Different times, my brotha.
So let me educate you a bit about how the industry works:
Drake came at a time during social media, streaming, and he signed to one of the hottest labels out there. Plus, there was a buzz about that one kid who was on a teen-fare show, “Degrassi”, and people where intrigued could dude really rap. No cap, Drake’s first mix tape was one of the best I’ve heard, but had this been in the 90’s, would he have the same affinity as he does now? Probably not, b/c no one heard mix tapes unless u was from that area.
Biggie had a stupid dope mix tape, but many on the West Coast didn’t know chit about Biggie until “Big Poppa” first came out on the radio via a record label. For Drake, it was different b/c the world of music became smaller via social media and streaming.
No one knew who The Fugees were. They come through an upstart label named Ruffhouse. ****, Lauryn Hill was boo’d off stage at the Apollo. The Fugees didn’t have the machine behind them like Drake, and Lauryn fell off the deep end, but real hip hop fans have been craving and wanting her return for a while.
OutKast was barely known outside The South until their hit album “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik“ but didn’t get real recognition until they dropped “Stankonia” under LaFace records. Andre didn’t want to be commercialized, and Speakerboxx/The Love Below featured the Andre 3000 post Erykah Badu.
My point is, the aforementioned great artist came during a time w/o stream, w/o hype beast (I mean, u had to look at The Source Magazine to see who was recommended as hot.) Drake is a talent, no doubt, but his star was pushed to outter limits b/c he was associated with thee hottest performer which was Wayne, and thee hottest new record label, Young Money. Does anyone think Nicki Minaj is better than Lil Kim? Nope! But Nicki benefited from the same hype beast.
I’m not saying Drake is weak, by any means. He has great concerts. But calling him a GOAT is a far stretch. No hip hop artist, I’m not talking about rappers, b/c there’s a huge difference; but no hip hop artist has him their top 10.
Diehard fans, music nerds and critics love lists. But in rap, greatest-of-all-time rankings like this take on a special level of import: aside from moving a crowd (shouts to Rakim), MC means proving you’re the best. In no other genre do artists so blatantly express their desire to outdo...
www.billboard.com
2Pac or Biggie: Who's number 1?
www.buzzfuse.net
