KRS-ONE: Beef, Sellouts & Nelly

[themovie]

"At a recent concert, KRS-ONE turned a rave party full of mostly white teenagers into a pure show of hip-hop. Pulling onstage the likes of M.O.P., Gangstarr, Afu Ra, Supernatural, Bumpy Knuckles, Pete Rock, Mad Lion and more, KRS represented for what he deemed real hip-hop. With a new mixtape CD, Prophets v.s Profits, hitting streets, KRS ready once again to take on the establishment. But first, there is Nelly. Here, the Blastmaster, spoke candidly on the circumstances surrounding Nelly and himself.

AHH: We keeping it pure, so let's talk about Nelly straight up, because I talked to him recently.

KRS-ONE: Come on let's do it.

AHH: He talked about you being a hypocrite - Criminal Minded, Sprite commercials, and so on...What do you have to say about that?

KRS-ONE: Well, what is the question?

AHH: How do you feel about Nelly and others saying that you are a hypocrite?

KRS-ONE: For?

AHH: For example, he sited that you came in the game dissing cats like Shan, Mr. Magic and Marley Marl. And in the sense of hip-hop vs commercial rap...

KRS-ONE: ..And I've done Sprite commercials, Nike....

AHH: ..the songs with Puffy....

KRS-ONE: OK, hypocrite KRS. Let's deal with a few things. A man of experience and knowledge will always be hypocritical to the ignorant. Start there. If you don't know what you are doing or whence your art came, and where your art is going, you don't have the authority to say who is hypocritical and who is consistent. Right away, Nelly is speaking out of turn. He is not hip-hop's leadership, I am. That's number one.

So, right away, the fallacy in his argument is that, number one, he has no power to say what he is saying. That's like me saying Afrika Bambatta's a hypocrite, but I wasn't there in the 70's when it started. Number two - you can only make a statement like that after gaining knowledge. If Nelly had of said, "I think KRS is a hypocrite because he doesn't drink Coke soda, yet he did a Coke commercial, He doesn't where Nike sneakers, yet he did a Nike commercial - yeah I can say I am hypocritical. I wear Nikes. My first album, Criminal Minded, I said, "I only where Nikes, not Adidas or Reebox." When Nike came to me on the strength of that lyric, I took advantage. They paid me $99, 000 with Gil Scott Heron [poet and precursor to hip-hip music], who was there by the way.

AHH: That's a huge co-sign.

KRS-ONE: Chuck D [of Public Enemy] and Hank Shocklee [former producer for PE], who produced the commercial, was there in the studio. What is revolution if its not inner and outer empowerment?

AHH: Right.

KRS-ONE: Nelly don't know what the revolution is. And I may quote him on his album. "F*ck 40 acres and a mule, I want 40 acres and a pool." That's on Nellyville right now. You can't tell me I'm a hypocrite when you are disrespecting our entire race beyond music. Now, I live "spiritual minded." I get criticized for being too preachy. Wait. [stops himself] I drink Coca Cola.

AHH: Sprite is ...

KRS-ONE:... Made by Coca Cola. I drink Minute Made orange juice - Coca Cola. I did a battle with MC Shan in Madison Square Garden in the mid-90's or Hot 97 as part of their old school series. And after the battle, we got off stage and "hugged and kissed." But the head of marketing for Coca Cola North America was in the audience. Black man. Thick dreads. Dark skin Black brother. He said, "Yo, that performance was so ill." He bought Criminal Minded, I signed it - I didn't know who he was - [and he gave me the card and said], "Whatever you want to do, Kris." I was like, "Word, you are the VP for Coca Cola. You look like me." Nelly don't have knowledge like that. Forget about me being a hypocrite. You are telling Coke that they are hypocrites for bringing me. You dissing Coke, plus you dissing yourself, because you are going to want to do a Coke commercial too.

AHH: What about this - Nelly said, "I am still hip-hop," like it or not. What do you say to that?

KRS-ONE: That's his opinion.

AHH: Do you agree?

KRS-ONE: It doesn't matter if I agree. Do the people agree? Doesn't matter what Kris thinks. Kris don't have an opinion. Kris is a representative of the people.

AHH: But you do have an opinion.

KRS-ONE: I do have an opinion. [Laughs] I have my opinion like Nelly has his opinion. The people speak the facts. They said you ain't hip-hop Nelly.

AHH: I have never been a huge Nelly fan, but I'm feeling this new single.

KRS-ONE: Which one is that?

AHH: "Its Hot In Herre."

KRS-ONE: It's not bad, it's not bad. "Air Force One" on the new Nellyville album is not bad. Its dope. That's nice. It's a credit [to Nelly].

AHH: Ok, I personally grew up on you, but by the same token, a lot of people are saying, "Let that brother eat. Don't boycott Nelly. He is a young Back man and there are a lot worse things in hip-hop." What do you say to that.

KRS-ONE: He is stopping me from combating what that worse is. I would have never said anything to Nelly - He called my name [on the "Rock The Mic" remix]. Forget the rhetoric of "he's a hypocrite" or whatever, he said first "K - you ain't really saying nothing man"....and said I'm old and need a pension. I didn't make no statement against Nelly. I put my statement out and told his management [there was no beef]. Beanie Sigel and Freeway are mad at him for doing that. They weren't in the studio when he did that. They did their part and they sent the record out. Beanie and Freeway, they got the ultimate respect. They grew up [on KRS] too. And I [have respect] for them. He dissed them too for trying to - do you know how ill that could of got if I wasn't disciplined? Imagine me dissing Roc-A-Fella instead of Nelly? Because as far as I am concerned, because as far as I am concerned Roc-A-Fella put the record out. "Ya'll didn't hear the record before it went out? No, you heard it an wanted it to come out. So let me come after Jay-Z and everybody else on that label."

AHH: It could have gotten very ugly. I interviewed Freeway and I said, "Are you co-signing this diss of KRS-One?" He said emphatically, "I ain't co-signing sh*t!"

KRS-ONE: Freeway ain't got nothing to do with nothing. He even put a statement out. To me, that's hip-hop. These are grown men we are talking about. They saw immediately something was wack and they said, "Nope, that's not us. Dead it. Cut it." Nelly got on BET, got in The Source, got in XXL, got in VIBE." Nelly could've said, "Yo, that's Kris and he's crazy." He didn't say that. He said, "I ain't a battle rapper, but I'll rap up this battle." You don't say that to me.

Not me. I wrote over 600 songs, Not the best MC in the world. No. No. No. You don't tell that to KRS. This is why he ain't hip-hop. He don't have history.

AHH: Okay, go ahead.

KRS-ONE: If he had history, he woulda said, "Leave that alone."

AHH: By the same token, you took it to some of those older cats.

KRS-ONE: Battles are necessary.

AHH: You took it to Melle Mel when he was the biggest thing in rap!

KRS-ONE: Afterwards we kissed and made up and went on tour. "

allhiphop.com

[bricklayer]

yo thats a bangin article
peace

[=[Euthanasia]=]

AHH: I have never been a huge Nelly fan, but I'm feeling this new single.

KRS-ONE: Which one is that?

AHH: "Its Hot In Herre."

KRS-ONE: It's not bad, it's not bad. "Air Force One" on the new Nellyville album is not bad. Its dope. That's nice. It's a credit [to Nelly].


I hope KRS didn't go out and buy "Nellyville" to hear those tracks after telling everyone else not to go out and buy it, lol.

[DJ_Jay_Deee]

yo thats a bangin article
peace

[S.G.V.]

damn krs kisses alot of guys it seems...lol

[DJ_Jay_Deee]

damn krs kisses alot of guys it seems...lol

What?

[S.G.V.]

What?

he said that THEY KISSED AND MADE UP....it was a joke....