Maino is offering new clarity on his highly publicized back-and-forth with Akademiks, insisting the conflict was never really about clothes.
Speaking with VladTV, the Brooklyn rapper said the tension grew out of Ak’s views on age and relevance in hip hop.
The friction flared after Akademiks mocked Fabolous for wearing a headband, framing the look as a so-called “midlife crisis.”
Maino argued that Akademiks doesn’t have the cultural footing to police fashion in a culture he didn’t help build.
“Well you wearing a baseball cap n—a. What are baseball caps made for? Baseball,” Maino said. “This is hip hop. None of the things that we wear in fashion, we’re not wearing it for that particular thing.”
Maino denied claims that older artists are bitter or out of touch.
“The things that’s hot today were the things that were made hot in our generation,” he said, adding, “I’ve never been disgruntled.”
He was equally dismissive of Akademiks’ self-comparison to Michael Jordan, saying, “I don’t need seven securities to come out to make me feel good.”
“It’s not young and old,” Maino added. “It’s either cool or lame.”