Bun B: “New York doesn’t respect its legends”
Bun B is a legend in hip-hop and is one of the most respected rappers in the south. Furthermore, as part of UGK he is widely considered a pioneer of Texas rap music and is known across the US. That said, after years of touring the nation and seeing how different states look at their artists, Bun B once revealed that, in his opinion, cities like New York and Los Angeles don’t show respect to their icons.
During an appearance on the Dea Generation podcast with Noah Callahan-Bever, Bun B spoke about how, as an old-school Houston native, whenever he returns, he is always shown respect by the new generation, and even when he performs, the youth of the city still rocks up to see him.
While in conversation with Bever, Bun B detailed how, from his experience, icons of the 1980s and 1990s from other regions really don’t get much love from their hometown unless they are multi-platinum, Grammy-award-winning figures — irrespective of the impact they may have had on the culture.
Emphasising this, Bun exclaimed, “Name me a city that celebrates their old school artists like Houston. Nobody. Nobody. No one.” The Texas legend explained that while New York icons like Jay-Z and LL Cool J may receive love, culturally significant MCs such as Rakim and KRS-One don’t receive praise from the city’s youth and would struggle to sell out a venue.
The conversation arose due to the HipHop50 celebrations that took place last year, which saw many older figures emerge who don’t receive the homage they are due. Speaking about the cities of LA and New York, Bun B added, “You go to LA, they don’t celebrate—maybe Snoop [Dogg] and [Ice] Cube—but [DJ] Battle Cat and those dudes, they don’t get the respect they’re supposed to get”.
He continued, “Big Daddy Kane and them, they’re getting all their love now because it’s the 50th anniversary [of Hip-Hop], but they don’t be showing up for them and Rakim like that all the time.”
It is true that, in Houston, even the new generation of artists, such as Megan Thee Stallion, give shoutouts to figures such as Pimp C and DJ Screw for their contribution to hip-hop. Furthermore, they even ask them to perform alongside them whenever they’re in the city.
Speaking about the death of Big Pokey, the lyricist explained how thousands of people showed up at his [Bun B’s] burger shop Trill Burgers to support the late emcee’s family, detailing, “Literally hundreds of people, almost 2,000 people, showed up at Trill Burgers yesterday to support Big Pokey’s family to buy the meal and the soda. Houston is different. I’m not saying that we’re better than people but we understand our city and our culture better than I think other people do, and we represent it way better than anybody.”