Dave East Believes Real Lyricists Write Their Own Rhymes

The 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards were taped this past weekend, and the Sway in the Morning team was there, interviewing rappers before the show began. Above, they chat with Dave East, who says he's looking forward to seeing Future and shouts out Lil Uzi Vert with, whom he shared the 2016 Freshman cover with. The Harlem rapper as well speaks on his upcoming Kairi Chanel mixtape, saying there's a big new deal he's going to announce before it drops.

Citing Kid Cudi's recent comments about rapper's claiming to be top 5 without penning all their own rhymes, Tracy G asks Dave what he thinks constitutes a true lyricist. "I feel like a lyricist is somebody that writes their own lyrics," he says. "Now songwriters and lyricists are two totally different things. You can’t really be a lyricist if you didn’t write your lyrics. There’s no passion, there’s nothing in it coming from you. It’s somebody else’s feelings and you just taking it and running with it. I write all my own music, everything."

Kairi Chanel features Cam'ron, 2 Chainz, Fabolous, The Game and more and will drop at the end of the month, on Sept. 30. As for his debut album, East says above, "I ain't gon front, album is really like top of next year." East fans can pre-order the tape, which takes its name from his first-born daughter, on iTunes now. Check the video up top for his full interview.

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