S. Samuel
Shortly after wrapping up a nationwide tour alongside Big K.R.I.T. and Method Man, Houston rap newcomer Marcus Manchild, spoke to SOHH about the rise in prominence his city has experienced from out-of-town rappers.
Referencing Harlem MC A$AP Rocky, he said that adopting the slang and trademarks of the Houston lifestyle was understandable as long as rappers were sure to recognize the pioneers.
I feel that it’s cool if you’re inspired by Houston, that’s what’s up. But you always gotta show that respect to the people that came up with the styles and sounds, you know what I mean? So that’s all there is to it, if you hear it and you feel inspired, that’s all love. (SOHH)
Manchild, who recently made his own version of the track “Purple Swag,” told SOHH it was difficult to determine if Rocky was showing proper homage to his hometown.
I don’t really see that respect. I feel him when he says he embraced [Houston] but it’s gotta be more than that … I don’t hear no shoutouts or none of that, that’s all I’m saying. You gotta pay respect to the people that made up what you’re talkin’ about. I can’t go somewhere and talk about something I don’t know and then not respect the people that are from there. (SOHH)
Rocky explained his affliction toward the Houston sound and culture during a 2011 interview.
Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, Houston had a huge influence on hip-hop around 2005. I was fascinated with the culture [down] there. I just wanted to embrace it in my music. Scarface and everybody else influenced me heavily, “Minds Playing Tricks on me.” That wasn’t really the [DJ] Screw era though. It [90s Houston hip-hop] did have an influence on me but it really wasn’t my main influence. I’m talking about the screw era and even the UGK era, guys like Devin the Dude, Lil Keke and Z-Ro. (DJ Booth)
Last December, Texas rapper Sparkdawg told SOHH he saw no problem with East Coast artists emulating Southern culture.
There’s alotta people that might look at what he’s doing as disrespectful, or as if a New York artist is stealin’ swag … but I’m definitely not one of those type of dudes. I see his style as more of a salute. Like, who else but me? The Lone Star Kid. So for my track, I basically combined both of his records, “Purple Swag” and “Peso” and freestyled over them both, then combined them into one continuous song and called it “Open Letter to A$AP Rocky.”(SOHH)
Check out Marcus Manchild’s “Purple Swag” Remix below:
