all u gotta do is compare LL, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and Nas releases from the early 90s to Eminem, Dr Dre, Ja Rule and DMX releases from the early 00s and you can see that rap music went from a cultural movement to corporate cash cow

and then compare those sales and the lyrics about money and success to 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, TI and Soulja Boy

and then again with Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Nicki Minaj, Gucci Mane and Chief Keef

and i'm sure one could keep going with the Tumblr and SoundCloud eras of rappers

i would also blame Def Jam and MTV's Yo! Raps for opening the floodgates even though all they wanted to do was spread the culture from east to west, they are still complicit in losing control over the industry to Interscope Records

It doesn't matter. Them popping off like they did back then ruin hip hop. It showed corporate the potential that hip hop had and the corporate side been obsessed with sells ever since.

OP didn't get specific.

Also, Drake is a copout answer. In reality, the blame should go to social media and streaming cause Drake himself doesn't even emphasize sales like that.

Keep in mind that Drake accepted his loss to Pusha T despite totally outselling him. He could've said he won cause of that but he didn't.

Drake also pays homage to lesser known rap acts all the time. He's constantly shouting out lesser known rappers in his music and on his IG.

Ya'll can blame "Drake stans" or whatever but that's more so a result of how big social media is and how stan twitter has become so big from all angles.

to add to your point s*** started long before Drake and MySpace though dude, Best I Ever had came out in 2010 and the industry was 95% talking about money, cars, clothes and hoes at least 7-8 years before 2010 and the late 90s is when the focus on personal success vs. cultural movement really started

It's not "about" sales to anyone except the label larpers here and Twitter most of us just listen to music we like .

What's the position you hold?
Can you really match a triple platinum artist buck by buck
But only your single going gold?

• Jay, 1998

It’s not, y’all just wanna see it that way

It’s always been about whos on top like any other thing (sports/tv)

It just is what it is, stop complaining 🤷🏽‍♂️

It really ain't.

Niggas exaggerating

damn back when going gold was considered a flop

The answer is actually probably Lyor Cohen

He's saying the single is gold, but the record isn't.

But yeah, Lloyd Banks once moved 430k physical in a week

you dont think commercial rap music is 95% about commercial success?

explain that then

Lloyd Banks arguably the best lyricist in G Unit though and 50 Cent alongside his team made sure people knew that

When I quoted him the post just had the first sentence lol.

So...here's a question.

What's the difference between congratulating a rapper for their success and bragging about sales?

If people are so annoyed with the sales talk, there should be some clarity made on this.

Cause, if Kendrick breaks records in 2021, I'll probably celebrate his success not because I care about sales too much but because I think it's a cool thing to happen for Kendrick after a long wait.

This is a good example of someone using sales as a method of defining what’s good and what’s not

Brockhampton album just wasn’t that good

Breh should change that G in his name to a W.

You really mentioning pac in this conversation bro? Really?

Wasn't Pac doing good when it comes to sales?

it's been about sales for over two decades lmao

Sorry but Curtis was weak and very far from a classic. It was a pretty lazy album with a few huge songs.

Yall show yalls age when yall say goofy s*** like this.
Sales has been a big part of hip hop for decades now. Jay even dissed Nas sales in takeover

i mean that’s just the music industry

hip-hop has had brand adverts embedded in the raps for years (gin and juice with seagram gin, for example)

it’s all about marketing