How do rappers who once filled arenas manage when their star quality depletes?

[dh86]

Do you niggs think depression or some type of sadness kicks in when that love just isn't where it once was? Especially with a fall off like Tip's. Serious question.

I think we saw that yesterday. Some people reach that time with acceptance and some will be dragged kicking & screaming into irrelevance like Kanye & Nicki

 

[Tribal Outkast]

I went to see Run-DMC at the Hampton Coliseum during the Tougher Than Leather tour in ‘89 when I like 8-9 years old.

shyt was crazy.

nikkas had explosions, crazy light show, crowd going ape, the whole 9.

Every time Run said “Who’s House?!” the whole building erupted “Run’s House!!!!”

One of the best shows I ever saw in my life.

Fast forward 8 years..

These nikkas get booked for a show at the Hampton University convocation center.

I’m 17 now and think I’m too cool for everything at this point.

I’m blunted, playing the back wall of the shyt, but still lowkey geeked to see Run and D.

They come on and it was like being at prom watching some local band nobody gave a fukk about.

I’m waaaay in the back and I can see the whole stage clear as day because most people left before they came on, and the people that hung around wasn’t paying any attention to them.

nikkas is smoking, trying to bag somethin, talkin shyt, while Run is up there sweating his ass off running around the stage.

That shyt depressed me and I felt embarrassed for them.

Not even 10 years ago they was on top of the world, now look at them.

Run tried that “Who’s House?!” shyt one time and nobody said a muthafukkin thing.

By the time they got to My Adidas, I looked down at my Timbs and broke out.

Couldn’t even finish the show.

That’s some real ass shyt bruh. It really puts this thread into perspective. There’s nothing wrong with having a backup plan when you’re not as hot as you were before. You can’t rap forever.

 

[re'up]

Someone like TI's main income I am sure is TV, and business ventures, but, yes, he, and many other slightly fallen stars from 10 years ago, have seen their income drop.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

Yeah it was mostly a college age crowd from what I remember, but I’m sure most folks there was Run DMC fans when they was poppin.

By ‘96 most folks wasn’t really checking for them like that anymore.

Music had changed a lot in those 8 years.

but I saw Run make surprise appearances around that time, and the crowds went nuts.

remember run dmc peaked really in '86. so its really a 10 year gap.
so we're talking about a bunch of people who were like 8-12 when run dmc peaked and they were prolly future college student still on the porch. and its not like they were performing in a hip-hop capital.
then theres the way rap used to change drastically, as you said.
no real surprise there.

 

[winb83]

Start a podcast and interview people.

 

[⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐]

T.I. for example. Dude was a bonafide rap star, had Chevy commercials, and was being groomed for movie stardum. He honestly gets Rodney Dangerfield treatment these days. Something I didn't see in his career forecast even a decade ago.

How do rappers who once had it all in their hands manage when the fans look at them now like they speak Spanish?

That's cause TI is basically an A&R in a costume

He likely didn't recouped because most of his stature was product cycle marketing, which is why none of it endured