Flava Flav Says Drake, Nicki Minaj, Snoop And Others Are Not ‘HIP HOP’

Part of the reason why there are so many feuds in the Hip Hop genre is because of each particular artist’s perception of what “Hip Hop” actually is. Everything is relative when it comes to slingin’ rhymes. With that, it’s not surprising to hear one of the game’s OGs chime in on whether or not musicians like Kendrick Lamar and Drake should be considered “Hip Hop.”

Public Enemy rapper Flava Flav says, “I think the element of Hip Hop left when Rap music started being created on a slow tempo.” He continued, “Right now, a lot of Rap music today is being created at very low tempos.”

Flav acknowledges that today’s line-up of artists are producing great “Rap” records, but they shouldn’t be considered “Hip Hop” records.

“There’s not too many great Hip Hop records out there but there are some great Rap records. Lil Wayne is making great rap records. Drake, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Snoop – everybody is making great Rap records, but it’s not Hip Hop.”

I’m not gonna jump on Flav for this one. He’s entitled to his opinion. And the reality is, these opinions aren’t just in Hip Hop. ALL genre’s of music have evolved over the years. Michael Jackson is, and always will be the King of Pop. Pop music from his day sounded WAY different than the Britney Spears, Justin Biebers and Katy Perrys of the world today. Rock might be an even better example. That genre has gone from Elvis to Van Halen to Metallica. Their records don’t sound anything alike, but none the less, they’re all Rock.

It just goes to show you, whatever your perception is, is YOUR reality.