Mar 22, 2016 ""In 2011, I was basically over rap, and over all of the new age rappers, the Gucci Manes and Waka Flockas; I was heavily into country music and re-exploring the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan when an old friend showed be Rigamortis by Kendrick Lamar. “Don’t ask for your favourite rapper, he dead,” Kendrick said. At first I thought he was an arrogant, new age prick. That was, until he flowed and I found myself swaying along to the trumpets. Kendrick killed that track – I hadn’t heard someone flow that hard in years. He had everything my old stuck-in-my-ways arse needed to get back into rap. I borrowed my team mate’s CD and listened to the rest of the album, Section 80. The next year, Kendrick returned with an even better album, Good Kid M.A.A.D. City. The album spawned two Grammy nominations, and although he didn’t win, the album generated a series of massive hits and mainstream international fame. Then of course, came last year’s groundbreaking To p---- a Butterfly, which not only won five Grammy Awards, but has been hailed as one of the most important records of all time. Thematically, it has acted as a springboard for countless discussions about society, culture and race relations, inspired rallies and protest chants, led schoolroom poetry and discussions and much, much more. Musically, it’s been lauded as genre-expanding and brilliant, welcoming jazz into the mainstream hip-hop at level unlike anything we’ve seen in years. Just a couple weeks ago, Lamar surprised us all with an incredible eight-track release, untitled unmastered. This is where our argument begins. Indeed, Kendrick Lamar appears to be the only living rapper whose immense success is based on his music, and his music alone. First, compare this release to the biggest rap release before it, obviously Kanye West‘s The Life Of Pablo. The minimalism of Lamar’s release was almost as surprising as the drop itself. West’s Twitter tirades, the endless re-hashing of track lists, changing of release dates, teasing numerous versions of songs, switching up featured guests and so on, the launch itself – not only taking place in Madison Square Garden, but live-streamed in cinemas across the world, was ridiculous. Yet it didn’t feel that overbearing, really – considering so many artists having taken to extreme methods to promote albums (Rihanna‘s multi-year-long tease, Drake and Nicky Minaj‘s immediately meme-ready music videos, Jay-Z‘s Samsung deals, and Young Thug‘s funeral procession through Texas this weekend are just a handful of countless examples.) Music marketing and promotion has shifted massively in recent years, most notably in pop and hip-hop. We’ve become accustomed to the overblown, the cryptic, and the downright crazy. It often seems that but the music is being shoved down our throats to push artists and releases. Love it or hate it, that’s how it is. As Talib Kweli said when we spoke to him last year, “…the industry doesn’t respond to talent, they respond to marketing and promotion and being able to create a brand and a buzz.” This shift is understandable, to an extent. It’s extremely difficult to make people pay attention to an artist without a grabby Instagram account, or a controversial Twitter tirade, a Hotline Bling-level smash, or generally really outlandish antics. It’s a shift which has drawn endless criticism for placing image, interaction and attention-demanding events above the music itself. Yet it is a necessary evil for many. But then Kendrick Lamar dropped untitled unmastered with nothing more than a couple tweets. That was it. The album didn’t come with any promotion or advertising. Top Dawg CEO Anthony Tiffith announced that TDE would be releasing something, but nobody expected it to be an eight-track K.Dot album. Kendrick doesn’t really have an overly active presence on social media, there’s no video clips, the album doesn’t even have a real name or track listing, and the cover itself is just plain green with a tiny bit of text in the corner."" http://howlandechoes.com/2016/03/kendrick-lamar-rapper-success-based-on-music/ fair enough, he dosent rely on his image at all for the success he sees
Mar 22, 2016 just an interesting read to know that hes used music to get where he is just clarifies his position
Mar 22, 2016 Not at all, he has an image as "hip hop's savior" and "2pac 2.0" that idiots buy into. It's near impossible for any musician to succeed at this level on solely their music.
Mar 22, 2016 Right now he's indeed one of the very very very very very few mainstream artists who doesn't compromise his s--- for radio play
