Quest drops some wisdom about rap’s hottest record
Unless you live in New York City–specifically Brooklyn–and have been completely consumed by the monsoon that is Bobby Shmurda‘s “Hot N***a” movement, if you had to objectively point out the hottest song in hip-hop, Iggy Azalea‘s “Fancy”, which was the #1 song in the country for seven consecutive weeks, could very well be your answer. Despite all the controversy surrounding the song, spawned primarily by Forbes claiming Iggy Azalea was “running rap” and Nicki Minaj‘s I’m-not-naming-any-names-but-we-all-know-I’m-talking-about-Iggy BET Awards acceptance speech, in which she called on female emcees who don’t write their own lyrics to step their game up, Iggy has prospered greatly from the success of “Fancy”, bringing international attention to her sophomore album, The New Classic, which didn’t fare particularly well on the charts at the time of its release.
Questlove, one of hip-hop’s most revered elder statesmen and bold leader of the legendary Roots crew, had a few things to say in defense of Iggy’s hit song in a recent interview with Time Magazine. When asked about the song of the summer, Quest’s answer was pretty straight forward.
It’s obvious “Fancy” is pretty much ruling the summer.
Time Magazine went a little more in depth and asked for the drummer’s opinion on the Aussie emcee, to which he replied:
Here’s the thing: the song is effective and catchy as hell, and it works. Just the over-enunciation of “hold you down”? [Laughs] It makes me chuckle because all I can see is my assistant holding a brush in the mirror and singing it.
I’m caught in between. And I defend it. I see false Instagram posts like, “She said the N-word! She said the N-word!” I’ll call people out — “Yo, don’t troll.” I know you’re ready to give your 42-page dissertation on theGrio about why this is culture vulture-ism. You know, we as black people have to come to grips that hip-hop is a contagious culture. If you love something, you gotta set it free. I will say that “Fancy,” above any song that I’ve ever heard or dealt with, is a game-changer in that fact that we’re truly going to have to come to grips with the fact that hip-hop has spread its wings.
You can read the full interview here.
