kanye the same. They’ll call us idiots at different points but they don’t know what it takes to continue success after being in the public space. Look at the blog, see how many positive things you hear and see how many negative things you see.” (Shade 45)
Check out a past Lloyd Banks interview: