Steve Stoute: "The older generation didn't care about lyrics. That's why Illmatic took 5 years to go Gold. G Rap never got rewarded for lyrics"
- Thread starter FreshAIG
- Start date
we didnt care about lyrics?!!?
Boonapalist
Superstar
This list is all fukked up. Too Short was going platinum every year. Warren G in 94 sold more than Nas in 96 and had bigger singles. You left out Coolio who was undeniably big in the mid 90’s. Cypress Hill should be tier 2. G Rap’s a legend but he was not going Gold in the 90’s.Yeah, the tiers for rap in the mid-90s
Tier 1: Snoop and Bone Thugs (white people and hispanics LOVED Bone Thugs and all that melodic shyt). Also Fugees in '96. Quadruple platinum+, even dorky white people know their shyt
Tier 1.5: Biggie, Pac. This was tough
Tier 2: Ice Cube, LL, Dogg Pound, Wu-Tang as a collective, '96 Nas. Double platinum level
Tier 3: Outkast, Busta, Warren G, AZ, Scarface, A Tribe Called Quest - Platinum artists, but still firmly below the glass ceiling. Their region does a lil bit of lifting, but not as much as tier 4
Tier 4: Redman, Mobb Deep, 94-95 Nas, '96 Jay, Goodie Mob, Too Short, DJ Quik, Spice 1, Kool G Rap, etc...basically all of the acts that were big in their region but not really nationally outside of a hit or 2. Gold
Tier 5/Lords of the Underground: Boot Cam Clik, UGK, DITC, Jeru, Gang Starr, etc.
Edit: Actually might have to
FunkDoc1112
Heavily Armed
Yeah I meant to move Too Short up but didn't get around to it. I was largely going off memory so I know I left some folks out
Spidey Man
Superstar
I probably didn't buy a piece of music till my 30s. I miss the old bootleg spots.
Now I've made sure to buy the classics to make up for my younger days.
zayk35
Superstar
That statement is something that no one ever believes on here. I've said the same thing many times. The Bay got wayyy more love than all east coast rappers in Texas at that time. Our radio stations may have played the "big hit" from Biggie or someone from NY but for the most part you were not going to hear those guys on the radio in Texas especially in the mid 90s. We flew the Westcoast flag heavily. In the summer of 95 you know what eastcoast guys got the most play on K104?
AZ- Sugarhiil
Biggie-one more chance remix
Method Man- your all I need.
None of those songs got more play than E-40 songs in Texas
Nas wasn't on the radio in Dallas til 96 with "if I ruled the world" and that was on the strength of Lauryn Hill being red hot at the time.
People forget a lot of times that Rap Music is music, lol, it's not "Lyrics"...that's battle rap. The average rap fan wouldn't even make it through watching a battle before deciding they're never sitting through this shh!t again, lmao, aint no music. Us "care about lyrics" type nigs are a minority in this...should be obvious. Back in the day lyrics were more fashionable and held in higher regard tho, imo.
Doggystyle sold 800k 1st week
Snoop Doggy Dogg Leads the Pack : Rapper's Album Sets Sales Record for a Debut as Potentially Lucrative Holiday Season Begins
Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg's debut album, "Doggystyle," sold a spectacular 803,000 copies in its first week, the highest ever for a debut album--and the second most for any album--since SoundScan began its computerized monitoring of sales in 1991.
www.latimes.com
People who still have vested business interests in rap love saying dumb shyt like that to legitimize the current era and zeitgeist
shyt was obviously more lyrical back then, for every region
shyt was obviously more lyrical back then, for every region
logged back in to dap+rep
Sorry but this guy is a fukking idiot lol
Can-I-Bus went Gold in 99
Explain that one
Can-I-Bus went Gold in 99
Explain that one
010101
C L O N E*0690//////
hip hop/rap was not pop yet & you had to go to the store to purchase *
You feel me!
Like It Was Written got to platinum because 1M people really was into lyrics?
They didn't buy Organized with Stray Bullet, and when Nas bit it for I gave you Power - they still wasn't buying his album to hear that...
He, like some, realized that lyrics really don't sell.
And Nas was never some type of Lyrical Miracle, billion metaphors and similes, constant punchlines, battle rapper. He could do that Live at the BBQ for instance - but that's not why folks love Nas)
Singles sell records.
Videos sell records
Radio spins sell records
Club spins sell records.
Cats want something to ride to.
Pull up at the car wash and bump something
Something to smoke to.
Something to hear at the clubs
Something to mob with your boys and get hype (Ante Up by MOP = Down 4 My Ninjas by C-Murder/Magic/Snoop)
Females want something to dance to, get buck to, throw they ass in a circle to..
And I'm the first one to tell folks my favorite mc's include E-Rule and Godfather Don.
If you was "underground back then", you'd bump UNLV AND Wu Tang. But 12:30 Am, you at the club, we not hearing GZA do an extended metaphor with Labels.