Only Idiots Think Kendrick Lamar Is "Pop"

[mobbinfms]

I've been listening to Kendrick since Overly Dedicated this is the definition of K-Dot being dumbed down lyrically and trying to appeal to the masses.

That's a fair point. Of course, Kendrick set an incredibly high bar for himself. I don't think that, in and of itself, makes Humble a pop record though. Unless you want to claim everything Jay did after RD as pop.

 

[mobbinfms]

And features from U2 and Rihanna

You think the U2 feature is a pop record?

 

[mobbinfms]

So disrespectful comparing Taylor Swift to Mariah

Even Timberlake got dope albums. I would never listen to a Taylor Swift album

MOP did a full on boy band record with an actual boy band. Are they pop?

 

[mobbinfms]

Also to say he doesn't make Pop music is kind of erroneous as well. When you look at the biggest songs of 2017: "Black Beatles" and "Bad & Boujee" (both chart toppers) and compare it to "Humble" and "DNA", there are commonalities. Kendrick's verses are just more complex.

What are the commonalities?

 

[mobbinfms]

You cant create a pop song. It has to become one. There are plenty of songs that sound like Rihanna, Justin Timberlake...etc. but only have 100 plays on soundcloud. They are not pop songs.

They absolutely are pop. You can make pop music and fail and not sell.

 

[TheRtist]

That's a fair point. Of course, Kendrick set an incredibly high bar for himself. I don't think that, in and of itself, makes Humble a pop record though. Unless you want to claim everything Jay did after RD as pop.

No Interscope set a high bar for Kendrick which he hasnt been able to reach.

 

[mobbinfms]

It was the Bubblegum era of Max Martin that gave Boy Bands a "bubblegum sound" that people confuse with pop nowadays. Before that, the song just had to be popular.

Boy bands predated Max Martin. New Kids on the Block for example.
The New Edition format watered down for white teens.

 

[TheRtist]

Boy bands predated Max Martin. New Kids on the Block for example.
The New Edition format watered down for white teens.

it was R&B back then.

Those boy bands were at least trying to do covers and had songs written by legends (Jimmy Jam, Smokey Robinson...etc.), and to top it off....could actually sing...

The Max Martin formula threw all that out the window.

 

[mobbinfms]

Pop Music is a format/formula. It's not necessarily a musical genre.

Agreed. I call it watered down, but format/formula works too.

It's why a song like "Black Beatles" and "Bad Boujee" are as huge as they are.

This I don't follow.

Technically, one couldn't really label "One Dance" a Pop song either going by your logic, because that song belongs to a different genre altogether.

Explain.

 

[mobbinfms]

it was R&B back then.

Those boy bands were at least trying to do covers and had songs written by legends (Jimmy Jam, Smokey Robinson...etc.), and to top it off....could actually sing...

The Max Martin formula threw all that out the window.

NKOTB was not R&B.

 

[mobbinfms]

No Interscope set a high bar for Kendrick which he hasnt been able to reach.

Explain.

 

[mobbinfms]

I mean, just by reading through some of the posts in this thread, I'm guessing these songs aren't Pop songs:



^^^ Song features Timbaland and Nelly Furtado rapping with a chorus that's sung. "bu, bu, but, you couldn't throw a real rapper on that beat". When Khaled made "We Takin' Over", he asked for a beat from Danja that sounded like the "Promiscuous" beat he made with Tim.

These would all be pop songs.

 

[WickedGames]

By genre neither Drake or Kendrick are making "pop" music (as in the genre). They both make different facets of black music. Hip hop and in drakes case also delving into rnb, soul etc

That straight electronic corny shyt Pitbull and that make is pure pop by genre.

Drake and Kendrick make accessible black music that can occupy pop lanes and be played on pop / popular music channels.

Apart from Bad Blood which isn't black music at all but is more of an exception. Kendrick making pure pop (the music style)

It's quite a difficult convo because it's not really clear what "pop" actually is. There's the popular angle and the music type.

 

[mobbinfms]

Kendrick actually tried on his last album. His lead single "i" was a deliberate bite of Pharell's Happy.

I agree that that song was a pretty strong departure from his previous album and did seem catered to the mainstream.
I get the comparison to Happy too. I was thrown off by the single.
They dirtied it up a bit for the album and made ti work though

 

[mobbinfms]

He's increasingly becoming the safe haven for culture vultures & backpackers who wanna seem like they are "real hip-hop heads"



Fact is, Kendrick says a lot......of nothing



He just doesn't make club cuts or songs for the hood bars, so they think he's deep. But he's not. His lyrics aren't all that at all, which is why there isn't even 1 classic verse on his latest album

What about the three verses on Fear? DNA?
Duckworth?
Lust?
XXX?