By Marissa G. Muller
Like everyone else, Ad-Rock has an opinion on Iggy Azalea. But unlike everyone else, the Beastie Boys member is actually in a prime position to address the controversial Australian rapper considering his group faced similar accusations of cultural appropriation when they were active.
When asked his thoughts on Azalea, ina new interview with The Daily Beast, Ad-Rock didnt hold back.
We wore fin Puma suits and do-rags, so of course we did! he said, referring to the similar criticism that the group came under. She sounds like Da Brat. I cant say too much because Ive heard literally one song of hers, and its not for me. I was gonna say its awful, and it is awful. But what do I know? Its sold like 20 billion records, so people like it. I dont care, more than anything.
Related: Beastie Boys Win Sampling Lawsuit Over Pauls Boutique
Harsh, but Ad-Rock was much more empathetic when it came to talking about the Blurred Lines verdict, which ordered Robin Thicke and Pharrell to pay the Gaye estate $7.4 million for plagiarism.
[The jury] werent allowed to hear the song in the case but they saw the charts for it, and if youre basing a legal case on drum patterns and bass notes, its a billion songs! he said. Its a simple 4/4 drum pattern that every rap, rock, everything, uses.
Certainly, he has authority to speak there; the Beastie Boys just won a lawsuit over sampling they did inPauls Boutiquethough sampling is, of course, in a different vein from what was alleged (stealing from the source material) in Blurred Lines.
Oh, and hes not so sure about the state of rap as a whole, but he does like Kanye West.
I haveno ideaabout the state of rap, he said. I dont pay attention. I just listen to old music that I have. Once a year, Ill go do a digging search on things, and then listen to that for the next year or two. I like Kanye West he makes good music.
You can read the rest of his interview here.
Source: http://radio.com/2015/03/25/ad-rock-interview-iggy-azalea-kanye-west/