Was motivated to make this after reading this post from @Brave in another thread:

Something that didn’t dawn on me until now about all this “music/pop/hiphop/r&b is dead” kerfuffle is that there’s been a void of black male music that everyone loves. The pop is dead and r&b is dead discussions have been going on longer too - for as long as the void of black men became apparent. And to be very real, mainstream music has been dependent on black males for smash hits for a long ass time. So once hiphop, the last bastion of beloved crossover black male music, grew this same void, the public lost it. Just a thought tho

Bear with me, im gonna take a wild swing in the dark with this thread

The perceived numbers decline in hiphop is everyone’s favorite thing to talk about, but I feel like that’s just a piece of the bigger story: there are no emerging black male stars period. Think about it: When’s the last time you’ve heard a black man born after 1998 on pop radio, launching a must-see tour, flooding magazine covers?

As we move closer and closer to the midway point of the 2020’s decade and Gen-Z’s defining voices start to come forward, I can say it’s getting spooky not having a brotha somewhere in the mix. It’s a shame, I honestly think we’ve make some of the best pop music ever historically :snoop:

It also feels like media and online fandom in general has grown quite intolerant of black males in recent years. I’m not sure what the cause of this is, but it’s pretty interesting to watch. Stan circles are genuinely racist as hell now it’s wild. You’d think they’d be left-leaning but nope lmao

Even people like Drake and The Weeknd, guys who blew up in part because of their marketability as the safe light-skinned black guy, get the Super Predator treatment now. (Idk how Abel was able to slip past the radar for so long tbh that nigga has always been a menace in his songs )

Niggas can’t even be pictured near to a famous woman without the general public making disgusting assumptions about their intentions or calling them broke. Dua Lipa or Olivia could flick up with a rapper and all you’ll see in the comments is “GET A JOB” “STAY AWAY FROM HER”

Not saying we need to make a new MJ or Usher, but damn…Where’d all the brothas go? What’s actually going on? Do we need a new genre or something? Am I trippin?

TL;DR: Is the black it-boy dead? If so, who or what killed it? (Don’t give me that monoculture bullshit there’s plenty of Gen-Z superstars and budding stars out that everyone knows)

Dumb thread

epic reply, Jayson

This was the plan from the jump. When the onslaught of mediocre females were pushed to the forefront I knew what time it was. Music for a long time was the only place black men could be themselves and capitalize on it. Also life is polarity, for every low there is a polar opposite high. As low quality as music has sunken for black males it still has been one of the most influential energies on the planet. There's an alternate universe where black men are creating the opposite of drill music and it doesn't sound corny. That potential reality poses a threat to the record labels who also have business interests in Israel and it's genocidal family tree. Not that this would happen but what would things look like if Drake aggressively started A Pro-Palestinian protest? Rather than deal with that reality they figured they may as well get it out the paint now. Problem is that as we move into a meta verse centric reality I think the concept of a superstar is dead. Look at artist like LaRussell. He has everything he wants and looks happy with it. His fans also seem happy with him. If an artist and their fan base is happy, why introduce predatory industry tactics and people? If the art is good people will spread the word. I think it's going to take a few years for black men to realize that the gimmicks and trolling phase is fading. There's a lane for making quality art and being able to sustain yourself from it. Snoop only made $45,000 of a billion streams. He's a legacy act, chances are no artist after him is going to do those numbers. There's artist who have made more than that just from selling from selling vinyls and music directly to their fanbase.

All things die and I think this is one of many symptoms that will start to pop up as this system dies

??
Aren't the majority of the biggest genz artists black men tho?

Last two I could think of Khalid and Steve Lacy

Rap is declining in a monoculture kind of way, it's still the most dominant genre. Kids want to be rappers not pop stars. Remember when Chris Brown turned into a rapper?

yeah, the influence is for sure still there. not just with hiphop either. black streamers been inventing whole new dictionary words all year lmao. I just wish it were something more substantial idek

You’re right about everything here. the transition away from big superstars everyone knows about has been painful to watch, but it’s probably for the best overall

lil nas x

Chris was rapping before he started singing though.

Didn't know that. He def leaned into it more tho sometime in the early 2010s

There’s a plenty of popular songs by black male artists, but the current landscape seems that it prefers for them to be heard but not seen. And the way they’re discussed on the internet nowadays is straight up unacceptable

usher is still out here topping the charts

A lot of posters on here complain so hard for a resurgence of monoculture, not that OP is doing that, but it reminded me of what things used to really be like in the industry/mainstream culture

Why do we as actual fans of music want to share space with racist airheads that need to be spoon fed manufactured images

3 different jasons

Transparency 🔥

LNX is in a weird spot because while he does chart and he does make good music, his fame moreso has to do with him as a personality than as an artist or a performer.

If you look at his tour this year he was mainly playing mid-capacity theatres

You also don't see him showing up on other people's tracks or anything.

I'm not saying this to hate, but in his current state, he is a very successful music vanity project from a social media star

Khalid was my guy, hope he drops soon

I like this new era that we in people actually being proud of liking what they like and discovery is at an all time high

The transitional period is always the most painful, seeing something that’s been one way for seemingly forever, become unrecognizable is a crazy feeling. I love talking about it cuz we’re honestly entering foreign territory tbh.

I don’t think there’s been a shift like this since the creation of the world-wide-web. I’m rly interested to see how this all looks 10 years from now. not even just with music but everything

so much has changed between 2012 and 2017

even white boys can’t top the charts now unless you’re a country singer or been in the game for 10+ years

Just another symptom of the declining & superficial mainstream entertainment industry. It can only be propped up for so long. I just wanna know where the bottom is.

I was gonna mention Khalid as well. He was basically the male counterpart to Billie Eilish in 2017ish.

But his music had a very specific theme and vibe going on (high school, teenagers) and I feel like his audience grew up and moved on from him.

I agree to the extent of appeal. A lot of artists are big in their own niche and hub while being unknown to another group of people.

However, aside from all the sus ass s*** from certain folks. I do believe that at this point culturally, black artists(Millenial, Gen Z, and even the streamers/influencers) still do make waves and influence. Whether it be slang, fashion, aesthetic, brands, or etc. We still innit