During the most recent episode of Complex's GOAT Talk, Ed Sheeran sat down with Barry Keoghan to debate the greatest rap albums and rappers, and the singer-songwriter weighed in on Skepta's recent comments about UK rappers versus US rappers.
"Have you seen Skepta's called out all the American rappers? He's just like, 'We'll wash you,'" Sheeran told Keoghan during the episode. "Let me come do a verse," Keoghan joked. Asked if he agrees with Skepta's statements, Sheeran said he did. "I think it's all culture," he added. "I think if you go to France and you ask, 'Who's the best rapper?' They're going to say a French rapper. If you go to Germany, do the same thing."
He said that another aspect, for him, is about being able to relate to the content of UK rap more. "I understand British rappers more," he said. "I can relate to Stormzy's tunes more than I can relate to whoever's in America." Keoghan agreed, saying he can't relate to Atlanta hip-hop, for instance. "This is the thing, you put on Get Rich or Die Tryin', you're up," said Sheeran, to which Keoghan joked, "I can relate to that."
Last month, Skepta said that he wanted to "clash" with an American rapper to get the the UK and US rap debate "sorted." He suggested a clash with ASAP Rocky for himself, and made it clear that it wouldn't be a beef but friendly competition between peers.
Elsewhere during the GOAT Talk episode, Keoghan named Get Rich or Die Tryin' as his favorite rap album, while Sheeran said it would be between albums released by Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment, such as The Game’s The Documentary, Eminem’s the Marshall Mathers LP, and Dr. Dre’s 2001.
Sheeran also said that his favorite rappers are British, naming the likes of Wretch 32, Devlin, Skepta, and JME. Keoghan, meanwhile, said that Stormzy and Dave are his favorites.
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