In the late 1980s, Public Enemy were the standard for hip hop. Unafraid to go at anyone and tackle any topic, Public Enemy became just what their title suggests. But, like everything else in life, Public Enemy had their time in the limelight and then their time passed.
Flavor Flav had an unexpected return to the forefront of entertainment in 2006, however, when his “Flavor of Love” series began. For two years, Flavor Flav was the biggest star on VH1 and he created a new trend in reality television. This trend morphed into VH1’s current programming slate.
During a recent interview with Gigwise, Chuck D and Flavor Flav gave their take on hip hop music. Flavor Flav spoke on when he feels rap music declined and both he and Chuck D spoke on the slow tempo and the end of “wave your hands like you just don’t care.” Saying hip hop lost its element, they said Jay-Z, Drake, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar are not hip hop.
Flavor Flav did praise Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, 50 Cent, Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Jay-Z for making great rap records.
Read excerpts from the interview below:
“I think the element of hip-hop left when rap music started being created on a slow tempo,” claimed Flavor Flav. “It’s just stayed there for years. Right now, a lot of rap music today is being created at very low tempos.
“There’s no more of that ‘Wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care’ – you know, something that makes you wanna get out there and breakdance,” he added. “Rap music has lost that element right now, mainly over in America. There’s not too many great hip-hop records out there, but there are some great rap records. Lil Wayne is making some great rap records, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Snoop [Dogg] – everybody is making great rap records, but it’s not hip-hop.”
His bandmate Chuck D, meanwhile, said: “If you love hip-hop, ask yourself why. We’ve done it around the world for 26 years in 90 countries and we have our reasons – but we think it should be along the lines of Bob Marley, Bob Dylan and Bobby Womack. It should be able to cover all aspects. When it’s just about ‘I got money and you don’t have money’, that’s just taking advantage of the naivety of people.”
