Billboard’s Top 50 Rappers of All Time list has still been making waves, as more artists have responded to the list. Legendary emcee Melle Mel recently sat down with ‘The Art of Dialogue’ and spoke about where he landed on the list and others like Eminem, who hit the top 5.
Melle Mel made a list and was placed at number 48. When asked about Eminem, he said, “Obviously, he’s a capable rapper. If you was talking about sales, he’s sold more than everybody. If you were talking about rhyme style, okay he got a rhyme style. But he’s white. He’s white!” He didn’t stop there, saying, “So now if Eminem was another n***a like all the rest of us, would he be Top 5 on that list when a n***a that could rhyme just as good as him is 35? That had records and all that? He’s 35. He’s white.”
The rapper then talked about potential backlash from his comments, saying, “And anybody could be as mad … They could feel how they wanna feel. If you don’t think that race plays a part in the equation of how great he is.” He then gave an example of how race plays into Em’s status, saying, “I heard one of the dudes that’s down with him, [Royce Da 5’9″] or one of those – I heard he’s just as good as Eminem. Why he ain’t as big as Eminem? Because he’s Black! Ain’t none of that shit hard to figure out. Eminem gets a top spot because he’s white.” Watch above.
source: The Art of Dialogue
