Birdman believes the South still doesn’t get the credit it deserves for its impact on Hip Hop.
Talking to NBA legend Jalen Rose, the Cash Money co-founder discussed the Third Coast’s influence and importance to rap music, even claiming that the region has kept the genre “alive.”
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“Hip Hop 50, right? I still say that they don’t compliment the South enough for me,” Birdman said. “And I don’t respect that shit about what they doing in Hip Hop and I never will respect it ’cause the South paved a big wave of keeping Hip Hop alive. And I don’t think they compliment us enough.”
The music mogul went on to discuss Uncle Luke’s recent criticism of 50th anniversary of Hip Hop celebrations that featured little representation of Florida.
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“That man deserves a lot of respect for what he did,” Baby said. “Luke was around before we was around. That man was huge! And he played a big part of Hip Hop when nothing was popping.”
He reiterated: “The South doesn’t get the respect that we deserve. That’s just my opinion and fuck who don’t like it.”
Uncle Luke, a member of the pioneering group 2 Live Crew, had earlier slammed Hip Hop 50 organizers for not featuring enough rappers from the Sunshine State.
In a post on Instagram last year, he wrote: “Hip-hop fans from Florida. Don’t be upset they don’t recognize your favorite Floridian artists as part of hip-hop’s 50th year celebrations. This industry has never considered us as hip-hop from the time I started Hip Hop in the south.
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“You can only imagine the names they called us. Country booty music trash, music. I can go on and on [about] the disrespect towards Florida hip-hop.”
He continued: “Still to this day, we fight for our respect, and you have stood behind us every step of the way. We will continue fighting. There will be a day this year where we come together and celebrate Florida hip-hop artist from the top of the state to the bottom.”
In a comment on the post, Snoop Dogg agreed, writing: “I love and respect what u did for me and my hip hop journey uncle Luke on and off the mic let’s do a southwest Hip hop celebration so we can get the flowers to you and the other founders who mean so much to this thang called hip hop.”
Despite feeling like there’s a lack of recognition for Southern rap, Birdman recently declared that the region will never lose its grip on the Hip Hop crown.
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“The East and the West was the last two places that would embrace our music if you were from the South,” he said on The 85 South Show last September while reflecting on Southern Hip Hop’s early struggle for acceptance.
“It’s always been a competitive thing for us with them — ’cause they felt like they was better than us and we felt like we was better than them, especially in our neck of the woods, the South.
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“You’ll have a hit in the South and it’ll take a long time to hit in the East and the West. But once they caught onto us like it is now, I don’t think they’ll ever get it back. We here forever, ’cause they had it forever. The East and the West, they had it forever.”
