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R.A. the Rugged Man Calls Jay-Z “Lazy,” Kanye “Mediocre”

blame it on JES7 November 16, 2013

During the recent A3C festival, R.A. the Rugged Man sat down with DeadEndHipHop for an uncut interview. During the 30-minute discussion, R.A. talks about his latest album Legends Never Die (which was preceded by Die, Rugged Man, Die nearly 9 years ago), breaks down the origins of “The Dangerous Three” with Masta Ace and Brother Ali, mentions the similarities between his album cover cover and Danny Brown’s OLD cover, details his upcoming work with Rakim and offers his thoughts on the current state of lyricism.

The Rugged Man laments that Yeezus is the “worst rap album in five years” (26:10), explaining that Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse got so much attention because Kendrick is actually a “good rapper, he can rhyme” (26:30).  He then explains that with “lazy” Jay-Z and “mediocre” Kanye West setting the bar for lyricism so low, Kendrick looks untouchable by comparison (26:50).  R.A. concludes the discussion by praising less-publicized emcees like Reks and Elzhi (27:30), and claiming that while Jay-Z used to be “a ferocious lyricist,” he’s been coasting off his reputation for years (27:55).