LUCKI partly blames Lil Wayne and JAY-Z for young rappers not being able to distinguish between different rap styles

Chicago-based rapper LUCKI recently made waves with comments about the impact of rap icons Lil Wayne and JAY-Z on the younger generation's perception of rap styles.

On July 4, 2024, in a since-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), Luc articulated his belief that two hip-hop icons bear responsibility for the younger generation's difficulty distinguishing between freestyling and punch-in writing techniques. He wrote:

"Lil Wayne & Jay Z kinda the blame of our generation being confused on what's actually freestyling & punch-in writing btw."

His claim is based on his belief that Lil Wayne and JAY-Z have inadvertently influenced a generation to prioritize non-written, improvised rap compositions.

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LUCKI on Lil Wayne and JAY-Z, defending Rich Amiri and more

Chicago rapper and record producer LUCKI (Image via Live Nation)

On Thursday, LUCKI suggested that the prolific outputs of Lil Wayne and JAY-Z contributed to a uniformity in rap music that has made it difficult for younger generations to distinguish between different styles. However, he suggested that Wayne and Jazzy did not do it on purpose. He wrote:

"They didn't even do it on purpose tho."

He further wrote, calling them the "two best rappers" and added that they have accidentally "misled" the rappers to think in a way that taking the time to write rap music is a "flaw". He further added:

"They're literally the 2 best rappers EVER.... So yeah they basically accidentally mislead every rapper from our generation to thinking taking your time & writing is a FLAW."

In 2022, in an interview on the I Am Athlete podcast, Lil Wayne recalled the moment he decided to stop writing songs at the age of 16. He revealed that the words and lyrics kept popping in his head, resulting in a headache. Lil Wayne revealed:

"The words keep popping up in my damn head, and that's when it really started happening, becoming a headache, a real problem. That's when I said, I'm not about to write no more."

On July 11, 2023, in a new interview with The Pivot Podcast on YouTube, Lil Wayne revealed that he stopped penning his lyrics inspired by Jay-Z, who apparently does not pen lyrics for rap. Lil Wayne said:

"When I heard that, the moment I heard it, I stopped writing down lyrics. I was like, 'I heard Jay-Z don't write, I won't write no more."

In 2010, in an interview with The New Yorker, Jay-Z was asked why hip-hop is not poetry. Jay-Z suggested that the comparison made hip-hop inferior to poetry. Jay-Z said:

"Alas, pleas to add hip hop to the canonical level of poetry assume that rap is in inferior to poetry, which it is not."

Moreover, LUCKI's claims about Lil Wayne and Jay-Z came after he supported Rich Amiri's walkout from the XXL Freshman Class 2024, a highly anticipated list of the 11 most promising rappers of the year.

On July 4, 2024, Luc voiced in a now-deleted Space on X about XXL magazine, implying that their Freshman Class listings prioritize engagement.

He suggested that the magazine becomes upset when artists decline to participate in their freestyle sessions, hinting at Amiri, as XXL seemingly called out the artist in their latest issue. Luc said:

"The fact that XXL could get mad that somebody don't wanna do their freestyle, Bruh, it's 2024. The fact that they still got the format the same as it was in 2013, that's how you know XXL is in it just for the engagement part. They know the freestyles is gonna be the most viral part."

LUCKI further suggested that now, people do not record or consume music the same way they used to in 2013.

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LUCKI's remarks are his perspective on the matter, and it should be noted that neither Lil Wayne nor Jay-Z have publicly responded to his statement.