Kanye West has hit back at Pink Floyd producer Bob Ezrin in a row over the rapper’s level of creativity.
Ezrin, who produced ‘The Wall’ alongside Pink Floyd and has also worked extensively with Kiss, Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and Peter Gabriel, wrote a post for music critic Bob Lefsetz’s newsletter yesterday (February 22).
In it he claimed that while West has made great music, he isn’t on the same level as many other artists in rap when it comes to pushing the genre forward.
“Unlike other creators in his genre like Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie or even M.C. Hammer for that matter, it’s unlikely that we’ll be quoting too many of Kanye’s songs 20 years from now,” Ezrin wrote. “He didn’t open up new avenues of public discourse like NWA, or introduce the world to a new art form like Grandmaster Flash, or even meaningfully and memorably address social issues through his music like Marshall, Macklemore and Kendrick.”
Ezrin, who admits to having not listened to West’s new album ‘The Life Of Pablo’, went on to accuse the rapper of indluging in “excessive behavior, egomaniacal tantrums and tasteless grandstanding,” adding: “He’s like that flasher who interrupts a critical game by running naked across the field.”
West did not take the comments well and responded on Twitter. He appeared to take particular offense to being told he is not at good as Macklemore and also offered to send Yeezy trainers to Ezrin’s kids to make up for their embarrasment at their dad.
See West’s tweets below:
http://storify.com/nmemagazine/kanye-west-slams-producer-ezrin
‘The Life Of Pablo’ is the follow up to 2013’s ‘Yeezus’ and features guest spots from Rihanna, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, Chris Brown, Kendrick Lamar and more. Yesterday it was reported that the album has failed to chart in both the UK and US after Tidal, who are streaming the album exclusively, refused to disclose figures to officials.