When Are Rappers Gonna Realize That Making Music With Substance Pays Off More?

[Victorious Secret]

Kendrick gets no play from me today. Kendrick won't get no play from me 10yrs from now either, really don't understand why he keeps getting used as the standard, his music has just as much replay value NOW as a Young Thug's will 5 years from now.

Yall stuck in the 90s nikkas acting like that music of "substance" from back then is getting play by these young kids today, well news flash, ITS NOT. Only nikkas listening to that shyt are nikkas that were listening to it then, and that cycle will repeat for the next era, and the era after that. So how isn't that music just as microwavable and for the moment? Don't answer that, its a rhetorical question.

And not to mention, whose to say what is substance and what isn't, that's WHOLLY subjective bruh.

Yall hip hop elitist are so fukking lame at times.

Nope. Tons of people listened to shyt like Nelly and Chingy and Lil' Jon in the early 00's. You know who listens to them now? No one. That's the equivalent of Yachty and Future now. In 10 years they'll be novelty acts that no one cares about until some dumbass DJ plays Broccoli at a wedding ironically.

 

[Tommy Sheppard]

Nope. Tons of people listened to shyt like Nelly and Chingy and Lil' Jon in the early 00's. You know who listens to them now? No one. That's the equivalent of Yachty and Future now. In 10 years they'll be novelty acts that no one cares about until some dumbass DJ plays Broccoli at a wedding ironically.

yachty yes future no, future isn't going anywhere no time soon.

 

[Victorious Secret]

yachty yes future no, future isn't going anywhere no time soon.

Future is this decades T-Pain, except you could actually understand T-Pain. In 10 years no one will give a fukk about Future. Hell, no one gives a fukk about him three weeks after his album drops and no one will again until he puts out his next repetitive, recycled garbage.

Edit: thanks for the neg @KEEPITTRILLA, I see you're sensitive about this shyt LOL

 

[KEEPITTRILLA]

shyt stupid

you gotta be yourself and make music that best fits you to make money. imagine if playboi carti was on some conscious rappin ass rapper shyt, he'd have less than 100 soundcloud plays

 

[NvrCMyNut]

if future had better lyrics GOAT

 

[Turbulent]

horrible example to refute the OP with.

your example proves his point. teh reason doggy style, muddy waters, chronic 2001 was/is still playable is due to these albums ability to be related to by the masses.

3 albums talking about people smoking weed a lot, drinking a lot. dudes getting at ladies, a bit of house partying, a bit of banging and thats about it. most of these albums are not talking about how much money they had or what super high end cars they were driving.

again people could relate to it.

I actually agree with you. That's why i put substance in quotation marks. Typically people take that to mean talking about sociopolitical issues or philosophical stuff. I might be wrong but i think OP meant it in that sense and if so, what I'm saying is that this isn't the main factor on whether or not an album will sell or resonate for years. Imo, what matters is music, vibe, relatability as you said, and i would add how many anthems the artist can make.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

if everyone was j cole and Kendrick....lil yachty would be the one breaking records right now...and youd be even more upset

Dumb ass shyt.

That's not the point OP was making. Act like rap didn't have its most diverse acts in the 90's

Tribe, Outkast, Wutang, Death Row, Nas all dropping within the same time frame.... All had substance too.

Being different from each other as acts didn't make them lack substance lol.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

if future had better lyrics GOAT

Better content not lyrics

His music is demonic filth but incredibly catchy

 

[Neuromancer]

Pointless thread op. You're gonna get the same answers these threads always get and no consensus.

 

[MusicConsulting]

Out of all the microwaveable, carbon-copied trash being shoved down our throat, Kendrick Lamar and J-Cole are at the top of the list when it comes to actually.......selling.

When it comes to people willing to go out and spend their hard earned money on music, they do it a higher pace for 2 of the rappers who make music with actual substance.

The thing that separates these 2 rappers and others like them is that they aren't afraid of being THEMSELVES. They are relatable. They aren't bigger than life. They aren't a caricature. They aren't an exaggeration. They are human.

Like Cole said on "Let Nas Down":

they just study the charts/
Me, I study the shows, the fans, I study their hearts



It trips me out when I hear a song by a new artist bragging about his whips, money and jewelry. We all know that its all . That type of content isn't relatable to most of us. It automatically places the rapper "above" us. I don't feel like Cole and Lamar is "above" me when I listen to them. One of my all-time favorite acts is Little Brother because of this. I've actually BOUGHT all of LB's/9th Wonder's projects because I wanted to support those dudes. Anybody who is a fan of LB is probably a fan because of how relatable and down to earth those cats are.

A bigger question I have is why aren't there more Lamars and Cole's in the mainstream? They are selling really well right? Whenever the topic of "rappers with substance" comes up, these are the only 2 that really come up. Wouldn't it be a smart move for labels to invest in artists with similar content and energy as these 2? The masses are literally begging for more substance by financially supporting the only rappers who provide it!!!!

Sadly, maybe I just answered my own question in the thread title.




Young, aspiring rappers see Cole and Lamar in the extreme minority as far as making it big in the rap game and copy what they see saturating the mainstream outlets, which is microwaveable, carbon-copied trash. They see waaay more Fetty Wap's and Lil Yachty's than Cole's and Lamar's.

You just helped prove the main theory that people do not listen to lyrics after a certain point. We never said to Shakespeare, James Baldwin, "this is too wordy" But somehow if you do decide to express yourself in a creative way, you are treated like you are speaking Japanese to the general public.
THere is always going to be a percentage that doesn't like something that requires effort even if it isn't algebra the artist is speaking, it might as well be to them.

Almost to the point that, Ice T would be considered Hard to follow. I think this has to do more so with the population being overstimulated with constant stream of media interactions through the last century. Most people growing up have a ADHD perspective in order to cope with the amount of stimulants being forced into our headspace. When all you do is listen & consume to something that was just meant to sell products & brand lifestyles, you lose your sense of critical thinking, enjoyment appreciation for art. That isn't to say that everyone should enjoy J Cole, taste is subjective to many different things. But we shouldn't deny everything that seems ambitious in hip hop. That results to place of stagnation & dilution of the artform.

A perfect example of this is, what if J Cole started doing songs that were 15 minutes? You would have people objecting to the length. But the question s why? Most on the Coli would object to it & say it's too long, without even hearing it they wouldn't experience it. Why? Because we have been forced at a early age to accept the myth that songs are meant to 2-4 minutes in length. What a coincidence that the shorter a song is the more songs you can play and the more advertising you can sell.

NONE of this is coincidence. It is the same principle why "TV shows" & "Films" are created with the same type of formula. We bring this into our life because for something to challenge us, very few can accept a different presentation. It is the same reason why so many react in anger when a film is not linear or has no story. A film isn't a book, it has no obligation for you to act as one, but most films are the modern "books" We only want simple stories with the same catalysts/motives/plot devices/ stacked together. Anything too different what happens? It is labeled pretentious, it is never seen as a expression of moving images captured by the director at the time & what he was feeling. SOmehow it is "Har dee har, this fella thinks he smarter than me, he aint! I'm on to you"


We love dosing ourselves with shyt that is becoming this:

 

[boyonamission]

Make great sounding music pays off. Barely matters what you're rapping about. The Cole's and Kendrixk's are successful because their musicality isn't lacking.

 

[SunZoo]

but mumble rat doesnt make nearly as much money as kendrick, jcole reality/relatable rap. This is the point the OP was making.

Yeah...but whether you like him or not, Kendrick can rap, well.

Like you can't just decide to jump in the booth and do what Kendrick does. You're going to have to sit time aside and really work on your skills without monetary reward up front...these kids, shyt people in general are not wired for discipline or delayed gratification.

 

[SunZoo]

Make great sounding music pays off. Barely matters what you're rapping about. The Cole's and Kendrixk's are successful because their musicality isn't lacking.

That's a bad thing. Rap itself the art of speech...but "Rap Music" is de-prioritizing the actual rap for the 'music' because the end game is to edge us out of the "genre"...the WORD is one of the most powerful things on earth, "they" know that.

 

[boyonamission]

That's a bad thing. Rap itself the art of speech...but "Rap Music" is de-prioritizing the actual rap for the 'music' because the end game is to edge us out of the "genre"...the WORD is one of the most powerful things on earth, "they" know that.

Oh well. There's too little time and way too much music out here. Word is part of the equation but it takes a backseat to production and delivery. I'm not listening to wack beats and wack flows because a nikka's on some conscious shyt.

 

[SunZoo]

Oh well. There's too little time and way too much music out here. Word is part of the equation but it takes a backseat to production and delivery. I'm not listening to wack beats and wack flows because a nikka's on some conscious shyt.

Rap music is NOT Hip Hop.