In a sit-down with Allison Kugel for Allison Interviews, Master P weighed in on the always-stewing beef between Kanye West and Drake, which has consumed hip-hop for the last few weeks in particular.
After P showed some 2Pac appreciation, Kugel asked, “Considering history, like considering what happened to [2Pac] and what happened to Biggie and all—what are your thoughts on some of the feuds that are going on now, like between Kanye West and Drake, and things that are becoming really public and kind of crossing the lines of safety?”
“We gotta watch what we do. It’s a lot of selfish people out in the world, and it’s a lot of snakes in the world, so you gotta watch that,” the mogul said. “I think when you at this level and you making this type of money, even the young artists that were losing their lives in hip-hop, which is sad, it’s like, we gotta be thankful and take this as a blessing and grow.”
Master P continued on to say that the issues between ’Ye and Drizzy are being fueled by the teams around them. “I think it’s the people around you,” he said. “You gotta have people give you better advice, or you gotta hang around better people. Also, you gotta be able to be your own critic to where you gotta do what’s right. You gotta hold yourself accountable.”
Master P added that he would rather “sit in the sewer and eat cheese with rats than sit at a nice restaurant and drink champagne and [eat] lobster and steak with a snake, and I think that’s what a lot of us are doing.” He concluded by saying that “when you get to that level of the game like some of these artists have made it, why lose what you have? Once you get killed or go to jail there’s no turning back.”
This isn’t the first time Master P has spoken on the importance of self-accountability in hip hop. He sat down with the Breakfast Club back in April to speak on the topic. “The thing is, we’re not holding self-accountability,” P said. “When I went to visit people in prison, I asked the warden—I say, ‘Why are a lot of these guys here?’ He says, ‘90 percent of the people here is ’cause of drugs.’ And drugs is killing our people, man. And we’re not holding ourselves accountable, so we like to blame it on everybody.”
He added that it’s long been time to form a rappers union. “I feel like hip-hop need some type of union,” he said. “The NBA have it. What happens when a guy fall off? After he done sold millions of millions of records—even a female—what happens? … Think about it, the NBA, when they done, they go to SportsCenter, they can sit around—where do hip-hop go? Go back to the hood.”
Listen to the full episode of the Allison Interviews podcast above, and catch a video version below:
