porscheguy's analysis of the rap game is spot on. Dudes like Diddy (over the years) also contributed to the softening up of the rap game. Drake is basically an Emo rapper that was handpicked & "chosen" by the industry. He's definitely not from the 'hood. Matter of fact, he is half Jewish (his mom is Jewish), and he grew up in an affluent suburb of Toronto that was predominantly Jewish. His father is black, but divorced his mom a long time ago. Drake was also on a really lame TV show in his pre-rapper days called "Degrassi". Dude is soft as cotton candy and can't decide if he's a rapper or an R&B singer at times. At least Chris Brown is a good singer. Drake sucks at singing & rapping. But Drake has the luxury of being on a solid record label, being surrounding by solid production teams, and being blessed with high profile guest appearances on many of his tracks. And a lot of his singles cater to the clubs so at the end of the day he still gets to laugh all the way to the bank. Such is the nature of the music biz.
Quote: (07-15-2012 10:03 PM)porscheguy Wrote:
It's about sales. And sales = money. You can say the guy is soft, but I'm sure he's suffering no shortage of pussy in his life or money in his bank account.
If anything, the genre has gotten soft. Gangsta' Rap is largely a thing of the past. What would you do if Dr Dre put out an album at almost 50 years old talking about going to the projects doing drive-by shootings, and risking getting shot or going to jail? You'd think "that stupid mother fucker has no business doing that shit at his age and with his money." You wouldn't be able to take it seriously.
And when you think about, who bought the early stuff from NWA? Black males. So NWA didn't sell a lot of stuff until their last album that slowly opened the door to a larger demographic. Some of the singles released from The Chronic were clean enough to allow them to be played on the radio with some minor editing. And then what happened? More copies of The Chronic have been sold to white guys than any other demographic. Then all of sudden, Dr Dre found himself with A LOT of fucking money. Not because white guys hold some magic key to the universe. It's because there are a lot of us. And what did Dr Dre do once he got a lot of money? He did what any smart person would do(and he is pretty smart for surviving in the music business for almost 30 years) and bought himself a house far away from the 'hood. But there's one group that never bought into the older style of rap music: women. How many women do you know who own a copy of Doggy Style?
Fast forward many years and rap has mainstream acceptance. Fucking Snoop Dogg dropped a verse on a single from Katy Perry. That's a far cry from where he was 20 years ago. But bitches will feel a moment of "girl power" and they'll buy a copy of California Gurls. And there are probably a few guys who bought it too. If you soften your image and content and it results in a 30-40% increase in sales, guess what? You sell out and you do it.
I never heard of Drake until six months ago. The name alone makes me think he's a pussy. But I bet he's got the market for happy, lovemaking rap cornered.