Yelawolf recently addressed Lord Jamar’s statement that White people are guests in the house of Hip Hop.
“In one instance he’s right,” Yelawolf said in an interview with VladTV. “From his perspective, I could see where he…I can agree with him on one side of it. I think he’s right. White artists are definitely a guest when it comes to the culture of Black America’s musical arts, whether it be Hip Hop, Blues or even Rock & Roll if you wanna look at it that deep. You’ve gotta go back a long way to feel that way though.
“On the flip side, yeah, we’re guests, if you look at the roots of everything, but that’s like saying here’s a house that we built as a people,” Yelawolf said. “We built this house, Black people. And then a few generations ago, it’s been rented out. It’s been renovated. It’s been changed. Black people, White people, Asian people, people all over the world has been to this house, lived in it, used it, abused it, fixed it up. It is now a different home. It doesn’t matter who laid the first brick. Now you have to just embrace the fact that this house is better now that different ideas have come in to put a different window in there, a different roof on it to change this, to change that, to make it more livable. It’s all about perspective. That’s my perspective. I feel like, as a White rapper, the house that I’ve been a guest in hadn’t been no fuckin’ good time sleepover. I haven’t exactly had the fuckin’ red carpet laid out for me. I had to fight for my spot. But, it is what it is.
“Everybody has a place,” Yelawolf added. “I’ve always felt protective of the culture of White rappers because you want to protect the steez of it and make sure that that circle of artists are to a certain par, at least to your opinion. But, all that has changed. It don’t even fuckin’ matter no more. It’s not like when I came up. These kids aren’t going to the hood club in the middle of Bankhead like I was doing to try to get respected. They’re not taking the same steps. It’s not comparable to how I came up. The people I was rollin’ with, the things I was doing and how I came up is totally different.”
The specific quote Yelawolf was referencing was made by Lord Jamar in September, when he was interviewed by vladtv.com.
“Okay, White rappers, you’re coming to this almost as a guest,” Lord Jamar said. “Okay, matter of fact you are guests in the house of Hip Hop. Just because you have a hit record doesn’t give you the right as I feel to voice your opinion. White rappers, those of y’all who really studied the culture, that truly love Hip Hop and all that, keep it real with yourself, you know this is a Black man’s thing. We started this. This is our shit. We’ve allowed you, those of you who’ve proved your skill and all that, we’ve allowed you to come in and kick your shit, make yourself known. You know what I mean? And if you have enough respect for the culture we fuck with you. But don’t push it too far.”
During his recent vladtv.com interview, Yelawolf was also asked to address Lord Jamar’s statement that homosexuality has no place in Hip Hop.
“To say homosexuality has no place in Hip Hop is ignorant,” Yela said. “That ain’t got nothin’ to do with him being Black, or White, or nobody. That’s just stupid. What the fuck are you talking about, man? It’s music. You could talk about any fucking thing you want to. That is the beauty of it all.”
Yelawolf was referencing Lord Jamar’s comments about homosexuality the Brand Nubian rapper made during the September interview with vladtv.com.
“Yeah, I say Rap is gay friendly,” Jamar said. “Making a song like that is like feeling that you have the same footing as any other Hip Hop artist and to me you don’t. You don’t. Like I can’t go to somebody else’s house and even though they let me wear their clothes and eat their food, that’s not my house. That’s their house. And I can’t get so comfortable in their house that I feel like I can now start talking house politics…To me when people like Macklemore come out with songs like [‘Same Love’], I know he loves Hip Hop and all that, but he’s trying to push an agenda that him as a White man feels is acceptable.”
During the interview, Yelawolf was also asked how he feels about Macklemore’s success.
“I don’t feel any kind of way because I don’t really understand that style,” he said. “It’s more Pop to me.”
Yelawolf was involved in a dispute with Macklemore over the use of a similar logo design. Yelawolf said he confronted Macklemore about it in August.
