There are no Gen Z rap super stars

[Formerly Black Trash]

The conditions today don’t allow superstars. Celebs are way too accessible nowadays.

They start off that way then they close up later on

See Drake and Kendrick, who did ustreams

Now they don't even do interviews

Cardi B hasn't done it yet

 

[Turk]

I read through this thread and didn't see anyone mention NBA Youngboy. Youngboy is 25 and is a huge artist Rod Wave is too

 

[CrimsonTider]

I‘ll have to disagree with you here. There are two superstars in rap and that’s Drake and Kendrick. Before them it was Wayne and Kanye. 50 and Jay-z. OutKast and Tupac. Not to say they won’t get to that level for sure, i personally don’t think they will, but they for sure aren’t there right now. 50-100m views on YT isn’t really superstar numbers when the guys above were doing like 1billi.

Anyway IDC that much, just my 2 cents.

Drake and Kendrick are old school and benefit heavily from building a strong fanbase pre streaming. Same with Future, Beyoncé, Tyler the creator etc

 

[Yzak]

No musical talent.

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

Some loose definitions of Superstar in here

 

[010101]

DEATH OF PROFESSIONALISM*

 

[CoCKy GeNiuS]

It's because they've watched the game and received knowledge from others in the game. why sell out when you can own your music, and merch without the hassles of a being tied down by a major label.

 

[Bigblackted4]

Youngboy

 

[Bigblackted4]

The ones that aren't dead or in jail are strictly products of the streaming era, just the nature of the game where they just shyt another rapper out.

I mean if you asked at this time 5 years ago who would be superstars by now, a lot of people would've said Lil Baby, Da Baby, Roddy Ricch, Kodak, Uzi, Megan, etc, fast forward to now, ehh...

I doubt we ever see a hip hop superstar again after the late 30s/early 40s crew call it a career

None of them are Gen Z except Roddy Ricch and Kodak

 

[Playaz Eyez]

So in their opinion


Ok then.. they are superstars to somebody, they just not superstars by the numbers and music quality then.

But, these dudes always got time to shock people and maybe become one somehow.


I don’t think they got the talent because I don’t think they got the love of the art or the love of music in general. They just want fast money and “hits”.

Which is fine, its just gonna be mid shyt. BigX’s album was actually solid af to me though.

That’s the thing about current music consumption, you can literally live in a massive bubble or without any regard for anything else.

 

[Bar Razor]

LL wrote this at 15. This era they don’t look at rap as a true artform. Just some shyt to get social media attention from. Shame.

 

[O.Red]

Y’all gotta stop bringing up that xxx guy in these conversations. I’ve literally never heard any of his songs anywhere when he was alive. And he was only trending when he got beat up for talking shyt or when he abused his girlfriend.

Dude was a total crashout and nothing about him or his music had mainstream appeal. He would have been Lil Durk status at best, not a superstar.

X was one of the most streamed artists in Spotify history before he died. I think he's still the most streamed in SoundCloud history

X didn't come up through traditional hip hop means(street buzz). That's why there's always someone going "I never heard his songs anywhere" despite him being enormous

 

[O.Red]

To address the topic:

The music industry is struggling and changing fast. Streaming has pretty much killed the way things used to be. I think these labels wish they could go back to selling physical copies like CDs and vinyl, because they made more money and people could hold something in their hands.

They’re probably spending a lot of money trying to figure out how to bring back physical sales in some way. But until they can sell a physical album for around $20 and people are willing to pay that, it’s unlikely things will go back to how they used to be. The industry has changed a lot, and it’ll take time and new ideas to get close to what it used to be.

What's funny is you can sell physical, but it's has to be specialized and personal, for lack of a better word

Taylor Swift just had these hoes buying multiple colored vinyls of her album. On the hip hop side Alchemist has been cleaning up with vinyls for damn near a decade at this point

Vinyl itself has been a billion dollar industry for the past few years

 

[RammerJammer]

None of them are Gen Z except Roddy Ricch and Kodak

Yeah but their fanbase is majority Gen Z

 

[Roid Jones]

Yeat got next