Xzibit Says Hip-Hop Has Lost The “Respect” That It Once Had
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Xzibit has voiced his belief that Hip-Hop has lost some of the “respect” that it once had after becoming a “mockery of itself.” According to TMZ, the rap vet recently spoke on a panel in Santa Monica, Calif., during which he shared his critiques while reflecting on its current state in light of its 50th anniversary.
“Hip-Hop is huge,” Xzibit said of the culture’s impact on the global economy. “And it made so many people so much money, they think anybody can do it. Everyone feels that Hip-Hop is so accessible that anybody can do it.” The 49-year-old pointed advancements in technology as shifting the playing field and lowering the bar for entry into the music industry.
“It’s become a mockery of itself” he added. “It’s become too accessible. There was a time that there was somebody that you had to go into their office and get an investment into your career. Now, if you just have a laptop and WiFi, you can be an artist… People do themselves a disservice by trying to participate in that.”
Xzibit says that the artists’ failure to create a union and prioritize ownership within the culture played a role in the perceived lack of progress for Hip-Hop and its participants. “We should have unionized,” the former Pimp My Ride host continued. “We should have had some kind of union, we shoulda had a board, we shoulda organized ourselves. ‘Cause right now, you know, becoming 50 years later we still don’t own sh*t.”
“So until we own it, until we control it, until we have a say who gets to f**kin’ call themselves this and call themselves that — like everybody else — it’s gonna continue to spiral out of control. And that’s why we’re not on the Billboard [charts], because nobody is in the pilot seat guiding us to where we supposed to go.”
He reiterated his sentiment that he and others within Hip-Hop have to take on the responsibility of creating unity in order to fully capitalize on the “billion dollar industry” it’s become. “Until we take the focus and we clean up our own backyard, it’s not going to have the same respect that it garnished in the past,” he concluded.
The rapper, who last released an album over a decade ago, was recently embroiled in a bitter divorce battle with his former wife, Krista Joiner. The legal proceedings between the two are currently ongoing.
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