Rap About Nothing: Hip Hop Chat Thread

[str8drop]

As far as 69 in relation to that lil article, he was somewhat working a different move predicated on actual real deal street perception (not just SoundCloud flagging) and that’s what brought him into the black cultural radar

Lil Pump, Bhad Bhabie etc lowkey operate almost outside of black culture i.e. the average black person on social media not posting about them or even know wtf they got going on. 69 being w Shotti nem was actually able to tap into both sides

 

[trynafeelmink]

You can’t just drop good music and get the fans to flock to you with money out ready to spend, not how it work , _’s gotta have context for the music. All that **** got him his early fans and gave his music context/awareness. A lot of _’s wouldn’t of even known who the **** he was

You gonna tell me with a straight face _’s like Currensy and Wiz didn’t get a lot of fans from being lowkey gimmick weed rappers that dabbled into skateboarding etc at its peak? Yes they shed that eventually once they got traction but you gotta get traction FIRST

My point is everybody gotta have a brand/marketing bro. Street rappers are in such abundance because it’s a easy brand to market and has been since the 90s but if you not street you def gotta gave something else to offer

Bro your taking this somewhere completely different. Obviously everyone markets themselves to a crowd, but it isn't necessary to become a caricature in order to build a career. In both Wiz & Curren$y's case the music was the deciding factor, the lifestyle & aesthetic helped of course, but in neither case was it a "gimmick" it was a reflection of exactly who they were at the time.... but the quality of the music was the main focus & the reason they're still able to eat today.

Again you don't have to come in and do a bunch of clown **** in order to garner a fanbase that will spend money with you. There's literally dozens of artist who have proven that you can make a good living off simply being yourself & focusing on giving quality music & shows.

 

[Magic33]

Some of you mentioned Spotify

There's an app for apple

It's not as good, but it gives you an idea

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/26...-in-review-listening-habits-2018-app-noisehub

Jay
Nas
Meek
Big
Diplomats

Where I'm From top song

4:44 top album

Not surprisingly

 

[iamdef]

Again you don't have to come in and do a bunch of clown **** in order to garner a fanbase that will spend money with you. There's literally dozens of artist who have proven that you can make a good living off simply being yourself & focusing on giving quality music & shows.

I think a better example for "Don't be like him" would be Desiigner. If he didn't commit so hard to being a "Future Clone/Replacement" his career would be dramatically more relevant.

Of course it's plenty of artists that make music with integrity and have long successful careers but there's also many more that kept their integrity and hit a ceiling and never recovered. I've said it before but again, hip-hop has been monetized. It's being recognized for a powerful money machine and people aren't going to "respect the culture" because their primary focus is to make money first. And with that you have this formula that works that is and will be exploited, but the key is to look at how these artists grow or don't grow.

Thug is a decent example of antics at the beginning then toning down. Lady Gaga is an even better example. She was showing up to awards shows in meat dresses, and now she a "regular" person. Nicki had her Harajuku Barbie moments, or her time where she would growl and scream on a track and has toned down dramatically. The process of be "weird" to garner attention will NEVER go away, but "only the strong survive"

 

[a blinkin]

Some of you mentioned Spotify

There's an app for apple

It's not as good, but it gives you an idea

https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/26...-in-review-listening-habits-2018-app-noisehub

Jay
Nas
Meek
Big
Diplomats

Where I'm From top song

4:44 top album

Not surprisingly

Good looking out on this.

Looks like mine is skewed, though. I have Didn’t Cha Know by Erykah Badu set at my alarm clock. The statistical reading says I’ve played that song for 84 hours this year.

March Madness is the real number 1.

 

[str8drop]

Bro your taking this somewhere completely different. Obviously everyone markets themselves to a crowd, but it isn't necessary to become a caricature in order to build a career. In both Wiz & Curren$y's case the music was the deciding factor, the lifestyle & aesthetic helped of course, but in neither case was it a "gimmick" it was a reflection of exactly who they were at the time.... but the quality of the music was the main focus & the reason they're still able to eat today.

Again you don't have to come in and do a bunch of clown **** in order to garner a fanbase that will spend money with you. There's literally dozens of artist who have proven that you can make a good living off simply being yourself & focusing on giving quality music & shows.

The marketing and brand is embedded in the music tho bro. That’s what sells the music lol. It’s damn near impossible to separate the two because you get it simultaneously. Wiz rapped about smoking weed, taking your ***** and smoking weed with her and whatever was his current drink of choice (Clicquot, Bombay etc)

My original post was that just “making music, touring and selling merch” is easier said than done. Everybody know that’s what you should be doing. The problem is nobody know how to really get to that point.

Making music and being yourself is fine but “you being yourself” has to be actually “cool” to people. The average person “being themself” doesn’t involve smoking ounces of weed on the daily, running around the world with the biggest rapper and/or owner of a major skateboarding company etc

 

[Hahahaha]

It's interesting seeing some of you mad Ak has an album coming out. Those same people love the type of music Ak making and the music is so bad Ak feels like he can make the same quality music. Says a lot about Rap today and you **** boys crying.

Tekayshi had the son of the biggest label behind him. There's a lot of **** going on behind the scene we didn't know about. Tekayshi has zero talent, he was just the first to really go as far as he did with the antics and the label head's son signed him and pushed him.

 

[trynafeelmink]

I think a better example for "Don't be like him" would be Desiigner. If he didn't commit so hard to being a "Future Clone/Replacement" his career would be dramatically more relevant.

Of course it's plenty of artists that make music with integrity and have long successful careers but there's also many more that kept their integrity and hit a ceiling and never recovered. I've said it before but again, hip-hop has been monetized. It's being recognized for a powerful money machine and people aren't going to "respect the culture" because their primary focus is to make money first. And with that you have this formula that works that is and will be exploited, but the key is to look at how these artists grow or don't grow.

Thug is a decent example of antics at the beginning then toning down. Lady Gaga is an even better example. She was showing up to awards shows in meat dresses, and now she a "regular" person. Nicki had her Harajuku Barbie moments, or her time where she would growl and scream on a track and has toned down dramatically. The process of be "weird" to garner attention will NEVER go away, but "only the strong survive"

What exactly is this "ceiling" you speak of tho? if we are looking at all the guys who drum up interest because of trolling how many of them are around past 2-3 years? with nobody checking for them

The formula "works" if your a trash artist & know you have but so much time to make an impact, for those artist that 15 minutes of fame may be all you get.

However if your a talented artist who can keep producing records at a consistent rate it would be much more beneficial to stay away from the antics & dumb **** & continue to focus mostly on the music and reap the benefits of that for 10-20 years.

As far as the examples you gave
1) Lady Gaga is a pop star, a completely different animal
2) Nicki Minaj didn't get hot because she was trolling & wylin out on social media, she slowly grew her fanbase by bodying the mixtape circuit & putting in work
3) For all the ridiculous thigs thug has done, how much further did it get him than had he just focused more on the music? I've heard lil baby utter a word maybe 2-3 times in life & him & thug are relatively on the same plateau

 

[trynafeelmink]

The marketing and brand is embedded in the music tho bro. That’s what sells the music lol. It’s damn near impossible to separate the two because you get it simultaneously. Wiz rapped about smoking weed, taking your ***** and smoking weed with her and whatever was his current drink of choice (Clicquot, Bombay etc)

My original post was that just “making music, touring and selling merch” is easier said than done. Everybody know that’s what you should be doing. The problem is nobody know how to really get to that point.

Making music and being yourself is fine but “you being yourself” has to be actually “cool” to people. The average person “being themself” doesn’t involve smoking ounces of weed on the daily, running around the world with the biggest rapper and/or owner of a major skateboarding company etc

we're gonna just have to agree to disagree because there's literally dozens of artist who focus on the music first and don't rely on antics & ******** to sell themselves. Obviously every artist markets themselves but you do not have to overly rely on things outside of the music if your talented enough & making music that isn't in line with the over saturated sound of the time

 

[iamdef]

What exactly is this "ceiling" you speak of tho? if we are looking at all the guys who drum up interest because of trolling how many of them are around past 2-3 years? with nobody checking for them

The formula "works" if your a trash artist & know you have but so much time to make an impact, for those artist that 15 minutes of fame may be all you get.

However if your a talented artist who can keep producing records at a consistent rate it would be much more beneficial to stay away from the antics & dumb **** & continue to focus mostly on the music and reap the benefits of that for 10-20 years.

As far as the examples you gave
1) Lady Gaga is a pop star, a completely different animal
2) Nicki Minaj didn't get hot because she was trolling & wylin out on social media, she slowly grew her fanbase by bodying the mixtape circuit & putting in work
3) For all the ridiculous thigs thug has done, how much further did it get him than had he just focused more on the music? I've heard lil baby utter a word maybe 2-3 times in life & him & thug are relatively on the same plateau

When I say ceiling it's not a across the board ceiling but I'm speaking about the moment when their "success" plateaus. Whether it be their sales slow up, popularity dries out, whatever. There's artist who reached a certain level of success and it they were never able to level up again.

You say the formula works for "trash artists" but if that was the case there'd be WAY MORE trash artists with deals being sold. There is SOME SKILL needed in order for the formula to work. The formula gives a person an opportunity for their 15 mins of fame, after that 15 it's up to that person to either up the ante on their antics or to actually improve their craft.

Pop star or not, how Gaga started her career is relevant to this conversation.
In addition to her putting in work, Nicki had a gimmick or her own set of antics
Had it not been for Thug's antics he would have been underground much longer than he was, and if it took Thug longer it would have taken Lil Baby much longer to find his voice.

What you are skipping over is the antics of each three artist I listed, set them apart from the rest of the crowd. The antics gave them attention and once the attention was gained, slowly the antics died down and eventually faded away but what also began to change was the artists' focus on their skills

 

[trynafeelmink]

When I say ceiling it's not a across the board ceiling but I'm speaking about the moment when their "success" plateaus. Whether it be their sales slow up, popularity dries out, whatever. There's artist who reached a certain level of success and it they were never able to level up again.

You say the formula works for "trash artists" but if that was the case there'd be WAY MORE trash artists with deals being sold. There is SOME SKILL needed in order for the formula to work. The formula gives a person an opportunity for their 15 mins of fame, after that 15 it's up to that person to either up the ante on their antics or to actually improve their craft.

Pop star or not, how Gaga started her career is relevant to this conversation.
In addition to her putting in work, Nicki had a gimmick or her own set of antics
Had it not been for Thug's antics he would have been underground much longer than he was, and if it took Thug longer it would have taken Lil Baby much longer to find his voice.

What you are skipping over is the antics of each three artist I listed, set them apart from the rest of the crowd. The antics gave them attention and once the attention was gained, slowly the antics died down and eventually faded away but what also began to change was the artists' focus on their skills

Bro i'm not even sure what your arguing right now, i'm not disagreeing that antics help get people attention. All i'm saying is that they aren't needed in order to have a good long career. It isn't a necessity to act a fool in order to get your career going or accumulate a fanbase when you are releasing good material.

 

[iamdef]

Bro i'm not even sure what your arguing right now, i'm not disagreeing that antics help get people attention. All i'm saying is that they aren't needed in order to have a good long career. It isn't a necessity to act a fool in order to get your career going or accumulate a fanbase when you are releasing good material.

Did anybody say that you needed to have antics?

 

[trynafeelmink]

Did anybody say that you needed to have antics?

This is exactly why i ignore *****s when they talk about who's "Hot" & "relevant" look at the **** new artist gotta deal with to get going. **** the sales & trying to be a star, release your art, tour & sell merch, and make sure you can still look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day...because a lot of these *****s become court jesters for a check.

this is literally all i posted that started this debate, my only point is that artist should stray away from the ******** when they first come out & focus on the music more than anything else. When your talented enough you will be able to create a long career out of that.

 

[Magic33]

I think that some people feel like just because they don’t like the music nobody else in the world likes it or should like it. That **** be crazy lol

It’s a bunch of rappers i don’t like but i don’t go around hating calling their **** trash. Music is just different it’s someyhimg out here for everybody. It’s your own fault if you focus on the ones you don’t like.

and some people collect trash. Does that make it art?

It's interesting seeing some of you mad Ak has an album coming out. Those same people love the type of music Ak making and the music is so bad Ak feels like he can make the same quality music. Says a lot about Rap today and you **** boys crying.

Tekayshi had the son of the biggest label behind him. There's a lot of **** going on behind the scene we didn't know about. Tekayshi has zero talent, he was just the first to really go as far as he did with the antics and the label head's son signed him and pushed him.

no bar, and no rules

 

[iamdef]

this is literally all i posted that started this debate, my only point is that artist should stray away from the bull**** when they first come out & focus on the music more than anything else. When your talented enough you will be able to create a long career out of that.

I understand what you are saying and agree, to an extent. But that's mostly because I understand and accept that not all artist want a long career, some just want some attention, lil fame, lil money and they good. And like it was said before all music has it's purpose and not everybody's purpose is to be a long career artist. If an artist's career last for 30 days so be it, all I want out deal is some good tunes

 

[6pac]

Son promoting all his _'s from high school



.

lmfaoo chill bruh they b hitting 100k + regardless

i know a few dudes not everyone i post

 

[wavycrocket]

aye...say man...

what the **** is boskoe talking about?



he officially weirder than the *****s he roast.

Boskoe Def a Karombo from real world type.

 

[str8drop]

we're gonna just have to agree to disagree because there's literally dozens of artist who focus on the music first and don't rely on antics & bull**** to sell themselves. Obviously every artist markets themselves but you do not have to overly rely on things outside of the music if your talented enough & making music that isn't in line with the over saturated sound of the time

Nowhere in any of my posts did I say you have to rely on antics

My original and only point is saying something like “just put out music, tour, and sell merch” is so generic that’s it not even worth saying

I got a homie that’s been in the industry for years, talented as hell. She’s placed songs with huge people like Beyoncé but her front facing career ain’t happening at all after 2 major deals. The music is def there but the branding and everything else ain’t.

I just find it interesting when _’s try and separate the music from the branding/marketing etc when it’s just as important. “Just focus on the music” sound good but that’s not the reality my dude. Having “good music” is just the prerequisite. A lot of people make good music.

 

[RIP sleazyy]

Boyyy

6pac

 

[wavycrocket]

So there’s rumor of a Super Slimey 2....With Super/Thug & Lil Baby/Gunna

That can either be really f’n Fire. Or oversatured and rushed mid. Could go either way. I just need that Super & Baby track to make the cypher complete . That’s like the double Kamehameha

 

[iamdef]

Super Slimey 2 is gonna be some good mid grade

 

[wavycrocket]

Y’all need to get plugged in with this new Skola . Shorty back

 

[6pac]

its the whole package and you better make that right first impression

i see what both str8drop and ty is saying

im not gonna lie...this generation...2016-2017 and beyond...who really was an artist to make it without being a street artist, having the shenanigans, or some type of co-sign/connection...only one i can think of is X (who arguably had shenanigans to initially get on, but simoultaneously he was building his sht from the mud) and Russ. And we see how polarizing Russ is for just saying a lot of borderline true ****. People want people to be characters not “be themselves”...if we talking about the tastemaking demographic.

thats why everyone so thugged out even tho they might have just sold a lil weed if that...lmao ****** dont have nothing else interesting to rap about if you not finna take the Russ lane of complaining or talking about what other rappers do lol

you definitely gotta have the complete package the first time people see you and for most people the easiest **** to do is to be on some street ****

 

[str8drop]

In the history of rap in general, how many non street tied/street affiliated rappers have actually reached the upper echelon?

 

[6pac]

Y’all need to get plugged in with this new Skola . Shorty back

this deserved a video