Grandmaster Caz offered a blunt, unfiltered glimpse into hip-hop’s competitive roots during a recent appearance on the BagFuel Podcast, revisiting the moment LL Cool J emerged in the mid-1980s and disrupted the landscape for a generation of MCs who helped build the culture from the ground up.
“When LL [LL Cool J] came along, what were your thoughts about that?” asked host Esso.
Caz, a Bronx icon, didn’t hesitate. “Couldn’t stand him… couldn’t stand him,” Caz said, repeating the line with the same bite it carried nearly four decades ago.
His frustration wasn’t personal. It was the sting of watching a teenager become Def Jam’s next superstar at a time when pioneers like Caz felt overlooked. LL had the charisma and throttle to dominate a genre shifting from neighborhood pastime to national industry, and Caz admitted the rise hit a nerve.
“He was that n***a,” said Caz, reflecting on a career in which his own early innovations were often overshadowed by younger stars with corporate machinery behind them. “He was that next n***a that was going to get everything I thought I deserved.”
Grandmaster Caz Envyed LL Cool J During the 80s Hip Hop
The LL Cool J questions would lead into Caz’s involvement in Hip-Hop’s 50-year run, which has included a decades-long association with him and the classic song “Rapper’s Delight.” The Sugarhill Gang’s hit was built on his rhymes without proper credit.
“I’ve been answering ‘Rapper’s Delight’ questions for 50 fuckin’ years, almost,” he said. While a part of his history, Caz has become accustomed to speaking about it all the time as Rap music evolves.
“I’ve been answering Rapper’s Delight questions for 50 fuckin’ years, almost,” said Caz. “I would have been swinging from a chandelier if I let that shit bother me, get to me or whaterver.”
Caz compared the long arc of hip-hop to a roller coaster—wild, unpredictable, and sometimes punishing, but inevitably stable. “No matter how outlandish it get, it always lands,” he said.
Grandmaster Caz believes the same will hold true for a genre currently navigating chaos, algorithm-driven aesthetics, and generational fragmentation. After the twists and turns, he argued, hip-hop may “have to start it over,” predicting a future where a new generation rebuilds the culture from scratch.
Caz’s reflections traced the emotional tension between legacy and evolution, linking the rise of LL Cool J to the genre’s enduring capacity to reinvent itself.
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