Going off of what you like personally everyone would be inclined to say talent but I really don't think that's the case at all anymore. I'm not sure if it ever was, but why is that? Wouldn't talent be the most marketable thing? Cause marketing is an undeniable factor but logically talent would appeal to people more than anything else. Right? And if you disagree with me completely- why?

lookin at Lil Nas X its very clear that its all about marketing

Marketing skills. Talent barely matter these days

Wrong. Talent matter as much. Look at people like pump who had good marketing but fell off after a few months. Compare to thug who’s has the talent but finally broke through.

As long as you maintain you aesthetic and vision, the internet can market for you ( look at young boy)

Marketing fossure

Marketing can get you by jus for so long tho. With real talent you can survive with an actual career and not just a 1 month long - 2 year come up.

Marketing for short term and talent + marketing for long term

You gotta suck d***

just be cool. A lot of these rappers aint cool enough to be successful lol, don't nobody wanna be you niggas

Disregard the talent for marketing lol

And young thug v Lil Nas is a very hyper focused example. I'm talking in general not with the outliers. Cause for every one young thug I can name 100 people who innovate 10x more.

I think I hate this website

Well first off you have to appeal to a specific demographic of people both authentically and uniquely, whether that be in your voice or your beat selection. And in hip-hop this is VERY important as hip-hop is all about regions. You think Drake's success in certain spaces has nothing to do with him using a Houston/Louisiana accent hybrid when he raps?

Secondly your music has to be professional in both production quality and songmaking. Or AT LEAST highly enjoyable

Then comes an aesthetic. Videos, ig, cover art all should enhance the experience of your music from a visual standpoint. Have you ever heard of the theory that some albums are mainly acclaimed for having pretty album covers? Well yeah...that part. Or think of some pretty faced young artists that wouldn't be half as gassed without their pretty faces

Lastly is the networking. You gotta put your music in the right places and REALLY GRIND HARD for it to be heard by the right ears. Yes it's true that great music (or enjoyable music) will rise from the bottom but that doesn't make you exempt from having to pound the pavement.

That's really the basics

Y would u ask this question of a website that can barely recognize talent anymore though

Both

talent is everything when it comes to leaving a legacy

Cause every other website on the internet is somehow worse for talent recognition believe it or not

Yeah those are the basics of marketing lol. I just can't wrap my head around how diluted media has ended up becoming the industry standard. I mean I can but I prefer living in denial

The eagles have at multiple points throughout their legacy had the best selling album of all time and it was a compilation album lol. The eagles had that. The f***ing eagles dude

lookin at Lil Nas X its very clear that its all about talent

Nah ktt is the worst. People will literally “who?” You no matter how dope you are. They won’t rock with you til you get a decent enough buzz from their peers around the internet.

And here I am dropping classic after classic on an internet forum...real life is way different.

connections

having someone on your team who knows the right people to call to make s*** happen

talent doesn't really mean s*** if u can't get people to care. its a lot of talented people in the world. the magic is that perfect storm of talent meeting circumstance and presentation

marketing can only save mediocrity for so long because eventually younger, 'prettier' and dumber mediocrity is gonna come along and make you look silly when you're nearing 30 still tryna do that cool little dance or gimmick from when you were 16-21 btw soulja boy is too quiet right now to not have sum stupid s*** cooking up that aint got s*** to do with this but i just thought dat i should mention

Not really true.

I do think marketing is more important but the rappers you listed aren't charting bad Which a few of them have number 1 albums because their s*** isnt marketed right, its because its music that isn't and will never be mainstream.

The dumbing down of music has only pushed them to a smaller fanbase but they don't make music that would ever do well commercially.

y'all don't even know the structure of these kids' deals. high visibility does not mean success.

You're right, You need talent but you also need balance. You can be the greatest rapper on earth but if your beats are trash, sorry.