Hell Rell believes that “conscious” Hip Hop has been practically “wiped out,” and he has an idea why.
The former Dipset rapper recently stopped by Circle Da Block Radio and offered his thoughts on what he sees as a lack of “positive” influences in the current rap game.
Suggesting a conspiracy theory in the industry is to blame, he said: “We always had the Kid ‘N Plays, the Will Smiths, the Poor Righteous Teachers, the positive shit. I think [music companies] targeted that element because it was raising the frequency in the community.
“They got rid of that whole genre. Who’s the new Common Sense, Talib Kweli or Mos Def? You got a few of ’em that’s trying to get in, but their genre has just been totally wiped the fuck out.
“We always worked with that genre; we never looked down on the backpackers and the positive n-ggas. We collab’d with them. JAY-Z did songs with them. That genre kinda got wiped out ’cause I think they knew that shit was making n-ggas become more conscious.”
See his comments at the 35:10 mark below.
Despite Rell’s comments, there are a plethora of rappers who have seen success in recent years while focusing on socially-minded concepts, such as Chance The Rapper, Rapsody, Joey Bada$$, Vince Staples, JID, Logic, Cordae and more.
In fact, two of Hip Hop’s “Big Three,” Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, have long been applauded for tackling societal issues like racism, police brutality and drug addiction in their music.
In other Dipset-related news, Cam’ron‘s feud with Melyssa Ford was reignited last week after the model and podcaster hit back at the rapper’s recent freestyle.
While rapping over Black Rob’s “Whoa!” on his sports show It Is What It Is last week, Killa Cam claimed that Ford called music executives Kevin Liles and Steve Stoute for support in their spat.
“Melyssa Ford called Kevin Liles/ Then Steve Stoute, what they gonna do? I’m Mr. Giles/ We good, boo, Killa feeling better now/ But don’t ever put my name near the word,” he rapped, omitting the word “pedophile” at the end of his rhyme.
Ford refuting Cam’s claim, firing back on X (formerly Twitter): “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth even gets out of bed and puts its pants on.”
She added: “That [ninja emoji] is lying. I didn’t call anyone to deal with that bullsh** And he’s still talking about it 6 months later. It’s giving… [thinking emojis].”
The pair’s issues started late last year after the Joe Budden Podcast co-host insinuated that Cam’ron solicited underage prostitutes.
After the Harlem native told a story on It Is What It Is about visiting a brothel, Ford said on Budden’s podcast: “Is there a distinct possibility that there may have been underage girls in that whore house?”
The controversial suggestion prompted a furious response from Cam, who warned the Canadian: “Tread lightly. Be careful ’cause I’ll tell you one thing: I know a lot of people at ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]. I’ll have you escorted back up across the border.”
Ford later apologized for her comments, admitting that she “should never have made that insinuation.”
When was Will Smith a conscious rapper? Kid n Play either? one was rapping about being a teenager but talking about flossing and fucking hoes, and the other group rapped about party and bullshit. These white executives definitely did a number on the game after they bought it out, but let’s not give bad examples to make our point.
this site goes out of their way to present misinformation in the most disingenuous possible manner – constantly mislabeling and mismatching artists and genres to serve some sort of anti-black anti-cultural imperative
Well said, 💯% facts. Carry on!!!
pretty much everything in this article is problematic except for the mention of poor righteous teachers.
Labels are all about social justice and activism when it helps their image and pockets. Then they go back to forcing violent 16 drill artists onto the youth, brainwashing a whole generation.
Labels are all about social justice and activism when it helps their image and pockets. Then they go back to forcing violent 16 yr old drill artists onto the youth, brainwashing a whole generation.
Most of those rappers y’all listed outside of the big three are largely irrelevant, had very low recent album sales, and are basically retired.
1. it’s too easy for anyone to be an artists these days. You need a couple hundred in software and you too can be a rapper. Since the barrier of entry is so limited, there is abundance of shit. 2. Record labels aren’t trying to hold any community down. They’re trying to make money. They promote what sells, which is and has long been stupidity. It’s why Hammer was more popular than De La Soul. It’s why Nas never reached the heights of 50 Cent. People like dumb shit.
Hammer rapped a lot about positivity. Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em his biggest album had a whole lot of tracks promoting positivity: Have You Seen Her, Save The Children, Pray, Crime Story.
they put trash in the game to make it seem like you don’t need talent but all their numbers are fake. they can make little poopy pants number one on every chart but can’t sell a single concert ticket. Only industry clowns who can’t personally make a record claim “anyone can be an artist these days” – ok then do it. Guaranteed if it was that easy you wouldn’t care about the money you would enjoy what you made.
Who?
These semi-literate ghetto goons somehow always know more than normal people.
Man please. It’s the music business, if conscious rap sold, we would get tons of it. It doesn’t sell because these “real hiphop heads” don’t support it, period.
In case most of the commenters here are asking “Who tf is this Hell Rell fella” well i can educate you; he is a nobody. Like twenty years ago he was affiliated with the Dipset (Jim Jones, Cam’ron, Juelz et al) and he was the wackest out the whole crew.