The relationship between veteran rock musicians and hip-hop varies widely, often swinging between extremes with little middle ground. On one hand, prominent names like Paul McCartney have embraced the genre, some even considering it the new rock ‘n’ roll. On the other hand, figures like The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards dismiss rap entirely, not even recognising it as an art form.
Famously, McCartney collaborated with Kanye West on a series of tracks in 2015, which felt, at the time, like a significant cultural event that signified a changing of the guard. Of course, almost a decade later, the songs they made together have aged like milk after West consistently disgraced himself and torched his reputation to the ground, turning his musical liaison with McCartney into a stain on the Beatle’s CV.
Although McCartney has never made a fully-fledged hip-hop record, he deeply respects the genre. In 2016, he told Rolling Stone that he listens to it for “education” purposes and declared it “the music of now“.
McCartney has always been musically open-minded, embracing new sounds and genres, which has set him apart from many contemporaries. He is rock ‘n’ roll at heart, but one of the Liverpudlian’s greatest strengths is keeping his ear to the ground and understanding how to embrace change while staying true to himself artistically.
On the other hand, a variety of musicians that McCartney considered peers in the 1960s are stuck in their ways musically, such as Richards, who famously once opined of rap music, “Hip-hop leaves me cold. But there are some people out there who think it’s the meaning of life. I don’t wanna be yelled at, I wanna be sung to.”
One might presume that Eric Clapton shares a sentiment similar to Keith Richards’s regarding hip-hop. While popular music has dramatically evolved since his days with Cream, Clapton remains steadfastly devoted to the blues and has shown little desire to adapt. However, he can still appreciate other genres. During a past Q&A with AOL, Clapton explained why keeping track of contemporary trends has always been challenging for him. Nevertheless, he admitted that occasionally a new act slips through the cracks and captures his attention.
The guitarist stated: “Popular music is, it’s always been difficult for me. Ever since I was a kid, I would look for underground stuff, you know? I like a band in England that’s pretty good. I like Doyle Bramhall a lot, who worked on the B.B. album with us. He’s kind of a new guy, but he’s not a young kid.”
Clapton then explained that he believes “the drum and bass revolution” was “very important”, highlighting Bristolian electronic act Massive Attack as a personal favourite. “I like a lot of dance music. I like a lot of the European DJs. And I like, I still like to listen to a various kind of spectrum of things, like from classical music to Middle Eastern music,” he added. “And recently, I’ve become very, very fond of and becoming, believe it or not, influenced by Joao Gilberto”.
After naming Green Day one of his favourite new rock groups, Clapton discussed hip-hop, adding, “I’m a big fan of Juvenile. I just think Juvenile is [it]. I’m not that mad on the kind of glitzy kind of high-profile stuff. But Juvenile is kind of more like a street-cred guy. I like that. Yeah, I mean, I like, if it’s music with heart and power and passion, I like it.”
Despite being an aficionado of traditional blues, Clapton ultimately connects with any artist who speaks to him on an emotional level, and it doesn’t matter what style their music is delivered in. On a surface level, Green Day and Juvenile are two artists on opposing ends of the musical spectrum, but they made Clapton feel something deeply within, which is all that matters.
