VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Run DMC Co-Founder Darryl McDaniels On What’s Wrong With Rap Today

Legendary Run DMC co-founder Darryl McDaniels, better known as DMC, is calling on this generation of hip-hop stars to be aware of how the music they’re putting out is affecting younger generations.

uInterview founder Erik Meers caught up with him at an event at SXSW in Austin, Texas, to discuss the McDaniels’ views on the hip-hop industry today.

“This is not about censorship and I understand freedom of speech. The only thing that I would say that would have them look at me like an O.G. that’s angry is, I’m not mad about what they’re doing with hip-hop in this generation. I’m mad about what they’re not doing with hip-hop in this generation,” the iconic rapper said. “It hurts me not to see the responsibility that comes with getting to be on this mic and making those videos and being on that stage. That being said, this generation can do what they want, but if you’re doing what you want in a culture that has given you endless opportunities, this thing that you’re doing, I can’t consider it hip-hop.”

When pressed on what he meant by responsibility and if modern hip-hop should be more politically and socially conscious, McDaniels gave a thoughtful answer.

“It doesn’t have to be, but it does,” he said. “What I mean by that, is if you make a record about a gun, the very next record from that artist has to be about not using it. If you make a record about sex and all of that sleeping around, the very next record should be about mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles, hard-working women that raise families, about the teachers that teach our kids every day.”

“The excuse for the last 30 years was ‘They don’t say nothing to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis when they make their violent movies.’ If you’re going to use that excuse, get the hell off this microphone, get the hell out of hip-hop and go be an actor because it’s different,” McDaniels added. “Hip culture is a way of life, but hip-hop now lacks culture. It’s money, it’s clothing and material stuff which is cool because I always get hit with the fact from these young kids, ‘Run Mr. DMC,’ because I’m old now, ‘Your guys were materialistic.’ I say, ‘Yeah we were very materialistic, but the materialistic stuff we talked about, we only talked about once. I don’t got 100 million albums talking about how much money’s in the bank and how much jewelry I wear.'”