Chuck D wants you to work harder

Chuck D thinks the current crop of rappers are falling somewhat short:

"I'm a servant. I'm just here to serve the people," Chuck D told Spinner after the show. "Hip-hop is like my military."

The man who famously called rap music "the black CNN" says that artists are obliged to say something meaningful in their lyrics, and that too many MCs fall short of that mark.

"You have to say something in your lyrics," he says. "Sure, you can make it entertaining, and it should be entertaining. But you have to be saying something."

It gets worse for American rappers, as he reckons they're not just falling short of their forebears, but they're also being shown up by their neighbours:

"There are a lot of Canadian artists," he says. "K-os, K'naan, those are guys who put a lot of thought into representing their cultures and where they're from. In the United States, we have artists like Brother Ali and Saigon, so there are some."

But mostly, Canadian (or Somali-Canadian, in the case of K'naan) are showing up Americans.

Asked for a comment, American rap was too busy designing perfume bottles to come to the door, but American rap's mother said she expects American rap would accuse Mr D of being an "h-eight-ar", and would offer Mr D the chance to suck his penis. As she closed the door, she sighed and muttered "he was such a lovely child, too."