Ted Nugent Admits Hip Hop Has Passed Him By: ‘I Understand Beauty But I Just Don’t Get Kanye West’

Fondly regarded as a connoisseur of the finer things in life, Ted Nugent has confessed that – try as he might – he just doesn’t get hip hop and that the likes of Kanye West leave him cold.

Admittedly, it is somewhat difficult to try and imagine Ted waving his gun in the air and shouting ‘hell yeah!’ as he listens to West getting vocal on “Black Skinhead,” but somewhat surprisingly Nugent has confessed to Ultimate Classic Rock that he has tried his damnedest in the past to get into hip hop but he’s just not feeling it.

“You know, I don’t get much of that anymore. I don’t understand. … I mean, I understand beauty and I understand fashion and trends. You should Google my son Rocco, he goes by ‘Rocco Moon.’ He’s deep into the hip hop/rock stuff and I just don’t get it. I try to watch Eminem and all of these other guys and I don’t get it. It doesn’t light my fire like ‘Long Tall Sally’ or ‘I Feel Good’ or ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ or ‘Tush,’ you know?”

When asked his opinion on the success of Kanye West, Nugent doesn’t pull punches and admits he has little time for the self-proclaimed genius.

“I kind of shrug my shoulders and I’m sorry to say, I just don’t get it. I understand he’s a super-talented guy. Nobody likes naked girls more than I do, but would you really want to have your wife completely naked in a magazine? It’s a different world to me.”

Bizarrely, Nugent then goes on to label U2 “incredible,” which could well go down in history as one of the most controversial things the gun lover with a big mouth has ever said. He then explains that the modern musical industry is suicidal and U2 spending a million dollars to make a record and give it away for free is symptomatic of that insanity, with maybe just a sprinkle of mid-life desperation thrown in for good measure on behalf of Bono and the boys, hey Ted?

“U2 make a record and give it away? Well, that’s convenient, if you’ve got that kind of money, which they do. But what about these new incredible artists around the country that don’t have enough money to invest in a free handout? I’m heartbroken by the whole thing. I know there’s some killer music all across this country that we’ll never ever get to hear because the industry won’t compensate.”

For someone who doesn’t dig Kanye West, Nugent then goes on to sound a lot like the hip hopper in cosmic poet mode when he starts delivering a rap on the finanical threat musical artists are contending with, before comparing the poor dears to apple growers.

“There would be no more apples if all of the orchard growers were forced to give away all of their apples, they wouldn’t bother growing any.”

Well said Ted. Here, have a banana.