Ian is carving out his place in hip-hop, undeterred by the critics. While some label him a culture vulture—Lil Yachty’s co-sign may have done more harm than good—he keeps pushing forward, dropping new music and delivering performances like his recent From the Block set. Still, not everyone is on board, including some of rap’s heavyweights.
In an interview last year, Tyler, the Creator, didn’t directly call out the 19-year-old lyricist but seemingly shaded him.
“This white kid, regular Caucasian man. And he is mocking Future and Gucci Mane’s rap music…And people are like ‘This shit hard.’ This is not even satire…” Tyler stated.
It might have come late, but Ian has finally responded in a freestyle for Lyrical Lemonade.
Ian isn’t trying to offend the greats
Released on March 10, the rapper said he didn’t want any smoke with anyone in the rap community.
“Back then, I really loved Odd Future, I ain’t never sat down tryna’ mock Future, I ain’t wanna show no disrespect, so I kept my mouth shut and that’s not human, damn, would’ve been a dumbass thing to do,” he freestyled.
Tyler hasn’t responded to Ian’s recent verses yet, but it’s clear that he still isn’t feeling his music.
On the track “Thought I Was Dead” off of his recent album, CHROMAKOPIA, Tyler spits that “White boys mocking this shit and y’all mad at me, Y’all can suck my d***, Pull up old tweets, pull up old t-shirts, all that, I’ll moonwalk over that bitch.”
Nevertheless, Ian is still outside and persevering—whether other artists want him there or not, his fans certainly do.
