Charlamagne and Lil Duval: ‘Kanye made it cool to not be dumb’
theGRIO VIDEO - Yesterday, Kanye West released a statement commenting on the 10 year anniversary of his Def Jam debut, 'The College Dropout' , calling it 'a true labor of love'...
Yesterday, Kanye West released a statement commenting on the 10-year anniversary of his Def Jam debut The College Dropout, calling it “a true labor of love.”
During the early 2000s mainstream rap was populated by images of gangsta rappers including 50 Cent whose Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ LP was dominating the airwaves.
“What College Dropout and Kanye did was shift mainstream considered to cool about rap,” Charlamagne Tha God, TV personality, said in an interview with theGrio.
Fellow MTV2 personality and stand-up comedian Lil Duval agreed.
“Kanye had a way of relating to the everyday man,” the host of Ain’t That America stated. “That’s our jobs as comedians so I can relate.”
Kanye launched ‘conscious rap’ or ‘everyday rap’ to the mainstream that didn’t come across as too preachy. Songs like “All Falls Down” and “Through The Wire” were considered to honest and candid.
theGRIO VIDEO: Charlamagne Tha God and Lil Duval want men to stop wearing leggings in 2014
“He’s a pioneer in the culture, because look at the fruit he’s [borne],” Charlamagne stated.
“Without Kanye, there would be no Drake, no Kendrick or J. Cole. It’s not cool to be a dumb rapper because of Kanye.”
Check out what else Duval and Charlagmagne had to say about Kanye and College Dropout in our Grio sit-down.
You can check out Kyle’s musical coverage on theGrio music page, and follow Kyle on Twitter at@HarveyWins.
