Jam Master Jay got shot and killed,
Pac got shot and killed,
Biggie got shot and killed, 
X just got shot and killed.
It's a shame, but the greatest shame is
what about all of the young men and women
who are not celebrities getting shot and killed.
Imagine if in the same way we advertise X's death, 
and Jay's death, and Biggie's death,
imagine, we started advertising the deaths of every young person getting shot and killed.
There would be outrage.
My fight isn't with the dude that shot 
Jam Master Jay in the head.
I have no personal beef with him.
My fight is against the mentality that
would cause him to do it.
Pac got shot: hip-hop mourns for two/three weeks,
and then we go back to doing the same bullshit,
same ideas, concepts and images
like having a gun is cool,
not changing the conditions that killed Pac!
So of course two weeks later, another motherfucker's gonna die, then Biggie's gonna die.
Then we do the same thing... We make tribute records 
and say he's a legend.
The thing is when the first shooting happens, let's do
something so that it doesn't happen again.
Why having a gun and shooting motherfuckers is cool?
That's a Hip Hop mentality,
Cuz, I'm from the hood and I know,
we created hip-hop so we didn't need
street gangs and drug dealers.
That excuse is: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis make violent action films...
My message to anybody in hip-hop saying
"it's acceptable cos it's entertainment":
No it's different.
If you're gonna use that excuse then get
the fuck off the mic and go be an actor.
Hip-hop has a responsibility,
No matter what generation you're from,
past, present, or future,
you can tell a story about gangs
and drug dealing and stuff like that.
but the very next record on your album should be 
a record about not using a gun.
Y'all motherfuckers can make whatever y'all want.
For me it's homicide and genocide.
People are killing each other.
When I came out and said - with the same attitude 
that a rapper talked about selling drugs -
"I'm DMC in the place to be, 
I go to Saint John's University
Since kindergarten I acquired the knowledge,
after 12th grade I went straight to college"
I didn't preach. I didn't say you're wrong 
for being in a gang or using a gun,
but the guys in gangs and using guns
were like "oh shit DMC, one of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet,
said he goes to St. John's University and
education is cool.
When I had kids come and tell me "yo when 
you said that rhyme D, just for you saying it:
you made me realise that I don't need a gun,
I don't need to sell drugs.
I went and got my GED.
Okay, now I got a GED cos DMC said education is cool,
but you made me realise you can be educated, safe,
and not sell drugs or be in a gang, and still get money.
Hip-hop came along cos we were killing each other, shooting each other and having gang fights,
and the Zulu Nation said "ya'll motherfuckers
gotta to stop killing each other."
and people said "what the hell we gonna do?"
Hip-hop said "what can you do?"
All of the possibilities and all of the things to make the necessary changes are right at our fingertips
but nobody is utilising them.
I don't hate on this generation of hip-hop, but 
we've got to create hip-hop all over again.
People ask me what I think about today's hip-hop.
I say "it's disco"...
I remember when I was a little kid disco was huge!
Then one evening when I was little I went 
to sleep and woke up the next morning,
and all over the the world,
people were saying "disco sucks!"
All that everybody was saying was that disco sucked.
it wasn't the artists and the music that sucked,
it was the fucking lifestyle.
If you look at hip-hop right now: purple fur coats, diamonds, champagne,
Rolls Royces, Bentleys, fucking Learjets,
sex, violence... Everybody's living that life.
So what happened when that happened in 
New York City in the 70s.
The very thing happening with hip-hop right now, 
is what happened with disco.
A motherfucker named Melle Mel 
came out and made a record:
'The Message'
Right now we need a 17-19 year old individual
to make 'The Message'.
To shut down all the nonsense that we're celebrating!
Drinking lean and this and that.
You can get high, you can go to the party,
but what about making sure everybody's eating?
That's what hip-hop did.
Hollywood was coming to New York, 
to party at Studio 54
with their Bentleys, and their Rolls Royces,
and their fur coats, and their champagne,
and their reefa and their heroin;
and they were having sex everywhere
with the glitter balls...
Look at disco in the 70s, then look at hip-hop.
Motherfuckers were dressing crazy and this and that.
So it took some young boys and girls
who weren't politicians
and these motherfuckers stepped to the mic and said:
"it's like a jungle sometimes it makes
me wonder how I keep from going under."
"Don't push me."
Right now it's close to the edge
Trump is bugging out...
Hip-hop is just totally going insane...
Right now hip-hop is just fun.
They announced: "hip-hop is the number one 
music and has overtaken rock."
Why did they make that announcement at the time when hip-hop is at its most disrespectful and ignorant.
It's always been number one
but why didn't they make that announcement when
Public Enemy was killing it?
Why didn't they make that announcement
when KRS-One was killing it?
Okay yeah, because there's more downloads
and streaming and stuff like that.
there's more people listening to hip-hop at the most
fucking stupid ignorant time in its history!
You should have said that fifty years ago
when it was competing with rock.
I opened for ZZ Top, we opened for The Clash!
Why didn't you announce it then? Why?
Because we were clean and we didn't curse,
and it wasn't about sex and shooting.
But it's a problem when you say it's popular now, 
because motherfuckers are
shooting and killing X and taking Xanax and all of that.
Don't announce that shit! Play some fucking records about the kids not doing that
so that another X doesn't have to die. 
That's the problem.
When we created hip-hop 45 years ago,
things started to change.
The powers that be started to notice something.
We need groups that look like Migos
rapping like De La Soul.
We need a guy that looks like Lil Wayne
talking like KRS-One.
We need a guy like Drake making records
like Chuck D and Public Enemy.
Not to sell records and be number one rappers,
but to see change in the everyday lives of our people.
Somebody said 10 years ago:
"If aliens came to earth and looked at hip-hop in the last 15-20 years, they wouldn't know what was going on."
But prior to these 15-20 years,
every time there was an issue in our community, 
in our music, in society:
that very week a rapper would make a record about it.
Look at what's been going on globally.
Look at what's been going on in America:
we went through two Gulf Wars; all the crime in the streets, all the shootings, the police shooting kids,
the white police shooting kids, kids shooting kids;
the disrespect of our women;
it's fucked up politically with Trump;
education sucks;
they've taken all the necessary programs that work out of all the communities, and nobody's talking about it!
Not just the rappers!
None of the rockstars or pop stars
are addressing an issue.
There was a time where as soon as something happened in the media we all jumped on it.
Now this current generation sits back because they think it's not cool to talk about doing something right.
These kids now get more attention if they 
talk about their Xanax problem,
and how much lean and codeine they take.
Run DMC smoked more weed than God could
possibly grow on this green earth...
We never put those images and concepts
 on our records.
I drunk more liquor than the earth could produce.
I was sending in orders before they could
even make it in a distillery.
I was saying directly to God: "send me my liquor now!"
But I never put those images or concepts on a record.
Why? Because if Run DMC can make
a record about these...
And the whole world to this day wanna know it.
What's gonna happen if I rhyme about codeine
and smoking angel dust?
That's the problem, it's not a cry for help,
it's a lack of responsibility.
Listen to hip-hop radio.
All the fucking records are about codeine and Xanax.
There's not one rapper rapping: 
"I've never been high in my life."
We need dudes in hip-hop that don't get high.
We need dudes in hip-hop that ain't in a street gang.
We need to over-flood hip-hop with
Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rappers.
We have Chance, we have Kendrick Lamar, 
we have a lot of underground MCs.
Those underground MCs should be allowed to express those views and ideas commercially.
(*Express Yourself*)
Earlier hip-hop was so diverse in the beginning.
It was Run DMC,
but it was De La Soul and NWA.
Everybody was rapping but everybody was different.
Collectively we all made hip-hop great.
So now it's about the frontman, let's just get the frontman.
The dominant presentation was group.
Why? Because we are stronger together.
That's why when the Wu-Tang Clan came along 
there were a lot of them motherfuckers.
It was powerful and it was a statement,
putting a focus on what we were trying to
accomplish and trying to say.
We're more threatening when we show our numbers.
So what happened was they started
looking at this group,
seeing the one guy that stands out and say:
" yo come here. Get rid of your group and come here and do this, this way for us."
Somewhere along the line, the powers that be 
figured if they divide us up,
then feed one guy so he's alright;
he's not gonna give a fuck about
bringing [others through with him.]
"Look. if I could get in a group with three people,
I can get a group of four people, then five people..."
So they didn't wanna see us grow on a positive note.
You've got all these global radio stations
saying their station loves hip-hop
but are only playing these groups for the hot individuals.
They're not playing just the powerful, educational, inspirational, motivational,
representational songs of the hip-hop culture.
So they broke us down.
You saw Run DMC you didn't have to love Run.
You might have liked Jam Master Jay, 
or the quiet one with the glasses.
We don't see ourselves in what we behold now.
We see these other motherfuckers that are so dominant
that we've gotta step outside of who we are 
just to become them.
With the groups it was a total representation of what you could be, cos you were already those things.
Now everybody's lying, cheating and fronting.
to act like they take jets; to act like money's important;
to act like they've got a lot of girls; 
to act tough.
Those things are missing right now and
that's why hip-hop is stagnant.
I'm not talking about the business of it. They're selling
records, they're touring and they're getting money.
I'm not trying to take livelihood from anybody else.
What's lacking is the responsibility that comes with 
Hip Hop to make the change necessary changes,
that nobody's gonna do for us.
