S. Samuel
Wu-Tang Clan's U-God recently spoke on the affect autotune has had on the rap game and how, he believes, the true "essence" of hip-hop has been missing in recent years.
Speaking on his new album Dopium bringing back classic hip-hop vibes, U-God expressed his thoughts on the use of autotune.
“Hard body rhymes or hard body beats with samples, to me, that ain’t never went nowhere man,” God said in an interview. “Right now it’s missing with all this voice coding sh*t going on. Everybody voice coding they rhymes, it gets farther and farther away, to me, from what hip-hop is. I want my sh*t to sound like ‘Sucker MC’s’ when it first hit. ‘And two years ago…’ I want my sh*t to sound like that.” (iHipHop)
Slim Thug recently spoke on how the rap game has changed due to autotune.
“I’m really just out there like not giving a f*ck.,” Slim explained in an interview. “So it’s gonna be hard for me to find a decent single that could actually go on the radio. Sh*t like Jay-Z‘s “D.O.A” sh*t, I feel him on that. N*ggas is too soft right now. It’s all about the girls. It ain’t used to be like that. It used to be about everything else, the streets. And that’s what it’s about with me. I’m just trying to keep that sh*t alive.” (Vibe)
Young Jeezy also signed-off on Jay’s “Death of Autotune” earlier this month.
“I don’t do autotune, so sh*t, it might be the death of autotune,” Jeezy said in an interview. “All you autotune n*ggas might be in trouble…The album, n*ggas it’s on the way. Don’t even know when that motherf*cker is dropping, but it’s on the way. The third [Thug] Motivation: 103, you know? I got the USDA album about to drop…The mixtape just dropped, Trappin’ Ain’t Dead, all you motherf*ckers are just scared and that’s why I’m out here and that’s why I’m gonna ride to the end.” (My Fabolous Life)
Fabolous previously spoke with SOHH about his reaction to the record.
“Jay-Z is like the so to say trend killer if he states that something is done,” said Fab. “Certain people may feel that way but never say it…but Jay, he’ll take the stand and everybody be feelin’ that way and be like, ‘Yeah Jay’s a hero for saying what we’ve been feeling.’ I think what Jay is trying to do is help people get back to the talent of rapping. Let’s get some artistry back in the music, some good writing. I think ‘Death of Autotune’ is dope. I think it’s good for the climate too. At some point a lot of these kids, artists are coming out and they’re just putting this autotune on their voice… I guess Jay is just tired of everybody jumping on that bandwagon. I kinda was over it too.” (SOHH)
Check out U-God’s interview below:
