(AllHipHop News) Wu-Tang Clan member Clifford “Method Man” Smith connected with The Daily Beast to discuss the new season of his TBS rap competition show Drop the Mic. The interview also featured the New Yorker talking about his hometown Hip Hop scene.
“I feel like we lost our identity but it was good for the unification of hip-hop as a whole. Atlanta is the new New York,” said Method Man. He added, “The South did their thang and they cannot be blamed for the state of hip-hop right now—no one can be blamed for that, these are just cycles that the music has to go through.”
In addition, the Tical album creator spoke on the breaking down of race and gender barriers in Hip Hop. Meth also addressed modern male Hip Hop stars – like Atlanta’s Young Thug- embracing androgyny.
“It’s cool when one person is doing it, and you say, ‘OK, that’s his thing,’ but then when it becomes a trend…They’re basically doing what rock ‘n’ rollers did with the fingernail-painting, the long hair, jumpin’ in the crowd—they want to be rock stars now. Be that, but don’t call it hip-hop. I think it’s different, but it has its place,” said the 47-year-old.
Meth continued, “Would I rather sit there and listen to Rakim at a concert? Probably. I would love to listen to Rakim all day on my radio. But nowadays, if I’m at a concert, I’m gonna see Kendrick, I’m gonna see Rae Sremmurd, I’m gonna see these artists that turn up the way I would be doing if I was makin’ that kind of music.”
While Johnny Blaze acknowledged some performers in the new generation, he had a more unfavorable opinion on Lil Xan’s comments about Tupac Shakur. He stated, “These f-ckin’ idiots. That’s like me tryin’ to sh-t on N.W.A. It’s because of N.W.A that I don’t got [to censor] my f-ckin’ curse words on my records and I can say ‘f-ck the police’ and get away with that sh-t if I wanted to. We held our OGs in high regard.”
Method Man also conversed about the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Pac, rooting for Bronx newcomer Cardi B, the Wu’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album, U-God’s controversial memoir, working with Redman, Donald Trump, and more.