There’s no way to properly measure the impact that Prince had on hip-hop, and rappers across the board were tremendously affected by his shocking death this past April. His spirit of innovation lives on through many of the genre’s boldest artists, like Young Thug, who -- due to the fluidity with which he sees music, fashion, and sexuality -- seems to enjoy a special kinship with the Purple one. Indeed, on his recent “Hi-Tunes” tour, Thug often entered the stage wearing Prince’s signature puffy shirt and a pair of tight purple slacks.
During a recent interview at the BET Awards, though, Thug was quick to compare the late musical icon to another rapper -- Chance the Rapper, with whom Thug collaborated for the first time on the Coloring Book track “Mixtape.”
In the above video, Thug is asked about their collab and whether or not he thinks people are “sleeping on” Chance. Thug replied by saying he believes that “they gonna always sleep on him.” “He’s gon’ die like Prince,” he continued (not implicating Prince’s drug-related cause of death, of course). “He’s gon’ die a slept-on legend.”
Did Prince die as a “slept-on legend”? Within the music world, hardly, though it’s very possible that his legacy is still underappreciated or misunderstood. Similarly, Chance isn’t exactly slept-on -- in fact, he's currently bigger than he’s ever been -- but Thug clearly feels that he isn’t getting his due respect as an artist.
