Pete Rock and Young Dolph Trade Social Media Shots Over Cocaine Lyrics

Pete Rock and Young Dolph have traded shots on social media this week over cocaine lyrics on Dolph's latest project.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Legendary hip-hop producer Pete Rock, who is best known for creating "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" with CL Smooth, has an issue with some of the cocaine-laced lyrics found on Young Dolph’s latest mixtape, Rich Crack Baby.

In an Instagram post that Rock put up earlier this week, the New York mainstay shared a clip of a listening session for the Memphis rapper held in Atlanta. In the video, Dolph can be seen rapping lyrics to his song "In My System," and specifically, he raps this line: "I got cocaine running through my mothafuckin’ veins!"

It should be noted that the title of Rich Crack Baby isn't a literal meaning. Dolph was born in unfortunate circumstances of being around the production and selling of cocaine, but he overcame the odds to win at life. Rich Crack Baby is a triumphant statement about getting rich and upgrading his life despite being born with cocaine running through his system.

"When you hear the word ‘crack baby,’ you automatically think, ‘aw damn, that’s fucked up,’” Dolph explains in a press release. “You think it’s a negative thing, but not in my situation, know what I’m sayin’? I did everything crack babies ain’t supposed to do. I got rich, I take care of my family, moved out the hood, did all this shit. Rich Crack Baby—that’s Dolph. I did it.”"

Rock probably didn't know the context of the song, but still expressed his disappointment over the lyric. He wrote "we gotta raise children better than this" in his IG caption since there was a young boy standing next to Dolph in the video:

Dolph didn’t take too kindly to Rock’s comments. He proceeded to call the producer out on Twitter on Friday:

XXL points out that Rock elaborated on his words in the comments section of his IG post, calling for Dolph's tape to be "burned." He acknowledged that artists like The Notorious B.I.G. rapped about cocaine in the past—like on the classic "Ten Crack Commandments"—but he pointed out that his lyrics were in a different league than Dolph's. According to Rock, Biggie's lyrics were more nuanced while Dolph's are straightforward and simplistic.

This beef is just another example of the divide between hip-hop’s new generation and the old guard. Lil Yachty has been a hot topic of discussion as of late after claiming that he's not well-versed in the genre’s history. It just goes to show that the gap continues to widen as more talents enter the arena.

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