Nick Cannon has said it’s unlikely he’ll ever put out another rap album because the music being made by today’s Hip Hop artists just isn’t challenging enough for him.
The talented multi-hyphenate and business mogul released his self-titled debut album back in 2003, with guest appearances from Ying Yang Twins, Biz Markie, R. Kelly, Nivea and more. The 12-track project also features production by Just Blaze, Trackmasters, Mario Winans and Diddy.
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Even though the album hears him rap throughout, Nick Cannon told HipHopDX that he never considered himself a rapper, and that he doesn’t like subscribing to labels because they have the potential to hold you back.
“To define me is to confine me,” he told DX. “I never thought I was a rapper. That’s why I think I just kind of never — I wouldn’t say I didn’t take it seriously, but I was more focused on being a producer, a musician.”
Even when his lead single “Gigolo” was enjoying its time in the limelight, Cannon was already thinking about other areas of music he wanted to be in.
“I feel like even when I started I was evolving as a musician, you know, everything from production, being a piano guy, guitar, playing various instruments and stuff. I was always on that,” he explained. “Rhyming words was never that exciting to me.”
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“So when people make fun of me, I don’t care — anybody can do that. I’m not impressed by anybody who can rhyme words together. TikTok has proven anyone can do it.”
Talking more so about the rudimentary rhyming of words over a beat as opposed to the complex lyrical abilities of Hip Hop’s most celebrated wordsmiths, the Wild ‘n Out creator made sure to mention that he wasn’t talking about them.
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“When you think about someone who really raps, you think of somebody like Symba,” Cannon said of the rising Bay Area rapper. “That’s an art form and it’s a young man’s game.”
“I commend and salute all poets and storytellers. Those are the greats,” he continued. “But just being able to put some words together over a beat, anybody could do that. Literally, Dr. Seuss has turned us all into rappers.”
Regardless of whether Nick Cannon raps or sings — he released his R&B mixtape The Explicit Tape: Raw & B last summer — DJs or produces, hosts or stars in films, or launches his own line of headphones, music is always at the forefront of his ideas.
“I’m a music guy,” he told DX. “If you think about everything that I’m involved in, everything I’ve ever built, from Masked Singer to Wild ‘n Out to different films, Drumline! It’s all music, and the idea of being a musician, and the frequency and religion of music, man, it makes people feel good.”
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Nick Cannon concluded by saying he doesn’t think people pay close enough attention to what he’s built over the years and the role he’s played in pushing music forward. “I think in hindsight when people look back, they’ll be like, ‘Yeah, he was on his music grind the entire time,'” he said.
Cannon is about to wrap up his Future Superstar Tour, featuring the likes of Symba, 24KGoldn, Hitman Holla and many other talents on the come up.
The crew will roll into Philadelphia, PA on Wednesday (April 5), followed by two final shows in Westbury, NY and New York, NY on Thursday (April 6) and Saturday (April 8) respectively. You can pick up any remaining tickets here.
