Producer & one half of EPMD, Erick Sermon believes hip hop today should be moved to another genre category.
During an interview with the Say Word! Podcast, Sermon was asked his thoughts on the genre.
“I just think that Hip-Hop is just not Hip-Hop. 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 to Murder Inc., DMX — that’s evolving. Y’know, Cam’ron. Dipset — that’s evolving,” legendary emcee said.
Watch Sermon talk about the culture below:
“And some of them are saying they aren’t even rappers. They’re calling it something else [like] a vibe or something. But they can’t be — that’s not what this culture is about. This culture is about content. It’s about saying something that resonates and feels like something. We have bars, technique, flow, beats and rhymes. Thats the culture. When you have Offset talking, Offset is actually saying, ‘Yo, sh*t is f**ked up and nobody wants to hear the content.’ When Nicki Minaj is saying, ‘It ain’t about talent it’s about popularity.’ People are speaking on [this]… Music is in somewhat of a bind because it’s stuck in one place.”
Sermons sentiments were met with support from fans.
“Mr. Sermon is spot on ! That’s why as a fan, I listen to the oldies instead of new school. This new thing glamorizes evil thoughts instead of giving a breath of fresh air, ” one user wrote.
Another added, “Can’t argue with that. Once again I asked where were the roundtables for the 50th anniversary to discuss the direction of the music and how to regain control of the art form.”
“Too much chasing the charts and not making something organic that will have longevity. It’s all microwave music coming out now,” wrote another X user.