50 Cent and Kanye West have had a friendly hip-hop rivalry for years but his latest remarks may be construed as serious shots fired.
During an interview with MTV News UK, 50 Cent made it clear that he was not a big fan of Kanye’s latest album Yeezus.
“He’s obviously a talent within our culture and is one of the driving forces of it, but some of that sh*t is weird to me,” said 50.
“It sounds scrambled… radio is going to play dance music, EDM – you got a lot of stuff happening in music culture that’s influencing a lot of R&B music to that tempo. It doesn’t feel like hip-hop to me, it feels like a fusion of something else, like a weird combination of dance music sounds and stuff,” he added.
50 Cent isn’t the first major rap artist to call the merits of Yeezus into question. Drake landed in hot water earlier this year after some off-the-cuff criticisms of Kanye’s music he made during a Rolling Stone interview leaked to the public.
“There were some real questionable bars on there,” he says. “Like that ‘Swaghili’ line? Come on, man. Even Fabolous wouldn’t say some sh*t like that,” Drake told the magazine in February although he was quick to add: “Kanye’s the reason I’m here. I love everything about that guy.”
After slamming Rolling Stone for printing his remarks, Drake and Kanye have appeared to make peace. And despite his criticism of Yeezus, 50 Cent still considers himself a fan.
“It’s just him being an artist, you don’t have to agree with everything an artist does,” he said.
50 Cent’s next album Animal Ambition is due out on June 2.