popular artists you can't understand the appeal of

[PopeyeJones]

Thread isn't just for for folks who you don't like who other people like. That's fucking boring. This is reserved for people whose popularity totally fucking perplexes you. For most popular artists I don't like, I can at least take a step back and say "I'm not really too into these things that people like about them, but I guess I can understand what people like about them if they like stuff like that."

Figure this thread can be good for shit talking and infighting.



#1 for me is Andre Nikitina. Dude sounds painfully uncomfortable going on awkward monosyllabic rants, and his flow has even gotten cornier over the last 20 years. Even for people who like nerdy bay area yay rap, he sounds like a b-list myspace rapper, and being around for so long is the only thing that keeps him from being compared to a black, bay area version of The Trademark Experience. I honestly don't fucking get it.

[Philaflava]

Nickatina is an acquired taste for some. Either you like him or you don't. Kinda of like Kool Keith.

I'm sure will be mentioned a lot in this thread. Here is a label I don't get, Stones Throw. With the exception of a few release (like Madvillian) I don't understand why they're still relevant. Them and Duckdown at this point.

[ackbar]

stones throw is (highly) relevant because the majority of their artists aren't rappers

[Philaflava]

stones throw is (highly) relevant because the majority of their artists aren't rappers

Oh No
Guilty Simpson
Percy P
Dilla
Madlib
M.E.D.
Strong Arm Steady

I'm not talking about the Hawthorne, Georgia Anne Muldrow or the Madlib beat tapes. There is a lot of "rap" releases on that label. Most of which are extremely boring.

[ackbar]

you're right.. they do still have rap
most of that stuff gets by on the strength of the production

[PopeyeJones]

Nickatina is an acquired taste for some. Either you like him or you don't. Kinda of like Kool Keith.

I'm sure Doom will be mentioned a lot in this thread.

Yeah, not as into Keith or Doom as I suspect most other people are, but I get what people like about them. They're both funny. Keith can be abstract and all over the place regardless of if he's rapping about fucking or space shit, and Doom is technically a very good and entertaining rapper. Nikitina is none of these things. He's nothing of anything. He just fucking sucks. There are easily 20 people we have heard of and 500 people we haven't heard of who are doing what he does better than him. You can't say the same thing for Keith or Doom.

[ADR]

Thread isn't just for for folks who you don't like who other people like. That's fucking boring. This is reserved for people whose popularity totally fucking perplexes you. For most popular artists I don't like, I can at least take a step back and say "I'm not really too into these things that people like about them, but I guess I can understand what people like about them if they like stuff like that."

Figure this thread can be good for shit talking and infighting.



#1 for me is Andre Nikitina. Dude sounds painfully uncomfortable going on awkward monosyllabic rants, and his flow has even gotten cornier over the last 20 years. Even for people who like nerdy bay area yay rap, he sounds like a b-list myspace rapper, and being around for so long is the only thing that keeps him from being compared to a black, bay area version of The Trademark Experience. I honestly don't fucking get it.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/ #134

I believe one of the Terrors went on a rant about how if you rap weirdly, white kids will always jock you even if they don't understand you.

Backed up with the old-school credibility, Nickatina is the perfect storm.

I don't understand how Anticon seems to have some sort of enduring fan base. I've never been able to sit through any of it except the "El-P Diss."

I've never heard them mentioned outside of this forum or seen any of their releases in stores. I'm slightly suspicious it was all a tremendous hoax orchestrated by the likes of KRS Thun, Kevin Beacham, and Jay Seagraves.

[HomieDontPlayDat]

I've never heard them mentioned outside of this forum or seen any of their releases in stores. I'm slightly suspicious it was all a tremendous hoax orchestrated by the likes of KRS Thun, Kevin Beacham, and Jay Seagraves.

Excellent.

[zombie]

Jay Electronica

[DLG]

I'm pretty sure the majority of Anticon's fanbase doesn't listen to rap and most have never heard Illmatic in its entirety.

They are mostly people who think they are too intelligent for regular hip hop and need something next level like Anticon in order to even consider listening to something that could be loosely labeled as rap.

At least that's how I understood it.

[HomieDontPlayDat]

That was a post straight out of 1999.

[ADR]

Jay Electronica

He raps fairly well. Traditional style. Original persona.*


* sort of. I think he bit DOOM a little, but the explanation stands.

[Thun]

Is Andre Nickatina popular? I'm convinced that Gloss is the only non-Bay person to ever claim to be a fan of this guy.

[Reggie]

Nickatina is an acquired taste for some. Either you like him or you don't. Kinda of like Kool Keith.

I'm sure will be mentioned a lot in this thread. Here is a label I don't get, Stones Throw. With the exception of a few release (like Madvillian) I don't understand why they're still relevant. Them and Duckdown at this point.

I dunno, I feel like Stones Throw brings a consistent level of quality that is, while not groundbreaking for the most part, reliable. Duck Down too. Being a label where people can pick up any release with the logo and know what to expect can go farther than a label where you might, say, cop Brother Ali one time and Mac Lethal the next. Just for example.

You do have a point, though. When you look at the catalog in its entirety, there are very few really good releases among scores of forgettable ones. I chalk the label's longevity to the Bay Area's perpetuation of the scene and the Now-Again imprint, which I believe does quite well among diggers.

One artist I don't understand the hype about is Rick Ross. I know that's not an entirely unpopular opinion around here, but the people who swear he's nice on the forum and in my Clark Kent life are baffling. Dude sucks.

[HomeSkillet]

Nickatina is an acquired taste for some. Either you like him or you don't. Kinda of like Kool Keith.

I'm sure will be mentioned a lot in this thread. Here is a label I don't get, Stones Throw. With the exception of a few release (like Madvillian) I don't understand why they're still relevant. Them and Duckdown at this point.

If I like Kool Keith would I like nickatina? never heard him


I've never checked anything on stones throw that wasn't a Madlib related release.

[PopeyeJones]

Is Andre Nickatina popular? I'm convinced that Gloss is the only non-Bay person to ever claim to be a fan of this guy.

IMO he's fairly popular, and very popular in the bay, but that he even gets mentioned at all is weird because there's no shortage of people in the bay basically doing the same thing he does but in a passably competent way.


Jay Electronica is a good example of someone who doesn't belong in this thread. Maybe he's over hyped, but it only takes one song to be able to figure out what people who do like him like about him.


Anticon is a little stickier, imo. Screeching, off-beat, self important, vague emotional nonsense over mismatched (if sometimes not bad) production doesn't appeal to me at all. That said, I look at the faggots who like Anticon and the whole thing makes sense. If your dumb enough to want something like that, there's not really a better alternative to Anticon out there. Basically, I wish they didn't exist, but I begrudgingly understand why they do.


Skillet, nah, Nikitina is too (unintentionally) stupid and simple for Keith fans. With Keith you can at least pretend that you're in on the joke of his goofiness. IMO Nikitina is kind of for trend hoppers who decide they'll like yay area rap but don't know enough about it to discern what's good or not.
(not taking subliminal shots at gloss with this, I didn't even know he liked the guy)

[ADR]

Nickatina is an acquired taste for some. Either you like him or you don't. Kinda of like Kool Keith.

I'm sure will be mentioned a lot in this thread. Here is a label I don't get, Stones Throw. With the exception of a few release (like Madvillian) I don't understand why they're still relevant. Them and Duckdown at this point.

I dunno, I feel like Stones Throw brings a consistent level of quality that is, while not groundbreaking for the most part, reliable. Duck Down too. Being a label where people can pick up any release with the logo and know what to expect can go farther than a label where you might, say, cop Brother Ali one time and Mac Lethal the next. Just for example.

You do have a point, though. When you look at the catalog in its entirety, there are very few really good releases among scores of forgettable ones. I chalk the label's longevity to the Bay Area's perpetuation of the scene and the Now-Again imprint, which I believe does quite well among diggers.

One artist I don't understand the hype about is Rick Ross. I know that's not an entirely unpopular opinion around here, but the people who swear he's nice on the forum and in my Clark Kent life are baffling. Dude sucks.

I've warmed up to Ross in the past year or so. He's actually a decent writer. Even on Port of Miami;

I waited and waited, I done ran out of patience
They hated and hated, left'em slow dancin' w/ Satan

there's imagery and poetry in what he says a lot of the time. It's more than the usual rhetoric.

It's ironic that he got put on to capitalize on Young Jeezy's fame but has since grown to be twice the rapper as Young. Who would've thought that 5 years later Rick fucking Ross would still be doing it? On this level none the less.

"Blowing Money Fast" is basically Trap or Die 2010

(That won't mean anything to you if you live above the Mason-Dixon.)

[Philaflava]

People move to the next shit. Like El said, what Ross is doing is basically the new new of Trap music. All those Jeezy fans graduated to Ross. Ross is a much better writer than people give him credit for, but he lacks the ability to grab the listener for too long. He has a short range of topics, most of which are about his wealth. The production is one of the stand-out of his products.

As for Nickatina, I'm sure there are a few non-Bay cats who dig him. If you did a search on hear I'm sure you'd find them. Off the top I know Cadence is a big fan as well. Daiquiri Factory was the first time I heard his album and since I've been a fan. Either you like the Mob Figgaz or YBB releases or you just don't. It's not just

[Renessis]

So Reggie don't like RSE?

Stones Throw relocated to LA in O2 or something, which more than likely has kept it rigid in the sense that LA has only 2 reputable independent labels. Tres being the other(word up mutherfuckers).
But for the most part Stones Throw has had good distribution. People..people..distribution is key. What did PT Barnum say about suckers???
I like Stones Throw.

[step one]

i like a handful of his tunes (seriously!) but I've never really understood why TI is is big as he is. He rapping/writing is pretty average and he mumbles half the time.

I cant get my head round my adults, or anyone with any kind of half decent taste in music would enjoy any Eminem release from the last 8 years but apparently they do...

[DaBonks]

Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, Drake.

[step one]

Drake.

you dont understand why 14 year old girls like Drake?

[Huldrich Bullsh!t]

Wayne. i think he comes off as an interesting guy in interviews but i dont undertsand the appeal of the music or his rapping.

aesop rock. the beats arent bad i guess but i couldnt make it through an album of his due to his rapping

[Comedy Quaddafi]

I understand the appeal of most rappers I don't like, be it Willie Wonka Flocka Flame or the Australian true-school imitators my lame friends like.

I guess there's a slew of really boring mixtape rappers from NY you could put on the list, guys like Red Cafe and Uncle Murda, but who really gives a fuck about them to begin with?

Sheek Louch is fairly popular but I always felt like he was bringing the LOX down, he has no personality, really unremarkable lyrics and a completely uninteresting delivery.

Andre Nickatina is okay, hes not amazing but I think he has made some really good songs and that's more than what some rappers who are more skilled than him can manage.

[Killa Cong]

Gucci

Dude sounds like a retard with no tongue. Like he's straining to drop a mean mcdonalds shit with every line. And people love this guy. He's a deplorable stereotype caricature. He's a modern day Stepin Fetchit. He shucks and he jives. It's impossible to not sound racist making fun of him because he has taken black folk back a few hundred years with his samboisms. Fuck this faggot, his fans, and all his imitators.

[DLG]

Gucci

Dude sounds like a retard with no tongue. Like he's straining to drop a mean mcdonalds shit with every line. And people love this guy. He's a deplorable stereotype caricature. He's a modern day Stepin Fetchit. He shucks and he jives. It's impossible to not sound racist making fun of him because he has taken black folk back a few hundred years with his samboisms. Fuck this faggot, his fans, and all his imitators.

all of this is exactly why white people love him.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Idiotic and racist assessment, from both of you. The poor position some urban youth is in has nothing to do with a Gucci Mane. And my whiteness and me liking his music has nothing to do with me being a racist or some desire to see black people unempowered.

I guess if those mislead and impressionable negroes listened to Electric Circus more we would achieve racial harmony and equality? *sigh*

[step one]

Idiotic and racist assessment, from both of you. The poor position some urban youth is in has nothing to do with a Gucci Mane. And my whiteness and me liking his music has nothing to do with me being a racist or some desire to see black people unempowered.

I guess if those mislead and impressionable negroes listened to Electric Circus more we would achieve racial harmony and equality? *sigh*

he's reinforcing a lot of white americas stereotypes of black ghetto youth being thick as horse shit though

[Philaflava]

Sheek Louch is fairly popular but I always felt like he was bringing the LOX down, he has no personality, really unremarkable lyrics and a completely uninteresting delivery.

This dude is the Freaky Tah of The LOX. I don't think he is that popular. I don't even think the LOX are popular. If you don't listen to NY radio or browse the internet chances are you don't even know what the fuck a Lox is unless you're in a Jewish deli.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Fair enough, but then those white people need to learn how to think critically for themselves instead of reaching shortsighted conclusions based on their own presumed stereotypes and desire for those to be 'proven.' It's a not a problem that start or ends with Gucci Mane.