Lil Uzi Vert caught a lot of flack back in 2016 for refusing to freestyle over Gang Starr’s “Mass Appeal” instrumental. The incident occurred on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning, and it brought attention to many claims that you get rappers fail to pay homage to its predecessors.
Instead of creating a big issue like everyone else did, DJ Premier and Uzi talked about it behind the scenes.
Premier went on to talk about the interaction in a recent interview with Genius. “He doesn’t have to rhyme to anything I do. It’s all love,” Premier said. “[Uzi] DMs me and he goes, ‘Yo, big bro. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to rap over ‘Mass Appeal.’ It wasn’t that ‘Mass Appeal’ is whack or whatever. That just wasn’t the style of beat I wanted to rhyme over.‘ He said, ‘If it had been ‘Full Clip’ instrumental, I would’ve been with it.‘”
Premier also talked about working with J. Cole and how he ended up on Gang Starr’s “Family and Loyalty.” The legendary producer also said he reached out to Drake and Kendrick Lamar, but that Cole’s schedule was the only one that would allow to send the verse on time.
Check out what DJ Premier said below:
