Pharrell as a rapper is a bit underrated

could of been as big as lil wayne if he rapped over other producers beats

he had JAY Z and Pusha T writing his verses too

2

The real problem is niggas dont put on talent no more. They dont work with new artists. Its stifling the game

The more we only care about the sound and aesthetic, the worse it will continue to get. But who cares right?

The young niggas who care to save the game don’t have the connections the young niggas who have the connections don’t care to save the game

Theres no avenue for new artists to become mainstream

Idk what u mean by this exactly so I'm interested

But it feels like there's more avenues than there ever was throughout like all of history

You can go viral for a minute but that doesnt make u mainstream. Theres tons of very talented artists that have fanbases but theyre small and spread out so they cant rly tour, which is the main way artists grow.

You could argue the issue is oversaturation, theres so many dope artists that the pie is split and no one gets to really eat. But its also that artists dont have the access to mainstream outlets, because its not marketable to many mainstream markets for obvious reasons (lyrical content). Ideally you could collect royalties and chill, but streaming sorta killed that. So unless u find a way to become a huge successful artist thru the mysterious ways of social media and good management your kinda f***ed as a rapper.

This is why artists never grow past the soundcloud phase. They dont have the management/industry support to push them and they lack the fanbases to tour

Honestly honestly think this is it. The true students of the game ain't savy enough to kno how to maneuver.

To get around them Ian Connor's and such.

Too pure.

Almost made a thread loosely related to my point based on this tweet I saw this morning

There’s a reason why Mase can do this decades removed from his prime because he is a rapper first and also someone who grew up through love of the genre not an end to means. Of course inherently hip hop and money are tied but you can tell dudes who genuinely love what they do and have put in the countless hours of studying and perfecting their craft rather than dudes clocking in to ouch the same 16 over and over again

Nah just mentally ill and depressed

That too

Rap industry just gon make em even more crazy

unless something drastic happens, next year is literally its final year based off of actual statics, engagement and listening habits

I’ve thought about this a little. There’s more opportunities but it makes it harder to be noticed because now more people are welcomed to those opportunities versus back when s*** was still more gatekept and streamlined in a way. Even those who are noticed, again because the competition for said opportunities is even harder today than back then, to be mainstream requires even MORE groundwork and maybe bigger promo packages

Take Shaboozey or Tommy Richman for example. Biggest songs of the year, but I hear more about Sabrina cause she’s placed in such a way to where she’s being promoted greatly in mainstream spaces whether through TikTok, challenges, late night TV interviews, interviews with major publishers and entities like Apple, Hot Ones, magazines, and big YouTube channels.

Meanwhile Shaboozey only ever performed on late night and his interviews barely crack 50k views. Same for Tommy who I’m sure most of us weren’t even aware Usher brought him out to perform at his concert so he’s well tapped into people that could help make his name even bigger and stick and it still doesn’t happen.

I respect niggas who actually try and don’t rely on stressing their engineers punching in every 1-4 bars

Metal

ktt2.com/how-many-more-years-of-dominance-do-you-see-hip-hop-having-32578031

ktt2.com/if-rap-music-is-trending-to-no-longer-going-to-be-the-dominant-genre-32577216

ktt2.com/has-rap-peaked-32577122

ktt2.com/is-it-me-or-is-hip-hop-getting-kinda-boring-32571530

ktt2.com/i-worryworry-about-the-future-of-hip-hop-32571414

Had a feeling I made this thread before

On a serious note tho. Hip Hop has been getting worrisome the last couple years. The threads are warranted