Drake Has Been The Biggest Name In Rap Since…

Jasonmask

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I’m not a drake hater I’ve followed his career for over 20 years. But I don’t think he just dominated with no impunity. You have future when he dropped DS2, Fetty Wap mania, Cheif keef drill, Migos culture, Travis Scott from Rodeo-Astroworld, the whole YSL, Kdot, Juice Wrld, 69, XXX you can argue these artists had a stronger buzz during those years than Drake. Drakes sound has only regressed since the last decade as far as him being original. The whole being open and not dissing back got corny and he switched it up fast to stay with the times. He’s a lot like Hov in this regard.
 
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murksiderock said:
I stopped keeping up with current events in hip hop in like 2018, give or take a year. So I'm not really up on this like that but I'd say he definitively became the biggest rapper when he succeeded the throne from Wayne...

Wayne was still the biggest name in hip hop when he dropped Carter IV in 2011. Drake also dropped Take Care that year but I think Carter IV was more anticipated, Wayne still had the edge...

Drake didn't drop in '12 and that saw Kendrick really rise to superstardom with Good Kid, Maad City. 2012 was more of a transition year that saw OGs like Wayne, Kanye, Hov start phasing out for that Drake, Future, Dot, Cole, Meek, Wale, Nicki class...

So I don't think anyone had 2012, Drake was the biggest name, but he hadn't firmly taken the reins yet...

2013 I vividly remember cats calling Nothing Was The Same a disappointment, both Meek and Cole had better drops in real time. It's funny how Nothing Was The Same has become better received in retrospect because cats were not really feeling it in real time. Now he was Drake, his momentum didn't take a hit as much as the public perception of his artistry, and he has a massive white and nonblack following, international, so he was still ascending...

But these years in the middle of the 10s you could easily argue Future or Kendrick were bigger...

He didn't drop for a year and a half or in the '14 calendar year, which was really a weak year for hip hop. He built massive anticipation and when he dropped If You're Reading This It's Too Late, he delivered on the anticipation and it set the tone for an amazing 2015 in hip hop, a grip of classics dropped in '15...

He dropped two, because What A Time To Be Alive also dropped in '15, and '15 was honestly the beginning of the more aggressive, matured flow Drake...

So if you gotta hold me to a year, I'd say 2015 is when he definitively took the throne. And that's the thing, you can't even say he had the best music that year. Krit, Dot, Future and others all dropped classics in 2015, but Drake, already the biggest brand, finally delivering on massive anticipation from an artistic viewpoint, that was the year...

So it's been 8 years, by my count...
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take care was a much bigger and well received album than the carter iv, I stopped reading right there, and was clearly bigger than wayne already at that time.
 
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Drake took the crown in rap officially when he dropped IYRTITL. After Nothing Was The Same they thought he couldn’t keep the steam while Future was going on his run.

Then he followed up wit Hotline Bling & One Dance and it was over wit…. Nobody came close to his height in rap since 2015-2016. People come & have runs but they can’t match his consistency with hits + he puts out the most music :ufdup:


What showed it more recently is when CLB sold 600k just pure sales. while Travis Scott new album with the bundles doing 400k. Like that’s a crazy gap.


Add insult to injury he on the biggest song on the album like I really ain’t seen shyt like it tbh so I can’t compare him to nobody else :yeshrug:
 
K.Y.R.I.E

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And the Eminem slander needs to stop like he was never on top

He definitely was from 2000-2002
 
TheMailMan

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I think he picked it up after the end of mmg era . Ross went cold on that diced pineapple album and they was done . Krit went to dej jam and fell in the abyss . Kendrick just ain't consistent. His only rival was probably future and they did music together so it's a wash. Haven't heard alot of jcole so can't comment on him. Hes had a good run I'll give him that. Still not better then LL just yet
 
murksiderock

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thedevilyouknow said:
Them other guys aren’t touring nor streaming like Drake.

That’s what it boils down to. J Cole is top tier but realistically none of them guys are bigger
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Drake has the numbers because he has the popularity from the start, I don't think that's the sole identifier of when he became the top rapper. For me it's when the artistry started matching the hype consistently...

No one's going to outsell Drake because they didn't have The Stimulus Drake got coming in, and they dont have the crossover/non-black appeal that he has...

That being said I do think he took the crown beginning in 2015. Again I'm not really up on 2020s hip hop like that so I don't know what the gap from him to everyone else is now. But he took the title in 2015...
Piff Perkins said:
The only year I felt like someone was as big or bigger than him was 2017 when Kendrick crushed the building. Outside of that he's been the dominant figure in mainstream rap since 2011. I wouldn't have faulted anyone for wondering if that first album, which many people thought was disappointing, was a fluke. You could tell some big producers were hoping it would be, without naming names. But him coming back with Take Care in 2011 was when it was clear ok, this guy isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I don't really see anyone on the horizon who can surpass him. Assuming we aren't counting Bad Bunny. The two guys I thought could do it are dead. Ju1ce World and XXX were on their way to arena shows and massive success. Honestly I think their deaths altered hip hop in a way people don't talk about or acknowledge.
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When Kendrick had that Drake feature on Good Kid Maad City, there was no consensus in real time that Drake was the more popping rapper. That was 2012, in fact that's where the "Kendrick is better" shyt started, not the song, the album...

And I consider Take Care a classic just to be clear, but there's some revisionist history going on in this thread...

Drake had the name and The Machine and all the hype but he hadn't separated from his peers. Since 2012 Kendrick has always been seen as artistically as dope or better than Drake by half The Culture it took Drake dropping more often to gain separation. I'd say Kendrick was always challenging Drake but when he disappeared after Damn, he effectively ceded the throne to Drake...

That's the problem with saying Drake has just dominated since Take Care. Take Care itself didnt distinguish him from his peers and thats with it being a fire album, and neither did his next drop (Nothing Was The Same). Credit to him that he put in the work, improved artistically and ramped up his consistency, but there were several names right along with him for a number of years, who eliminated themselves with either wack music, inconsistency, or just stopped working (Kendrick)...

Drake wasn't just dominating the competition, Future and Dot were always right there...

Juice Wrld and X were never going to challenge Drake...
Jasonmask said:
I’m not a drake hater I’ve followed his career for over 20 years. But I don’t think he just dominated with no impunity. You have future when he dropped DS2, Fetty Wap mania, Cheif keef drill, Migos culture, Travis Scott from Rodeo-Astroworld, the whole YSL, Kdot, Juice Wrld, 69, XXX you can argue these artists had a stronger buzz during those years than Drake. Drakes sound has only regressed since the last decade as far as him being original. The whole being open and not dissing back got corny and he switched it up fast to stay with the times. He’s a lot like Hov in this regard.
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The Hov stray lol...

To go back to OP real quick, Hov was the biggest rapper from post Big/Pac thru 50, and you could argue longer. 1998-2003 though, is a solid 5-year run, most dudes don't have 5 years at the top. 50 really only had 2003-05 and there was this gray area for a year or two until Wayne took it, and Wayne had it from at least 2007 thru 2011...

OP made it a point to compare to Hov, Drake's run at the top has been longer but has the art been as strong? Drake is playing in a time of increased popularity in hip hop in general, its not the same sport Jay-Z was in...

During Drake's height Jay has still showcased his legend with two classics, if dudes are dating Drake's reign to '11. It'll be interesting to see how Drake ages within The Culture once he's no longer #1. Hov hasn't been the biggest rapper in 20 years and yet somehow he's still the biggest rapper every time he drops. If Drake has that going in 2045 we'll have a stronger comparison base, but cats just saying Drake is greater than Hov because of the run at #1, nah...

Not sure how Drake's work is now, I didn't think his drops post-Views have been that great, so I'd agree that for at least a half-decade, his music has been stagnant at minimum. He's eating and thriving off his name and brand and the fact no new challengers have really ascended. Rather than him truly dominating with his music...

There were plenty of guys dropping bombs during Drake's run and again, Future and Dot, those two specifically, can match him blow for blow in everything besides popularity really, and you could argue they have made better music easily...

I'm a Drake fan but he's more Madonna in the 80s, making consistent popular music with The Machine behind him, rather than Michael Jackson completely dominating the competition in both popularity and the quality of the work...
Tommy Sheppard said:
take care was a much bigger and well received album than the carter iv, I stopped reading right there, and was clearly bigger than wayne already at that time.
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Nah 2011 was a transition year but Wayne was still the biggest rapper that year...
 
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