Why did KRS ONE solo career never really pop off?

[Taadow]

IMO,
KRS-One killed himself.


1. Not only was Kris a BEAST lyrically, but I think people forget he was dropping science.
It’s quite a burden to be the rapper who does both of those, and I think he reached the point
where he said everything he had to say, to where he had nothing else but to be lyrical -
around the time of the self-titled album.

You know what’s a more recent example of what I’m trying to say here?
It’s like when Busta was making brooding, pre-apocalyptic, “there’s only 5 years left!!” chit...
then when 2000 came and nothing happened...he was like “well... I guess I gotta be a speed rapper now”,
and that’s been his major draw since then in the public domain. KRS was hit that point.


2. He became the “Old School Rapper that doesn’t always burn” that he himself warned about.
He came for Nelly and lost.
(I forget who said this quote, but) “He lost the argument, but not because he was wrong”.
Shame too, because The Sneak Attack was dope.

3. ...then when he got something else to say (Spiritual Minded), nobody was gonna be down with that.
He was doing shows where he was lecturing with the music off than he was rapping. Nah.

EPILOGUE (lol):
I wish he would’ve done more guest spots and producing because he beats and collabos was fire.
“Mad Izm”, “Double Trouble”, etc. All things considered, I have him at #7 all-time.

 

[Spiritual Stratocaster]

Krs is one of the best emcees of all time. However, main reason why his solo career didn't go as good as BDP career was because gangsta rap and puff bad boy music took over the mid 90s. Did Krs do something about it? He even did the step into a world remix with puff, so apparently he was OK with it.

This is like when Nas made commercial sellout album IWW, then dudes wonder why rap is trash nowadays. When even some of the very elite emcees were ok with the music being dumbed down and commercialized.

This is a trash take

 

[brickflair]

LL was the first rapper to figure out what Michael Jackson and Madonna were doing. You have to constantly reinvent yourself, or else you become stale and get left behind. Each MJ and Madonna album introduced a new sound and LOOK that demanded attention. Consider the hat/glove of the Thriller era, vs the black leather jacket and zippers of the Bad era. Sometimes LL's moves didn't work...but remember even 14 Shots To The Dome, which was largely panned for the faux gangsta shyt, went gold.

With Slick Rick...I saw a somewhat recent GQ video he did, as well as the Drake video appearance. He has the same look. And now of course as a man in his 50s/60s, he looks utterly ridiculous. You can't stay the same in this game, or else you fall off and look stupid (no offense to Slick) A lot of black artists seemed to abandon the MJ model until somewhat recently. Beyonce, Rihanna, Drake (to a degree) and Kendrick have all adopted it in the last decade. Also...Weeknd. Consider the look and sound of his new album, vs the StarBoy era, vs the other stuff. And the way each era introduces a different hair style. That's pure Michael Jackson (and Madonna) shyt.

Yup great point reinvention is the way to cut through the public’s attention span Kanye at his prime n Jay Z to certain degrees like u said for Drake shyt Tyler is a huge example too shyt is super prevalent in the superstars

 

[Art Barr]

Didn't sell out.

He did sellout.
That is why sneak attack did no numbers and made no noise.
Including it took a few outings for krs to grasp the pocket and be able to write and perform i. The midst of the jiggy sellout themed sonic landscape change. Resulting in krs being offkey bar to bar.
Verse to verse.
resulting in being offkey song for song.
for a number of releases.
till he responded back.
With back to back with classic material. Which for the time before bambaata was a feat.
That resembled artistic credible marks.
where he was only judged against himself as the criteria.
Considering the numerous sonic landscape changes and content direction changes in his time between releases after sneak attack keading to rhe feature posse cut lo woth buckshyt and adventures.

If not for being a goofie endorse'n and seeing no fault.
In enablin an andorgynous pagan pedo.
I wish moving forward he was whom he said he was.
That i coukd say positive things moving forward


Krs is dead out here.
.he can never walk back.
what he enabled and turned a blind eye too.

That his music and political sway..
loses all impact and thus hiphop culture.
Is dually damaged and has no gateway argumentive sway in the business of rap.

Krs is a scourge for that.
He a ho for that.

And a ho for whut.

Some ol school pederasr who was ohased out in the new school way of thought.
Yet he let that pedo live.

Nah.
Miving forward.

Peep this here.


fukk krs one.



Art Barr


I am the leader

A REBEl
A lEADER

"aral.one1!"​

Art Barr

 

[GetRichOrDieTryin]

always thought he was overrated af

 

[Art Barr]

This is a trash take

your response is that of a sheltered c00n enablin culture thief tho.

No bullshyt.
No cap

Art Barr

 

[Art Barr]

always thought he was overrated af

Nuffin rocks like Bridge is over.

Nuffin.

Shame this goofie ruined it.

All our heroes they enabled are wack babylon pos.


We can name them and they got a mark.
In sellout culture thievery fa sho fa sho.






Art Barr



Score cards matter

 

[Damnshow]

This is a trash take

Trash take? How? Krs was a teacher. Teachers are supposed to lead by the good example. If he getting jiggy with puffy and defending a pedophile bambaata then clearly he's a bribed man. Don't be afraid of the facts. He sold out.

 

[Spiritual Stratocaster]

Trash take? How? Krs was a teacher. Teachers are supposed to lead by the good example. If he getting jiggy with puffy and defending a pedophile bambaata then clearly he's a bribed man. Don't be afraid of the facts. He sold out.

I was talm bout IWW being a sell out album. I never viewed it as such.

 

[mitter]

Promotion for the master was terrible, and the album was done to complete obligations.

Which is a shame because Ra killed that album lyrically/technically.

If Ra wasnt a commodity then Dre/Aftermath would have never reached out. Equal sales or not KRS wasnt on the same scale as Ra

As if KRS was getting lots of promotion

There is a reason The Master didn’t get lots of promotion. Yes, Dre reached out, but he would not let Rakim be Rakim, and there is a reason for that too. In the end, Ra’s Aftermath project was never released. So he was not such a commodity by the early 00s.

You can insist that Rakim was a bigger star than KRS all you want, but the numbers don’t lie.

 

[Sankofa Alwayz]

Whether he was corny or not, he still had an enduring career throughout the 90’s. Hell, overall, both him and Ice Cube are quite possibly the only 80’s rappers who have garnered a successful career at this level.

Hell most people in the younger generation only associate Ice Cube with funny ass family movies, Barbershop 3, and Friday, they don’t even know much about his rap career outside NWA or that he was even a rapper

I forgot to mention LL too

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Nuffin rocks like Bridge is over.

Nuffin.

Shame this goofie ruined it.

All our heroes they enabled are wack babylon pos.


We can name them and they got a mark.
In sellout culture thievery fa sho fa sho.






Art Barr



Score cards matter

Yeah. Growing up KRS ONE was the fukking man. He embodied real Hip-Hop to its core. I can’t stand his ass now & it’s a shame he fell of this bad.

 

[Art Barr]

Trash take? How? Krs was a teacher. Teachers are supposed to lead by the good example. If he getting jiggy with puffy and defending a pedophile bambaata then clearly he's a bribed man. Don't be afraid of the facts. He sold out.

Saddest day in my cultural life.

shyt is cray.


Art Barr

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

First solo is classic

 

[Rhyme 4 Rhyme]

I overlooked his comments on AB at the time. Actually bothers me a lot more as time has passed.