The gamut of Hip Hop fans may be split on whether the genre is thriving or struggling to make a real impact in music, but Offset is certain of its viability. Where debates pit old-school Hip Hop against today’s artists, the Atlanta native sees no real line of demarcation.
In his recent sit-down with Shannon Sharpe on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast, he hit back at the comments that state the genre is dead. “I don’t know what folks talking ‘bout; it’s still that. Why would it not be? Everything is culturally moved from Hip Hop, period. I don’t care what it is. It is. A commercial that ain’t got nothin’ to do with nothin’, it’s all still brought to Hip Hop at the end of the day,” he declared.
Further refuting some fans’ consensus that the evolution of the genre has left it in a diminished state, he added, “I don’t believe so, not while I’m in it. What the hell I look like saying it’s declining right now? I’m in it. Not — no sir.” The Migos emcee argued that the paper trail of success is proof enough to debunk the naysayers.
“It’s way more rich Black folks off of Hip Hop than ever. It ain’t never been no execs in the building like it is now. It’s Black execs in the buildings, like, in the label buildings, making decisions more than it’s ever been. And we still run the culture. And then, if you still look up the quotas, people just be talking, if you still look up the quotas that they make, that they label make, ask somebody that,” he said. “The next time you interview somebody, like, that’s in the music business, an exec, ask them where they money come from, pop, country or Hip Hop. At the end of the quarter, it’s Hip Hop… it’s flooding the market.”
Elsewhere in their discussion, the “Ric Flair Drip” rapper entertained Sharpe’s questions about him following Beyoncé in testing out his luck with country music. “I’ll do anything. I can get on any song; I done did EDM,” he said. “I’ll try it… I’ll do anything, though. I feel I can do anything musically.” Offset is currently on the road for the “Set It Off Tour,” promoting his second solo album of the same name.
Watch the full clip below.