Does being "relevant" mean more than skill and artistry?

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

Serious question

Little Brother these days doesnt fall under this definition of relevant. Neither is Blu. Or Mickey Facts. Or Redman. Or Black Thought. Or JID. Or Lupe. Or Black Star. Or any other rapper that isnt in the limelight that raps well

Even Wayne to some degree isn't as "relevant" as he used to be. Yet he still shines lyrically




Does relevancy even matter?

 

[A Pimp Named Slickback]

 

[MasterThought]

Relevancy matters to sheep/followers.

 

[I'm Blackman]

to me? no. I just want great music and great shows.

to the 2023 social media, coli world, podcast world? yes

to the artists themselves? yes depending on where they are in their career. Black thought gone eat years from now, the Lox too, Da Baby needs to be hot.

 

[BK The Great]

My favorites aren’t really relevant, so I don’t care for that or sales.

 

[JUSTIN HERBERT]

Did u put me on block u focking bafoon

 

[RichYung]

Does relevancy matter? Yes. Relevancy can have you matter in the conversation when (since we’re on a music forum) you’re not even dropping… there’s several examples of this… shyt a lot of the women artists are personalities first artists 2nd…

 

[MajesticLion]

Nope.



Ask Chamillionaire.

 

[DaKidFromNoWhere]

Relevancy matters to sheep/followers.

/Thread

 

[Tribal Outkast]

What happens when you fall the fukk off though?

 

[CrimsonTider]

Nope.



Ask Chamillionaire.

Ask him what?

 

[MajesticLion]

Ask him what?

 

[JustCKing]

Relevance means your skill and artistry is making an impact on some level.

 

[DaveyDave]

in these days where anyone can listen to almost any song at any time on Spotify etc "relevance" in the top 100/Billboard means little to nothing IMO. the new Billboard is the Spotify playlists and I don't know how many people who are serious about any genre of music would listen to those Rap Caviar type lists, at the very least I think people would listen to more personalised lists or those radio playlists where Spotify makes it's own playlist based on "similar songs/artists"

 

[Fanservice]

Relevant - appropriate to the current time, period, or circumstances; of contemporary interest.

Seems self-explanatory.

However, I do find it interesting that we only have this conversation when it comes to rap and black artists in general. Nobody asks if Justin Timberlake is relevant, for example