Oh, in terms of music absolutely. He was nominated for a Teen Choice Award though

Slightly more on topic

Not a bad comp at all.

I would say if Mos was super ambitious with his career, I can see him in a childish gambino lane, but with better music. I would say that would be his ceiling in terms of popularity.

Yupp, that's the price to be paid for "trying to spit knowledge".

God I hate Jay Z so much.

Absolutely hilarious (and niggas would probably kill me for this) that the contemporary equivalent of Mos and em would probably be Willow Smith of all f***ing people

I do think people have insomnia and gloss over Jay-Z’s hey day and how he moved….especially with the Drake vs Jay fever going on rn.

But anyways

I love this song. Haha.

Definitely. Actual mainstream artists like Alicia Keys and Jay-Z might’ve put Mos in their video, but he wasn’t mainstream like that

I can already imagine people 20 years from now saying how it’s insane that Vince was a mainstream artist and using his Netflix show, his appearance in Abbott Elementary, or his songs getting synced in movies as examples. But if you were listening to the radio in the 2010s-20s, you know Vince wasn’t getting played, and neither was Mos back in the day.

That's a masterful song. Reminds me of why I like Frank Ocean.

lol Ms. Fat Booty wasn’t getting played on the radio?

Nobody is saying Mos Def was the most famous person in the world but at his peak he was a very popular actor and a well known rapper. I was 10 years old knowing who Mos Def was.

As popular as Vince online it’s not even comparable tbh.

That wasnt what happened.

Lmfao bey had to “dance” too at one point.

I'm aware he walked away.

That's kind of his own fault with the beats and s*** he picks not because of his messages/views

Hate to reduce him to this/he shouldn't "have" to do this but logically speaking he was the overlap/bridge between the LA gang s***/Odd Future/Mac Miller/his own natural eccentric tastes

If he made music that blended all those things in the mid 2010's at the tail end of monoculture he'd be a much bigger artist, as opposed to an album like say Big Fish Theory with the abrasive electronic beats. But he I'm sure would give you a whole little speech on why he doesn't wanna do that lol and that's his choice fasho

Vince Staples has said 1000000x he doesnt want to be a star, never claimed to be a star, and always just wanted to find something he wanted to do idk why ppl bringing him up itt.

lmao wow

I wanna know what executive said we need a neo-soul car commercial rap

But then again they was prob trying to specifically catch that demographic/subset of niggas. Capitalism is bold af lol

Niggas bringing up sales exposing their age there was a time where you could become a household name without having to go platinum plat.

Black on both sides is seen as a hip hop landmark album especially following black star (where mos regularly was outshining) f*** sales. That s*** has a legacy.

The deterrent started when the label didnt let Bey do his Black Jack Johnson rock project like he originally wanted to do after BOBS

The New Danger was the compromise (and to this day I’m a truther but I get it)

True Magic got some gems but you can tell bruh was halfassing it lyrically on that album. U R The 1 and Katrina Clap are still classics but by then you can tell bro was fed up wit it all.

Damn now I’m gonna dig thru Commons whole discog, it had been a long while

I’ve never heard The Rape Over before right now. Oh my god

One of my fav songs ever

Insane song and title lmao

Bruh

True Magic was just scrapped together material that Geffen dropped to end their deal with him. But he’s my personal goat so I still do find a lot of gems on it.

“Lifetime” is a masterpiece tho for me as I get older.

“The thrilling beginning. The quiet finale.”

household name?? the level of popularity that term requires would absolutely mean selling more than 500K in 99/2000. Meth and Red Blackout went platinum and I’m not sure I would even call them “household” names

I’m not saying anything about the quality of Mos’ art. BOBS is a classic and he’s top 3 to me… he just wasn’t mainstream

no it wasn’t. I’m sure Ms Fat Booty was in rotation on Hot97 but it was not getting spins nationally. I remember seeing the video once on either MTV or BET. wasn’t getting heavy play there either.