Watch Flying Lotus, Pharrell and Scott Vener Discuss the State of Hip-Hop on OTHERtone

Pharrell andScott Vener featured Flying Lotuson their latest episode of OTHERtone. Yesteday, they previewed the interview with a clip that has the trio discussing the state of hip-hop.

Vener starts out with the question: “I don’t mean this as a provocative question, but do you think hip-hop is in a good place right now, like lyricist-wise?” From there, FlyLo says with a laugh, “Yeah, absolutely.”

Vener expands his question by noting that hip-hop might be dominated by artists who aren’t as skilled. P quickly jumps in to say that “every generation” says there’s a younger set of people who are shaping the overall sound. Vener then argues that there’s more music coming out and less producers spending time manicuring a sound.

Later in the convo, Flying Lotus explains that these days there is room for everybody. “You can be super lyrical … you can say stuff and just ride the beat, barely rhyming,” he says. This moment allowed Pharrell to share his fandom for OG Maco’s “U Guessed It.” “That to me is taking the art form somewhere else. And other people be like, ‘I don’t know, lyrically, it’s this, it’s that.’ But ask yourself—how do you feel? That’s the thing.”

You can watch the full clip above, where they dive into topics like the short attention span of listeners, storytelling in hip-hop and more.