The beef between Drake and Meek Mill has officially hit its peak, and the men of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony are watching the drama play out like the rest of us.
The battle, which the Philly rapper ignited when he accused Drake of having a ghostwriter pen his raps, set the internet ablaze and has since spawned two diss tracks from Drake ― “Charged Up” and “Back-to-Back” ― and a poorly-received response from Meek Mill.
When Bone Thugs-n-Harmony sat down with HuffPost Live on Thursday, Krayzie Bone said that beef between rappers has an important legacy in the hip-hop world.
“To me, certain beefs is good for hip-hop. It’s always been a part of hip-hop. You always had emcees going against each other,” he told host Julee Wilson.
While the friction between the rappers has clearly burned bridges, Krayzie Bone said that beef can be a positive force for hip-hop culture, pointing to the long-squashed feud between two of the biggest artists to come out of NYC ― Jay Z and Nas.
“As long as it don’t turn into nothing like the East Coast-West Coast thing, I think it’s all good fun for hip hop. ... I say the perfect example of a hip-hop beef is Jay Z and Nas,” Krayzie Bone said. “They battled, then they put it to rest then they came and did a song together. That’s how its supposed to go. Nobody’s supposed to lose their life. None of that’s supposed to happen. This is music. You’re supposed to enjoy it.”
As for the ghostwriting allegations against Drake, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony didn’t take an issue with the idea of rappers using an anonymous writer, but he made it known that his own group did not take part in the practice.
“Some people are more entertainers than they are actual writers. ... Us personally, we all write our own stuff. We have never had ghostwriters or no shit like that,” Wish Bone said.
“It opens up the doors for somebody else to earn a little bit of money. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. Let the ghostwriter write if that’s the case,” Flesh-N-Bone said.
Watch the full HuffPost Live interview with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony here.
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Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Jay Z was born in Brooklyn, whereas Nas was not: he was born in Queens.
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