Juicy was a huge song on the radio in the Bay Area. That was 94.
If Internet message and Social Media was around in 94,what would be the reception to illmatic Ect.
- Thread starter Ineedmoney504
- Start date
Illmatic did not get daytime radio play in CA. And NY Undercover played a lot of songs. Illmatic wasn't shoved down anyone's throat. It had its audience amongst hip hop devotees but it didn't cross over, likely because it lacked cross over material.Album was borderline underground in '94 but with a heavy mainstream, industry/media push...he had nationwide video/radio play, songs played on New York Undercover and everything...he was basically shoved down our throats by the industry and folks still didn't go out and buy his album.
59k 1st week
Took two years to go gold
Nobody was even checkin for Nas despite the attempts by the industry/media to shove him down our throats... until he got that Lauryn Hill stimulus package in '96.
Nas's standing in '94 is nowhere near comparable to dudes that are doing 300k 1st week sales in a age where you can get their music in a matter of seconds for free with the click of mouse
It was around, obviously not even closely as much. Just search on Google for example, tons of old posts & threads. People were literally saying the same thing people say now about rappers back then. This is why i always say conditioning is why people feel certain ways. Just like the teens & kids who love rap now will in 10-15 years talk about how rap was better back then & its garbage currently, i promise you. It already happening towards rap in the early 00's, and we all know how alot of people felt about it back then.
So its just the same thing. People were calling 2pac all kind of shyt. Just cuz the media painted him differently after he died & he became such a symbol outta nowhere doesnt mean people painted him like that back in the day. Same with other rappers. People were calling 2pac fake, attention whore, publicity whore etc. Now? Most gangster-ish gangster of all gangster - for no reason at all - and the most political politician & social concious rapper of all time - out of nowhere, but will dismiss the current & older rappers who stayed consistent & did more than him..but just aint dead.
But Illmatic was loved. Why? Its psychology. Because albums like Illmatic wasnt mainstream big, which makes people love it more - understand? Its the same today. But that is also why It Was Written - even tho its such a great album - got dissed alot more, cuz it was more songs on tv/radio & his popularity grew.
So its just the same thing. People were calling 2pac all kind of shyt. Just cuz the media painted him differently after he died & he became such a symbol outta nowhere doesnt mean people painted him like that back in the day. Same with other rappers. People were calling 2pac fake, attention whore, publicity whore etc. Now? Most gangster-ish gangster of all gangster - for no reason at all - and the most political politician & social concious rapper of all time - out of nowhere, but will dismiss the current & older rappers who stayed consistent & did more than him..but just aint dead.
But Illmatic was loved. Why? Its psychology. Because albums like Illmatic wasnt mainstream big, which makes people love it more - understand? Its the same today. But that is also why It Was Written - even tho its such a great album - got dissed alot more, cuz it was more songs on tv/radio & his popularity grew.
You have a very good point. People gravitate to what they hear in their lifetime. And they get nostalgic about their own generation, despite what the older folk think about. There are people who are nostalgic about College Dropout, and I still think that album is straight garbage (like most of Kanye's career). Nostalgic about Dipset... and they were horrifyingly trash to me. Straight up kiddie rap to me.
But let's keep it 100 - people like that aren't really music fans. My brother, who was a huge Kanye fan and thought College Dropout was the greatest thing ever.... doesn't even listen to hip hop anymore. He barely listens to music period. If you're really a music fan, the time of when something gets released is irrelevant. Timeless music is exactly that... timeless.
Illmatic is my favorite rap album ever. It's not in my generation (it's a tad early). I love it because when I finally got around to hearing it (sometime in 2003-2004), it blew me the fukk away. And it wasn't forced down my throat. My boy at the time said, "yo, you should check out Illmatic. It's really dope. very street." That's it.
In fact, it's funny we're talking about this because I had no idea there was even an album called Illmatic until 2003. And it's crazy because I was a Nas fan. I thought "Illmatic" was just some catchphrase or homie he kept shouting out. That's how underground Illmatic was. I heard It Was Written in 98; it didn't do much for me. I just assumed that was Nas's first album. When my boy introduced the album to me, he said, 'Yo there's this new rapper named Nas. and he beefed with Pac." And that's what made me check it out.
Ironically, I heard NY State of Mind in 98 too but it didn't click to me that it was Illmatic. I just thought it was a random 12". I didn't become a Nas fan till 1999, when "Nas Is Like" came out. I thought that track was the greatest shyt ever. From there forward I listened to any new Nas album that dropped (I am, Nastradamus, Stillmatic, God's Son).
Slightly off-tangent... the young generation is fukking blessed. Back then, there was no info, especially if you lived somewhere that wasn't a major American city. I was living abroad. You really had to dig to find hip hop. If someone didn't put you on to the hot shyt, you wouldn't know what the good shyt was or people's discographies. Now it's easily available on wikipedia and you can jump on Youtube and hear it. There's no excuse for not knowing your hip hop.
Pac was an attention whore and a fake gangsta though. They're absolutely correct. Just because your average Pac dikkrider was too young to realize this, doesn't make the older folk's analysis of him incorrect.
Well it shouldnt matter but i believe it does. I believe even subconsciously. So i'd say that it's a frequent thing despite me feeling your point about it. Gotta remember that there are more casual listeners than hardcore fans of anything, whether it's music, tv, movies etc. They always outweigh the hardcore fans. That's why so much is catered to them cuz they make corporations $$$. Then it's naturally apart of finding identity too. Which is why anything mainstream is mostly advertized to women & kids/teens. They're very stylish & follower/bandwagon based, partly to find identity/what's in/what's poppin' so they make a hefty return on investments cuz they're very superficial in their judgement (generally.) etc.
If anything is "everywhere", then they on it. Whether its a song on radio, whether its talk about a movie, whether its a store, whether its a new website they been hearing alot about etc.
LOL @ ur story about "Illmatic", thinking it was a phrase at first. Respect the honesty too.
Fully agree. I've lived abroad too so i know exactly what you're saying. Especially before internet was as common. shyt was strictly tv/radio & maybe if you saw it at a store. And then hip-hop wasnt as mainstream fully - yet..so it was a big difference. If you heard a joint it was prolly a song that became a big hit in the states first, so off gp they played it here & there too. But still only here & there.
Respect ur honesty about 2pac too. I enjoy his music & stuff too but it's been too much since he passed & that's what annoys me. The hypocrisy & fakeness that alot of people show.
intilectual recipricol
Killin fake hip hop
no one gave a shyt about illmatic. Like buddy said, in an era where EVERYTHING sold nikka went single plastic. RTD was much bigger... nikkaz woulda called illmatic garbage if thecoli.com existed then. Now the brainwashing has taken effect...
KravenMorehead™
Barrel Brothers.®
EXACTLY.
I remember listening to Midnight Marauders one day then the Phife line hit me: "Some said quest was wack, but now is that the case?" I was
Everything else you said was right on point.
Bullshyt tho'...
"EVERYTHING" was not selling. That happened some years later, like from '97 on. In '94, going gold was still considered a goal. There were artists that had popular singles and still didn't go gold. There were more hip-hop albums in '94 that didnt go platinum than ones that did... do the history. If an artist was hitting platinum back then, it was Death Row, Pac, Cube, Wu-Tang (eventually), Bone Thugs, and that's about it.
That said, Illmatic definitely wasn't a 'hit' album. It didn't have a radio hit, but it was a street level favorite. And I'm sure that wasn't the case EVERYWHERE, but it definitely stretched outside of just NY.
intilectual recipricol
Killin fake hip hop
Already did this with that fakket @mobbinfms literally everyone was going plat. This shyt went 2x particle board.
Nah.
I know better than that. I was checking Billboard and all that shyt back then. You're reaching. Wasn't no 'everyone' going plat.
Now if you wanna talk about '98 or somethin like that, sure. Not '94.
drugxglory
Street Struck
He's a troll breh. Just ignore him.
Barry Sanders
Barry>>>
outkast,da brat,salt n pepa. i can name a few more who went plat. 94-95. illmatic flopped point blank. nas stans dont want to admit it.
How many of these 125 albums went platinum?
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/diction/the_top_125_hip_hop_albums_of_1994/