Most disappointing debut album ever?

[Piff Perkins]

The reason why Drake and J.Cole didn’t nail their debut albums is completely the fault of their respective labels. Most labels at the time didn’t understand that these artists of the “blog generation” (Drake, Cole, Kendrick, Kid Cudi, Wale, Big Krit, etc) already had “debut” albums by way of their mixtapes. The Warm Up IS J.Cole’s debut album. So Far Gone IS Drake’s debut album. The labels were trying to push a certain marketing and singles driven campaign with artists who had already established an identity with their fanbase. Jay-Z even put Cole on tour for like two years straight (which was smart) but when it was album time he STILL kept him on the shelf until he had a proper “single” which ended up being “Work Out”, a song that while a hit didn’t do much for either Cole or his fanbase.


If Cole and Drake would have been able to make the albums they wanted those albums would have been MUCH better. If you take FNL (which was meant to be the major label debut) and add 1 or 2 songs from Sideline Story you have damn near a classic. If you let Drake and his Ghostwriters work with 40 instead of rushing him to work with Kanye and Swizz Beats you’d have a Take Care level major label debut.


Interscope was wise in letting Kendrick do what came natural to him. Work with the producers he wanted, have the features he wanted (MC Eiht on a major label debut in 2012 is fukking astonishing) the singles he wanted (Who would have predicted Swimming Pools would be a hit?) because Kendrick was already set up to win. He had a narrative, a fanbase, plus the West Coast was overdue for a “savior”. They allowed Kendrick to be the artist he was MEANT to be instead of conforming to what was “hot” at the time.


Same thing for Kid Cudi. He was on Good Music but he was able to be his own person and release Man On The Moon which FELT authentic to who he was as an artist. As such he was successful.

Good points. Also worth noting that if you shuffled the chairs, ie switched which labels the artists were on...it's very possible things would have turned out differently. Cole on Interscope, without Jay demanding a single...maybe the result is an album coming out faster with FNL tracks. Flip side maybe if Kendrick was on Columbia, without Dre and Jimmy Iovine rolling the dice...maybe the result would have been something watered down and worse. Seeing that play out in person gave me a lot of respect for the balls TDE had at the time, as well as the patience of some of the execs.

Cole and Drake eventually got it right, releasing full bodies of work later (FHD, Take Care for instance) so the debuts didn't hurt them. Cole has mentioned before that he was one of the last guinea pigs of that era, where the label demands hits. Since then he's done a great job of doing his own thing and letting the hits happen on his own terms. Then with Drake...I'm not a fan but I respect the fact that he took the "failure" of his first album - specifically the reliance on big name producers (Swizz, Kanye, Timbo) - and rebounded by taking full control of his destiny/career. A lot of that initial anger those named producers had/have for him boils down to him winning without them. He sounds best over the sound of his camp (40, Bo1da, etc) and everything since then has been that.

 

[spliz]

The reason why Drake and J.Cole didn’t nail their debut albums is completely the fault of their respective labels. Most labels at the time didn’t understand that these artists of the “blog generation” (Drake, Cole, Kendrick, Kid Cudi, Wale, Big Krit, etc) already had “debut” albums by way of their mixtapes. The Warm Up IS J.Cole’s debut album. So Far Gone IS Drake’s debut album. The labels were trying to push a certain marketing and singles driven campaign with artists who had already established an identity with their fanbase. Jay-Z even put Cole on tour for like two years straight (which was smart) but when it was album time he STILL kept him on the shelf until he had a proper “single” which ended up being “Work Out”, a song that while a hit didn’t do much for either Cole or his fanbase.


If Cole and Drake would have been able to make the albums they wanted those albums would have been MUCH better. If you take FNL (which was meant to be the major label debut) and add 1 or 2 songs from Sideline Story you have damn near a classic. If you let Drake and his Ghostwriters work with 40 instead of rushing him to work with Kanye and Swizz Beats you’d have a Take Care level major label debut.


Interscope was wise in letting Kendrick do what came natural to him. Work with the producers he wanted, have the features he wanted (MC Eiht on a major label debut in 2012 is fukking astonishing) the singles he wanted (Who would have predicted Swimming Pools would be a hit?) because Kendrick was already set up to win. He had a narrative, a fanbase, plus the West Coast was overdue for a “savior”. They allowed Kendrick to be the artist he was MEANT to be instead of conforming to what was “hot” at the time.


Same thing for Kid Cudi. He was on Good Music but he was able to be his own person and release Man On The Moon which FELT authentic to who he was as an artist. As such he was successful.

This is mostly right but Friday Night Lights was actually Cole’s debut album.

 

[Khadafi1982]

For me, it is Boot Camp Click first collective "For the people" album back in spring 1997.
After having a run of Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, Heltha Skeltha and OGC, I anticipated the collective album.
What came after was a trash album, really trash. I was not feeling the beats at all.
Looking at the production credits, I understood quickly why it was bad. No Beatminerz. Why wasn't the producers not on the album?
They were the reason why BCC had that grimey sound.

 

[Ziggiy]

This is mostly right but Friday Night Lights was actually Cole’s debut album.

Nah The Warm Up is his “debut” as far as gaining him his audience. Friday Night Light lights was meant to be his “Major Label Debut” but because he had no big single he was forced to put out FNL to maintain his buzz.

 

[3rdLetter]

I was 10 when For the People came out but I remember my uncle, who was 25 at the time, being PISSED at the album. I remember him playing it while he was playing video games and saying "this shyt is fukking garbage" repeatedly He never really cursed like that, even as a young guy. He eventually flung it out the window, case and all

 

[Big Mel]

Monie Love

 

[flatlinerz]

Speaking of BCC, this shyt was terrible too

 

[Eastside Get The Money]

Idk if this counts but that Born Again Biggie album was the trash

 

[Antdrewjosh]

Never mentioned, never played. Even Wu fans pretend like it never came out. People mention the Enter 36 album, and then the classic debut solos that soon followed Rae, Gza, Dirty
Skip right over Tical, because it was trash

Where do yall be getting these hot takes from?? Wu heads never mention it?? Yall just say anything. Tical was a banger

 

[get these nets]

Where do yall be getting these hot takes from?? Wu heads never mention it?? Yall just say anything. Tical was a banger

Hehehe

Do a search here or anywhere that asks Wu fans to list or rank their discographies. See where Tical is.

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

I was 10 when For the People came out but I remember my uncle, who was 25 at the time, being PISSED at the album. I remember him playing it while he was playing video games and saying "this shyt is fukking garbage" repeatedly He never really cursed like that, even as a young guy. He eventually flung it out the window, case and all

Lol I’ll never forget my friend threw that tape out the window of the car while we were driving.

I bought it and told him it was so garbage he could have it. He didn’t believe me that BCC could actually drop an album that was trash. Then he listened to it and the next time we went somewhere, he chucked it out the window on the highway.

 

[Antdrewjosh]

Hehehe

Do a search here or anywhere that asks Wu fans to list or rank their discographies. See where Tical is.

That's just because how dope those albums were. Doesn't mean meths album was bad..tical doesn't belong on this list. I wasn't disappointed

 

[spliz]

Nah The Warm Up is his “debut” as far as gaining him his audience. Friday Night Light lights was meant to be his “Major Label Debut” but because he had no big single he was forced to put out FNL to maintain his buzz.

The bolded is all that needs to be said. One was actually intended to be his debut album and one wasn’t. The one that was intended was FNL. Regardless of how much audience he gained with The Warm Up.

 

[x-factor7]

I didn't see a mention of Wiz Khalifa's debut

He was killing it with classic mixtapes, especially Kush & OJ. I even remember the thread on all of us were like how did he fukk this up

 

[jerzboy]

2000 BC was actually dope

If he woulda kept putting out joints like that every year or 2 he might have gotten a lil buzz back instead he came back next year with C True Hollywood Stories as some sort of mockery of the industry and destroyed whatever chance he had

That might literally be the worst album I ever heard

He called himself mocking the industry not realizing he would piss off his real fans by making us pay money for that bullshyt

that is theeee worst album I ever heard. C True Hollywood, was actually shocking at how bad an album could be. I say this with true sincerity, this is the only album I played that actually made me fall asleep. I would normally trade in and sell albums I didn’t want to keep. I legit just threw this out... nothing redeemable, and I didn’t want another listener to suffer