AmerikazMost I just cant agree. The idea that quality of content is the key to belonging to any culture is just insane to me. It's like (if they were alive at the same time) Di Vinci telling Picaso that he wasnt a real painter because his style was different.
Rakim raps, he is a rapper, or an MC, whatever you want to call it. So is Soulja Boy, as crap as he is, he is still a rapper and still part of the Hip-Hop culture and if that is what KRS One says is an MC than Soulja Boy is an MC. He IS part of the Hip-Hop culture, the quality of his music or your (or KRS') personal taste is irrelevant.
Even Rakim drops bullshit themed lyrics sometimes, does that mean he isnt always an MC?
Was Rakim just a rapper when he spat "Chicks moan just to get next to my throne, and sniff my cologne and get Ra alone, sex spot's at home, I'm testosterone, caress spots, stress drops, bedrock's the bone?"
Or if rapping about illegal activities makes one less than an MC I guess Rakim is less than an MC based on these lyrics:
" Uh, yeah yo, I used to paint this flow, on ancient scrolls
And learn ta, make this dough, where gangstas roll
Think like the late great Capone when the bank is closed
It's cats that claim they bold, but they ain't this cold
I'm from New York City even pretty chicks act up
Niggas get clapped up, you stack up, they stick that up
Put the strap up, you think my name was "Kid back up"
Big niggas (spittin' noise) pick that up, or lift that up
Raised by gangstas and gamblers, hustlers, con artists
And convicts, killers and dons
Drug dealers, playas and pimps, smooth talkers
Stick up kids, thugs, real niggas and gods
Haunted by every soul that lay dead in the turf
Close by every spirit, that never made it to birth
Since the Moon separated from Earth
That's why they say I'm the greatest that ever orchestrated a verse
It's the..."