Family Tree
Nobody Wins When The Family Feuds
It’s interesting to know that every legendary artist we have in the Hip Hop culture is inspired by some who came before them. I think it’s dope to highlight the moments when artists pay homage to other artists. It makes the culture stronger in my opinion. with that being said I’d like to introduce our new family tree segment. This is where we will speak about specific artists and who we think got their “DNA” or inspiration from. Let’s start with Drake.
Drake is an artist who came into the game signed to Young Money. I think it’s safe to say his inspiration may have come directly from Lil’ Wayne. When you look at some of the beats Drake was rapping on early in his career they sounded like songs Wayne would have picked for a mixtape track. I also believe that Drake and Wayne have similar flows.
If Drake was inspired by Wayne then who was the inspiration for Wayne? In my opinion, Lil Wayne was inspired by Jay-Z. They’re are plenty of interviews where Wayne is talking about how he loved Jay-Z’s music. He almost signed to Roc A Fella. Lil Wayne is one of the greatest rappers in the culture and has inspired a generation of rappers so we’ll definitely be talking about him more in The Family Tree segments but he has songs where his flow sounds like Hov.
Let’s go even further back Jay-Z has had a run like no other in the culture. Throughout his career has shown his respect for the culture. This is evidence that he’s a student of hip-hop. Learning from artists like The Notorious B.I.G. he became more than just the “mafioso drug rapper” and made big records for the culture one of his biggest records, Hard Knock Life, is an example of Jay-Z slowing down his flow and rapping over extremely recognizable sample flip.
Finally, I Believe if Biggie had to get his style from anyone it would most likely be Big Daddy Kane. In a way, Kane is where this style starts for all of these artists at the time Big Daddy Kane had punch lines like Lil Wayne and he was the Jay-Z of his day. He appealed to the women like Biggie and Drake and was dancing before Hot Line Bling. Incredible.