Earlier this week, Swizz Beatz revealed his idea to raise money to take care of the founders of hip hop.
“I want to raise a million dollars for each icon that started hip hop — [from] Kool Herc on down,” he told Joe Budden during an Instagram Live session for Beatz’s Zone Radio.
“The fact that we’re not paying taxes on who started hip hop, shows we don’t fucking really love hip hop,” he continued. “We need to be paying — fuck the government — we need to be paying taxes to the creatives of hip hop [who] gave us freedom of speech to move forward.”
After his proposal was met with some confusion and criticism, Swizz clarified his comments in an Instagram Live session with LL Cool J.
“I mentioned something about giving back to the pioneers of hip hop and everybody just went crazy,” he said. “Most misunderstood me, but what I was saying was this is something I wanna do. Period. I want to start a pioneer fund with the founders of hip hop getting taken care of. The founders of hip hop shouldn’t need medical. They should be in a great situation.”
“If you look at other cultures and other pioneers that started things, they’re living well,” the producer continued. “I feel personally that it’s a bad representation on hip hop that our pioneers are not being supported in a major way.”
“This is a dream I had … I’m not saying pay [LL Cool J]’” he added. “I’m not saying pay Swizz. Let’s figure out a plan to take care of the founders of hip hop. It’s our duty to do it. Everybody don’t have to do it … I’mma do it.”
LL Cool J agreed and said that he was “on board” with the movement to take care of the pioneers of hip hop.
“100 percent,” the “I Need Love” rapper said. “I couldn’t be more on board than I am. I’m so on board, I’m in the helm of the ship laying with you. It’s that vibe. It’s about paying it forward. I learned early on in my career it was about me — but you get humbled and you realize, ‘There’s a bigger world out there than you.’”
Check out the interview below.