Lil Xan admits that his incendiary 2Pac comments were ill-conceived, but were beneficial to the culture.
“If you would ask me if I could go back and rewrite that, I wouldn’t though,” Lil Xan said during a recent interview AllHipHop. “Because what that did, now that I’m seeing it, it started an interesting conversation in Hip-Hop. I did get a lot of backlash, of course, but as the years have gone by since that moment, it just started what I think is a very good conversation in Hip-Hop.”
The comments in question were made in 2018, when Lil Xan conducted a sit-down interview with RevoltTV. At one point during the conversation, the West Coast rapper was asked to rank Pac’s music on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest. Lil Xan ultimately gave Pac’s discography a “2,” explaining that he found his music “boring.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise, the remarks caused quite a stir within the hip-hop community. Celebrities like Waka Flocka Flame called for Lil Xan to be banned from the genre, while comedian Michael Rapaport demanded Lil Xan to apologize.
The now-26-year-old rapper later backtracked his comments and insisted Pac was a “legend.” He even paid tribute to the late artist during a 2018 show. However, during his recent AllHipHop interview, Lil Xan questioned why the young generation of rappers are required to “idolize” the artists that came before them.
“Why do these new cats in Hip-Hop that weren’t even born when someone like Tupac was around, why do they have to idolize them like the older people?” he continued. “They can appreciate the craft and the music. It’s good. It’s amazing. It’s better than good. But if you think about it like that, that’s some hating stuff right there… I wasn’t even around to see 2Pac’s greatest moments… But everybody has their own time, and I was born not in that time.”
Lil Xan said that his 2018 Revolt interview occurred during a difficult time in his life. Although he didn’t provide details on his personal struggles, he said the video “should've never even been aired.”
“I wasn’t in a good place during the interview,” he said. “I was angry at that time. And all that came down to was a result of me just trying to get the interview done quicker. I was like, ‘Next question. Next question.’ And then they just give me questions and I’m messing around.”
He then reiterated his appreciation for Pac and said he would give him a “10 out of 10 now.”
“I think 2pac is a legend,” he added. “I don’t have to explain myself to anybody, but I grew on a lot of old-school West Coast, a lot of old-school East Coast. But after that, that was just a little mishap. It was the result of me not being as mature as I am today, inexperienced with interviews a lot, too.”
You can check out the full interview below.
