Rappers are judged on their “pure skill” rather than their income and quantity of streams, according to veteran hip-hop artist Reminisce.
He emphasized that a rapper can only gain the respect of the hip-hop community by his abilities, regardless of how wealthy and powerful he is.
The crooner of “Local Rappers” made this statement in the midst of the rivalry for supremacy between Blaqbonez and Odumodublvck, two Nigerian rappers.
Reminisce noted that American rapper Kendrick Lamar is largely seen as the victor of his hip-hop war with Canadian superstar Drake due to his skill set when he appeared as a guest with his colleague Vector in a recent episode of the On The Record podcast.
He said, “Hip-hop is the only genre that doesn’t respect numbers or money. No matter how much money you make as a rapper, you can’t buy it [the respect of the Hip-hop world]. That’s one thing I love about Hip-hop. You have to earn it. People have to say, ‘Vector is a good rapper, he’s a legend.’
“If you like see 5 trillion streams, if you like name your album the greatest. Nobody cares. Rap respects pure skills. That’s why Kendrick Lamar is widely adjudged the winner of his hip-hop battle with Canadian superstar Drake. If you look at the margin between Drake and Lamar in terms of commercial, it’s very wide. But because it’s about skill set, which is the primary thing in hip-hop, Lamar won.”