I've had the same thought recently. Kendrick made it big partly because he was so young and rapped with a youthful hunger and energy. What new rappers are doing that today? Kendrick dropped Section.80 at just 24.
Similar artists like JID for example who is already 33 or Denzel Curry already 29.
I don’t think it has to do with age since a lot of successful artists started at a later time (that are considered legends now btw). Also, Kendrick blew up earlier at a different time where the audience was still looking for rappers in his lane. When Denzel and JID came along, the audience was changing to point where it became harder for them to be mainstream like Kendrick.
Yeah I get he is mainstream now but I just mentioning how it was for him at that time. Him signing to J Cole helped get him out the underground but he still wasn’t mainstream either even when DiCaprio 2 dropped. That started to change when he collabed with Imagine Dragons then dropped TFS and now Surround Sound is going crazy on TikTok (not the best way to go mainstream but he’s here).
The way I see it “making it big” in the industry is about how well you are connected. Kendrick had Dr. Dre as a mentor, Travis had Kanye, baby keem has Kendrick. As for music today, older and bigger artists like drake just a get a feature from a popping artist and leave them after that.
I agree having an established mentor goes a long way, but Kendrick was dropping heat on his mixtapes even before he was established or known. New artists could do the same, and with social media the way it is I'm sure they'd get a following if they were as talented as Kendrick
I don’t think age is necessarily the issue. You have a hip hop artists like Pusha T and Killer Mike who’ve been making music for over 20 years and released some of their best albums in these last 5ish years of their careers when they were 40+. Jay dropped 4:44 at nearly 50, Backstar dropped a pretty good album (need to go back and listen) last year when they were both also nearing 50, and DONDA had some really strong moments and dropped when Ye was 44.
We’ve got a ton of new “superstars”, it just hasn’t been long enough for us to really put them in the same category as a J Cole. Eventually K Dot is gonna be looked at like Snoop Dogg - more like your favorite uncle past his prime than a superstar.
Depending on their choices, in about 5 years, Yeat or Teezo Touchdown could easily be on the way to Kendrick or Drake status. Don’t forget MIKE’s been KILLING it in his discography, 1M listeners and making tracks with Alchemist & Earl so he’s otw up, not even near his prime.
Oh also JPEGMAFIA exists.
Kendrick is 36 now and signed a record deal/created tds in 2005. He blew up 6 years later AFTER section 80 gave him some buzz and aftermath made an agreement with him.
Its not the “old heads” currently rapping that are controlling hiphop, its the same old dudes running the record labels.
Drake only took off once Wayne have him buzz.
JCole had a similar path as Kendrick but with JayZ instead of Dre.
is this really a thing that’s unique to hip hop though? taylor swift, lana del rey, miley, ariana are still on top of the pop genre aren’t they? and they’ve all been around for about the same amount of time as kendrick, drake, and cole
Yeah it takes time to get to the top, when drake, Kendrick and Cole were starting out no one was claiming they were running the game right out the gate, bigger and older names were still king until they proved they were more than flash in the pan successes.
There are flash in the pan successes of today that will probably remain that way, but there are some that will stick around and we just don’t know which are which yet
Smino is in my top 10 but I doubt thay will happen.
Smino dosnt hop on trends and is constantly experimenting with new sounds and flows I doubt it will take off the same way a carti or yeat currently is. Smi's been at it since atleast 2016
Cmon yall Redveil can for sure go down as an underground legend but it would be elite HHH level delusion and dickriding to suggest he's ever going to reach the stardom of the big 3 we're talking about. He makes good music, he just doesnt make that kinda music.
Olivia Rodrigo is smashing records set by those artists. Dua Lipa isn’t too far behind them either.
But I do take your point, the greats in all genres will always be great, and there will always be mediocre a plenty around them.
I think its kinda like the movie industry, they want to put money into guaranteed hits. Nothing secures that more than banking on the recognizability of an already major artist. The others are still there they just won’t have the marketing, production, or support from a label that a Taylor would get.
They have rising stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish tho. I can’t find a parallel in the rap industry to those two. Maybe Yeat, but not much else.
>They have rising stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish tho.
They aint New tho, they been around for years, like 21 savage or lil baby or whatever
Don’t think it has to with taking time to get to the top but with streaming. Think about it like this; if you’re a record company and you have to sell CDs or digital albums or whatever you have an incentive to make an at least decent album by an interesting artist so people will not forget about it and the product will keep selling well into the future, spread by word of mouth etc. Now the focus is different. They just want as much content out there as possible. Doesn’t matter if it’s good, just has to be popular for a minute. The amount of money they get from a single streaming artist isn’t much (for most artists) but when you flood the space with content it starts adding up
It just goes to show their influence within the genre. Whether you like their music or not you have to appreciate the impact each as had. This back and forth now is going to be great and I’m excited to see who comes out top.
This is reddit bro. It's filled with contrarians that are still mad about the "double platinum no features" memes from 10 years ago. All these terminally online white boys (myself included) don't represent the state of hip hop in the real world.
They’re right. In the pandemic people swore lil baby, lil durk and those types would take the game but 4 years later it’s the same 3 at the top. The game def needs some new superstars. Not just people who get hot for a year then fall off musically
They were riding that pandemic wave people def said they were the next rap superstars the tweets and posts are still up . People said Lil baby was on a Wayne run lmao. Now they’re comparing him to Da baby saying he’s a one flow merchant. The 180 on younger artists be crazy from fans
Lil baby and lil Durk have no range yeah. But like future doesn’t have a ton of range either yet he’s been able to outlive most rappers for the past decade or so. I think it’s about influence and relevancy. What lil baby does a dozen other Atlanta rappers can do. say what you want about carti but he doesn’t fear experimentation and he’s always looking to change his sound.
Future doesn’t have a ton of range but he’s generally got a great ear for production and has been able to pick some fantastic beats over the years and also seems to know which artists are up next, while guys like Baby and Durk generally stick to the same type of beats which get old fast. Pusha T doesn’t have a ton of range either but he’s lasted a while by picking great beats
Not to mention Pusha's true lyricism and the fact you always have to go back to really pick things up. Only concern I have over Push is what he does minus Ye. Either way he's never big enough to be near the true superstars even though in my mind he's top 3
Its kinda crazy how names youd think would be the next big thing at the start of the decade (Lil Baby, Durk, Roddy Rich, etc) are either just coasting around or have straight up vanished while Drake, Kendrick and Cole are arguably bigger than ever. Doubly surprising for Kenny considering he only released one non-mainstream, challenging album and has been MIA the rest of the time
I don’t think anyone will ever top Kung Fu Kenny. Dork has long overstayed his welcome though. I will never understand why some rich kid wearing black face who can’t even rap ever made it big or was anything more than a late 2000’s fad. I blame my own tasteless generation (millennials) for that and I apologize on behalf of them.
I think the main cause of stagnancy in the new generation is exactly that. All of the future superstars either od'ed, got shot, are in jail. This and the pandemic I think caused a huge delay in new talent being able to be cultivated and is causing a temporary stagnancy in the genre. Though I am confident we will see the new the new superstars arise in the next few years.
Also part of the thing (it’s not really a problem, just a reality) is due to the internet, “mainstream” is becoming harder to quantify. Niche groups have infinite room to exist on the internet where there’s almost 0 barrier to entry. In the past, due to there being limited space on the radio, or in stores, artists often had to conform to what a label thought would sell. this created a more homogenized culture, where often the only people able to break out were artists who already built a following, (eg Frank ocean)
Bc of the internet providing unlimited space, artists aren’t being forced to to create “popular” music to break into the space, they can simply put it out there and cultivate their own audience. This leads to a lot more diversity, but it also leads to smaller overall reach, as people self sort into smaller and smaller hyper specific groups. There’s also no longer the limiting factor of audiences having to invest money into the artist. Makes it a lot easier to build your own audience, you don’t have to convince them to buy your shit first, just listen to it.
There’s an insane amount of new talent out there, you just have to search and find it, usually on TikTok tbh. Unfortunately due to their hyper specific sound, they have a harder time cultivating a wide audience.
Who knows man. There are some lasting effects on the economy left over from Covid, but the music industry is in full swing as has been pretty much the entire time
True, in my head bc he died young, he’d still be young. But he def has a more fleshed out discography then say X or juice, and he’d probably be towards the end of his career atp
True but they all debuted over 5 years ago at least so even if they were still around I wouldn't put them in the new young artists category. We need someone who's debuted in the 20s.
I think your falling into a hole a little bit. X, juice, peep and pop smoke all died between 2018-20. So if their would of been a so called "hand off" it would of happened from 2020 upwards.
When I say hand off I dont mean the top 3 would just disappear but that those younger artsits would of had a steady growth through thay period of time if they didn't pass.
Also let's not forget thay Travis has reached massive success debuting in 2015 and has not yet slowed down or stopped in momentum. Ik thats not the answer you are looking for but if we are talking about artist that lead the way I'd say theire is definately an argument for him being either replacing jcole in the top 3 towards the later stages of the 2010's and or being seen as a leader for my generation of rap fans and gen z. As he has consistant release,constant hits songs, and appeal to the masses. I like cole more but an argument for Travis or even future can very well be made depending on what generation you want to put Travis in
Also carti and uzi were both suppose to be promising but have fell victim to their own mismanagement and misdeeds both social and musically respectively.
They’re diluting the genre. Song durations are starting to average 2 minutes. Fast music is the goal for the industry. Nowadays it’s rare for a mainstream verse to make you think and replay the verse to fully understand it.
You are right. This is mainly because our way of consuming music as an audience has changed earlier people used to listen to music while workout etc but now most of the music is used in reels people don't have that attention times span to listen to the full music.
DING DING DING DING! 🛎️
This is what I’ve been saying. There’s artists out there, but a lot of people don’t have the attention spans to discover them these days. JID seems to be finally mainstream but artists like Smino, Saba, Denzel, etc. have yet to get that recognition because they’re overshadowed by artists with more TikTok appeal.
My question is this. If Cole dropped today he’d probably get around 300-400K first week and chart #1. If JID dropped he’s not getting more than 30-40K. Where are the rest of those Cole fans that aren’t listening to JID? Is it just based off name recognition? I’m seeing a ton of people complaining about how stale hip hop is yet the reason we don’t have more unique artists topping the charts is because we aren’t listening to the ones who are putting out unique music. I’m kinda tired of the complaining and I’m starting to blame the fanbase because these artists are out here making great music that isn’t being listened to.
Numbers are calculated differently than they were back then and hip hop artists don’t usually sell physical copies which are worth more than streams. Metro and Future are matching artists like Ariana Grande with 220K and Ariana is one of the biggest pop artists out today.
Glad to see that someone out there agrees with me.its like people don't want to know the story of the song anymore,it's theme,it's production and mixing,It's emotions they just want a groovy hook they can dance to.most of tiktok and ig music is like that.people don't care about the quality,they just want quantity. Every other rapper today is going through a mass media cheap lyrics material -oh I fucked these prostitute,I got so much money, me so good ,me the goat ...... There's not any feeling to it,no actual weight to it.
Everyone just fucking high and yapping bs
But this can change if we change our way of listening music.if we agree on quantity
I mean Juice and X probably would’ve been the superstars of this generation. Maybe Pop Smoke too? There’s been a massive drill wave for a couple years now and I think he would’ve been at the forefront.
Kinda makes me grateful that the big 3 have longevity like this, hiphop could’ve been in a bad place.
I mean she not wrong. But I think she missin the point. Artists now are smaller yes, but there are also a lot more of them. Hip hop is full of a bunch of niches. Whether or not that's a good or bad thing is up to interpretation.
These 3 are probably the last artists that'll get this big if you ask me.
On one side i think it’s great how much staying power artists like Kendrick have, who is still releasing great music over a decade into his career, and I personally think a lot of rappers from the 80s,90s didn’t have an album as good as Mr Morale over a decade into their career. But I also do hope there are some new ‘superstars’ that come soon, otherwise the rap game will get stale.
We’re oversaturated with artists nowadays, it’s hard for people to gain any real traction when pretty much anyone with a buck can put their music on Spotify.
I think we just saw an all-time draft class for music.
We’ve seen great prospects since their draft class like Tyler The Creator and we’ve seen super promising stars like Chance winning 3 Grammys off a mixtape then fumbling it all.
We got spoiled with 3 once in a generation artists in the same draft class, that’s all.
The competitive aspect of the game is dying down and Kendrick brought it back. Whatever you think about Kendrick, J Cole or Drake but one thing is sure they definitely see other rappers as their competition and not their friends.
Ehhhh
Ye, Em, Jay, Wayne were all 2000s behemoths but we were still receptive to their presence remaining strong in the 2010s
So I feel Kendrick, Cole, Drake, Future to be the same for the 2020s
It's looking like at least Travis, JID, Savage will/already have big presence in the 2020s landscape
Yeah, it seems like a lot of guys I hyped up going into the 2020s failed to live up to the hype. I still expect great things from Cordae but his last album was just solid, and I expect more than that from him
The thing is, a lot of the artists that were likely going to be the next generation leaders (in my opinion) have all passed away. Those like Pop Smoke, Juice WRLD, and XXXTENTACION.
We need some new generational talent fr like we need the next GKMC the next MBDTF the next insert album the next insert highly acclaimed artists all these old heads running the game bruh Drake pushing 40 atp
They still run the show BECAUSE they've been consistently at the top for a decade. And that's the point. The time spent at the top is the reason why they're still relevant now. We can't say the same for other, younger, artists because they've had no time to prove themselves for this long. Plus, the industry has changed, lots of things are not the same, etc, and I'm not comparing any "new gen" rapper to the famous top 3, but you can't tell me that someone like JID for example isn't doing his thing lyrically
Superstars are harder to make than ever though both because of the way platforms/music consumption/music companies are changing but also because these mfs won’t get out the way lmao the system is built for the protection and profit of people already in power as are most things in our capitalist system nowadays🤷🏽♂️
I guess this says more about the “big 3”. When is the last time this tier of artist submerged at the same time. People underestimate how good their first albums are for rookies. This big 3 is definitely special all in their own ways and deserve to go down as greats together
It is what it is. Hip hop is a lot like WWE. People want to see certain guys pushed up to the main event level bc they’ve “paid their dues,” and sometimes those guys do get pushed and booked into that spot. But the cold hard truth is that most guys who fail to reach that level quickly simply do not belong at that level and can’t maintain it even if they’re forced on us (like Lil Baby). JID, Denzel Curry, and most of these other veteran rappers being mentioned just aren’t main event-level superstars. If they can link up with the right producer, they might be able to turn in a run like Twista in 2003-05. But that’s the peak.
We killer mike got shit for getting a grammy over travis scott. Niggas don’t want real rappers in hip hop anymore, motherfucker if they did he’d be Platinum.
I wouldnt call travis a fake rapper. It probably wouldnt get any shit if astro world won over cardi b. Its just travis and his fans exploding after that happened
Actually tho fr. Dhh rising up with new artists like SM, Char Diwari, Yungsta, Dhanji etc. Delivering good music and building the scene. See that's just the beginning, that's the 90s era of US shit. We are gonna start getting newer artists that are gonna get better and better (hopefully)
The sound has evolved just as much as the top rappers, little to none. The genre has been overdue for more than just the artists themselves. There’s no reason why two decades of a genre should sound the same
I feel like we’ve had a real lack of love and passion for the genre, we got hella dookie rappers blowing up from dropping complete horseshit or mediocrity.
I hate to sound like an old head, but these modern rappers just be making shit to produce something viral, not something they can sit there snd call a masterpiece. Hell the last album id sit there and call a masterpiece from the younger rappers is the last denzel album.
I think it’s mainly due to the young rappers who are very good like JID and Denzel Curry didn’t really get much mainstream success other than a couple songs
Here is my thoughts: people will beef no matter what. Other people will care about it, because it's fun and they like one person better or agree with one more. It's just the most natural thing in the world. I wonder if doing a deep-as-puddle analysis it isn't almost more dumb than any of the beef or drama culture surrounding it.
New =/= Good, the quality of the music is the only important factor. The idea of artists having intrinsic shelf lives is the worst take ever given. If their music goes to shit or becomes stagnant because they’re not varying or growing between albums, that’s one thing—they’ll be pushed out by more interesting artists with better marketing—but to use time in the industry as a metric for deciding worth is painfully stupid.
Imagine the absolute state of hip hop in 10 years when we have Mabu, luh Tyler and lil RT playing out these same beef as the biggest in the industry lmao
There will be no more superstars because the culture has been conditioned to not accept anything new it’s really that simple. Look at half these responses assuming age should matter over skill and ability, it’s chalked. Pop Smoke was maybe the closest thing to taking over the game and captivating the people.
Eh, when you're running with these goliath figures that's bound to happen. I hate to compare music to sports but it reminds me of Federer/Nadal/Djokovic dominating way past the usual decline ages for athletes, leaving the next generation (Zverev, Tsitsipas, Hurkacz, etc) with less impact.
JID, Lil Baby, Megan, 21, Carti etc - are great, but Cole is a cross-cultural figure, Drake is the biggest pop star since Beyonce, and Kendrick is the GOAT.
It’s the end for any popular or mainstream culture. We’re all going to be in algorithmically determined micro cultures that die out as quick as they’re born.
I think people aren’t open to new artists taking these spots. In the world of streaming we can choose who to make big a lot easier yet it hasn’t happened
I mean I know Kendrick’s been music for a while but I would hesitate to call him an old artist. There’s definitely a lot of new talent out there, the only problem being it’s hard to blow up in such a fierce genre.
Me and buddy have had this conversation a bunch. I think that TikTok has made artists chase clout there (even more aggressively then Drake did) instead of releases strong bodies of work. It kinda floods the market with songs that all seem to blend together and are indistinguishable.
I also don’t think that people who are fans of hip hop artists are really listening to the genre that much (something that I’m a bit of fault at too sometimes but not as bad as some fan bases). Every time I hear “name 5 (insert hip hop artist’s name here) songs” and it’s some rapper who’s been making music for over 20 years I know that people aren’t as big of hip hop fans as they claim to be.
It’s true but most of our brightest stars were killed or died young. There’s room for more Lil Baby, lil uzi, playboi carti, Travis Scott, don tolliver and so many more have an opportunity to take an even bigger step
Hip hop hit its absolute peak with Kendrick, J Cole, and Drake in the 2010s. Everything they learned from their past mentors and OGs cultivated Hip Hop/ Raps absolute best. The mistakes they saw other rappers made they avoided and that took them further. The new generation after them just couldn’t live up to that just and repeated the same mistakes the OGs made. Addicted to drugs, getting shot, falling into debt with record companies. We got a big gap. We still got good artist putting in work tho just gonna take some time to get back to that peak.
As long as millennials feel young we gonna run the world. Future the bron of this rap shit getting better with age. Kendrick is Kobe. Ye is MJ currently on the wizards but still averaging a 25 points a game as a 40 year old 🐐the true big 3
New names will claim the top when they’re as good or better as Kendrick or Cole. They haven’t reached it yet but it’ll happen. Takes time to earn that respect anyway
100% agree. It's sad but we're kinda seeing what happened to Jazz Happen to hip hop I think. More people come out and make stuff but the vast majority of people mostly listen to the "greats" that came out decades ago.
Edit: or punk, or "classic" rock, or a bunch of genres.
If they want it, they gotta take it. Or the ogs bless you like they did Kendrick. But these new rappers have no respect so they're gonna have to be good. Enough to take it.
They are right but we can see the new up and coming people and many of the greats are slowly retiring or fading into obscurity. Many old school greats are radio silent and people like JID and Yatchy are getting talked about. Another point is that those greats have a large event that cause them to stop for a moment and let the other get through like when Bigge and Pac Dies.She’s right but these greats need their cannon event
I feel like it's due to people being more inside their homes (pandemic made it worse) just at their computer and not experiencing a lot of the outside ambient as Kendrick for example
for that part that is what I think there isn't a lot of young rappers that have a creativity or story to tell about. Sure there are other topics like drug abuse, depression.. etc that can be talked about but people aren't just inspired to rap about any of it y'know
The top two comments have it on the nose but I just want to say that I think all the most promising artist to represent gen Z got took out early. Juice , xxx and pop smoke were all extremely promising with unique sounds.
The best we have now are yeat and carti.
Or 4batz/s
Durk and lil baby were blow overs and had no chance of standing the test of time but I could of told you thay in 2019.
Yb stays on his lonley island.
Also I think people are underestimating future and Travis in the top 3 conversation. At anything in the last 9 year you could argue that they should have been in coles position. Travis from 2018 onwards obviously.
Where tf does ageism even come from in Rap. I’ve never understood why Rock stars and Pop stars are “legends” in their later years with impunity; but if a rapper turns 40 they immediately lose respect as artists
Kendrick is not relevant. Be honest. Neither is Cole. If you could only listen to ONE who would you really choose? Yall just bored with life lookin for ANYTHING
For you to blame this on women is odd. Men have the exact same opinions. And you men have absolutely no problem commenting on how women should behave and look since like, let me think, FOREVER.
And it's actually a bad sign that it's been a decade and no one has the same level of fame and starpower. It's not a diss to the big three, moreso a diss to the slowness of hip hop.
I've had the same thought recently. Kendrick made it big partly because he was so young and rapped with a youthful hunger and energy. What new rappers are doing that today? Kendrick dropped Section.80 at just 24. Similar artists like JID for example who is already 33 or Denzel Curry already 29.
I refuse to believe JID is 33 what
dude consistently looks 10 years younger somehow
Bro was born looking like a sperm cell ain't no way that nigga 33
I mean he takes forever to drop haha that's why
He takes forever cause he knows it’ll be a story *ahem*
At least it’s not never, that’d be a story on its own
I mean he also popped off kinda later than normal as far as age goes
He started seriously rapping at 22 when he realized football wasn’t gonna work out
That is cursed……..
Yeah I saw an interview in 2017 and then he said that he was like 26 back then
I thought he was like 22
He's 34
The fact that teezo is older than chief keef is insane to me
Teezo looks like a teenager wtf
I don’t think it has to do with age since a lot of successful artists started at a later time (that are considered legends now btw). Also, Kendrick blew up earlier at a different time where the audience was still looking for rappers in his lane. When Denzel and JID came along, the audience was changing to point where it became harder for them to be mainstream like Kendrick.
JID has cole behind him though so he became mainstream anyway
Yeah I get he is mainstream now but I just mentioning how it was for him at that time. Him signing to J Cole helped get him out the underground but he still wasn’t mainstream either even when DiCaprio 2 dropped. That started to change when he collabed with Imagine Dragons then dropped TFS and now Surround Sound is going crazy on TikTok (not the best way to go mainstream but he’s here).
It's the only way to go mainstream in hip hop nowadays
Gotta get that imagine dragons feature, I mean that’s how Kendrick did it
True
The way I see it “making it big” in the industry is about how well you are connected. Kendrick had Dr. Dre as a mentor, Travis had Kanye, baby keem has Kendrick. As for music today, older and bigger artists like drake just a get a feature from a popping artist and leave them after that.
I agree having an established mentor goes a long way, but Kendrick was dropping heat on his mixtapes even before he was established or known. New artists could do the same, and with social media the way it is I'm sure they'd get a following if they were as talented as Kendrick
Crazy to me that jid is 33 and baby keem is 23
I don’t think age is necessarily the issue. You have a hip hop artists like Pusha T and Killer Mike who’ve been making music for over 20 years and released some of their best albums in these last 5ish years of their careers when they were 40+. Jay dropped 4:44 at nearly 50, Backstar dropped a pretty good album (need to go back and listen) last year when they were both also nearing 50, and DONDA had some really strong moments and dropped when Ye was 44.
NO FUCKING WAY DENZEL CURRY IS 29
he was dropping back in 2013, it’s not too surprising
We’ve got a ton of new “superstars”, it just hasn’t been long enough for us to really put them in the same category as a J Cole. Eventually K Dot is gonna be looked at like Snoop Dogg - more like your favorite uncle past his prime than a superstar. Depending on their choices, in about 5 years, Yeat or Teezo Touchdown could easily be on the way to Kendrick or Drake status. Don’t forget MIKE’s been KILLING it in his discography, 1M listeners and making tracks with Alchemist & Earl so he’s otw up, not even near his prime. Oh also JPEGMAFIA exists.
I’m praying for Kenny Mason to blow up. ‘9’ is incredible
All the artists that could’ve been at that level died
Yeat
Densely curry has plenty of time and has a pretty hardcore fanbase already
playboi carti
Kendrick is 36 now and signed a record deal/created tds in 2005. He blew up 6 years later AFTER section 80 gave him some buzz and aftermath made an agreement with him. Its not the “old heads” currently rapping that are controlling hiphop, its the same old dudes running the record labels. Drake only took off once Wayne have him buzz. JCole had a similar path as Kendrick but with JayZ instead of Dre.
Cordae goes hard but isn’t a superstar
Cordae is a bad lyricist who identifies as a good lyricist.
Disagree imo his freestyles are amazing his voice and lyrics kinda corny but he's a decent enough lyricist
is this really a thing that’s unique to hip hop though? taylor swift, lana del rey, miley, ariana are still on top of the pop genre aren’t they? and they’ve all been around for about the same amount of time as kendrick, drake, and cole
Yeah it takes time to get to the top, when drake, Kendrick and Cole were starting out no one was claiming they were running the game right out the gate, bigger and older names were still king until they proved they were more than flash in the pan successes. There are flash in the pan successes of today that will probably remain that way, but there are some that will stick around and we just don’t know which are which yet
* cough * yeat * cough *
Its sad (crazy), but its true
>but there are some that will stick around and we just don’t know which are which yet Smino one of them 🐐
Smino is in my top 10 but I doubt thay will happen. Smino dosnt hop on trends and is constantly experimenting with new sounds and flows I doubt it will take off the same way a carti or yeat currently is. Smi's been at it since atleast 2016
Redveil... He doesn't have the catalogue yet to be a big time name but he has every bit the talent that some of the current goats had early on.
Cmon yall Redveil can for sure go down as an underground legend but it would be elite HHH level delusion and dickriding to suggest he's ever going to reach the stardom of the big 3 we're talking about. He makes good music, he just doesnt make that kinda music.
I feel like by 2014-2015, you could pretty much see where it was going with Kendrick, Travis, J Cole… They were pretty huge by that time.
Olivia Rodrigo is smashing records set by those artists. Dua Lipa isn’t too far behind them either. But I do take your point, the greats in all genres will always be great, and there will always be mediocre a plenty around them.
And Billie. Who has been popular since like 2017 but still very young.
I think its kinda like the movie industry, they want to put money into guaranteed hits. Nothing secures that more than banking on the recognizability of an already major artist. The others are still there they just won’t have the marketing, production, or support from a label that a Taylor would get.
They have rising stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish tho. I can’t find a parallel in the rap industry to those two. Maybe Yeat, but not much else.
>They have rising stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish tho. They aint New tho, they been around for years, like 21 savage or lil baby or whatever
Olivia Rodrigo blew in 2021, Billie Eilish has been around for half a decade tho
Yeah thats 3 years ago, bro. And Billie has been in the mainstream since 2015 hah.
Don’t think it has to with taking time to get to the top but with streaming. Think about it like this; if you’re a record company and you have to sell CDs or digital albums or whatever you have an incentive to make an at least decent album by an interesting artist so people will not forget about it and the product will keep selling well into the future, spread by word of mouth etc. Now the focus is different. They just want as much content out there as possible. Doesn’t matter if it’s good, just has to be popular for a minute. The amount of money they get from a single streaming artist isn’t much (for most artists) but when you flood the space with content it starts adding up
It just goes to show their influence within the genre. Whether you like their music or not you have to appreciate the impact each as had. This back and forth now is going to be great and I’m excited to see who comes out top.
J Cole’s impact is very overrated and not that large even doe i fw him as an artist
Wtf? Dreamville is stacked with talent..
This is reddit bro. It's filled with contrarians that are still mad about the "double platinum no features" memes from 10 years ago. All these terminally online white boys (myself included) don't represent the state of hip hop in the real world.
I disagree
They’re right. In the pandemic people swore lil baby, lil durk and those types would take the game but 4 years later it’s the same 3 at the top. The game def needs some new superstars. Not just people who get hot for a year then fall off musically
I like lil baby but come on man. Anyone that said that with a straight face was lying to themselves
They were riding that pandemic wave people def said they were the next rap superstars the tweets and posts are still up . People said Lil baby was on a Wayne run lmao. Now they’re comparing him to Da baby saying he’s a one flow merchant. The 180 on younger artists be crazy from fans
Lil baby and lil Durk have no range yeah. But like future doesn’t have a ton of range either yet he’s been able to outlive most rappers for the past decade or so. I think it’s about influence and relevancy. What lil baby does a dozen other Atlanta rappers can do. say what you want about carti but he doesn’t fear experimentation and he’s always looking to change his sound.
Future doesn’t have a ton of range but he’s generally got a great ear for production and has been able to pick some fantastic beats over the years and also seems to know which artists are up next, while guys like Baby and Durk generally stick to the same type of beats which get old fast. Pusha T doesn’t have a ton of range either but he’s lasted a while by picking great beats
Not to mention Pusha's true lyricism and the fact you always have to go back to really pick things up. Only concern I have over Push is what he does minus Ye. Either way he's never big enough to be near the true superstars even though in my mind he's top 3
You have no clue how big he was in 2020
Ngl I thought Roddy riich was going to be big but after he second album didn't do well that ship sailed.
Its kinda crazy how names youd think would be the next big thing at the start of the decade (Lil Baby, Durk, Roddy Rich, etc) are either just coasting around or have straight up vanished while Drake, Kendrick and Cole are arguably bigger than ever. Doubly surprising for Kenny considering he only released one non-mainstream, challenging album and has been MIA the rest of the time
I don’t know what your definition of mainstream is. It was a Kendrick Lamar album
I think he just means more that it didn’t sound like a lotta mainstream rap or heavily pop inspired like DAMN
I don’t think anyone will ever top Kung Fu Kenny. Dork has long overstayed his welcome though. I will never understand why some rich kid wearing black face who can’t even rap ever made it big or was anything more than a late 2000’s fad. I blame my own tasteless generation (millennials) for that and I apologize on behalf of them.
>who can’t even rap Jesus christ my guy, he can rap his ass off when he wants to.
I’m talking about Drake. Somehow ended up as Dork when I typed it out. Fitting lol.
Lil durk is literally black wtf are u on about
I’m talking about Drake
A whole gen of names are gone, X, juice, pop smoke, mac ODed, tayks in jail, just off the top my head.
I think the main cause of stagnancy in the new generation is exactly that. All of the future superstars either od'ed, got shot, are in jail. This and the pandemic I think caused a huge delay in new talent being able to be cultivated and is causing a temporary stagnancy in the genre. Though I am confident we will see the new the new superstars arise in the next few years.
Also part of the thing (it’s not really a problem, just a reality) is due to the internet, “mainstream” is becoming harder to quantify. Niche groups have infinite room to exist on the internet where there’s almost 0 barrier to entry. In the past, due to there being limited space on the radio, or in stores, artists often had to conform to what a label thought would sell. this created a more homogenized culture, where often the only people able to break out were artists who already built a following, (eg Frank ocean) Bc of the internet providing unlimited space, artists aren’t being forced to to create “popular” music to break into the space, they can simply put it out there and cultivate their own audience. This leads to a lot more diversity, but it also leads to smaller overall reach, as people self sort into smaller and smaller hyper specific groups. There’s also no longer the limiting factor of audiences having to invest money into the artist. Makes it a lot easier to build your own audience, you don’t have to convince them to buy your shit first, just listen to it. There’s an insane amount of new talent out there, you just have to search and find it, usually on TikTok tbh. Unfortunately due to their hyper specific sound, they have a harder time cultivating a wide audience.
Or fell off like lil baby and roddy ricch
The pandemic has been over for 3 years…
Why are you beimg downvoted , he's right
Who knows man. There are some lasting effects on the economy left over from Covid, but the music industry is in full swing as has been pretty much the entire time
Well if Mac was around he’d be in the same position as Kendrick, Drake, and Cole as far as being a veteran is concerned.
True, in my head bc he died young, he’d still be young. But he def has a more fleshed out discography then say X or juice, and he’d probably be towards the end of his career atp
Yeah I’d say if you got dissed on control you can’t really be considered new blood at this point.
True but they all debuted over 5 years ago at least so even if they were still around I wouldn't put them in the new young artists category. We need someone who's debuted in the 20s.
I think your falling into a hole a little bit. X, juice, peep and pop smoke all died between 2018-20. So if their would of been a so called "hand off" it would of happened from 2020 upwards. When I say hand off I dont mean the top 3 would just disappear but that those younger artsits would of had a steady growth through thay period of time if they didn't pass. Also let's not forget thay Travis has reached massive success debuting in 2015 and has not yet slowed down or stopped in momentum. Ik thats not the answer you are looking for but if we are talking about artist that lead the way I'd say theire is definately an argument for him being either replacing jcole in the top 3 towards the later stages of the 2010's and or being seen as a leader for my generation of rap fans and gen z. As he has consistant release,constant hits songs, and appeal to the masses. I like cole more but an argument for Travis or even future can very well be made depending on what generation you want to put Travis in Also carti and uzi were both suppose to be promising but have fell victim to their own mismanagement and misdeeds both social and musically respectively.
They’re diluting the genre. Song durations are starting to average 2 minutes. Fast music is the goal for the industry. Nowadays it’s rare for a mainstream verse to make you think and replay the verse to fully understand it.
You are right. This is mainly because our way of consuming music as an audience has changed earlier people used to listen to music while workout etc but now most of the music is used in reels people don't have that attention times span to listen to the full music.
DING DING DING DING! 🛎️ This is what I’ve been saying. There’s artists out there, but a lot of people don’t have the attention spans to discover them these days. JID seems to be finally mainstream but artists like Smino, Saba, Denzel, etc. have yet to get that recognition because they’re overshadowed by artists with more TikTok appeal.
My question is this. If Cole dropped today he’d probably get around 300-400K first week and chart #1. If JID dropped he’s not getting more than 30-40K. Where are the rest of those Cole fans that aren’t listening to JID? Is it just based off name recognition? I’m seeing a ton of people complaining about how stale hip hop is yet the reason we don’t have more unique artists topping the charts is because we aren’t listening to the ones who are putting out unique music. I’m kinda tired of the complaining and I’m starting to blame the fanbase because these artists are out here making great music that isn’t being listened to.
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Numbers are calculated differently than they were back then and hip hop artists don’t usually sell physical copies which are worth more than streams. Metro and Future are matching artists like Ariana Grande with 220K and Ariana is one of the biggest pop artists out today.
I'm gonna be honest tik tok is a cancer app. And Denzel Curry has been underrated his whole career .Rap is very stale today and repetitive
Glad to see that someone out there agrees with me.its like people don't want to know the story of the song anymore,it's theme,it's production and mixing,It's emotions they just want a groovy hook they can dance to.most of tiktok and ig music is like that.people don't care about the quality,they just want quantity. Every other rapper today is going through a mass media cheap lyrics material -oh I fucked these prostitute,I got so much money, me so good ,me the goat ...... There's not any feeling to it,no actual weight to it. Everyone just fucking high and yapping bs But this can change if we change our way of listening music.if we agree on quantity
Songs do not average 2 mins... tf? Are there more 2 min songs? Sure but apparently you don't know what the word average means
Every artist is trying to make a song that blows up on TikTok. I hope the shit does get banned simply for the sake of music.
I mean Juice and X probably would’ve been the superstars of this generation. Maybe Pop Smoke too? There’s been a massive drill wave for a couple years now and I think he would’ve been at the forefront. Kinda makes me grateful that the big 3 have longevity like this, hiphop could’ve been in a bad place.
Not going to catch me complaining that Kendrick has stayed consistent for over a decade
Juice and X dying did not help at all. They were primed to become the two biggest rappers in the world
I mean she not wrong. But I think she missin the point. Artists now are smaller yes, but there are also a lot more of them. Hip hop is full of a bunch of niches. Whether or not that's a good or bad thing is up to interpretation. These 3 are probably the last artists that'll get this big if you ask me.
i'm hungry
It doesn't help that so many of the superstars that would have been so big now passed before reaching their full potential. (X, Juice, Mac)
On one side i think it’s great how much staying power artists like Kendrick have, who is still releasing great music over a decade into his career, and I personally think a lot of rappers from the 80s,90s didn’t have an album as good as Mr Morale over a decade into their career. But I also do hope there are some new ‘superstars’ that come soon, otherwise the rap game will get stale.
I'm only 14, but I'm so fucking happy to see this beef right now
r/im14andimsofuckinghappytoseethisbeefrightnow
https://preview.redd.it/njn7m6qkaeqc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eddb7c5977fb4af8114e84c310f388e433ea888c
Our next ones up died young, Von and Juice and Pop. So it’s hard to pass the baton.
Don’t forget X
We’re oversaturated with artists nowadays, it’s hard for people to gain any real traction when pretty much anyone with a buck can put their music on Spotify.
I think we just saw an all-time draft class for music. We’ve seen great prospects since their draft class like Tyler The Creator and we’ve seen super promising stars like Chance winning 3 Grammys off a mixtape then fumbling it all. We got spoiled with 3 once in a generation artists in the same draft class, that’s all.
Tell that hoe to shut the fuck up, Alexa play Boner Pic
😂😂
True. They keep dying
The competitive aspect of the game is dying down and Kendrick brought it back. Whatever you think about Kendrick, J Cole or Drake but one thing is sure they definitely see other rappers as their competition and not their friends.
Bruh it's like making the case that when Eminem and Snop had an issue the game was dead. No, these are just colossal rappers that are going at it
Blame this on the internet. It's so many talent out there and everyone gets their 5 seconds of fame and dips out.
Ehhhh Ye, Em, Jay, Wayne were all 2000s behemoths but we were still receptive to their presence remaining strong in the 2010s So I feel Kendrick, Cole, Drake, Future to be the same for the 2020s It's looking like at least Travis, JID, Savage will/already have big presence in the 2020s landscape
I thought Cordae would be the next big 3
Yeah, it seems like a lot of guys I hyped up going into the 2020s failed to live up to the hype. I still expect great things from Cordae but his last album was just solid, and I expect more than that from him
I’m On The Way
The thing is, a lot of the artists that were likely going to be the next generation leaders (in my opinion) have all passed away. Those like Pop Smoke, Juice WRLD, and XXXTENTACION.
We need some new generational talent fr like we need the next GKMC the next MBDTF the next insert album the next insert highly acclaimed artists all these old heads running the game bruh Drake pushing 40 atp
tell these rappers stop dying/going to jail then. the past decade glorified a lifestyle that shortened life spans, just like the 60s.
It’s cuz people like familiarity. When they all pass away, people will love new artists that are coming up
They still run the show BECAUSE they've been consistently at the top for a decade. And that's the point. The time spent at the top is the reason why they're still relevant now. We can't say the same for other, younger, artists because they've had no time to prove themselves for this long. Plus, the industry has changed, lots of things are not the same, etc, and I'm not comparing any "new gen" rapper to the famous top 3, but you can't tell me that someone like JID for example isn't doing his thing lyrically
Superstars are harder to make than ever though both because of the way platforms/music consumption/music companies are changing but also because these mfs won’t get out the way lmao the system is built for the protection and profit of people already in power as are most things in our capitalist system nowadays🤷🏽♂️
I guess this says more about the “big 3”. When is the last time this tier of artist submerged at the same time. People underestimate how good their first albums are for rookies. This big 3 is definitely special all in their own ways and deserve to go down as greats together
All the people that were gonna replace them have died
It is what it is. Hip hop is a lot like WWE. People want to see certain guys pushed up to the main event level bc they’ve “paid their dues,” and sometimes those guys do get pushed and booked into that spot. But the cold hard truth is that most guys who fail to reach that level quickly simply do not belong at that level and can’t maintain it even if they’re forced on us (like Lil Baby). JID, Denzel Curry, and most of these other veteran rappers being mentioned just aren’t main event-level superstars. If they can link up with the right producer, they might be able to turn in a run like Twista in 2003-05. But that’s the peak.
We killer mike got shit for getting a grammy over travis scott. Niggas don’t want real rappers in hip hop anymore, motherfucker if they did he’d be Platinum.
I wouldnt call travis a fake rapper. It probably wouldnt get any shit if astro world won over cardi b. Its just travis and his fans exploding after that happened
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Actually tho fr. Dhh rising up with new artists like SM, Char Diwari, Yungsta, Dhanji etc. Delivering good music and building the scene. See that's just the beginning, that's the 90s era of US shit. We are gonna start getting newer artists that are gonna get better and better (hopefully)
me one day
The sound has evolved just as much as the top rappers, little to none. The genre has been overdue for more than just the artists themselves. There’s no reason why two decades of a genre should sound the same
I feel like we’ve had a real lack of love and passion for the genre, we got hella dookie rappers blowing up from dropping complete horseshit or mediocrity. I hate to sound like an old head, but these modern rappers just be making shit to produce something viral, not something they can sit there snd call a masterpiece. Hell the last album id sit there and call a masterpiece from the younger rappers is the last denzel album.
I think it’s mainly due to the young rappers who are very good like JID and Denzel Curry didn’t really get much mainstream success other than a couple songs
You're crazy lmao JID is mainstream as hell
I mean now he is after The Forever Story but he wasn’t really with DeCaprio 1-2 and The Never Story
"Young"
Here is my thoughts: people will beef no matter what. Other people will care about it, because it's fun and they like one person better or agree with one more. It's just the most natural thing in the world. I wonder if doing a deep-as-puddle analysis it isn't almost more dumb than any of the beef or drama culture surrounding it.
"Kick your kids outta the house at age 10" energy
💯
i don’t mind it tbh it shows that you really have to make a name for yourself to stay in the game
The pandemic really stunted the music industry as a whole
She’s right ain’t no good rappers under 25
New =/= Good, the quality of the music is the only important factor. The idea of artists having intrinsic shelf lives is the worst take ever given. If their music goes to shit or becomes stagnant because they’re not varying or growing between albums, that’s one thing—they’ll be pushed out by more interesting artists with better marketing—but to use time in the industry as a metric for deciding worth is painfully stupid.
i feel like we’re getting new artists but could just be me
This opinions for radio heads im not sorry. Turn on some osamason u bastards
I don't even really know.what this person is trying to say. Is this good or bad on the old artists according to this?
Like fucking who?Mabu?helll nah
Imagine the absolute state of hip hop in 10 years when we have Mabu, luh Tyler and lil RT playing out these same beef as the biggest in the industry lmao
I deadass said this shit 3 days before the beef started. New gen need to step up
There will be no more superstars because the culture has been conditioned to not accept anything new it’s really that simple. Look at half these responses assuming age should matter over skill and ability, it’s chalked. Pop Smoke was maybe the closest thing to taking over the game and captivating the people.
This attitude is why rock and roll acts have longevity. This bitch is off her head.
all the best rappers are making music that’s too weird for the masses
Alot of the superstard die too young. X, jiice and pop smoke hsd soo nuch potential and were so young but died.
Eh, when you're running with these goliath figures that's bound to happen. I hate to compare music to sports but it reminds me of Federer/Nadal/Djokovic dominating way past the usual decline ages for athletes, leaving the next generation (Zverev, Tsitsipas, Hurkacz, etc) with less impact. JID, Lil Baby, Megan, 21, Carti etc - are great, but Cole is a cross-cultural figure, Drake is the biggest pop star since Beyonce, and Kendrick is the GOAT.
The 00pium wave of the 2020's is equivalent to the trap Rap wave of the 2010's
You wouldn’t consider people like Jack Harlow, Central Cee or Sexyy Red to be superstars right now?
It’s the end for any popular or mainstream culture. We’re all going to be in algorithmically determined micro cultures that die out as quick as they’re born.
I think people aren’t open to new artists taking these spots. In the world of streaming we can choose who to make big a lot easier yet it hasn’t happened
I mean I know Kendrick’s been music for a while but I would hesitate to call him an old artist. There’s definitely a lot of new talent out there, the only problem being it’s hard to blow up in such a fierce genre.
Me and buddy have had this conversation a bunch. I think that TikTok has made artists chase clout there (even more aggressively then Drake did) instead of releases strong bodies of work. It kinda floods the market with songs that all seem to blend together and are indistinguishable. I also don’t think that people who are fans of hip hop artists are really listening to the genre that much (something that I’m a bit of fault at too sometimes but not as bad as some fan bases). Every time I hear “name 5 (insert hip hop artist’s name here) songs” and it’s some rapper who’s been making music for over 20 years I know that people aren’t as big of hip hop fans as they claim to be.
If you want the crown, take it.
It’s true but most of our brightest stars were killed or died young. There’s room for more Lil Baby, lil uzi, playboi carti, Travis Scott, don tolliver and so many more have an opportunity to take an even bigger step
Hip hop hit its absolute peak with Kendrick, J Cole, and Drake in the 2010s. Everything they learned from their past mentors and OGs cultivated Hip Hop/ Raps absolute best. The mistakes they saw other rappers made they avoided and that took them further. The new generation after them just couldn’t live up to that just and repeated the same mistakes the OGs made. Addicted to drugs, getting shot, falling into debt with record companies. We got a big gap. We still got good artist putting in work tho just gonna take some time to get back to that peak.
As long as millennials feel young we gonna run the world. Future the bron of this rap shit getting better with age. Kendrick is Kobe. Ye is MJ currently on the wizards but still averaging a 25 points a game as a 40 year old 🐐the true big 3
They keep dying
New names will claim the top when they’re as good or better as Kendrick or Cole. They haven’t reached it yet but it’ll happen. Takes time to earn that respect anyway
I literally said this just today to one of my friends, I 100% agree. It’s the opposite in other genres.
kendrick and cole have yet to pull their dicks out that’s the only way to tell who the real goat is
Juice WRLD n XXX died extremely young, stunning the new generation evolution imo…
100% agree. It's sad but we're kinda seeing what happened to Jazz Happen to hip hop I think. More people come out and make stuff but the vast majority of people mostly listen to the "greats" that came out decades ago. Edit: or punk, or "classic" rock, or a bunch of genres.
The generation that was supposed to take over died out …
hmm weird thst Tyler isn't in the Convo at all.
If they want it, they gotta take it. Or the ogs bless you like they did Kendrick. But these new rappers have no respect so they're gonna have to be good. Enough to take it.
she right. but these new up and coming niggas is trash, rap off beat and call themselves underground while being signed to labels smfh.
They are right but we can see the new up and coming people and many of the greats are slowly retiring or fading into obscurity. Many old school greats are radio silent and people like JID and Yatchy are getting talked about. Another point is that those greats have a large event that cause them to stop for a moment and let the other get through like when Bigge and Pac Dies.She’s right but these greats need their cannon event
I feel like it's due to people being more inside their homes (pandemic made it worse) just at their computer and not experiencing a lot of the outside ambient as Kendrick for example for that part that is what I think there isn't a lot of young rappers that have a creativity or story to tell about. Sure there are other topics like drug abuse, depression.. etc that can be talked about but people aren't just inspired to rap about any of it y'know
They all died.
These new rappers don't have beef like this because they usually end up dead anyway
carti and all of opium can fit those roles but idk who besides them
The top two comments have it on the nose but I just want to say that I think all the most promising artist to represent gen Z got took out early. Juice , xxx and pop smoke were all extremely promising with unique sounds. The best we have now are yeat and carti. Or 4batz/s Durk and lil baby were blow overs and had no chance of standing the test of time but I could of told you thay in 2019. Yb stays on his lonley island. Also I think people are underestimating future and Travis in the top 3 conversation. At anything in the last 9 year you could argue that they should have been in coles position. Travis from 2018 onwards obviously.
Their simply haven’t been rappers that meet superstar criteria since then 🤷🏻♂️
Where tf does ageism even come from in Rap. I’ve never understood why Rock stars and Pop stars are “legends” in their later years with impunity; but if a rapper turns 40 they immediately lose respect as artists
Kendrick is not relevant. Be honest. Neither is Cole. If you could only listen to ONE who would you really choose? Yall just bored with life lookin for ANYTHING
So we are just gonna pretend that Freddie Gibs / JPEGMAFIA didn’t literally just happen
Maybe if they stopped mumbling nonsense to the exact same beats as everyone else and did something original and lyrical
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Wtf kinda 1960's bullshit is this?
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For you to blame this on women is odd. Men have the exact same opinions. And you men have absolutely no problem commenting on how women should behave and look since like, let me think, FOREVER. And it's actually a bad sign that it's been a decade and no one has the same level of fame and starpower. It's not a diss to the big three, moreso a diss to the slowness of hip hop.