Veteran producer Statik Selektah has worked with everyone from Nas and Talib Kweli to Action Bronson and KXNG Crooked over the course of his extensive career. Simply put, the Roc Nation affiliate knows his way around a studio.
On Tuesday (March 20), after he popped up in an Instagram video with 2 Chainz, the new music featured in the clip was labeled by some as “’90s-inspired.” Subsequently, the Massachusetts native aired his grievances about the current state of Hip Hop on Twitter.
“Why is anything that’s not a synth with 200 hi hats a second considered ’90s or old school’??!” he wrote. “Y’all gotta stop that shit. Bad for hip hop. Y’all don’t do it to Kendrick and them. Don’t do it to the east.”
Expounding on the topic, Statik told HipHopDX, “It’s bad for Hip Hop when people try to label anything with soul or a raw element to it as ‘90s or old school. It creates a separation. It makes the young kids look at sampling music as dated.”
He added, “The funny thing is none of that [in the clip] was sampled. There’s a whole industry labeling anything that isn’t EDM or Auto-Tune as ‘90s or old school. But if Kendrick [Lamar] or Drake does it, they don’t call it that. They just wanna label certain people. They do it to Joey Bada$$. They do it to Action Bronson. They stay doing it to me [laughs].”
Statik, whose latest solo project 8 was released last December, has always adhered to the jazz and funk-laced boom-bap beats purists have embraced since Hip Hop’s inception. No matter what he puts out, it will naturally have a touch of that classic East Coast sound but he remains frustrated by the “’90s-inspired” and “old school” labels that seem to shroud anything that’s not part of the popular mainstream.
“Hip Hop was never supposed to be for everyone a.k.a. the biggest audiences,” he explains. “It was a thing you used to feel part of. You would earn respect. Everyone’s entitled now. Social media does that. It’s hard to get around.”
“It’s 2018,” he continued. “Nothing is ‘90s. [JAY-Z’s] 4:44 is not ‘90s. [Kanye West’s] Dark Twisted Fantasy isn’t ‘90s. PRhyme is not ‘90s. Westside Gunn and Conway ain’t ‘90s. It’s like brainwashing the new generation that they have to make what’s popular or they won’t win. We need to start checking the bullshitters calling it out its name [laughs].”
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But he does offer a solution.
“I think everyone should promote the stuff they love more instead of promoting how bad shit is or how much of joke a certain artist is,” he said. “There’s a lot of negativity. I used to be on it, too. [I was] mad at the Lil Yachtys, etc. Now, it’s like I ignore the shit I don’t like.”
He adds, “Stop making stupid people famous though. It’s all hype off nothing.”
Several fellow artists also chimed in on the topic, including 9th Wonder, 2 Chainz, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Termanology and Lord Finesse.
Check out their comments below.
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FACTS from a man who’s been in the game a long time. Same about the journalism, it’s these sites and insta accounts that promote the trash. I ain’t about this new wave of trash so I don’t listen to it, easy.
Real talk! You only see all that crab in the barrel talk in Hip Hop! Shit makes you not even real alot of these articles.
read
But your beats are boring carbon copies of DJ Premier beats so you have no room to talk, Dry Statik.
you won’t throw hands keyboard shawty lol
He doesn’t sound shit like Preem
You’re dissing Staik for being a carbon-copy Premo? Dude, the whole trap rap mumble rap scene is carbon copy. There’s not one original sounding artist in that genre. All the beats, lyrics, vibes, etc sounds the exact same. No talent what so ever. Just copy from the next trapper or mumbled. When they use trap beats, it’s even difficult to tell the difference between a Drake, JRock, Nipsey, Vince Staples trap song. They sound the same when they do it. Hardly any differentiation.
Perfectly stated. When people say I’m an old head or 90’s fan because I can’t stand trap music, that’s a poor excuse. There’s plenty of artists in 2018 who don’t use rapid watersprinkler hi-hats; Joey Bada$$, John Givez, Royce, Logic, J.Cole, Kendrick, etc. It’s all about showcasing actual skills. If a brand new artist in 2018 comes with that real authentic hiphop, then it’s dope. Leave that trap and mumblin trash to the side. I’m a fan of dope music regardless if it’s 60’s, 70’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s, 2050’s. etc.
I love how you put Nickle in there like he came out from the same class as Cole, Kenny and Logic.
Read the leading sentence, “There’s plenty of artists in 2018 who don’t use rapid watersprinkler hi-hats;”.
This was no mention of new or old artists. Reading comprehension.
Statik has some boring ass beats I’m not even gonna lie. Most just have drum loops. But do you bruh. Even if it is trash.
This dude is straight up corny and a copy cat following d*ck rider. And for anyone that says “this sounds personal”, your right. But not personal in the sense as he did anything to me or anyone I know, but personal in the sense in what he’s doing in this industry. And shame on Dj Premier for allowing it. All you Statik minions can suck a big fat juicy rare cooked hamburger.
I’d cop a Statik album over a Khaled record anyday…even if most his beats sound the same….I prefer him back on To The Top era….Detroit Vs Everybody was dope though
Real listeners should know the difference instead of calling everything with a boom bap 90s… which is by far the must creative way of listening to this genre.
One thing thou, today’s level of production in hip hop has progressed in many ways and beyond
BOOM BAP BEEN DEAD FOR OVER 20 YEARS . #GETOVERIT
i agree boom baps shitty elementary tracks killed ny hiphop
I just want to know why does everybody sound like they’re in a gay club outer space when they do their beats these days? Hip hop has to get back to its soul roots, or it’s going to keep getting wacker and wacker.