KXNG Crooked has long been a supporter of West Coast Hip Hop, and has just defended the legendary N.W.A. against claims made by Special Ed that the gangsta rap pioneers harmed the genre.
Special Ed made the controversial comments while on Drink Champs on September 16. “N.W.A. came out, and their shit was hardcore — and I said, ‘see, they can say what they want,'” he said on the popular podcast. “But the label didn’t want to market me that way. And I had hard shit.”
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He continued: “They didn’t want that. They wanted commercial music. We all wanted to be original. Now, it’s a bandwagon effect. Now, it’s all about cloning. These guys […] ushered in the age of destruction.”
But KXNG Crooked went on TMZ Live on Monday (September 25) to dispute these claims.
“Let me talk to you, my brother,” he began, respectfully. “We did not live in a utopia until Straight Outta Compton dropped. Straight Outta Compton is a masterful, street-conscious album. That’s not glorification. We gotta really listen to it. JAY-Z said, ‘do you really listen to it, or do you skim through it?'”
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He continued: “This destruction has always been here since we touched this soil, and art imitates life, my brother. That’s what happens. Go read The Destruction of the Black Civilization. I don’t think NWA brought the destruction age. I think they highlighted it. That was it.”
Check out his comments below.
While Special Ed may not be a fan of N.W.A.’s music, he certainly is a fan of 2Pac, especially after the West Coast rap legend got him a cameo in the classic film, Juice.
During that same interview with Drink Champs, the Brooklyn native talked about the time that the late California rapper did him a solid.
“I wasn’t really supposed to be in the movie,” he said. “What happened was, I read for the part, because I wanted to be in the movie at the time. So when I went to the set, I went to the set to go fuck with Pac, you know?”
He continued: “We was tight. So, I produced records for Pac. When I saw who they casted for the part I read for, I was like, ‘how the fuck y’all get a lookalike?’ So Pac, he acted like he was about to do something, and was like, ‘yo, Imma be right back.’ And when he came back, he was like, ‘yo, Ed, I got you a little part in the movie.’”
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Ed read for the part of Raheem, which went to Khalil Kain, but was given a small part in a scene featuring a guy with Raheem’s girlfriend, Keesha.