During an interview with The Furious Five rap legend, Vladtv was told by Melle Mel that in rap’s early days hip hop artists such as Biggie Smalls would get shut down for their content by real street dudes.
Melle Mel is definitely one of the rap icons who helped to shape what a MC is today. He was known for his flashy attire and was apart of a group that traveled the world introducing people to the new genre of hip hop. He has opened up for such classic acts as The Jacksons.
Vladtv discussed the always hot topic of all-time greats and Melle Mel was describing his thoughts on whether or not rappers such as Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G would have become huge icons during his time period.
Many people including Vladtv believe that Biggie Smalls would have been great in any era stating to the Furious Five rapper that Biggie “could have been great in any era” but Mel disagreed. “Saying what he said right now, back then when it ain’t no—it’s only guys that did Rap and Hip Hop and then it’s all the tough guys. You couldn’t say that around them. You couldn’t talk about selling drugs around them. They would probably kill you just on that.”
“If you got on the mic talking about who you gonna kill and it’s only dancers and killer out there, you know, real street guys, and you got on the mic talkin’ about who you gonna kill,” he continued. “And it’s not like you got your little crew and your little entourage and all that. The same guys that’s holding you down is the guys that’s over there.”
Melle Mel explained that the street guys would often intimidate artists with threats of violence if they didn’t get shoutouts on records. “What are these n*ggas gonna do when they do that to them? What are they gon’ do? Except for invent the shoutout like we did.” Mel doubled down that being a tough guy on the mic and rapping about certain subjects was out of the question, no matter who the person was.
The video clip below you can see the legend himself speak on the subject.
