Rapper T.I., who is considered a pretty solid lyricist in his own right, recently discussed how watered down the rap game is. The Atlanta artist believes it has something to do with folks thinking they can just do it with no experience, sort of like you hear guys saying they could play basketball professionally, knowing good and well it isn’t that easy.
During his recent appearance on “The Big Podcast With Shaq,” a former rapper and NBA superstar, T.I. went into detail about what he meant.
T.I. Calls Out New Era Of Rappers and Rap Consumers
When asked by the legendary Shaq what he thought about today’s rap music and artists, T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, didn’t hold back.
“This generation reminds me of every other generation,” T.I. said. “You got some people who are exceptionally dope, and some people who are just alright. … But it’s a lot more of it to choose from now. I feel that, actually, what they’ve done with music is equivalent to if they were gonna open up the doors to the arena and say, ‘Anybody think you can play basketball come on out the stands out here to the floor. Here you go a jersey, man. Get in the game.’”
The “Motivation” rapper continued, “The thing that happened is there was what we call a paradigm in the industry. It went to a direct-to-consumer industry. Which means you don’t need a distributor. You don’t have to go through Best Buy or Target or Blockbuster. You ain’t gotta do that. You can go straight to the consumer. And the consumer more than likely wants to hear something that reminds them of themselves. Sometimes, too much talent intimidates the consumer.”
Strong words by Tip, who in so many words is saying the consumer is OK with the less talented era of rappers being front and center now. His comparing it to guys thinking they can hoop in the NBA is an analogy you probably wouldn’t try to make, but the premise of what he’s saying it very obvious. The talent drop-off in the game is significant and he’s calling it out.
When you think rap music, some of the names that come to mind are the late great Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.
Or how about the legendary LL Cool J, Jay-Z and Nas, who is 50 and recently won a Grammy in 2021. Then there’s the Southern flavor of one T.I., OutKast, Scarface and so many others. That’s the rap music I came up on, and today’s rap music just doesn’t compare.
For starters, the talent level is considerably watered down, and most aren’t rapping, they’re just adding a hook to a dope beat.
Son King Standing On Business In Rap Career?
One of those new-age rappers is King Harris, the son of T.I. who’s had his share of beef with others. For starters, King sounds no different than the kind of rappers his legendary dad is spewing about, and in many aspects he’s only one because of his dad.
King is definitely one of those rappers who T.I. likened to getting a jersey and getting in the game. As of now King does more beefing than actually putting out music. His current verbal squabble with comedian Druski over who started saying “Standin’ on Bidness” first after Druski made a song out of the popular expression.
T.I. is probably saying what so many other rappers of the past wanna say but just have decided to keep quiet.
That’s not how T.I. gets down.
