By Ismael AbduSalaam
In a rare sit down between a pioneer and new school artist, The Blastmaster KRS-One met with teen sensation Soulja Boy this past Tuesday (August 26) to discuss the state of Hip-Hop culture.
The first time meeting was moderated on Rap City by host Q45, who started off the conversation by asking Soulja Boy if he was Hip-Hop.
“I guess so, man. I hope I’m Hip-Hop” Soulja stated sheepishly. “I’ve been number one on the Hip-Hop charts.”
The conversation moved on to how both artists viewed the definition of Hip-Hop for their generations.
“You know I have a long, drawn out answer for that,” KRS joked. “Let’s start with the simple stuff: breakin’, MC’ing, graffiti writing, DJ’ing, and beatboxing. That’s the original elements of Hip-Hop. But the way in which you display that can be in infinite kinds. Every generation brings their own kind of presentation.”
Soulja Boy offered a similar stance in his reply but emphasized the party element of Hip-Hop’s origins.
“Hip-Hop is having fun: rapping which is basically what I do, dancing, and partying,” he explained. “I’m the life of the party so I think it’s all about getting it in, having fun and not thinking about the consequences.”
The young rapper went on to detail his frustration at being called out by numerous veteran artists such as legend Ice-T, and how his “old school” influence was listening to 50 Cent’s early records when he was 11 years old.
Furthermore, Soulja Boy revealed that out of all the artists that have made disparaging remarks about him, KRS-One is the only MC to speak to him personally about Hip-Hop culture.
KRS took the first steps to heal the expanding rift between new and old school Hip-Hop artists by explaining the perspective of the pioneers.
“What most of us are expecting is a continuation of the legacy, that the work we did in the 70s, 80s, and 90s was not in vain,” KRS stated “That’s really where the hurt is coming from. That the younger generation would forget about us and the struggles. We had to fight for this, even to have a Rap City. We expect those that come after us to keep that torch lit.”
Acknowledging the success of his younger peer, KRS made it a point to emphasize to Soulja Boy the influence he can have in building the culture.
“Right now we’re dealing with a generation gap with younger people and us supposedly bitter old school Hip-Hoppers,” KRS explained to an attentive Soulja Boy. “By us being here we can settle a lot of the generation gap that is out here in the community today. And let me just say this [as] KRS-One, big respect to you and welcome to Hip-Hop!”
The Rap City episode is scheduled to be replayed this Saturday on BET.