Melle Mel is a living legend of Hip-Hop and should be regarded as one of the culture’s foundational stars for his massive contributions. However, the Furious Five frontman is coming under fire on Twitter after recent comments he made about the genre recently surfaced.
Melle Mel, 61, was a recent guest on The Art of Dialogue and several clips from the chat have since gone viral.
One comment, in particular, was Mel stating that other rappers don’t want to rap like Kendrick Lamar despite several instances of some rappers taking some of K-Dot’s vocal formula over the past decade. Mel was speaking about the recent list of the best rappers in the game published by Billboard.
Mel then launched into an assault on Eminem, stating that the Detroit lyricist is only lauded as much as he is due to him being a white rapper. Mel also concluded that Busta Rhymes is a better rapper overall than Jay-Z along with other quips.
As a result of Mel’s comments, fans on Twitter are taking note of the fact that the founding member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five has been critical of Hip-Hop acts with one clip in particular where Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan expressed that Melle Mel seemingly mistreated him despite Meth showing respect.
Mel also took another shot at Jay-Z, saying that the late Tupac “2Pac” Shakur had a larger impact on Hip-Hop than the Brooklyn rapper. Each of these clips has garnered a flurry of responses as expected. And this isn’t the first time Melle Mel has taken aim at his predecessors.
Keep scrolling to see some of the reactions to Melle Mel blasting Hip-Hop’s modern era below.
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Photo: Johnny Nunez / Getty
1.
Just last summer Method Man talked about what the deal is with Melle Mel,
So when you see those new clips of Mel talking shit about Wayne, Em, Kendrick and whoever else. Keep this in mind, his word isn’t gold pic.twitter.com/JKPVnnFRPP
— Psycho Mantis (@MarkSparks718) March 5, 2023
2.
Q-Tip said Melle Mel gave Tribe a hard time when they were getting their start https://t.co/nuHD84pd5S
— IG: 365daysofhiphop (@fromoldharlem) March 5, 2023
3.
The Native Tongues always playfully gave it back. I remember at the NMS DJ and MC Championships in 1990, as Melle Mel walked on stage, De La was in the balcony. And all you heard from the balcony was "ERRRRRRAH!" https://t.co/85IYvYWgWe
— Dan Charnas (@dancharnas) March 6, 2023
4.
Understand Melle Mel was so dominant over the rest of the pack in the first 5 years of records its hard to comprehend for born after MC folk. Its why i call him Wilt Chamberlain and Wilt had a crate of critiques for the rappers after him including ME . Just Let Mel be Wilt lol
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) March 5, 2023
5.
Melle Mel said no one wants to rap like Kendrick Lamar. A lot of rappers wanna rap like Kendrick. They’re just not capable of rapping like Kendrick.
— Carl Chery (@carlchery) March 5, 2023
6.
Busta’s style was directly influenced by & inspired from losing a battle to Hov who was a pioneer of the double time “speed” rap that Bus would later master
Hov’s influence stretches back to the 80s, so Melle Mel is just wrong across the board lol pic.twitter.com/KUjs3Nnot9
— Hero (@HopHeroes) March 6, 2023
7.
People get mad at Melle Mel for speaking his mind and what he actually believes.. but they love it when folks just repeat the same takes over and over just so they can fit in and not burn any bridges… Scared of the industry..
— R.A. the Rugged Man (@RAtheRuggedMan) March 6, 2023
8.
I respect Melle Mel as a pioneer & one of the first 3 lyrical Kings in his era with CAZ & Moe Dee but some of his recent takes just aren't good but hey, it's his right.
— TONYDaDome (@EnterDaDome) March 6, 2023
9.
You can’t have a strong opinion about hip hop then turn around and say you don’t listen to rap were they do that at im sorry Melle Mel
— Ya Type Or Real I Dont Recognize Its All Televised (@3LMthree) March 6, 2023
10.
Don't be surprised at Melle Mel's takes, he used to give a hard time to Public Enemy, Wu-Tang and A Tribe Called Quest and used to say their music wasn't good back then as well. Just think of that whenever he talks.
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod
(@big_business_) March 6, 2023
11.
There’s like 3 microgenerations of rappers with “Melle Mel is a hater” stories lmao
— Codec Black (@timmhotep) March 6, 2023
12.
I feel like while this is true, this didn’t stop folks from trying to rap like or emulate the following:
Melle Mel
Grandmaster Caz
Kool Moe Dee
LL Cool J
KRS One
Kool G Rap
Big Daddy Kane
Lord Finesse
Dres
Treach
Big L
Chip Fu
Das EFX
Nas
Biggie Smalls/B.I.G.
Jay-Z
Bun B https://t.co/8jt8T9axiH— Dart_Adams (@Dart_Adams) March 5, 2023
13.
That Melle Mel take was just as bad as that Boxing match he had with Willie D
Respect to the OG but if you aint listening to the music, you just can't be out here just saying anything
Aint defending Em neither, never related to his music pic.twitter.com/dNfaIfaqeY— TRY
JESUS
(@lilwaltjr305) March 6, 2023
14.
I'm happy Melle Mel is trending. The hysteria over his opinions show:
1) there hasn't been enuf diverse VIEWPOINTS allowed in the mainstream hiphop matrix 4 far too long
2) Black culture has lost the understanding of an elder's role
3) 1 man w/ a unique outlook is DANGEROUS pic.twitter.com/ten9vhvULO
— SPEECH (@Speech__) March 6, 2023
15.
Leave Melle Mel alone he literally made the message
that man has as solidified a place as any of the goats
— THE KING (@2DollaWill) March 6, 2023
The post Melle Mel Faces Wrath Of Hip-Hop Twitter Over Recent Comments appeared first on The Latest Hip-Hop News, Music and Media | Hip-Hop Wired.