E-40 has said he’s disappointed in the current state of Hip Hop due to the lack of creativity from up-and-coming artists, suggesting they focus on storytelling and stop being “copycats.”
On Wednesday (December 6), the Bay Area veteran sat down with CBS Morning’s Nate Burleson to discuss his illustrious career and contributions to Hip Hop culture.
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When asked what he thinks about the current state of Hip Hop music, E-40 admitted he wasn’t excited about the direction the genre is heading.
“I don’t like where it’s at,” he told Burleson. “Because I feel like it’s not enough creativity. Everyone sounds the same. A lot of copycats.”
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The Mount Westmore MC explained that he isn’t fond of the consistent negativity in young artists’ lyrics. He suggests that they focus on telling cautionary tales in their music rather than promoting crime and gang violence.
“I’m not tryna act like I’m hella positive,” E-40 explained. “But I am because I’m a storyteller. The things that sound like they ain’t positive, I talk about the repercussions and consequences if you do this. I’m a storyteller.”
Check out his comments around the 2:56 mark in the video below:
The Bay Area legend seems to echo a sentiment similar to that of Lil Yachty‘s. The Atlanta rapper recently came under fire after saying that the genre is in a “terrible place” right now.
“The state of Hip Hop right now is a lot of imitation. It’s a lot of quick, low-quality music being put out,” he said during a sit down with Tierra Whack for Rolling Stone last month. “It’s a lot less risk-taking, it’s a lot less originality … People are too safe now. Everyone is so safe. I’d rather take the risk than take the L.”
Lil Boat took time to show love to fellow Atlanta rapper JID, admitting he’s “never heard a bad verse from him.”
“I love JID,” he said. “JID is such a beautiful person. He has the spirit of like a real Atlanta Negro, and he’s such a good, kind person and he just always embraced me with open arms, so I got nothing but respect for JID. I never heard a bad verse from JID ever.”
Yachty doubled down on his opinions about the state of Hip Hop while chatting with co-host Mitch Gone Mad in a recent episode of their podcast A Safe Place.
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“Even record labels have pulled back on funding of Hip Hop as far as like what contracts are looking like and what budgets are being put into … Hip Hop artists. It’s all been scaled back on funding. It’s facts,” he maintained.
“The facts is that people aren’t supporting Hip Hop like they once did because there is a decline in content.”
