Melle Mel Says No One Wants to Rap Like Kendrick Lamar and Eminem

Melle Mel doesn’t believe Kendrick Lamar nor Eminem have the influence to be top ranked rappers.

On March 4, The Art of Dialogue YouTube channel aired a clip of its multi-part interview with the rap pioneer, which finds Mel offering polarizing opinions on the current state of hip-hop while commenting on Billboard and Vibe‘s 50 Greatest Rappers of All-Time list. During this segment, Mel questioned Kendrick Lamar‘s No. 2 ranking on the list.

“Even Kendrick Lamar being No. 2. I don’t know,” Mel said. “Obviously, he made some good songs. But those songs don’t translate into the street part of hip-hop. That’s another level of hip-hip. I don’t know what records that he made like that. I might know one or two of them. But I don’t think you hear Kendrick in the club like that. It might be a record that’s his record that I don’t know. It don’t translate into him being the No. 2 rapper of all-time. How does that happen? It shouldn’t. Because he’s fairly a new rapper.”

Mel continued, “When Kendrick Lamar does these songs, nobody wants to rap like Kendrick Lamar. Nobody wants to rap like Eminem. A lot of people wanted to rap like ’Pac and Biggie…If after Eminem make his song and make his big splash in the game, if you don’t have 1,000 White rappers nothing changed. He’s good. He’s capable. He’s good. But to say he changed the game how ’Pac changed the game. It’s a big difference.”

Melle Mel’s new TAOD interview clips haver been going viral. Last week, he made headlines for comments about Lil Wayne and Eminem, which sparked a reaction from 50 Cent.

See Melle Mel Explaining His Thoughts on Kendrick Lamar and Eminem’s Influence on Hip-Hop Below

See 50 Lyrics Rappers Got Wrong