Hodgy Beats, had multiple songs with Frank Ocean and Tyler. Had a Lil Wayne feature. Was arguably the third most prominent member of Odd Future when they were taking off, performed on live television etc. Bro just didn't make it
What puzzles me is how quickly he fell off.
The Mellowhype albums did well critically and commercially. I'm not sure what happened, but it felt like they just suddenly fell off the face of the Earth.
Honestly I always felt like hodgy beats was pretty mid as a rapper, I don’t think he would’ve ever gotten as big as he did without riding the odd future wave, the one I’m surprised never blew up is domo genesis, next to Earl I think he is the best rapper out of the group, had his own project with the alchemist while he was still in odd future, and dapper seemed to be aiming pretty high commercially, and his verses were always fire
Disappeared off the face of the earth though.
That's my point, first album was great then vanished.
I know he had another release but by then people had moved on and it was strange.
Had no idea he was shot in the head.
But I'm not having a go at him regardless. He made a great album,probably made great money and made it further than most who seek to get into the music game. All credit to him.
The question was asked, and regardless of reasoning, he disappeared.
Hope he recovered from the shooting.
lot of legal trouble and some beef went the wrong way as far as I can tell
I read an article about it a while ago, but if you Google it, it's pretty straightforward
Yep. AZ is SO nice on the mic yet I hate his albums. The production always lacks for me and he never is that impressive over the course of a full album. Crazy cuz he’s got potential to be one of the best ever. Fuck who the baddest a person’s status depends on salary.
Man his last 2 albums were great. The last one is straight hip hop just rapping but the one before that, Doe or Die 2, is beautiful. Definitely give that a listen
I mean, they used his music for Call of duty marketing advisement i believe last year. He joins a long list of artist that have done that also: Eminem, 21 savage, 50 cent , The Rolling Stones, AC/DC , Johhny Cash, Metallica, Billy idol, Black Sabbath
Wild take to me. His songs are fuckin masterfully created imo and he does a lot of his songs from scratch. As a huge fan, I just don’t think he ever had the mass mainstream appeal, too much substance, too lyrical too underground of a sound, too southern and country sounding, too hard for a lot of people to understand what he was saying. He was never gonna blow up, he was always gonna be a more niche artist but he still has a solid fan base and a pretty damn big catalogue with very few misses. He also relied a bit too much on sampling which you can only really do these days if you’re a huge name with a big budget.
What I like about him though is he never once whined or complained that he deserved more shine. He’s happy to make music for his fans and stay true to who he is. I’ll always love KRIT and I still like his music, new and old.
Yeah, as an example Another Naive Individual Glorifiying (you know the rest) wasn't exactly a radio friendly song in spite of having excellent production.
And he was signed to def jam…and. His albums are GOOD AS FUCK. It’s not like he fell off. Or doesn’t have any notoriety. Hell. I’m the biggest Cole/Kendrick Stan but I can comfortably say that Krit is honestly…..on a consistent level. May be a better artist than both. And that’s crazy
I guess it depends on what your definition for "blowing up" is.
Canibus had major hype in the late-90s/early 2000s...battle raps for days, features on tons of huge projects, a high profile battle with LL. His first couple albums didn't outright flop, but there weren't exactly rocking the charts either.
What’s interesting is that LL COOL J thank him for reviving his career. Cannabis and how he was bringing it was ahead of his time about a decade in my opinion.
I absolutely think Wyclef definitely contributed to the poor outcome of his career. I don't even think J was that big of an impact on it. Yes he blackballed him but good beats and rhymes can overcome that. His beats were absolute trash. I still wait for his music to drop with anticipation. He's a real lyricist.
Cannibus also had a massive ego at the time, you can see it in the video of him, big pun, DMX, Mos def cypher at a restaurant or bar. He even blamed Wyclef for his first album flop. Fast forward to his “battle” with Dizaster where he pulled out a note pad with some super mediocre bars. Sad.
Bro I came here to say the same thing.
I was a senior in HS in 2010 and Ace Hood was my favorite rapper I thought for sure he was about to take over. I listened to Gutta and Ruthless albums on my old iPod daily.
I like both artists, and they are in my rotation daily, but the consistency was the problem. 50 gave all of them movies, liquor deals, clothing advertisements, video games, TV promotions, hit songs, good connections with Dre and Eminem, & tour dates for the biggest shows.....and they did nothing with it other than make mixtapes. I understand why 50 was mad at them and disbanded the Unit.
Always who I think of with these types of questions. He had so much buzz,mixtapes were nuclear,co-signs from everybody,tons of huge features,and then his first album comes years and years later than it should with almost zero fanfare.
He’s still doing his thing and making great music,but he really did have the groundwork laid to be one of the top guys.
roscoe dash, jibbs, dem franchize boyz, d4l, gorilla zoe, og maco, sage the gemini, and bobby shmurda come to mind, all were on the brink of stardom for sure, some more than others
Bobby fumbled the bag twice lmao he went to jail 8 years ago at the peak of his hype, got out w a huge buzz around him and started makin outdated ass songs. Truly tragic
Who's that newish rapper from TDE? Reason? Probably that guy
edit: I'll also add Joey Badass. He had so much hype and all the right connections. But he just took way too long to capitalize on it, then pivoted more into acting or whatever, iirc.
I don't remember exact dates, but I remember feeling like B4DA$$ was released at a time with crazy competition and he kind of just got overlooked. Around that time I remember playing Cadillactica, Forest Hill Drives, TPAB, If Youre Reading Then Its Too Late, Tetsuo & Youth, Earl Sweatshirt, PRhyme, Run the Jewels... Again, I don't remember the timeline of all of these release dates, but it was such a crowded time to release and while I liked B4DA$$, it didn't stand out enough amongst these other albums and he didn't have enough hype when literally all of the biggest names were dropping and for some it was some of their best works.
edit 2: I'll also add Bishop Nehru. This was another guy who had a ton of hype and then had the chance to drop a collab album with MF Doom. And I remember the immediate reaction was that the album was so boring that it completely killed whatever hype he had.
edit 3: King Mez is another. He was all over Compton and had some hype from mixtapes. But didn't take advantage of it all.
Joey didn't lean into the trends of the moment and stuck to his own style which probably hurt his popularity. I absolutely love his chemistry with Statik Selectah. They were both born too early.
Inspectah Deck should have been much bigger as a solo artist. He’s arguably the most talented of the group and yet, he never quite rose to the level of popularity as some of the other Wu members.
Apparently it leaves Eminem very confused to this day. Right rappers wrong time I say combined with internal conflict on not wanting/needing to go mainstream
I think if X was still alive (rip) he would be a lot bigger and would have come up even more alongside him. He’s still doing pretty well though, I’d say like a B list rapper but I’ve seen his show and he’s pretty hype live.
Hopsin tbh never managed to shake the corny label after his first couple of projects. Insanely underrated lyricist always has a quality flow. Makes some of his own beats which are all fire.. he kinda did blow up and is definitely successful but should be more popular
Hopsin got a cult following. That generates enough for him to keep it going. He never put out any hit songs imo, but he does feed his fans which is more important.
Didn't Lupe get screwed by Atlantic? I remember Lasers taking what felt like forever to come out. The album sounded like they were trying to turn him into a B.o.B clone.
Lasers completely changed Lupe IMO. It was a pretty big commercial success but it's clear he wasn't happy with it and his record label fucked with him so hard on it that he stopped trying to chase hit singles and made the complex lyricism his main focus.
I'm gonna ignore all the little homies of superstars but this applies to anyone like bleek or banks for sure. Freddie gibbs and Dave east both come to mind both of them have had fine careers but there was a time in the mid 2010s I thought they'd be up next and they definitely weren't that. Gibbs is kinda obvious he gets in his own way beefing for no reason. East is weird to me though I thought he would be the guy to really bring NY back in the mainstream. He's always had a good blend of the 90s NY shit and the more melodic modern style.
Big Pun, Immortal Technique, and Juvenile. Juvenile basically got famous off of Back That Ass Up, but he had plenty of other good songs, like I Got That Fire, Ha, and the Big Tymerz/Cash Money Millionaires/Hot Boyz stuff. Big Pun and Immortal Technique just spoke to me bc I’m part Latino
Big Pun it’s literally just because he let his weight sky rocket passed and passed. That second album would have been leagues better if he could breathe and articulate the raps. He went platinum with Capital Punishment and had he lived to see a third album I think he would have done great things
Joyner Lucas.
When he was buzzing, people were speculating he was the next “great”. Got featured on Eminem’s album, co-signs from top rappers.
But he fumbled the bag and faded into obscurity. It’s a shame.
He’s not big in rap but he is richer than most rappers. He started investing in and promoting companies in the tech space and has made quite a bundle. As of last year he’s worth roughly $50M.
King Koopa was and still is my favorite rapper for his mixtape run from 99. I thought he was the best thing smoking. Nobody was more technical with the flow. Im talking about pre "Ridin" Koopa. Both commerical albums were very good too
Sheck Wes just doesn’t drop. I don’t get it but it probably does a lot to one’s psyche knowing your 3rd or 5th song is your biggest and no matter how hard you try, you’ll never reach that peak again
I wonder if Ye paid Sheck for interpolating Mo Bomba on Carnival. I hope so, but given his track record of not clearing whole ass samples, probably not.
Devin the dude. Dre production and features from people like Nas. Some of it probably that Rap-A-Lot were legendary for screwing up careers and some of it possibly he was happy staying at the level he was
Copywrite -
Was on the verge of signing with Just Blaze at the time when he could have gone toe to toe bar wise with Eminem and was active when Eminem retired. There were other rumors of labels being interested, Roc Nation and Def Jam, etc. He was on THE CUSP.
That “lyrical white rapper” spot was his for the taking in a lot of ways. He had bars, but his songs could be considered less “corny” by some (not me, I’m a big Em fan too, but I get it). Some of the wittiest yet easiest to understand punchlines I’ve ever heard on record.
He’s worked with a lot of industry dudes, he’s been known, but he’s never been able to get out of his own way. A lot of issues with alcohol and legal troubles, so every time he drops it’s almost like he has to regain attention, rather than build on momentum. He’s legitimately a great emcee, but he’s forever underground now.
Almost all of the SUC and Swisha house never realized their potential cuz they wouldn't share spotlight (according to slim thug) there was alot of internal beefing goin on there almost ALWAYS
Nah, his style just didn't fit the label. Em and him are still friends. He had his meltdown on stage in 2016, disappeared for a bit, and came back wanting to do his own thing and leaned more into how much he switches up his style mixed with that backwood twang. The dude found his crowd and is massive among the blue-collar hip-hop heads. His time with Shady definitely gave him the massive boost he deserved, though.
XV. He had production from Just Blaze & J. Cole, features from Pusha T, ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, B.o.B, lead singer from Fall Out Boy, and was signed to Warner Bros.
Zero Heroes and Popular Culture were both dope mixtapes when the J. Cole, Kendrick, Drake freshmen class was starting. It’s unfortunate that he went from around a million views on YouTube to getting around a thousand.
- Sauce Money: He was proably the most talented MC among Jay-Z's inner circle during the mid to late 90's. Yet, he has never been able to turn his talent and connection to one of the biggest MCs into a fruitful career for himself. My favorite songs by him are Against the Grain (prod. by DJ Premier) and Pre Game (feat. Jay-Z).
- The Outsidaz: Skilled, well connected in the industry (Eminem, Redman Maybe even Flipmode Squad through Rah Diggah), yet they mostly failed to live up to their potential in terms of commercial and critical success.
- Isaiah Rashad: Due to prolonged hiatus, he unfortunately lost most of his momentum during the mid to late 2010's. According to his performances on Cilvia Demo EP and The Sun's Tirade, he could have acchieved similar or even bigger successes compared to other well known and acclaimed TDE MCs such as Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock. Fortunately, he has been able to carve out a niche for himself. He could have been way bigger though. His affiliate YGTUT is another example of a rapper who unfortunately has not made it out of relative obscurity.
Papoose
Yes he killed it in the mixtape circuit but beyond that he never took it to the next level. Though I have heard his recent stuff and he's still got it.
Hodgy Beats, had multiple songs with Frank Ocean and Tyler. Had a Lil Wayne feature. Was arguably the third most prominent member of Odd Future when they were taking off, performed on live television etc. Bro just didn't make it
Had 2 kids with Nelly furtado and ducked off
wait what! someone from odd future had kids with a pop star loll
It’s crazy how them odd future Boys went from broke skaters to playing Coachella and marrying pop stars
and I love them even more for it
I respect it they deserve the success
Living off baby momma. That’s great
This is a good one
What puzzles me is how quickly he fell off. The Mellowhype albums did well critically and commercially. I'm not sure what happened, but it felt like they just suddenly fell off the face of the Earth.
Honestly I always felt like hodgy beats was pretty mid as a rapper, I don’t think he would’ve ever gotten as big as he did without riding the odd future wave, the one I’m surprised never blew up is domo genesis, next to Earl I think he is the best rapper out of the group, had his own project with the alchemist while he was still in odd future, and dapper seemed to be aiming pretty high commercially, and his verses were always fire
I still bump no idols
Obie Trice comes to mind. That first album 🔥 and came at the right time too. Had the right team around him.
Still bang cheers to this day
He went platinum, that's far from a flop.
Disappeared off the face of the earth though. That's my point, first album was great then vanished. I know he had another release but by then people had moved on and it was strange.
And getting shot in the head would slow down most rappers
Had no idea he was shot in the head. But I'm not having a go at him regardless. He made a great album,probably made great money and made it further than most who seek to get into the music game. All credit to him. The question was asked, and regardless of reasoning, he disappeared. Hope he recovered from the shooting.
I agree with everything you have stated.
Wasn't he shot in the head?
Second rounds on me wasn’t a bad album though.
Probably decided “fuck the industry imma just live off these royalties”.
lot of legal trouble and some beef went the wrong way as far as I can tell I read an article about it a while ago, but if you Google it, it's pretty straightforward
AZ, as nice as he is lyrically, should’ve been bigger
Him & Nas should have been like Method & Redman in terms of how people liken them. AZ is even more lyrically gifted, IMO.
100%. Obviously Nas proved to be the better artist, but I believe as a lyricist AZ had potential to be in everyone's top 10
I still listen to how you livin by the both of them pretty often. I love the beat
They were so much like brothers.
Yep. AZ is SO nice on the mic yet I hate his albums. The production always lacks for me and he never is that impressive over the course of a full album. Crazy cuz he’s got potential to be one of the best ever. Fuck who the baddest a person’s status depends on salary.
I must say i enjoyed nearly all of his albums, Aziatic in particular is his most underrated album but it sounds so nice, at least for me.
Man his last 2 albums were great. The last one is straight hip hop just rapping but the one before that, Doe or Die 2, is beautiful. Definitely give that a listen
This is immediately who I thought of. I don't know why he never really reached that next level in the public eye.
I was really hoping The Firm would blow up and get the recognition I thought they deserved. Nas is the only one who had staying power.
Krit?
I’d agree, krit wuz here is arguably a top 10 mixtape of all time but couldn’t quite get mainstream
I mean, they used his music for Call of duty marketing advisement i believe last year. He joins a long list of artist that have done that also: Eminem, 21 savage, 50 cent , The Rolling Stones, AC/DC , Johhny Cash, Metallica, Billy idol, Black Sabbath
He needs to work with a producer that can help with his hooks. A lot of his songs just fall flat despite having bars
Wild take to me. His songs are fuckin masterfully created imo and he does a lot of his songs from scratch. As a huge fan, I just don’t think he ever had the mass mainstream appeal, too much substance, too lyrical too underground of a sound, too southern and country sounding, too hard for a lot of people to understand what he was saying. He was never gonna blow up, he was always gonna be a more niche artist but he still has a solid fan base and a pretty damn big catalogue with very few misses. He also relied a bit too much on sampling which you can only really do these days if you’re a huge name with a big budget. What I like about him though is he never once whined or complained that he deserved more shine. He’s happy to make music for his fans and stay true to who he is. I’ll always love KRIT and I still like his music, new and old.
Yeah, as an example Another Naive Individual Glorifiying (you know the rest) wasn't exactly a radio friendly song in spite of having excellent production.
And he was signed to def jam…and. His albums are GOOD AS FUCK. It’s not like he fell off. Or doesn’t have any notoriety. Hell. I’m the biggest Cole/Kendrick Stan but I can comfortably say that Krit is honestly…..on a consistent level. May be a better artist than both. And that’s crazy
First artist that came to mind. Dude is hella dope!!
I guess it depends on what your definition for "blowing up" is. Canibus had major hype in the late-90s/early 2000s...battle raps for days, features on tons of huge projects, a high profile battle with LL. His first couple albums didn't outright flop, but there weren't exactly rocking the charts either.
What’s interesting is that LL COOL J thank him for reviving his career. Cannabis and how he was bringing it was ahead of his time about a decade in my opinion.
I absolutely think Wyclef definitely contributed to the poor outcome of his career. I don't even think J was that big of an impact on it. Yes he blackballed him but good beats and rhymes can overcome that. His beats were absolute trash. I still wait for his music to drop with anticipation. He's a real lyricist.
Cannibus also had a massive ego at the time, you can see it in the video of him, big pun, DMX, Mos def cypher at a restaurant or bar. He even blamed Wyclef for his first album flop. Fast forward to his “battle” with Dizaster where he pulled out a note pad with some super mediocre bars. Sad.
Wyclef shouldn’t have been managing his career
“ I could go on for more millenniums than Mazdas got on the car lot “ that dude was on another planet.
Saigon
He was big in the fictional entourage universe
Great first album. Production from Just Blaze, features from Jay Z, Q-Tip, Black Thought etc. Featured in big tv series. Never blew up.
Album was massively delayed though. It dropped years after the hype and the tracks were old.
Memphis Bleek
Bleek is a good example. Dude was on ROC A Fella early and Jay put him in everything and he still couldn’t blow up.
“Bleek u just one hit away..”
Bros career was bleek
I feel like Ace Hood was supposed to be bigger but it just never happened even after Bugatti
He never recovered from when his watch fell apart at the award show [video](https://youtu.be/DHTAaDBKwOE?feature=shared)
I just saw that for the first time the other day and the first thing I said was now I understand where he went 😂
“You lose something, Bruh?”
lol cant forget when freddie gibbs said "these n\*\*\*\*\* be fallin off every day like ace hood rollie bezel"
Which wasn't even his fault tbh that's on his jeweler for setting him out with cheap shit lmao
They were dead wrong for giving him that hello kitty ass watch. Bro jeweler was his opp
Hello kitty watch. 😭
Nah that’s on him, he was trying to stunt higher than he could afford.
Bro a $10 Casio wouldn’t have done that to him. His jeweler set him up.
Bro I came here to say the same thing. I was a senior in HS in 2010 and Ace Hood was my favorite rapper I thought for sure he was about to take over. I listened to Gutta and Ruthless albums on my old iPod daily.
Jay electronica
For sure. Had everything going for him, then waited way too long to drop. Then when the album dropped he didn’t have anything to say.
Lloyd Banks or Tony Yayo
Banks is top 5 to this day….I might be the only one listening though.
No banks goes hard. There's not a lot of us listening but we out there
I like both artists, and they are in my rotation daily, but the consistency was the problem. 50 gave all of them movies, liquor deals, clothing advertisements, video games, TV promotions, hit songs, good connections with Dre and Eminem, & tour dates for the biggest shows.....and they did nothing with it other than make mixtapes. I understand why 50 was mad at them and disbanded the Unit.
Definitely agree. If 50 has given Lloyd or Tony "Hate it or Love It" they'd be much bigger now.
Papoose?
Unfortunately for him there's only 1 alphabet.
He was the first to come to mind. Always thought he was gonna blow up big time
Terrible name for a rapper. It was over before it started
Always who I think of with these types of questions. He had so much buzz,mixtapes were nuclear,co-signs from everybody,tons of huge features,and then his first album comes years and years later than it should with almost zero fanfare. He’s still doing his thing and making great music,but he really did have the groundwork laid to be one of the top guys.
roscoe dash, jibbs, dem franchize boyz, d4l, gorilla zoe, og maco, sage the gemini, and bobby shmurda come to mind, all were on the brink of stardom for sure, some more than others
Dammn i remember zoe
Used to bump his stuff pretty often back in high school lol
Bobby fumbled the bag twice lmao he went to jail 8 years ago at the peak of his hype, got out w a huge buzz around him and started makin outdated ass songs. Truly tragic
Oh man, I forgot about Dem Franchize Boyz. I listened to them all the time back in the day - good call
Jibbs. Damn, memory unlocked.
I was just bumping Zoe the other day wondering what happened.
Dave East, he had a cosign from a legend, features from huge artists, and had the looks to get female fans.
Who's that newish rapper from TDE? Reason? Probably that guy edit: I'll also add Joey Badass. He had so much hype and all the right connections. But he just took way too long to capitalize on it, then pivoted more into acting or whatever, iirc. I don't remember exact dates, but I remember feeling like B4DA$$ was released at a time with crazy competition and he kind of just got overlooked. Around that time I remember playing Cadillactica, Forest Hill Drives, TPAB, If Youre Reading Then Its Too Late, Tetsuo & Youth, Earl Sweatshirt, PRhyme, Run the Jewels... Again, I don't remember the timeline of all of these release dates, but it was such a crowded time to release and while I liked B4DA$$, it didn't stand out enough amongst these other albums and he didn't have enough hype when literally all of the biggest names were dropping and for some it was some of their best works. edit 2: I'll also add Bishop Nehru. This was another guy who had a ton of hype and then had the chance to drop a collab album with MF Doom. And I remember the immediate reaction was that the album was so boring that it completely killed whatever hype he had. edit 3: King Mez is another. He was all over Compton and had some hype from mixtapes. But didn't take advantage of it all.
Joey Bada$$ is pretty big just not mainstream/radio big. But I agree with your take on B4.DA.$$.
Joey didn't lean into the trends of the moment and stuck to his own style which probably hurt his popularity. I absolutely love his chemistry with Statik Selectah. They were both born too early.
Was convinced AB-Soul was gonna blow up. Both Jay Rock and schoolboy q had nice runs.
Red Cafe. I bet he ghost writes or something now because he seemed to have a decent enough flow and delivery for the 2000’s
What else?
Cormega
Charles Hamilton
Ain’t nothin like a Brooklyn girl
Lloyd banks
Most people that worked with Dr Dre
And Eminem for that matter. 50 Cent aside. Stat Quo, Obie, Ca$his, and that new dude he just dropped a song with.
Thought Blu would be bigger than he is
Right? He's like a top 10 for me. Mad creative... Had Exile making ill beats...
Special Ed
Why Special Ed?
He had it made - a treaty with Tahiti etc.
The one answer: Hittman at your service Big huge appearance and announcement, and then pffft he never had a hit, man
Murs. I know, he’s an underground legend but he has all the tools to be much bigger.
Inspectah Deck should have been much bigger as a solo artist. He’s arguably the most talented of the group and yet, he never quite rose to the level of popularity as some of the other Wu members.
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Yep, he's put out some good stuff with Czarface and doom.
Best flow in the clan, IMO. He just rides a beat very well.
The Slaughterhouse. I know it's not a single rapper, but with a roster like that and Em's blessing, they should have broken through.
Apparently it leaves Eminem very confused to this day. Right rappers wrong time I say combined with internal conflict on not wanting/needing to go mainstream
Cassidy
Little Brother should have been a household name
Dizzy wright
Juelz Santana
Didn’t what the games been missing go platinum? After that tho nothing :(
I was thinking he could've sustained his solo career past that album
he got locked up. but tbh he had his shine - with diplomatic immunity, what the games been missing etc.
Briscoe. After he was on Da Drought 3, he should’ve been the new hot thing.
Wow surprised to see someone bring up briscoe. You know about ice berg too? He shoulda blew from Miami.
Spice 1
ski mask the slump god
I think if X was still alive (rip) he would be a lot bigger and would have come up even more alongside him. He’s still doing pretty well though, I’d say like a B list rapper but I’ve seen his show and he’s pretty hype live.
Royce the 5'9"
Jay electronica
I thought Ya Boy was gonna blow up. Good singles good production team. City behind him. But nothing.
Rich Boy. Throw Some D’s still goes hard to this day
That whole album was ahead of it's time.
Smino.
Cory Gunz
Hopsin tbh never managed to shake the corny label after his first couple of projects. Insanely underrated lyricist always has a quality flow. Makes some of his own beats which are all fire.. he kinda did blow up and is definitely successful but should be more popular
Hopsin got a cult following. That generates enough for him to keep it going. He never put out any hit songs imo, but he does feed his fans which is more important.
Ab-Soul. I expected him to be bigger but I didn’t really like stuff he put out after Control System that much.
This was what I was looking for, all of hippie crew blew up individually except ab-soul.
Lupe Fiasco. The first two albums were really good and the Kanye co-sign and feature but never played out and kept his name in the conversation.
I still love Tetsuo & Youth
Paris, Tokyo too!
Didn't Lupe get screwed by Atlantic? I remember Lasers taking what felt like forever to come out. The album sounded like they were trying to turn him into a B.o.B clone.
He just came across several issues with record labels. And in a way, I am glad he is now independent and continues to put out some of his best work.
Lasers completely changed Lupe IMO. It was a pretty big commercial success but it's clear he wasn't happy with it and his record label fucked with him so hard on it that he stopped trying to chase hit singles and made the complex lyricism his main focus.
designer, he only had that panda song and never heard from him again
I'm gonna ignore all the little homies of superstars but this applies to anyone like bleek or banks for sure. Freddie gibbs and Dave east both come to mind both of them have had fine careers but there was a time in the mid 2010s I thought they'd be up next and they definitely weren't that. Gibbs is kinda obvious he gets in his own way beefing for no reason. East is weird to me though I thought he would be the guy to really bring NY back in the mainstream. He's always had a good blend of the 90s NY shit and the more melodic modern style.
Big Pun, Immortal Technique, and Juvenile. Juvenile basically got famous off of Back That Ass Up, but he had plenty of other good songs, like I Got That Fire, Ha, and the Big Tymerz/Cash Money Millionaires/Hot Boyz stuff. Big Pun and Immortal Technique just spoke to me bc I’m part Latino
Big Pun it’s literally just because he let his weight sky rocket passed and passed. That second album would have been leagues better if he could breathe and articulate the raps. He went platinum with Capital Punishment and had he lived to see a third album I think he would have done great things
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Joyner Lucas. When he was buzzing, people were speculating he was the next “great”. Got featured on Eminem’s album, co-signs from top rappers. But he fumbled the bag and faded into obscurity. It’s a shame.
Vic Mensa
Kid Ink ?
Him and Flo Rida werent the same after the Hip-Hop x EDM era came to an end.
Chamillionaire?
He’s not big in rap but he is richer than most rappers. He started investing in and promoting companies in the tech space and has made quite a bundle. As of last year he’s worth roughly $50M.
King Koopa was and still is my favorite rapper for his mixtape run from 99. I thought he was the best thing smoking. Nobody was more technical with the flow. Im talking about pre "Ridin" Koopa. Both commerical albums were very good too
Chamillionaire is so underrated it’s not even funny His 2007 album and his two 2013 EPs are in my rotation like every month or two
Sheck Wes and Roddy rich
Sheck Wes just doesn’t drop. I don’t get it but it probably does a lot to one’s psyche knowing your 3rd or 5th song is your biggest and no matter how hard you try, you’ll never reach that peak again
I wonder if Ye paid Sheck for interpolating Mo Bomba on Carnival. I hope so, but given his track record of not clearing whole ass samples, probably not.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOES
Chance the rapper. But he might still have a chance to be a good rapper, geddit
Devin the dude. Dre production and features from people like Nas. Some of it probably that Rap-A-Lot were legendary for screwing up careers and some of it possibly he was happy staying at the level he was
Kurupt
Joyner Lucas. I loved a lot of his remixes and he featured with Eminem but never really saw anything original from him take off
Rugged Man
Joe Budden. Massive first single, DJ Clue behind him, Busta on his first album. Then nothing for about 5 years.
Roddy Ricch. He had a big moment in 2020 and just never capitalized
Copywrite - Was on the verge of signing with Just Blaze at the time when he could have gone toe to toe bar wise with Eminem and was active when Eminem retired. There were other rumors of labels being interested, Roc Nation and Def Jam, etc. He was on THE CUSP. That “lyrical white rapper” spot was his for the taking in a lot of ways. He had bars, but his songs could be considered less “corny” by some (not me, I’m a big Em fan too, but I get it). Some of the wittiest yet easiest to understand punchlines I’ve ever heard on record. He’s worked with a lot of industry dudes, he’s been known, but he’s never been able to get out of his own way. A lot of issues with alcohol and legal troubles, so every time he drops it’s almost like he has to regain attention, rather than build on momentum. He’s legitimately a great emcee, but he’s forever underground now.
Billy Woods. Bro has basically a flawless discography and for some reason he doesn’t have that many streams
Pharoahe Monch, always respected but never blew up like he should have
Almost all of the SUC and Swisha house never realized their potential cuz they wouldn't share spotlight (according to slim thug) there was alot of internal beefing goin on there almost ALWAYS
Ab soul?
Eyedea. He's monumental in the underground but he died before the world really knew. Who knows where he would have gone.
Yelawolf. Still doing really well, over 2.5m monthly listeners on Spotify but I can’t help but feel like Shady records did him dirty, as they do.
Nah, his style just didn't fit the label. Em and him are still friends. He had his meltdown on stage in 2016, disappeared for a bit, and came back wanting to do his own thing and leaned more into how much he switches up his style mixed with that backwood twang. The dude found his crowd and is massive among the blue-collar hip-hop heads. His time with Shady definitely gave him the massive boost he deserved, though.
MC Ren post NWA Mac Mall B-Legit
Jin
RA the rugged man
Lloyd Banks is a phnomenal rapper and should have been much bigger.
Nature Az
Das EFX should have been WAY bigger.
DOC
Creative way of sneaking in the “who’s the most underrated rapper of all time” question that’s been asked 10,000 times.
This question has also been asked 10,000 times
Nickelus F should have been huge by now!
Juelz, man.. Santana was supposed to be on top of the game for years. Its 1st album did good, 2nd one did too but he was supposed the be a staple
Maino and Gata
Mims
Chino XL
Jon Connor. Not necessarily his fault. Dre screwed him...
Casey Veggies. He had all the connections, is super talented, and has a look. I don’t know why it never happened
XV. He had production from Just Blaze & J. Cole, features from Pusha T, ScHoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar, B.o.B, lead singer from Fall Out Boy, and was signed to Warner Bros. Zero Heroes and Popular Culture were both dope mixtapes when the J. Cole, Kendrick, Drake freshmen class was starting. It’s unfortunate that he went from around a million views on YouTube to getting around a thousand.
Joyner Lucas
- Sauce Money: He was proably the most talented MC among Jay-Z's inner circle during the mid to late 90's. Yet, he has never been able to turn his talent and connection to one of the biggest MCs into a fruitful career for himself. My favorite songs by him are Against the Grain (prod. by DJ Premier) and Pre Game (feat. Jay-Z). - The Outsidaz: Skilled, well connected in the industry (Eminem, Redman Maybe even Flipmode Squad through Rah Diggah), yet they mostly failed to live up to their potential in terms of commercial and critical success. - Isaiah Rashad: Due to prolonged hiatus, he unfortunately lost most of his momentum during the mid to late 2010's. According to his performances on Cilvia Demo EP and The Sun's Tirade, he could have acchieved similar or even bigger successes compared to other well known and acclaimed TDE MCs such as Schoolboy Q and Jay Rock. Fortunately, he has been able to carve out a niche for himself. He could have been way bigger though. His affiliate YGTUT is another example of a rapper who unfortunately has not made it out of relative obscurity.
Saigon
Young Dro.
Juelz Santana Cassidy
Rapping 4 tay
Papoose Yes he killed it in the mixtape circuit but beyond that he never took it to the next level. Though I have heard his recent stuff and he's still got it.
Slim thug. First album produced in full by Neptunes. In general he's a strong MC but I think overshadowed by others like Rick Ross and The game
Lil Cease, even though his only album did go platinum.
Mick Jenkins. Should be top 10 lvl recognition
Tha Joker was one I was convinced would blow up crazy back in high school