Big Daddy Kane was basically washed at like 25, how did that happen?

[mitter]

In general, the vast majority of the late 80s greats were unable to remain popular later in their careers.


KRS's sales declined steadily in the 90s until he found a way to go Gold in 1997. Then he completely fell off the map.

Slick Rick was able to go Gold in 1999 with lots of promotion from Def Jam and an album filled with guest appearances from the popular rappers of the day. But still, it was just Gold. And Rick disappeared after that.

Rakim was able to go Gold in 1997 with The 18th Letter. His 1999 follow-up went double aluminum, and he was never able to recover.

Public Enemy was going Double Platinum at their peak, but got very little buzz beyond the early 90s.

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

G. Rap

I’ve always been told his fall off was due more to laziness and not actually “wanting it” than the times moving on with him. Can’t recall which poster said Kane was never on LL’s level. Kane was HUGE (pause) in like 87/88 and I was a youngster in the Deep South but I remember on days our teacher would roll that big ass tv on the stand into the classroom, when the tape was popped in cause someone had a VCR to record Yo! or Rap City, nikkas would lose their minds dancing to Kane

 

[mitter]

I’ve always been told his fall off was due more to laziness and not actually “wanting it” than the times moving on with him. Can’t recall which poster said Kane was never on LL’s level. Kane was HUGE (pause) in like 87/88 and I was a youngster in the Deep South but I remember on days our teacher would roll that big ass tv on the stand into the classroom, when the tape was popped in cause someone had a VCR to record Yo! or Rap City, nikkas would lose their minds dancing to Kane

Kane was never on LL's level in terms of popularity. That is fact, not opinion.

LL was going double platinum when Kane was going Gold.

 

[DontEemTry]

"Taste of Chocolate" has one of my favorite Kane tracks ever



But yeah, this album marked the beginning of the end for him. Crazy coz he's always been more versatile than Ra to me

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

he wasn't washed. He just sold his spot for a 3 year popularity run. First album was flawless(if you own the cd or vinyl, save it. I haven't seen the cd for less than $40 online). Second album as a step down from the first, but still a classic. 3rd album he started a downward spiral in his hip hop popularity, but made im a crossover star. We'd see Kane (along with Moe Dee, Ice T, and Melle Melle), win a grammy with Quincy JOnes for "black on the block", appear in the Quincy's Listen Up movie, Playgirl spread, Madonna book, songs with Prince, Rudy Ray Moore, Barry White, and Patti Labelle and a bunch of a other shyt that a lot of rappers weren't doing at the time. Then he dropped Prince of Darkness which was NOT good at all during that time frame. But Kane did have his popularity.

After all of that died down and people were getting at Kane, he went back to his roots for Looks like a Job For, but it was too late. Gangsta Rap was controlling the industry and his connections to Quincy Jones and others couldn't save him. Looks like a Job For was better than both Prince of Darkness and Taste of Chocolate, but it was just too late. Then Daddy's Home dropped and it was a step down from that. 4 years later, Veteran's Day dropped and absolutely no one was checking for him. I got clowned for buying Veteran's Day cd. My mans couldn't believe I was buying a Kane cd in 1998, but If I'm a fan, I'm a fan.. So Kane destroyed his own career by crossing over and doing songs with R&b and Jazz legends in a time it wasn't accepted, but now everyone is doing it and it's necessary to even stay afloat in the game. So he wasn't washed as the rhymes were still there, but he made choices by crossing over, doing albums for women, and creating r & b songs that hurt his career. Basically the same thing that makes Drake fans like him is the same thing that destroyed Kane's career.

 

[TrapHouse Rock]

My peoples would jack all my tapes back then but "taste of chocolate" NEVER got stole lol
I got that shyt even now thats how cold Kane was after 1989

"Looks Like a Job For" is the album Kane SHOULD have dropped in 1990

it was dope but it was 93' and his whole style was dated by then

like others said things shifted dumb fast and in a direction that was more west coast and gangsta

if rap had shifted another way Kane would have been the biggest star in the game

cause his music was never ever wack it just wasn't what heads wanted people clown "prince of darkness"
but wasn't nothing 'wack' about this just out of touch of what was poppin' in hip-hop at the time

 

[patscorpio]

KRS-One dropped Return of the Boom Bap and failed to go gold.

im prolly in the minority but i prefer krs 90's albums...those albums went hard...i hated the crossover hit he did with puff that got him a gold plaque

 

[DANJ!]

Hip-Hop moved fast back then... he fell behind.

Kane came out the box in '87, killed it in '88, was not only respected but also gaining more airplay in '89, dropped a not-so-hot album in '90 but was still somewhat afloat, was written off in '91 with Prince of Darkness. He tried to rectify it with that '93 album but nobody cared by then. There were so many changes happening and by '93, he still was rapping like he did in '89- a four-year gap doesn't seem too drastic by today's measures but the sound was changing every year back then. He was sort of in his own world or somethin', cause he wasn't adapting at all with the times- which didn't mean he had to become a gangsta nikka out of the blue, but whatever he was doing had run its course.

He has one of the greatest short runs of all time. He was influential, highly-imitated, could rhyme with the best of 'em, still considered an all-time great for those reasons. But even he knows and rarely ever performs anything he did after '89 except for "Nuff Respect" from Juice. Them follow-ups just didn't cut it.

 

[Mike Wins]

I’ve always been told his fall off was due more to laziness and not actually “wanting it” than the times moving on with him. Can’t recall which poster said Kane was never on LL’s level. Kane was HUGE (pause) in like 87/88 and I was a youngster in the Deep South but I remember on days our teacher would roll that big ass tv on the stand into the classroom, when the tape was popped in cause someone had a VCR to record Yo! or Rap City, nikkas would lose their minds dancing to Kane

G Rap never really fell off. His best albums dropped in 1992 and 1995. Highest charting album and single dropped in 1995.

He just never had commercial appeal and never went after it. His ceiling would have been going gold, and he could have done that on a label like Loud from about 1995-1999 but that's about it. At least he got the big payday from Rawkus before they folded.

But he still sounded contemporary in the late 90s and early 00s because most the top New York rappers from that era was heavily influenced by him. To this day he still kills it whenever he pops up and still sound right at home with the younger rappers he worked with.

 

[patscorpio]

Kool G. Rap, EPMD, Rob Base, etc...

honestly i thought EPMD both group and solo transitioned nicely into the 90s..their biggest hit chart wise was in the 90s

G rap like somebody said was already spitting raw so he had no issues fitting into the 90s

rob base though dude sounded dated as fukk from the few mid 90s songs i heard from him

 

[ShaDynasty]

Even Kane knew he fell off. Other 80s rappers were not as popular in the 90s but they adapted, and many had bigger success in the 90s. Kane couldn't get anything going and wisely retired.

 

[Barney Rubble]

I always thought Kane came back dope at the end of the 90's, and wouldn't have minded an album around that time.

 

[Woodrow]

Dude ended up being Canibus without scaring the hoes.

christ.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

He got to fukk Madonna.

 

[Stick Up Kid]

Most nikkas from the 80s was washed at 25 lol.

shyt, Tupac made "Old School" memorializing them in 1995.