There's a lot to be said about the current state of hip-hop from many industry heads alike. Some of the greats are now mentoring the young creators and the former youngins have become the old heads, creating a hip-hop evolution with lots of room for opinion and criticism, both constructive and not. This past week alone, the genre welcomed a stack of fresh tapes from Meek Mill, Lil Baby, Earl Sweatshirt, The Slump God, Big Krit and more but despite the great beats that came from the releases, Will.i.am says hip-hop doesn't take much "skill."
The Black Eyed Peas member briefly caught up with Rolling Stone and chatted about the future of television, mirrors, and scales and when asked how long the dominance of hip-hop will last, he didn't hold back.
"What’s the number-one sport on the planet? Soccer, because anyone can play it. The problem with hip-hop is everybody could do it. It doesn’t take much fucking skill right now to make hip-hop," he told the publication. "It’s become the lowest-hanging fruit. It’s no longer about Rakim-level, Nas-level, not the deep, metaphorical simile shit. Out of respect for the Nases of the world, let’s not call it hip-hop. Let’s say that’s rap. But instrumental music is going to be the next biggest shit."
Thoughts?