Kendrick Lamar A ‘Weirdo,’ Chance The Rapper ‘A Drug Addict,’ Says Troy Ave

Rising Brooklyn rapper Troy Ave Ave is clarifying some earlier comments he made about Kendrick Lamar.

In an interview on Hot 97’s Morning Show in November, Ave said he was simply stating a fact when he said in his song “New York City” that Lamar is a “weirdo rapper.” Ave said the lyric wasn’t meant a diss, but it would be like someone saying that he is a “dark skin rapper.” He explained that it probably sounded more negative than he meant it to, and agreed with Peter Rosenberg that perhaps “alternative” would have been a better word to use. Troy Ave also said that the Compton rapper was from the streets, but not in the streets.

“The basis of rap is from the streets. Every artist of any era in rap history, the biggest artist has always been from the streets,” he said. “Kendrick was raised in it. It’s a difference between being from an area and being in the streets. It’s a difference. You know what I mean?”

Now, in an interview with NE Hip-Hop, Troy Ave explained that he wasn’t trying to diss Kendrick Lamar, but that he was just speaking the truth.

“Kendrick say he actually f*** with my music heavy,” he said. “I wasn’t dissing him or nothing, it’s like if somebody said ‘Troy Ave is a dark skin rapper,’ alright, that’s the truth. Kendrick Lamar is a weirdo rapper, you know what I mean? That don’t mean he don’t make good music, he got a few songs that I actually happen to like, but he’s a weirdo. Weirdo meaning different, you know what a weirdo is, you know what I mean. That’s what it is, it ain’t no dissing or nothing.”

But Troy Ave left no room for interpretation when he called Chance the Rapper a “drug addict.” The Chicago rapper was recently named The Source‘s Rookie of the Year. He also explained a disagreement with Statik Selektah for voting for Chance in a Complex poll.

“And I said I’m gonna tell’em when I see’em, ‘That sh*t you did voting for Chance The Rapper over Troy Ave was corny ’cause I don’t see Chance The Rapper at your parties or featuring on your records, you can’t be f**king voting for drug addicts to be rookie of the year,” he said of the Acid Rap emcee.

“The game is twisted and f**ked up. How is a drug addict gonna be at the forefront of rap? That sh*t is corny,” he said. “Basically, [Statik] cleared it up, he said there wasn’t like a list of names for him to choose from. He didn’t pick him over me, they just asked him, ‘Who do you vote for?’ and they had to send out a name or whatever.”

Chance the Rapper, however, has said that he isn’t heavily using drugs anymore.

“I’m not even on the drugs like that anymore,” the 20-year-old said. “I smoke cigarettes — I should quit that at some point — and weed, but it’s like, you know, in my opinion, the point of life is to have fun, and lots of it. [And] from experience, sometimes, drugs can get in the way of that, so, to answer your question, drugs don’t really have that much of a role in my life anymore, but they inspired some of the music, and that’ll always be a part of me, in some way.”