It didn’t, Drake and Kendrick’s rap hits simply weren’t “new” sounding enough compared to rap we heard at that level to inspire the next Drake and Kendrick like those other names had the newness to inspire Drake and Kendrick in the first place

Those other archetypes filled that void. No coincidence these ended up being the guys that inspired Gen Z rappers musically and even fashion wise to the degree we’d expect from a Drake or Kendrick

While Drake and Kendrick’s “loose fitting” nostalgia gained them their initial prestige, it prevented them from creating a new meta in rap. They’re just extensions of the meta created by other names on that list tbh as GOAT as they are. Essentially they’re non-egregious Bruno Mars

That is honestly an interesting way to look at it and really that is what happened. but I hate that essentially “newness” to the 90’s+ babies is essentially just trap beats

It’s a fascinating pocket of time between 09-2013 where we skip over how cool some of the production trends/traits introduced on SFG / S80 / FNL / AKNC were and then we immediately skip to everyone trying to sound like Atlanta lmao

But thats a crazy observation: everything that made them traditional enough to be the big 3 kinda alienated people more than 5 years younger than them from trying to live up to that standard

They also aren’t guys that black young men born 1997- who aspired to rap would wanna look like or emulate lbr. Look at Drake and Kendrick 2009-2011 and 2012 respectively. Say what you will about any of those names above the two on that list but young niggas (loosely speaking in regards to Em) wanted to embody them and you can immediately see why

Lmao

because all those guys died

juicewrld, xxxtentacion and pop smoke that were suppose to be the next true big 3 that had "real rap" ability mixed with mainstream appeal mixed with something new but still fairly traditional sound and uniqueness

but all 3 of them dying and close to one another made us lose literally the entire next full gen of rappers after the 2010s

so the 2020s lost its major players and is being held up by decade+ old niggas and the struggling underground

our genre literally cannibalized itself and its the and biggest shift in the music timeline since biggie and pac

and let not forget the 2nd string starters that also died or went to jail or fell off that had huge popularity in the mainstream or underground such as drakeo, pooh shiesty, 03 gredo, ynw melly and dababy etc, that were also part of the true 2020s next gen

then s*** had to get recarried by kendrick, drake, durk and carti etc. and the substitutes that werent as crazy had to fill in like lil baby and yeat

this is why the genre is stagnant and lost - everyone died or went to jail that were the truly next one ups and the ones that were truly the next big 3 that actually fitted the criteria

literally sad all the bullshit and pain this genre has to deal with and its the only one

an entire generation dead or in jail and the next-next gen has literally no one to look at or bounce off of that isnt 10+ years old already

f***ing sickening

people love saying this
But i thought juice was kinda just a “sadder” uzi variation when he was out. He could freestyle but he wasnt really that different from anything that is or was out to where it would have changed much IMO.

Pop smoke was great but idk about Big 3 type of artist. People could have very well treat him like they treat all street artists after that first lil run wears off (see Future and Baby) “he fell off” lol

XXX was probably one of those type guys tho. Seeing how WLR influenced like a Yeat Im sure XXX would have had moments like that