Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died over 24 years ago from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Seattle. But as one of the forefathers of grunge, the legacy he left behind is still being dissected.
Prior to the release of Nirvana’s iconic 1991 album, Nevermind, Cobain was asked about rap and white people engaging in the culture in a recently unearthed interview with Robert Lorusso. When Lorusso pointed out that Cobain had once said, “The white man has ripped off the black man for long enough,” Cobain replied, “Oh I don’t know. Was I drunk at that time?”
He went on to say, “I’m a fan of rap music, but most of it is so misogynist that I can’t even deal with it. I’m really not that much of a fan.
“I totally respect and love it because it’s one of the only original forms of music that’s been introduced, but the white man doing rap is just like watching a white man dance. We can’t dance, we can’t rap.”
The interview was conducted on September 20, 1991 at the Opera House in Toronto, Canada, right before Nirvana was catapulted into mainstream success. Lorusso details the circumstances of the conversation on the Dead City Beat Bandcamp page.
“This is a terrible interview,” he begins. “I am not feigning self-deprecating modesty when I say this, this is objectively terrible by all journalistic standards. It is so for the following reasons: 1) my questions were poorly crafted because 2) my research was incomplete and inaccurate. I decided to release this now for the following reasons: 1) it’s still history, despite how poorly done the interview was, and 2) my friends keep bugging me to post this trash fire.
“So here you go, jerks. This is the entire unedited recording of the interview, in articulate musings and all. For context, the recording starts while Kurt Cobain and I were having a casual conversation about censorship. Specifically, he was asking if we had something similar to the PMRC that was attempting to censor artists. This is where the recording starts. It ends with him patiently recording a ‘Station ID’ promo for my university radio station, CHRW in London, Ontario, Canada. In between is well… yeah…not great.”
Lorusso ends his description with an interesting observation.
“Final take-away from that interview,” he concludes. “As we spoke I got a vague sense that he wasn’t really enjoying their success. I couldn’t understand it. I was so enamored with and envious of his talent and success I just couldn’t understand how he could have been so indifferent to it.
“A few years later it became very clear why. When I reflected on this experience, I realized that success doesn’t mean a goddamn thing if your world is falling apart. Depression is a cruel thief that bankrupts your life with one fleeting moment of joy at a time. It still bums me out.”
Listen to the full interview above.
Aesop Rock, Eminem, El-P… some of them did good lol
I don’t think they were around back then dumbass
They weren’t around back then? Prove it, you idiot! To my knowledge, eminem was born in the 80s! And his first music came out in the late 80s. Sure, only like 3 people heard it. But it existed! Hahaha. Just busting your balls friend. Kurt wouldve eaten his words though if he’d witnessed Eminem in his late 90s early 2000s prime. I’m not even that big of an Eminem fan, but his classic work is undeniably 10/10 stuff. It almost surpasses hiphop as a genre and expands to those who don’t even like rap. Songs like Stan, Losr yourself… Will inspire people for decades to come
I’m pretty sure that Vanilla Ice was killing it when this interview was conducted.
vanilla ice was considered a clown with a one hit wonder
You forgot Evidence
Kurt killed him self before he could be proven absolutely incorrect in this notion.
Except he’s still correct, white rappers are outliers, they’re few in numbers. He was right.
makes sense he died in ’94. west coast gangster rap and new york mafia type rap was dominating.
Eh. I’m black, and idc what anyone says… I was born n raised in NY, and I loved the beastie boys as a kid. Eminem obviously us one of the most skilled emcees to kill the mic too. And dancing? I don’t think thats an ethnic thing lol. I love dancing (I’m more old school), and I think people from all kinds of backgrounds can learn to dance great. Do black people do it more? I think we do. Maybe we just enjoy it a bit more. Either way, music and art are to be shared and cherished. Not kept by a skin color.
Beastie Boys aren’t white though.
You’re so dumb for think that he is not the best for his music before you come on here and try to act smart like you know something check your fax he has less records more singles and not enough awards to even be considered better. Are you guys on here are so dumb
Sounds like this Kurt Cobain guy was a racist
Eminem is probably one of the nicest rappers to come out of the u.s
Like the way you lie and renegade are classics
He was right.
the black man dont have control over the impulses because he is very primitive, they are loud and with a big tendency for crime and addictions
So are the human beings in general
You need to read a book called the iceman inheritance by Bradley Cooper.
We needed to hear Cobain’s opinions on rap like a hole in the head.
So glad this dude offed himself. Fuckin clown.
Cobain was a musical genius, you’re the fuckin clown .
What up den. Fight me all day boy.
Pussy ass keyboard warrior bitch
Yea ur scared as my lil brother bitch. Ill make u cry boy
If he such a genious. Then why is his dumb stupid ass dead as the spider I smooshed this morning by my window. Your so dumb as him
If he such a genoius then why is he dead as the spider I smoosh this morning. Your so dumb like him
Seriously? Cobain a clown? Lol
I’ll get my name right when you fight me boy. Toomi gang crew boy east side we reach in to ass crack to see if you hold in some if you ain’t we fuck you up all day
Woo hoo look at me I’m Kurt Cobain I’m gonna blow my load fuck this guy. He was a better suicide doer than a musician
I guess it’s safe to say this guy is dead as my grandma
The only music I want to hear from Kurt Cobain is the sound of that bullet cracking through his skull
As a white guy I think there’s no problem with his opinion. He died in 94, so he could not be the witness of great white rappers like RA the Rugged Man, El-P, Paul Wall, Eligh or Slug. Okay, there were the Beastie Boys (imo they has always been trash and annoying, rapping like it was ’82). Maybe he hasn’t heard about House of Pain or 3rd Bass, buy hey, how many rockers can you name without Google? So he probably heard about Vanilla Ice and some Young Black Teenagers who were the Tekashis of the 90s. I’m not surprised he didn’t support white men on the mic.
Look at all this white pussycats catching feeling’s..fuckrey…white crack people can not rap but white people are good of taking coke …he said it all.
White people are the reason hip-hop is declining . God please help Africa American’s make hip-hop great again
Ignorant pendejo! STFU ese!
This a real musician right here. One strum of his guitar is better than 2 chainz’ whole discography
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
He did not die from a self inflicted gun shot wound. He was killed and it was set up to look like suicide. Watch the documentary Bleach… You’ll see.