Flavor Flav has long established himself as a rapper, reality-TV star and restaurateur, but now he's taken it upon himself to be a music critic, too. The Public Enemy member recently opined on the state of hip-hop, saying popular artists like Jay Z, 50 Cent and Drake aren't quite cutting it.
"I think the element of hip-hop left when rap music started being created on a slow tempo," Flavor Flav told Gigwise backstage at the U.K. music festival Kendal Calling. "It's just stayed there for years. Right now, a lot of rap music today is being created at very low tempos. There's no more of that 'wave your hands in the air like you just don't care' -- you know, something that makes you wanna get out there and breakdance. Rap music has lost that element right now, mainly over in America."
The clock-wearing hip-hop warhorse, whose first album with Public Enemy debuted in 1987, specifically cited Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Snoop Lion as artists who are making "great rap records" that aren't true hip-hop.
Flav label Public Enemy's 2012 track "31 Flavors," from the album "The Evil Empire of Everything," an example of genuine hip-hop.
Watch his Gigwise interview above to hear his full remarks on the genre. (Commentary on the aforementioned artists starts around the 6:05 mark.)
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