I listen to rap that doesn't sell. It's not my problem.

That’s just because of Drake fans mad about the beef

Fakemink and Esdeekid are independent outside of physical distribution deals with an interscope subsidiary

Neither of them have huge star potential or crossover appeal at this moment in time, their sound is too niche

Nah doechii def got picked up once she dropped alligator

Lmaooooo

okay that second pic is hilarious
I see you on the marketing argument front, but that doesn't change the fact that labels aren't environments today like they used to be for producing and molding artists. Either else we wouldnt even have a thread like this

Fakemink has a lot of crossover appeal songs like fever, Easter pink, like a virgin are far more reminiscent of indie pop than the underground genre he came from

And esdeekid was punching way above his weight last winter!

Blame uzi yb Kodak baby Carti etc for not taking that next step, but the youth love em

But there are numerous stars in other genres that have popped up in the 2020s

Sabrina Carpenter
Billie Eilish
Tyla
Morgan Wallen
Chappell Roan
Olivia Rodrigo
Leon Thomas
Olivia Dean

Rap seems to be the only genre struggling to find a new star right now

Cmon Man lol

That’s the answer to who can make a TML Graduation C2-C3 GRODT level album but is being overlooked by labels?

Dudes can make decent interesting music for their niche and “thing” but not be big 3/top of mainstream rap worthy and thats more than okay but lets be fr lol

You’ve been on my d*** for two weeks now, I might as well send you my phone number so you can privately send me nudes like a hoe

Fakemink's sound is way too niche to ever crossover in a BIG way like guys like Drake, Kendrick, Cole, Future, and Travis did

like someone already mentioned to you before
those are pop acts
thats an entirely different ecosystem from rap in itself
this is why i said meg can live in that territory because she has crossover appeal
crossover meaning crossover into pop appeal

he just never stops it’s amazing

I know y’all are gonna cook me for this one but Jack Harlow was the last guy who looked like he fit the superstar mold but immediately fumbled all of it

nah I agree with this 1000%

Kodak YB Baby definitely have a role in this because they somewhat have the talent to make 2000’s early 10’s level albums at least on some Jeezy Wayne TI type s*** but they stay on a certain type of beat lol niggas scared of them pre 2015-2018 drums lol

Kodak at least got paintinn pictures and yb tried doing that old NOLA style beats album

a) contemporary rap fans don’t want their favorite artists to be cringe mainstream/crossover fans. They don’t want Katy Perry collabs, dreamworks voice roles, McDonald’s collabs, etc.

b) labels don’t want to invest in rappers being commercial/crossover stars after decades of unruly and loose cannon rappers who remain legal and behavioral liabilities. They could just pick a white woman out of the Disney channel alumni and plug them in.

c) rap artists don’t want to get totally shafted by labels like the greats of the 2000’s and 2010’s did. Literally everyone was dissing their label: SZA, Thug, Uzi, etc.

No one who is part of the emerging annd front running ecosystem wants what you’re talking about.

Yes, but pop struggled heavily in the 2010s outside of the heavy hitters, it's not a guaranteed thing that we get new popstars every year like we have so far in the 2020s

Also, Morgan, Leon, and Olivia aren't pop acts in my opinion, they're mainstream friendly. But all three are obvious genre acts

He’s the closest name to someone in that vein so far but just didn’t have enough to talk about

He’s still in an good place if he can tap into something that makes him unique

You're right, for a period there it looked like he would be, but then he dropped a stinker album and followed it up with a #RealRap project that alienated most of his fanbase

Nah he still had a shot but killed himself with that last project

You want to see my d***????