Its crazy how nikkas like Vince, Soul, Q, and Freddie Gibbs will drop some of the best albums in rap but barely sell anything

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Personally, I'ont give a fukk about sales. fukk da sales. All I need is for da music to be good.

Breh that's where rappers need to be at, but the machine and the drive of allowing labels to dictate the direction, is why the game is so fukked and youngins are afraid to be themselves.

I miss when rappers used to spit like they got to get that pay day. I'm talking Phonte "car note and rent on time" raps.

If you are rapping about bytches you fukked despite how hell most of the jawns are nowadays, money when your favorite CEO is doing Lyft gigs, and flying out when Spirit is bankrupt....maybe just maybe, you need to get a CDL or do Twitch streaming

 

[Da_Eggman]

thats just how its always been somebody like Kendrick for instance is extremely rare to be ablle to do his style and sell alot (although the new one has quite alot of commerical tracks)

vince has put out damn near like 8 projects on def jam and i doubt ever went even gold

 

[Da_Eggman]

But don’t feel too bad with the steaming/YouTube era a guy like Gibbs makes way more than he ever could in the 90s

 

[Iverson_64]

traditional rap outside of the big 3 hasn’t sold in years

You think JID blew up in the wrong time?

 

[ReasonableMatic]

And all of em better than Fold too

I don't know how they do it. All that work to create something with substance and quality but majority would rather hear some bullshyt, smh

That's how it's always been

If you ask a child to choose between a 5 star restaurant or McDonald’s, it will choose McDonald’s

Viewing the value of Black culture through the Western capitalist lense harms Black culture and enforces White Supremacy

Even if Black art sells poorly commercially, it doesn’t take away from its cultural value.

If Illmatic woulda sold 25000 copies, it wouldn’t make it less valuable culturally.

Black art is valid by itself because its part of Black culture.
That’s enough.

 

[Stone]

You think JID blew up in the wrong time?

Tough to answer, these guys are living good even though they’re not superstars.

 

[Lhark]

At least Q has his day in the early 10s but you're absolutely right, they're just not what modern day mainstream audiences are looking for.

 

[Westbama Heartthrob]

If you ask a child to chose a 5 star restaurant or McDonalds’s it will chose McDonald’s

Viewing the value of Black culture through the Western capitalist lense harms Black culture and enforces White Supremacy

Even if Black art sells poorly commercially, it doesn’t take away from its cultural value.

If Illmatic woulda sold 25000 copies, it wouldn’t make it less valuable culturally.

Black art is valid by itself because its part of Black culture.
That’s enough.

I agree. I just wanna see folks compensated for their work is all

Think about Clyde Stubblefield. Man literally is responsible for countless number of beats off of the sampling of his drum breaks

Yet he died almost a $100,000 in debt over medical expenses

Yeah, art has its inherent value. But the artist still gotta eat. The rappers I've mentioned seem good, but I don't know their finances.

Like andre said, "live by the beat like you live check-to-check
If it don't move your feet, then, I don't eat, so we like neck-to-neck"

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

thats just how its always been somebody like Kendrick for instance is extremely rare to be ablle to do his style and sell alot (although the new one has quite alot of commerical tracks)

vince has put out damn near like 8 projects on def jam and i doubt ever went even gold

I honestly feel like its all in the cadence, looks, and steez, along with the backstory.

Kendrick- A "good kid" from Compton that has inspirations of wanting to become a rapper. Started out as a mixtape rapper following Wayne's blueprint but getting overlooked until he used his real name, and capitalize off of the blog era. Then Dre came through and here we are....Kendrick being artist of 2024 off GP.

Vince- A hardheaded rugged youngin rapper from Long Beach that raps like a revolutionary. Not really well known during that blog era outside of Odd Future guest appearances. Signed to a major with no other endorsements other than word of mouth, and capitalizing off of the "new west" steez that Def Jam was trying to achieve.

Masses will go to Kendrick because of theatrics, gimmicks, and occasional bars (the bars are for the "real hip hop" heads and casuals that haven't heard of a Operation Doomsday)

Underground and "real hip hop" heads will thrive on Vince which sadly is majority white (in hurts as a black Vince Staples enjoyer).

No different from Lupe Fiasco will never be mentioned with Nas when it comes down to sales and impact, but he's the better rapper IMO.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

At least Q has his day in the early 10s but you're absolutely right, they're just not what modern day mainstream audiences are looking for.

The thing that sucks is that Blankface was probably Q's magnum opus but sold terribly compared to Cra$hTalk and Oxymoron. The album was wild cohesive, from the grimy hood baps to some club jawns.

 

[chitownpimp]

record sales is a young persons game

 

[Amo Husserl]

Real hip-hop ain't on the grafted type agenda.

 

[Yehuda]

I only know gibbs for talking shyt (mostly about Jeezy), getting beat up and having an ugly pornstar babymama


Shyt like that makes you not wanna check out a rapper’s music

Facts all that shyt threw me off dude's music.

 

[ReasonableMatic]

I agree. I just wanna see folks compensated for their work is all

Think about Clyde Stubblefield. Man literally is responsible for countless number of beats off of the sampling of his drum breaks

Yet he died almost a $100,000 in debt over medical expenses

Yeah, art has its inherent value. But the artist still gotta eat. The rappers I've mentioned seem good, but I don't know their finances.

Like andre said, "live by the beat like you live check-to-check
If it don't move your feet, then, I don't eat, so we like neck-to-neck"

We both agree at its core.

I’m just explaining there’s another cultural way that’s more sustainable.
And that the current hypercapitalist cultural lense to focus on and chase extreme success, enforces the economic inequality model harming Black artists with great talent that you speak of.



There would be more of a leveling in income across the board if more focus was on appreciating the artform of Black art.
As great art would then attract money from diluted art back to the quality artists.

Purer forms of Black art often sell less because the structure of (Western) capitalism is designed to extract from Black art and make it palatable to the Western ruling class.

This by design creates a hierarchy that works in favor of diluted art.

There are exceptions like Kendrick that are more conscious,
but the Drake model is easier to sell as it’s not thought provoking or cutting edge Black art.

Drake extracts from the African Diaspora, makes it palatable and sells diluted versions of it to Western capitalism.

That’s basically what Mos Def was explaining in simple terms that video earlier this year.

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

Nah em shyts ain't that good.. that's the reason