Will There Ever Be Another Rap Megastar??? (GREAT READ)

[Pool_Shark]

Out of the new people I think ASAP Rocky has the potential to blow if he gets a string of hits like that. He's the only one I see that sticks out and has that type of character to get there. Kendrick is gonna be one of the best rappers trust, but I don't think he has that type of outlandish personality to be crazy like a Wayne, Em, or Kanye. He's my favorite rapper right now but I don't see that larger than life aspect, maybe with the fame he'll start to find is his shyt an all that but right now I don't see it. Same for J. Cole. That doesn't take away from the talent though or make their music worse, which as a listener is all that should matter but in regards to the thread yeah.

 

[Long Live The Kane]

Sure there will...depending on how we're defining "megastar" anyway...i see people referring to these abstract intangibles like "naw, cause back in the day artists were larger than life and they just gave you that special feeling"...which is a bunch of sentimental bullshyt that doesn't really mean anything other than basically "no, i don't think there will be any rappers that made me feel warm and fuzzy like i did in my youth now that I'm older cynical adult"...the question in that case is really "will i feel the same about the superstars of the future as I did about the superstars of my youth"...if megastar means anything that can be defined by actual objective factual metrics, as something approaching "an immensely definitive and culturally impactful...and wildly popular and successful rap act" then yeah...i think that's kinda inevitable...as some imperfect rubric, I'll loosely qualify it as the next rap artist to get so big that they can release multiple top 10 billboard singles, go double platinum, spawn a "movement' and headline a large arena venue national tour...anybody capable of that in 2013 has the impact suffice for me to consider them a "megastar"

 

[NvrCMyNut]

I racked up so many multi quotes i can't reply to all of em but the bottom line is the music industry is still churning out superstars & sales don't mean sh!t. Rhianna is a superstar period, even if she can't go plat. Nicki Minaj blew up only a few years ago & yes she is a superstar. Drake needs a ''yeah'' or ''lollipop'' to get there.

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

I racked up so many multi quotes i can't reply to all of em but the bottom line is the music industry is still churning out superstars & sales don't mean sh!t. Rhianna is a superstar period, even if she can't go plat. Nicki Minaj blew up only a few years ago & yes she is a superstar. Drake needs a ''yeah'' or ''lollipop'' to get there.

When I think about it your right Rihanna is a superstar but she's been in the game for a minute when you think about it.

That larger than life dynamic is still possible in today's era, I just feel like the ego has to match the quality.

Nowadays only the quantity matches the ego.

Somewhere along the line the LIL Wayne gimmick became the blueprint.

Drake is smart for quitting the mixtape game and to be honest it's clear he has a great gimmick along with a talented producer/engineer but his character along with his content is flawed.

He could still get there but he would def need a "graduation/blueprint/stillmatic" album under his belt.

I don't think there is anyone out right now with that persona. Timbaland even said it in the power 105 interview the industry is getting stale no one is being creative or taking chances and we now have a lack in superstars.

You could also can point the finger at these labels as well because artist development is nonexistent these days. They let YouTube and twitter numbers do the work for them.

Back in the day artist use to be trained groomed and developed well for years....I repeat YEARS!

Now a nikka can get an album deal with one single and then thrown to the wolves with a major album release the next.

 

[Mike Statik]

2pac...when he comes back from cuba

 

[Bolzmark]

I think everybody out now is already about as big as their going to get. I think Drake has reached his peak...he will still continue to sell records, but I think his style is just little too soft to reach that next level. There can be another mega-star but he/she is goingto have to bring something new t the tanle.

 

[Art Barr]

New rappers lack legitimate cultural connections and the actual ability to rap well.
Which is why they are not superstars.

That is also,...why there will never be another rap superstar as well.
As the destruction of their draw is not profitable enough.
As they have nuffin to largely tear down culturally to reduce their draw.
Plus do not rap well enough skillwise.
to hold the listeners attention long enough to make them a star.

All the last superstars that were made from the sales spike era.
All fronted or were and still actually culturally viable.
Even Nelly originally had an underground workman bee like background.
Nelly rocked at msu in my era.
With country grammar way before he was a household name on universal.
Yet, once nelly became a superstar.
He, consistently keep doing vanilla ice like movements and culture thievery to cause him to lose his star power.
On top of taking on the rnb collab model.
Plus jettisonning away his original sound in jay Epperson.
That made him who he was sonically originally.
after, the rnb feature model was pioneered into platinum status by LL.
That model has never created a superstar.
Or aided a superstar to keep his superstar draw over time.
Which is also,...why drake will not be a superstar either.
As he is an artist who is welled completely in a model.
Which at the height of the sales spike era.
Really only drew two million sales at best during its highest sales envelope, in general.
Just like when fiddy reshifted his gears and changed around the single release schedule from the dre formula to candy shop with Olivia.
When you grasp onto the rnb hook or feature as your main selling model in rap.
You are already limiting your sales potential.
As your starpower is never firmly about you.
It is built on the draw attached to the rnb driven hook or feature.
Whether they are a known draw or not.

Nowadays,...all rap artist are disconnected from the culture.
Even the underground ones,...
Not to mention, they do not actually rap well.
Plus they lean on the rnb model as their pop drawing model and selling point.
Which already takes the spotlight and ability to draw from the rap artist.
As it confuses the fan base as to what you really are.
They do not know if you are supposed to be edgy or safe.
So, they have no interest in your starpower.
As you are coming to the dance looking like a safe rnb artist who raps.
When rap innately is marketed as completely juxtaposed in feral scope from rnb.
Yet, when you put the two together.
It confused your potential fanbase from distinctly knowing or caring about the actual rap artist.

This has also been pretty much proven since the old school way of thought with the force mc's turned force md's.
As making and branding yourself partly a real singing act.
Through actually singing or feature.
Has always limited your appeal and stardom as an actual rapper.


Art Barr




Art Barr

 

[Ineedmoney504]

drake, and it damn near unpossible cause we everything bout new artist as soon as we become a fan, so they dont even get a chance to give us they story cause we knw it bout googling, and another thing is us hip hop heads hear everything before the artist blow up, so by the time they blow we already have 3 mixtapes that full of original content, the mixtape they blow up off is basically they debut for us, so when they release they official debut we are kinda tired of them

 

[DeVanteSwing]

its drake and slap yoself if u said future

asap is cool but u gotta be popular among all crowds, asap rocky is just younger folks and drake got everybody

 

[Danie84]

When I think of a rap megastar I think of And, even in death he's still reigns.

Waynes popularity on this generation is complex to me. But, say he goes platinum the first week with his next martian release, then that would make him even bigger than he already is. Which is is consider his track record .

 

[Cynic]

Drake and Rick Ross have the most potential to the be next megastar.

Ross is only hit away

He needs a smash hit plus a Hard Knock Life or Life After Death type album to propel him there.

Ross will never have a crossover hit or appeal :whatever:

Which is a good thing to be honest, he can play this mafioso lane for another 10 years and never break platinum. Never digressing and never moving forward....Just consistent

There's a lot of dudes out with really nice buzz, but can we really say any of these new cats are megastars?




I'm talking guys in this category




Jay
Kanye
Em
Snoop
Wayne
03 50 Cent
Outkast
Nelly*

Sick of you n!ggas making stupid predictions, who the fukk made you a pyshic ?

So you mean to tell me that Drake/YOLO/OVO isn't picking up steam

I hate her guts but Nicki Minaj isn't a megastar ?

J.Cole, Big Sean, Wiz, Kendrick, Meek and all these new n!ggas all have potential to be that next dude. Go back to the early 2000s, nobody I mean nobody though Lil Wayne would become a heavyweight

Yet here we are today Tunechi is revered by the whole industry

So to discount any of the new school is just too early ...give it 5 years or

 

[Ineedmoney504]

Ross will never have a crossover hit or appeal :whatever:

Which is a good thing to be honest, he can play this mafioso lane for another 10 years and never break platinum. Never digressing and never moving forward....Just consistent


Sick of you n!ggas making stupid predictions, who the fukk made you a pyshic ?

So you mean to tell me that Drake/YOLO/OVO isn't picking up steam

I hate her guts but Nicki Minaj isn't a megastar ?

J.Cole, Big Sean, Wiz, Kendrick, Meek and all these new n!ggas all have potential to be that next dude. Go back to the early 2000s, nobody I mean nobody though Lil Wayne would become a heavyweight

So to discount any of the new school is just too early ...give it 5 years or

maybe u didnt think wayne could be a star cause u probably wasnt listening, but in the south, wayne mixtapes in rotation all day

 

[Ziggiy]

I feel Kendrick Lamar praise is more hype based than actual superstar potential. Ive been a fan of this kid for years. And even I can tell you that Section 80 is better than GKMC. However that Interscope machine got the general public gassed.

Also its like people want to baby him and not accept reality. Kendrick Lamar dont got that personality, and he is weak on them features. School Boy Q got a better chance of being a overall star.


The Peter Rosenbergs of the world are fukking the rap game up. When a artist tries to branch and step outside the walls of hip hop, we attack them, and beat them back into the box. Look at Nicki Minaj.


Im pretty sure if Peter Rosenberg was as popular now, as back then when Kanye was releasing Graduation n going thru that 808 stage. He would of shytted on Kanye for releasing singles like Stronger, Love Lockdown etc.


In order for hip hop to really move on, hip hop fans need to be open to change.


Not every rapper is gonna be superlyrical like Rakim or Nas, or thugged out like DMX or 50, let that shyt go.

There's a certain level of quality that sets someone like Kanye apart from someone like Nicki Minaj, I'm not trying to belittle your opinion, but do you SERIOUSLY think the overall quality of Nicki Minaj's obvious attempts at cookie cutter bubble gum rap crossover are comparable to the more natural crossover path Kanye took? When I listen to College Dropout through My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy I see/hear his natural evolution, both sonically and conceptually, I feel like Kanye's music (excluding Cruel Summer) comes from a natural and honest progression whereas I feel like Nicki Minaj is trying to be a lower common denominator Lady Gaga. Kanye earned his superstar status through genuinely excellent music output.

Kendrick Lamar, I have to disagree on people coddling him. NOBODY in the industry is going to baby you. You either have what it takes or you don't. Kendrick is the perfect example of carving your own lane and being successful, actaully all of Black Hippy can fit this mold. Kendrick is about to go platinum off of a concept album with no huge breakout single, his name alone and the quality of his music, hard work, and dedication to his own creative vision have put him where he is right now. I don't see how this ISN'T a true signal of an emerging superstar. You could say that Kendrick is doing pretty much what Kanye himself did in 04 when he dropped Colege Dropout, which is stick to his vision and let his own originality and uniqueness speak for itself

#TPC

 

[Cynic]

maybe u didnt think wayne could be a star cause u probably wasnt listening, but in the south, wayne mixtapes in rotation all day

I ain't from the south, Lil Wayne was the butt of every joke . Him and Lil Zane

 

[Rominati]

There's a certain level of quality that sets someone like Kanye apart from someone like Nicki Minaj, I'm not trying to belittle your opinion, but do you SERIOUSLY think the overall quality of Nicki Minaj's obvious attempts at cookie cutter bubble gum rap crossover are comparable to the more natural crossover path Kanye took? When I listen to College Dropout through My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy I see/hear his natural evolution, both sonically and conceptually, I feel like Kanye's music (excluding Cruel Summer) comes from a natural and honest progression whereas I feel like Nicki Minaj is trying to be a lower common denominator Lady Gaga. Kanye earned his superstar status through genuinely excellent music output.

Kendrick Lamar, I have to disagree on people coddling him. NOBODY in the industry is going to baby you. You either have what it takes or you don't. Kendrick is the perfect example of carving your own lane and being successful, actaully all of Black Hippy can fit this mold. Kendrick is about to go platinum off of a concept album with no huge breakout single, his name alone and the quality of his music, hard work, and dedication to his own creative vision have put him where he is right now. I don't see how this ISN'T a true signal of an emerging superstar. You could say that Kendrick is doing pretty much what Kanye himself did in 04 when he dropped Colege Dropout, which is stick to his vision and let his own originality and uniqueness speak for itself

Nicki was trying to go into that world wide Lady Gaga lane. There's no lie about that. The Question is. How come she cant do that?


How come Nicki gotta be the same hood booger from Queens spitting shyt about nikkas licking her p*ssy for the rest of her rap career. How come she cant go pop?


Kanye West Graduation is CLEARLY him trying to break out of the hip hop mold, which he did succesfully. But trust me, if Kanye was to try and pull off songs like this





now in this social media era, where every Tom dikk and Harry thinks he is a Hip Hop gate keeper. People would of called him a sell out selling his soul to the House party overlords.




Ya nikkas did the same shyt to Usher. Ya want him singing "Burn" for the rest of his life. When in reality this song he did with Diplo was progression and actually good as hell, and is ironically very similar to Kanye's stronger production wise.