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In a recent interview with MTV News, T.I. spoke about today’s younger generation of Hip Hop artists.
T.I. says the older generation of artists lived and experienced what they rapped about in their music in order to be accepted. He later alludes to that no longer being a requirement for today’s younger crop of artists.
“The younger generation wants to be respected, and they feel that that respect comes from the disrespect of the former generation,” T.I. says. “For us, we actually had to go out there. The things that you hear me rapping me about, these are things that I actually had to live through. I had to go out here and do these things and I earned the right to speak about them.”
T.I. later made reference to Lil Xan’s recent comments about 2Pac. The Atlanta veteran says the 21-year-old hasn’t taken the time to learn about Pac’s life and story.
“Right now, you have people discussing other people who haven’t gone through these necessary steps that they’ve gone through and you are critiquing their work when you haven’t really walked their path,” T.I. adds. “This guy Lil Xan he just has never really taken the time out, he’s not aware of how much work actually went into making it where Pac made it, where B.I.G. made it.”