Run DMC's Darryl McDaniels: 'Kendrick Lamar is killing it, but radios are too afraid to play him'

The rapper said he thought people were 'scared of a young man who looks like that from their neighbourhood talking about real issues'

Run DMC rapper Darryl McDaniels performs on stage in 2013 (Getty Images)

Kendrick Lamar is one of the biggest hip hop artists to come out of the US in the past five years, but Run DMC’s Darryl McDaniels has claimed that radios are ‘too afraid’ to play his records.

Speaking to The Independent, McDaniels, who performed with Run DMC in the capital for the first time in fourteen years last week, said: “Kendrick Lamar is killing it, but why don’t they play those records on the radio?”

He added: “I don’t believe in conspiracy theories but people are scared of a young man that looks like that from their neighbourhood talking about real issues.”

The musician went on the praise the “Swimming Pools” rapper, who he said was ahead of his peers.

“What most do is just make a record about partying to drink it all, but he’s not celebrating alcoholism. He’s seeing it as a problem but not being so obvious. That’ what real MCs do; he’s a superhero doing it.”

'Swimming Pools' rapper Kendrick Lamar (Power 106)

McDaniels said he was unimpressed with the state of modern hip hop, describing it as “samey”.

“The other day I was on the Tim Westwood show and he was playing what he had to play and all the records said the same thing: my girl, money, drink – everything had the same beats,” he said.

The rapper added that Kendrick Lamar’s material reminded him of early Run DMC projects.

“When we did 'It’s Like That', ‘The Message’ by Grandmaster Flash came out just before and it addressed how bad it was in our neighbourhoods.

“Then Afrika Bambaataa came out with Planet Rock, which was a visionary record stating to be positive, so we said let’s take both optimism and pessimism and put it together to make ‘It’s Like That.”