Pete Rock has offered his thoughts on the current state of Hip Hop culture, emphasizing how he believes the art form has been consumed by greed.
On Wednesday (January 3), the pioneering producer shared an interview clip of Erick Sermon talking about how the genre has become unrecognizable from where it started off and that it is “stuck in one place.”
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“They should change the music to WTF [facepalm emoji] tryna create a narrative that aint working,” the 53-year-old New Yorker captioned his Instagram post. “Pile driving the culture straight in the ground. We created real history! idk what da hell they creating today but it damn sure aint history or hip hop thats a fact.”
He continued: “We lost our integrity chasing the money. The bag as they say has become the problem and the focus point in the culture. Makes it corny when yall make it about money smh [corn emoji] Everyone extra sensitive about opinions smh. Soon as you have an opinion you’re a hater automatically lol. Clown shit [clown emoji] we all out here working to make better music. Why dont try and do the same thing.”
Pete Rock says "chasing the money" ruined Hip Hop: "The bag has become the problem" https://t.co/3Yh0bOWXIApic.twitter.com/Og7VfKvC3t
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) January 4, 2024
The above clip is from an interview Erick Sermon did with Say Word! Podcast back in mid-November. During the chat, he expressed his qualms about modern Hip Hop, dismissing today’s dominant trends as being uncharacteristic of the craft he helped to pioneer.
The EPMD co-founder didn’t hold back when he was asked his thoughts on the genre as it stands today, making it clear that he doesn’t recognize it for what it’s branded as.
“I just think that Hip Hop is just not Hip Hop,” he began. “I just think that they should change the name. No disrespect, but that’s not what that is […] Hip Hop can evolve, but this is not evolving.
“Evolving is Melle Mel to Rakim stage to the whole nine, to Wu-Tang [Clan] to Murder Inc., DMX — that’s evolving. Y’know, Cam’ron. Y’know, Dipset — that’s evolving.”
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After shouting out several other artists such as Ludacris, Migos and Soulja Boy for their originality, he added: “Music is in somewhat of a bind because it’s stuck in one place.”
