“These Kids Are More Concerned W/ The Way They Look Than What’s Coming Out Their Mouths”

Written By S. Samuel

Actor/Rapper Method Man recently shared his thoughts on the state of hip-hop and how some new artists place more emphasis on fashion than their rhyme books.

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From Mef’s perspective, the definition of what a true emcee is nowadays has changed.

“There are genuine artists out there who love what they do and do it with a purpose, but then you have those dudes who are a bunch of fashonistas,” Meth explained in an interview. “These kids are more concerned with the way they look than what’s coming out of their mouths…Back when I first came out if you told a kid ‘I’m an MC,’ the first thing the kid would say to you is, ‘Oh yeah, well say a rhyme for me.’ …Nowadays, you tell the kid you’re an MC and he’s like ‘Oh yeah, where’s your big chain at? Where’s your watch? Where’s your car? That’s what it is now.’ …The majority of the people who listen to the music can’t afford half that sh*t.” (Wall Street Journal)

Last year, Chicago rapper Rhymefest spoke on emcees losing their essence.

“One thing I didn’t realize is that Hip-Hop doesn’t exist anymore,” he declared in an interview. “C’mon, think about the 4 elements: graffiti, breaking, deejaying, and emceeing. Emcees don’t exist. That’s somebody who gets on the stage, doesn’t have to rap, but can hype up the crowd while the DJ is playing. He has all the chants, all that sh*t. Everybody now is “listen to me, listen to my raps.” No one can hype up a crowd no more like that. Emcees are dead…So Hip-Hop as we knew is like jazz at this point. I can’t really get mad. It exists on a scale so small you might as well call it dead. But even from Disco we got techno, Bass music. From Hip-Hop we got Soulja Boy, Drake; the hybrid singing rap. We got to call it something else because it ain’t Hip-Hop. It’s not bad; it’s evolved into something else.” (All Hip Hop)

Producer/Rapper Swizz Beatz previously voiced his thoughts on the lack of real emcees in hip-hop.

“I think hip-hop is missing something that’s real,” Swizz said in a 2009 interview. “So we did ‘Who’s Real.’ When we first dropped ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem,’ everybody felt like it was real. From that time to now, you don’t really know who’s real because everything is so watered down. The dog [DMX] is back. A lot of people are intimidated for him to make his appearance because you gotta understand that DMX is doing his thing. A lot of other artists are under pressure, a lot of labels are under pressure because it was something that they didn’t even know how to contain. They didn’t even know how to control DMX, the Ruff Ryders movement. Being with a movement for so many years, it’s like being in the house with your parents. As a kid it’s cool and your respect it but you wanna go out and explore your options.” (Dr. Jay’s)

Last year, Method Man’s Wu-Massacre compilation album landed on the sales chart.

Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon‘s Wu-Massacre debuted on the charts this week landing at No. 12. After one week, the threesome’s first-ever collaboration project pushed 38,100 records. (SOHH Sales Wrap)

Check out some recent Method Man footage below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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