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 Dolphâs 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 mothafuckinâ 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 âcrack baby,â you automatically think, âaw damn, thatâs fucked up,ââ Dolph explains in a press release. âYou think itâs a negative thing, but not in my situation, know what Iâm sayinâ? I did everything crack babies ainât supposed to do. I got rich, I take care of my family, moved out the hood, did all this shit. Rich Crack Babyâthatâs Dolph. I did it.â"
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 didnât take too kindly to Rockâs 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 pastâlike on the classic "Ten Crack Commandments"âbut 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-hopâs 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 genreâs history. It just goes to show that the gap continues to widen as more talents enter the arena.