While appearing on The Smoke Box with Cypress Hill emcee B-Real, Hawthorne, California rapper Kurupt commended the new artists coming out of the West Coast and also shared the names of the artists who currently top his list of favorites.
Before naming Canadian emcee Drake and Kendrick Lamar as his favorites, Kurupt gave props to ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick, and Problem for being artists who have represented for the new generation of West Coast rappers.
“And I’m working on my album right now with Terrace Martin, Conundrum,” Kurupt said. “Got Hit-Boy a part of it. DJ Mustard…The new generation of the West Coast is really coming to the table. And they showing they love. ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick, Problem. You know what I’m saying? And we just making it happen…The cycle continues. And it’s like when we first got into the game you had Dr. Dre who gave us a stamp. And then you had—throughout everything that happened in the end then you had Cube who gives the stamp. And then you have Cypress Hill that gives a stamp…Now we’re the ones giving the stamps.”
While offering advice to aspiring emcees, Kurupt listed word connection and style as two important qualities for any rapper. He then named Drake as an artist who has mastered the use of word connections in his music, as both a lyricist and a singer.
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“Word connection and style. You know, the way you style your rhymes and the words you connect,” he said. “I can make words rhyme that does not rhyme. From the way I say it. You know a lot of people—I’mma just be honest and real. A lot of people don’t realize that Drake is an emcee. His word connections—Fuck the singing and all that. So what? If the boy wanna do it, so the fuck what. He’s having a good time and he ain’t harming nobody. You know what I’m saying? That nigga is an emcee. He connects words. Even with his singing he connects words that don’t even supposed to connect.”
After speaking on both Drake and K-Dot, Kurupt gave props to Young Money helmsman Lil Wayne, an artist he feels has “shaped a part of Hip Hop.”
“I like Lil Wayne, cuz. And you know why I like cuz? Because it don’t matter what they talking about,” Tha Dogg Pound rapper said. “He’s being his self. And musically, the boy is great. So, we can get to his personal…but that’s irrelevant to the music…He knows what the fuck he’s doing, cuz. He was a youngster when everybody from Cash Money was flying. Juvenile and everybody. B.G…And he was just watching. He got his little pieces in. He did his thing. And then he got the reins to make that horse run, the boy did well. He killed ‘em, cuz. Lyrically, he killed ‘em. He shaped a part of Hip Hop.”
Towards the end of Kurupt’s interview, he mentioned Rakim as the one artist he’d most like to work with and credited his cousin Skippy for inspiring him to pursue music.
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In addition to a new solo album, Kurupt revealed that he’s attempting to advance his film game and by doing so has entered into a partnership with Streetwise Films and several other film companies to begin releasing feature films.
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