Cam'ron and Mase decided to hop into the current debate over a viral illustration of a "Mount Rushmore" of white rappers, and both of them took their choices back to the '80s. On Monday's episode of their sports talk show It Is What It Is, the Harlem rap icons were prompted by co-host Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson to name their own top four. (The social media post that began the discussion cited Eminem, Mac Miller, Paul Wall, and Russ).
Mase struggled at first.
"There's only like two white rappers. Who is there? Eminem? Who else?" he began. He mentioned Millyz, before settling on his final choice: Machine Gun Kelly or Yelawolf.
Then he suggested an "honorable mention": the Beastie Boys.
Cam agreed with his co-host's choice of Em. But his number two was a contemporary and labelmate of the Beasties, the group 3rd Bass.
"I'm thinking about people who pushed the culture forward for white rappers in a time where white rappers really wasn't being accepted," Killa explained. "I have to go with 3rd Bass... They had the Black community when it was really hard for a white person to excel in the Black community."
After taking a second to talk about Vanilla Ice ("He sold millions and millions of records, but n***as was like, 'Get the fuck out of here'," he recalled) Cam said that his final choice was Mac Miller.
He also explained why he didn't second Mase's Beasties pick.
"I wasn't really a big Beastie Boys fan, to be totally honest with you," he said. "To me, they was more rock and roll than rap."
The white rapper Mount Rushmore debate actually sparked a response from Machine Gun Kelly himself, who was angry about not being included.
Last Sunday, he posted a message on X saying "Me not on the white rapper mt rushmore is blasphemy," with a retweet of a video of him freestyling alongside Gillie Da Kid and Wallo.