Waka Flocka Flame has made a name for himself by rapping at a high volume over big, skittering, trap style beats — but he's not the only one. In a new interview with Complex magazine, the 26-year-old Brick Squad rapper expressed his frustration that the sound he popularized with producer Lex Luger has been co-opted by the likes of Rick Ross and his Maybach Music Group crew.
“That’s crazy,” said Waka of the similarities in Ross' music. “But what you gonna say? This n---a out here making 30 f---ing songs with your sound. He watering it down, just putting words together that sounded good. Sh-t would be harder if it was the truth.”
“That sh-t made me tight,” he continued. “N---as built labels off our sound — like, literally. You know how many n---as sound like Lex Luger and Southside? I go in n---as’ studios, all their beats sound like my producers. I be like, 'What the f---?'”
Not even hip hop gods Jay-Z and Kanye West were above borrowing the Lex Luger/trap rap sound, borrowing it for the first single off Watch the Throne, "H.A.M." In that case, Waka said he felt validated by the nod.
“What are y’all gonna say now? Jay-Z stupid as hell? My sound is wack? You gonna say that?" he asked. "They love the sound. They can’t run away from it. That sh-- re-sparked n---as’ careers. My sound put life into a lot of people’s careers. I feel like my sound changed hip hop. Period. It’s crazy when I came out with it everybody laughed at it, but the next year everybody’s doing it. They getting credit for the sh-t you started. You be like, 'Damn, how is this n---a a genius for doing something I started?'”
Read more from Waka in a full online cover story over at Complex.

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(Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)