Hip-hop fans are understandably out-of-sorts with breakout Virginia singer Tommy Richman after he denied the “hip-hop” classification on social media.
After Richman tweeted, “I am not a hip hop artist,” Los Angeles DJ and radio host DJ Hed (who also co-hosts Uproxx’s podcast, The Bigger Picture) clapped back with a fiery response: “Fasho. So every Hip-Hop station playing [‘Million Dollar Baby’] or [‘Devil Is A Lie‘] should stop today.”
Richman tried to explain himself, reasonably pointing out, “I’ll say again, Im thankful for everything. I’m saying I don’t wanna be boxed in. I grew up on hip hop. But I’m a singer.”
Now, Richman certainly has a point; he’s more R&B singer than MC. But, as Hed noted, his most popular song has received its biggest push from hip-hop radio stations and playlists, while a number of hip-hop-associated acts have given him props and much-needed co-signs.
It seems Richman has found himself in a similar predicament as Post Malone, who was classified as a rapper early in his career, despite not doing much rapping vocally. As Post expanded his musical palette, accusations of being a culture vulture, combined with his own unfortunate statements, haunted his reception among some hip-hop fans. However, that didn’t stop Malone from becoming one of the biggest stars in America, with a slew of No. 1 albums, a juggernaut of a hit in “Sunflower,” and respect from across the musical spectrum, even as he recently shifted into country music.
Because hip-hop is equally regarded as a culture as much as a musical genre (which is often conflated with rap), there is an additional level to his rejection of the label that rankles hip-hop fans who have seen far too many outsiders of the culture use its trappings to succeed commercially before later ditching them to cross over. The fact that it was the hip-hop establishment that initially accepted and promoted Richman, though, makes any outright rejection on either side much more complicated than the young singer could capture in his initial tweet, which has since been deleted.
In its place is a new missive: “I meant to say I’m not SOLEY a hip hop artist.”