Brand Nubian member Lord Jamar over the past couple of months has voiced his opinion very loudly and unapologetically on the current state of hip-hop. Jamar voiced his gripe with Macklemore and Yelawolf, he told XXL that hip-hop is “not a gay music” in Nov. 2013,  now in a a profile piece in The New Yorker Jamar states that he's what hip-hop used to be and he "represent the hip-hop conservatives." He continues on to say “I think I represent the Hip Hop conservatives. And I use the word ‘conservative’ in the sense of conservation: I’m trying to conserve Hip Hop and its essence.”

As hip-hop expands and grow from niche music genre to center stage of pop culture, Jamar has voiced his opinion on the preservation "of the culture" and it's traditions. With new artists pushing the boundaries of hip-hop and expanding the genre, Jamar question is how far do you go? “I have no problems with pushing boundaries,” Jamar said. “But everything has its limits. How far do you go with this pushing of boundaries before you’ve turned it into something else? That’s what I want to know. How much water can you add into the whiskey before you no longer get drunk?”

His opinion on the surge of white rappers in hip-hop:

“At the end of the day, it’s another hijacking of the genre, which we’ve seen in history time and time again,” Jamar said when we spoke on the phone. “Look, it happened in rock and roll. It happened with jazz. Twenty years from now, we’re gonna have the equivalent of Kenny G rapping. Because Kenny G is jazz now! So we’re gonna have some Kenny G-type rappers, and it’s gonna be a white dude with balding hair, in a suit, doing it at the lounge in Vegas.”

[via The New Yorker]

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