S. Samuel
Brooklyn rapper Maino recently talked about the state of New York hip-hop and gave his diagnosis as to why the Big Apple sound has had a hard time getting picked up in other regions.
While Maino feels artists like himself and Lloyd Banks are buzzing, he thinks New York emcees need to become more broad with their demographical reach.
“Since I came on the scene, which would be like 2008, everybody’s been asking me, ‘What’s the state of New York hip-hop,’ but if you’re actually paying attention to New York hip-hop, there’s actually a lot going on,” Maino explained in an interview with DJ Skee. “It’s just that we haven’t been able to connect with the rest of the country all the time. It’s a lot of great music out there. There’s dudes like Lloyd Banks, you got Jim Jones, you got Fabolous, you got a lot of artists connecting but we got to get back into the habit of making music broad and music that not only New York can vibe to but the West Coast and the South.” (Skee Sports)
Earlier this month, The LOX’s Jadakiss credited artists like Maino and Jay-Z for keeping New York hot.
“I feel New York is doing d*mn good,” Kiss said in an interview. “You still got me here, [Styles P], Sheek Louch, Fab, Uncle Murda, Maino, Joell Ortiz, Nas, Hov, you know. New cats, Fred the Godson, we good. We’ll be all right. Don’t worry about New York at all. We’re gonna be around. When the trumpets blow, we’re still gonna be here. For real.” (“Femme Fatale Mixshow”)
Last year, LOX’s Styles P pointed out the lack of unity amongst some New York rap acts.
“I think unity among New York rappers is cool,” he said in an interview. “I think if you a New York rapper you bred different and me being a follower of New York rap, being a follower of Hip-Hop and real emcee’s I can say that I’ve never really heard Kool G. Rap and Rakim on a song — you know it’s a lot of emcees I ain’t hear on a song so I think it’s supposed to be competitive in New York. I think it’s bred to be competitive, I’m cool with everybody else but if you ask me who’s the best, my click of course.” (Miss LS)
In 2009, Dipset’s Cam’ron spoke on artists like Jay-Z helping to place New York rap back on the map.
“Jay-Z done made it look real good,” Cam said in an interview. “Jay-Z just sold 530,000 so it’s still looking good. Whenever there’s ever anybody out in New York still doing over half a million in a week, it’s still available. I don’t really f*ck with Jay but I got mad respect for anybody who makes money and anybody who still sells that much records after having a lot of albums out. Jay-Z really definitely did help out New York a lot.” (Hip Hop Beef)
Check out Maino’s interview below:
