Rock musicians and rappers are known to have a complicated relationship – for every David Bowie there’s a Noel Gallagher or Gene Simmons.
But The Who frontman Roger Daltrey is firmly in the Bowie camp, declaring to The Times that rappers are the only musicians left saying anything of meaning.
“The sadness for me is that rock has reached a dead end. The only people saying things that matter are the rappers and most pop is meaningless and forgettable. You watch these people and you can’t remember a bloody thing,” he said.
Bowie, who never identified as a rock musician, long held an admiration for rap, telling the Today show in 1993 that rappers were the only “truly creative” musicians at that time, and sampled the likes of Jay Z, Ice Cube, Dr Dre and Public Enemy in his music.
His own creativity also had a lasting effect on a number of rappers.
Noel meanwhile famously spoke out against Jay Z headlining Glastonbury in 2008, causing the Brooklyn native to cover Wonderwall while on stage, while Kiss frontman Gene said earlier this year he was “looking forward to the death of rap”.
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