Rich Homie Quan has been getting dragged across the internet since he forgot the lyrics to the Notorious B.I.G. song he was performing at Monday's VH1 Hip Hop honors. Questlove took to Instagram on Tuesday to share his perspective on the situation. He aimed to lessen the barrage tomatoes being flung at Quan, imprisoned in digital stocks, and encouraged followers to turn the lens upon themselves.
"See a lot of y'all catchin feelings over the 'Get Money' ball drop from #HipHopHonors," Questlove began. "But check it....A lot of you 'real hip hop heads' seem to magically think that the music of our prime is gonna just translate on dopeness alone. I mean EVERYbody should know this song right? It's the Hood National Anthem. Even Big's rival had to reference "Get Money" to clap back at him. So how it all fall apart? I don't blame RHQ. I blame us. I don't mean shame on radio & media programmers either for these diminished returns. I literally mean you and I."
Questlove went on to criticize the ways in which the United States digests art and the cult of personality deeply ingrained in popular culture.
"We are to blame," he continued. "We watch what we eat but won't treat the music we consume like we do food. You need BALANCE... Not sayin you gotta be all deep making Dilla b side Japanese import levels of stuff. But something as simple as "La Di Da Di" can easily be forgotten in these days & times. YOU gotta pay it forward! America is a disposable art society that makes genius innovations only to toss out yesterday's creations tomorrow. And the way we mass consume entertainment, it's a wonder we can separate quality from trash."
Read Questlove's full essay below. Does he raise good points?
