Your career is often used as a framing device for a discussion out there about what constitutes pop and what constitutes hip-hop, and then there’s the discussion about where you fall on that spectrum. I was curious as to what you visualise yourself as? Are you pop or are you hip-hop? And do you think those two terms even need to be mutually exclusive?
No they don’t. I think the lines can blur. But I’m not in denial. I’m hip-hop because I’m hip-hop culture. I was born and raised in hip-hop culture. Hip-hop is not only music; it’s the way you’re raised, the way you speak, the way you think. But I could never not be hip-hop. And to add to that, I put a lot of work into the hip-hop game: the mixtapes, the DVDs, the videos, the trends that I’ve set. I’ve put a lot of work into hip-hop culture, and I write my own music, and I spar with the best guys in the game, lyrically. So I’m definitely hip-hop.
But do I think ‘Pound the Alarm’ and ‘Starships’ are hip-hop records? No. I think those are pop songs. And I think that there’s nothing wrong with them, but they are pop songs. So I guess I’m just an entertainer now. I don’t know what people are going to call me when it’s all said and done, but as of right now I’m just an entertainer.
