André 3000 has hit back at his rap peers who have criticized his comments about rapping over the age of 40.
In a cover story interview for Crack Magazine, the OutKast legend said: “I’ve heard some rappers reply to what I’ve said about age, and I have to ask, ‘What are you rapping about?’
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“Some are the best braggadocious rappers in the world, and we love them for that — but it’s so much easier to do that for the rest of your life. I don’t necessarily rap like that. Our formulas are different.”
3 Stacks continued to defend his stance while responding to an unnamed critic: “He doesn’t know what it takes for me to do what I do. I don’t know what it takes for him to say the same thing over and over again and still keep it creative. But I love him for doing it.”
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André 3000 had previously implied that rap is a young man’s game, telling GQ: “I’m 48 years old. And not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I got to go get a colonoscopy.’ What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is going bad.’”
His comments were met with both disappointment and disagreement from fans and fellow rappers alike, with Lil Wayne calling them “depressing.”
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“I read a depressing quote or two from someone I respect a lot in music,” Weezy said on his Apple Music show Young Money Radio last year. “And they were asked, ‘Why you ain’t been doing music?’ or whatever. And they was like, ‘Man, what I’ma talk about? I’m in my 40s. What am I supposed to talk about?’
“I was like wow, that was so depressing. I’m like, I have everything to talk about!”
The LOX also urged the Love Below lyricist to pick up his notepad and head back into the booth.
Speaking on The Breakfast Club, Sheek Louch said: “Nah, so much to talk about, Dre. It’s a lot, man. Just how you word it and put it. Of course, we not talking about being in the hallways or trapping and all that, but it’s a lot. Let us know what you been going through.”
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Styles P then chimed in and said: “Rap about his travels. He’s one of the greatest to ever do it. He could’ve rapped over the flute beats, straight up. I think rapping about what is he gonna rap about is a good point-of-view. It gives different people different perspectives.”
