Swizz Beatz Believes Rappers Should Pay Taxes to Rap's Founder

Swizz Beatz wants hip-hop artists to pay the pioneers who paved the way for the culture.

On Tuesday (May 12), during an Instagram live conversation with Joe Budden for Beatz's Zone Radio, Swizz explained why he believes rappers should be paying taxes to hip-hop trailblazers like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and more.

"I wanna raise a million dollars for each icon that started hip-hop, Kool Herc on down," Swizz began in the live. "The fact we're not paying taxes on who started hip-hop shows that we don't fucking really love hip-hop. The fact that we don't pay taxes as artists to those icons that paved the way, took the lower cut for the music that allow us to feed our families..."

Swizz Beatz went on to explain why a minimum of at least $1 million should be donated to celebrate the contributions made by Herc and other rap legends during the early inception of hip-hop.

"We need to be paying taxes to the creators of hip-hop that gave us freedom of speech to go forward," Swizz continued. "Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Gang, minimum a million a piece."

With the world on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Swizz and Timbaland have been working overtime to bring the culture together. Collectively, the two producers have brought R&B and rap competitions to life with their Instagram live series Verzuz. For the new upcoming battle, rappers Nelly and Ludacris are scheduled to go head-to-head on Saturday (May 15) at 7 p.m.

Check out Swizz Beatz and Joe Budden's conversation about rappers owing legends taxes, which starts at the 10-minute mark.

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