21 Savage Calls Out 'OG Rappers' Criticizing the New Generation

Listen to the kids, bro.

November 21, 2017

21 Savage has something to say to anyone who spends their time criticizing younger artists. In a note shared to Twitter Tuesday afternoon, 21—who popped up on the "Krippy Kush" remix with Nicki Minaj just hours earlier—wondered aloud why "OG rappers" are judging the new wave and its subject matter instead of celebrating the fact that rap is now widely recognized as the music industry's dominant genre.

"Why do so many of these 'Og Rappers' judge the new generation?" 21 said. "They say we make drug user music like making drug selling music is better what's the difference? What about the fact that rap is the number one genre of music right now none of y'all acknowledge that [sic]."

21 also urged these critics to stop using younger artists as "the scapegoat," as their music is merely "a reflection of what's going in our community."

Read 21's full note below.

Though Savage didn't name anyone in particular, his words may have in part been a response to veteran rapper Skillz, who shared this on Twitter a few days ago:

Annoyingly, every genre of music goes through this cycle. A few loud voices of the old guard, perhaps feeling threatened by the rise of young talent whose music they aren't allowing themselves to understand out of spite, lament the supposed ending of some golden era. Meanwhile, younger listeners and artists argue they are in the middle of a golden era of their own. Then those younger listeners and artists get older, and inevitably a few of them will make the same mistakes as the old guard they railed so hard against years before. The key is to avoid all of that nonsense by keeping your mind open to new sounds.