Joe Budden and Lil Yachty are not going to end up being best friends, as a fundamental difference divides the two rappers. The two appeared together on "Everyday Struggle," a web show hosted by Budden. He is more in tune with what he believes the struggle of the musical genre is, while Lil Yachty just wants to have a good time. It's nothing more than a generational divide, but perhaps its emblematic of a greater industry struggle unfolding.
Let the argument begin
The somewhat testy exchange came a bit more than 20 minutes into the program. The business of the rap industry came up in their conversation.
On one side of the exchange is Budden, who thinks people should have a goal of what they will get out of hip-hop. On the other side is Lil Yachty, who seems to want to just have fun, and has a bubbly disposition when it comes to the music he creates.
As it turns out, the two are mutually exclusive. Budden told Lil Yachty that making hip-hop for the fun of it is not a sustainable practice. He also accused the younger rapper of being unaware of the state of affairs in the world. He stated that he wanted the young artist to be aware of the culture that built him up in the first place. Meanwhile, Lil Yachty didn't seem to care about what his elder had to say, at one point telling him he needed to chill out.
If this continues, it would be one of the strangest rap feuds in some time.
Coming from different perspectives
Budden is simply attempting to protect the legacy of his genre and himself. He's known for his work in the underground and work with Slaughterhouse, constantly thriving to little fanfare. He has spent time on his mixtapes lamenting the current state of hip-hop; on his own web show, there was no way Budden was going to hold back his feelings about the current day and age of the rap game.
Meanwhile, Lil Yachty is part of a new generation doing it differently, with him doing it much different due to his affluent background. He's considered the king of "Bubblegum Trap," using video game sounds in samples for his music and starring in commercials with LeBron James. He's made it a point to infuse his lyrics and music with messages of positivity and optimism, which arguably flies in the face of the anti-establishment songs hip-hop was built upon. There's always room to pay homage to those who came before, but fellow artists shouldn't be criticizing each other for trying to do things their own way.
