The motto for rap this year is that it hasn't been performing well, particularly commercially speaking. There have certainly been some fine songs and projects to land in 2025. Freddie Gibbs, JID, Chance the Rapper, billy woods, and others have all contributed excellence. But while these MCs are successful, they aren't necessarily your typical rap darlings in that way.
That lack of consistency from the likes of Drake, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti is more so what many folks are pointing to. That includes Florida's own Denzel Curry, who has had strong standing in the rap game for years now.
Complex caught wind of his rant on Instagram Stories, which went up on Wednesday, November 12. He started his series of comments with, "None of this music sh*t is interesting anymore." Curry followed that up saying that he's kind of happy that mainstream hip-hop is struggling, or "dead" in his eyes.
"Commercial rap is dead... And I'm here for it... Sh*t was trash from the jump."
Denzel Curry, 30 continues, "F*ck how cool you dress... B*tch sound good too... Some of y'all sound more a*s than what you are trying to imitate. I may sound like a hater but sh*t you need a hater to tell the truth," he argues.
Hip-Hop Grammy Nominations
He then talks about some other issues plaguing the genre right now in his mind. "OG's got no respect for the younger generation... New generation don't care about the craft... There's a space where they can learn from each other."
Denzel Curry, who most recently put out King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2 last June, also wants to see the disappearance of a "Big 3" entirely. Given J. Cole's absence, Kendrick Lamar seemingly be the undisputed top dog right now, and Drake's struggles, it's a fair take.
Finally, the XXL Freshman alum signs off by saying that everyone needs to "take f*ckin action" and to "stop b*tchin about the rap game."
It will be interesting to see if this prompts any responses from other MCs.
While the Grammy's aren't the be-all end-all, rap has a lot of great releases both project and song wise across multiple categories. Clipse, JID, Tyler, The Creator, Kendrick, Cardi B, GloRilla, and more headline. Additionally, Lamar leads artists across all genres with nine total nods. Moreover, he became the first solo musician ever to have five consecutive nominations in the Album of the Year category.
