Pete Rock threw a little shade in the direction that today’s hip-hop producers aren’t creative enough to dig samples.
Rock has long established himself as one of hip-hop’s most prolific producers, alongside the likes of DJ Premier, RZA, Q-Tip and J Dilla. And as one half of Pete Rock and his CL Smooth, the Bronx native goes from Redman and Run-DMC to Skyzoo and Kanye West.
But on Thursday (March 16), Chocolate Boy Wunda had few words of wisdom to offer, choosing instead to criticize the direction the producers had taken.
“They’re resampling rap and R&B records that were made only three or four years ago. [crying laughing face emoji] I won’t delve into the hits they’re sampling that have already been hits lately lol [shrug emoji]’ he wrote on Twitter.
They’re resampling rap and R&B records that were made only 3-4 years ago 😂😂😂😂 They’re sampling something that was already a recent hit, so they don’t delve into the hits lol 🤷🏿♂️
—PETEROCK.COM (@PeteRock) March 16, 2023
Impressions that resonate with the hearts of fans. “Rap these days is a joke. Marketing machine $,” Written by one Twitter userreflecting his agreement with Pete.
Another suggestion puts responsibility for the current state of sampling on Didi.writes:puffy’s fault [shrug emoji] Sampling was one of the most creative aspects of great hip-hop. [one hundred emoji]Any sound, beat, whatever, loop it until it sounds completely different. [skull emoji]”
This isn’t the first time gaming veteran Pete Rock has spoken out about a new era in hip-hop. In 2020, he shared a clip of Tory Lanez explaining that “rap is in a horrible place.” This was expressed with a lengthy caption via Instagram.
“Awful! This new shit is forced!” he wrote. For me it was Marley Marl, Teddy Riley, Howie Tee, 45 King, Larry Smith (RIP) and this new generation is sick of it and it’s taking music in a bad direction.”
He continues: The music business is built for music people, not just artists, DJs and producers. God had to bless you with something real to share with the world in order to see and hear your true talent shine through.
“Today, you don’t have to be talented anymore. Whether it’s just a look, or an Instagram page, or some sort of social media presence, you can act like an idiot and get by today.” he added. “Hip-hop integrity is out the window because of their greed and hunger for popularity. Even artists my age are annoying, I got love for them even though they didn’t let me see it.
“Mainstream radio sounds really bad and no one in that world cares about real music anymore. They make this new shit big so that talent gets involved.” Hate the truth it’s a disgraceful man Big up to all real artists making real music new and old mainstream world [thumbs down emoji]”
