Jay-Z has been riding the wave as King of hip-hop for over a decade, but Lonzo Ball is letting it be known that his generation of millennials don’t hold HOV or any of the rap mogul’s contemporaries in the same esteem as their parents did.
Back in July, Los Angeles Lakers rookie Ball supposedly shocked everyone when he tweeted that he liked 21 Savage’s Issa Album more than JAY-Zs 4:44. The 25-and-over Internet heads didnt like his ignorance of real Hip-Hop at all. They felt it was disrespectful even, that Ball would put these new artists in the same category as a lyrical icon.
Like his pops, Lonzo has no chill when it comes to expressing his opinions, although he goes about it in a quieter fashion, he proved that he can stir the pot like a true Ball.
During the first episode of his newly released reality TV series, Ball In The Family, Lonzo shoots down the notion of listening to real hip-hop as opposed to the stuff he listens to now. To make his point, he claims that people dont listen to Nas in 2017.
Yall outdated man. Dont nobody listen to Nas no more, Lonzo says in the clip. Eventually he follows it up by saying, Real hip-hop is Migos and Future.
Ball In The Family
Meet LaVar, Tina, and their three boys born to go pro. Under fire from the media, LaVar and the whole family follow Lonzo to New York for Draft Day, but one special person can’t make the trip.
Young folks dissing old school hip-hop legends is nothing new. In rap culture, in particular, we tend to assassinate the senior citizens or ship them off to old rappers homes to retire and disappear. Its a fundamental flaw in how the culture is appropriated, respected and archived. But don’t tell that to Michael Rapaport, who had some choice words for Lonzo.
Lonzo Ball said Nas ain’t HipHop! #SuckaShit
30.5k Likes, 3,286 Comments – Michael Rapaport (@michaelrapaport) on Instagram: “Lonzo Ball said Nas ain’t HipHop! #SuckaShit”
Knowing the Ball family, Rapaport’s response won’t even phase them; LaVar will probably use it as fodder for a new media hype campaign while Zo will probably just shrug it off. After all, Zo was born in 1999, so I wouldnt expect him to expect him to be able to recite bars from or appreciate the greatness of Nas’ Illmatic album that came out in 1993 and unless his pops was a big-time hip-hop guy, then his kids wouldnt have any clue what pioneering legends such as Nas and Ice Cube brought to the game. Most of them still think WIll Smith was always a Hollywood actor. Lil Wayne is even oldschool to most of these greenbacks.
I dont know why people are so surprised that Lonzo is not a huge fan of Jay-Z. The man is almost 50 years old and despite his great accomplishments, his music doesn’t move the teens and twenty-somethings of the world. And if he doesn’t rock with Jay who has managed to stay somewhat relevant in the rap game, he certainly won’t be in tune with a pioneer like Nas. Migos is exactly the kind of artist you would expect a guy entering his first season in the NBA to prefer to listen too.
At least Lonzo showed some some gratitude to HOV after the rap God admitted to copping three pairs of yet-to-be-released Z02 sneakers.
Im just thankful, man, appreciate it, he said of Hovs purchase.
Why do we care what music Lonzo listens to anyway? It seems a bit obsessive to be discussing the kid’s music choices and it seems even more groupie -like to actually try to criticize the youngster for not studying KRS-Ones book, “The Gospel of Hip-Hop.” Pardon Lonzo, but he was too busy changing the game of hoops and building a million dollar brand of his own. Im gonna give the young boy a pass on this one, but it wouldn’t hurt for Lonzo to touch up a bit on his hip-hop history if he wants to be a spokesperson for the genre.
But you know what they say about bad press….
