Melle Mel Praises Macklemore & Shades Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Jay Z & Rick Ross

 Last month, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis released their comeback single “Downtown,” which raised the eyebrows of many. A few days later, they performed the song at the 2015 MTV VMAs. Some of you might have noticed that both the music video and the live performance featured appearances from hip-hop veterans Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz.

Catching up with XXL, Melle Mel praised the new school rapper for paying homage to some of the genre’s pioneers. While commenting on the single, he threw a thick shade at the likes of Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Jay Z and Rick Ross, questioning their rap authenticity by saying they would have never done anything similar. Here’s what he told the magazine:

"I know for a fact that J. Cole or Kendrick Lamar or Rick Ross or Jay Z or any of these cats, they would not have done it, ever. They would not have done it. It took him to do it. And all those other so-called ‘real cats,’ they should hang their heads because somebody should have done it by now. They could have reached back to any of us. If you’re making records and you say you’re Hip Hop, you’re supposed to have a connection to what Hip Hop really is. And nobody made that connection until Macklemore made the connection. And I’ve had this conversation quite a few times since everything happened and had that little controversy of, yeah, the White boy, using the OGs, or blah blah blah. And like I said, none of those other guys would have ever done it. And it's a shame that that’s the reality of what the game is right now.”

Just last week, another veteran stood up for Macklemore and defended “Downtown,” in spite of the mixed criticism the single is facing. Big Daddy Kane took to Instagram to slam those who doubt the rapper.

"REAL TALK!!! I don’t see one artist in the game that put Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee or Grandmaster Caz on their new song or let them perform on the VMA’s (Including Me) but people wanna have a problem with @macklemore for paying homage to them? We don’t acknowledge our own & get mad when another color does. Now if one of them passes, then we wanna post s*** about them, say RIP & get t-shirts with their picture. FOH!!!!!!! Learn about your history & preserve it now. If not, SHUT THE F*** UP!!! To me this is about real pioneers getting recognition in today’s society.”

While we totally get what Big Daddy Kane meant when he issued the post, we are somehow puzzled by Melle Mel’s statement. We get that he is pleased a major name in the industry has paid homage to him, but why did he name drop the other rappers? What is your take on his commentary?