Why don't hip hop fans allow hip hop artists to be experimental?!
Question: I'm going to use Miles Davis and Bob Dylan as examples. Both of them changed their sound with almost every album, and they both lasted multiple decades. Their fans followed them in any direction they went. Even if they made a bad album, their fans always remained fans. Suppose Nas decided he wanted to make an album of club songs. How many people would turn on Nas? Everybody still wants Nas to have the same sound he had on Illmatic. Why aren't hip hop artists allowed to experiment with different sounds and explore their creativity?
Answers: I'm going to use Miles Davis and Bob Dylan as examples. Both of them changed their sound with almost every album, and they both lasted multiple decades. Their fans followed them in any direction they went. Even if they made a bad album, their fans always remained fans. Suppose Nas decided he wanted to make an album of club songs. How many people would turn on Nas? Everybody still wants Nas to have the same sound he had on Illmatic. Why aren't hip hop artists allowed to experiment with different sounds and explore their creativity?
everythin my favorite artists make i may not like, but express themselves creatively on one record opens the door for them to make something amazing and new. here are examples of songs that i did not like from my favorite artists when they were spreading their wings:
Lupe fiasco- hello goodbye
jay z- blueprint 2
mos def- the new danger
I'm open to anything new, but 99.9% of the time, "new" means "poppy" "mainstream", that's just nowadays. Plus Bob Dylan and Miles Davis didn't let money go to their head like most hip hop artists......
::EDIT:: I do not condone hip hop artists selling out to make more money and become more mainstream.
im not down wit mainstream, sell outs, its just how you gone be dedicated and jus 180 your style to some club joints or some soft shi t
I don't know if that's strictly true. Look at the reaction Bob Dylan got when he went electric - people were booing him, smashing up and burning his records on the streets. So it's not like he was just accepted for changing his style, it took time.
I think that can apply to any category of music, some people don't instantly take to their favourite artist changing their style - sometimes they come round, sometimes they don't. Nas did Oochie Wally and people still love him.
they are either too set in their ways or too scared to step out of that box. its some real different stuff out there that people wont give a chance its uncharted territory for them. its like if you wake up and eat the same kind of breakfast and have the same kind of lunch and dinner every day for mad years and then someone is like hey try this they be like fcuk no! why would i do that??
Nas did put out an album of club songs. The problem is that the people who would appreciate an entire album of club songs don't listen to Nas and he doesn't do club music like Nelly does anyway.
He put out a concept album, Hip Hop is Dead, where for an entire song (Who Killed It? I think it's called) he raps with a lisp like a 30s mobster, then on another track, swears he's "Not Going Back" to the streets cuz ninjas are ignorant, and then goes back to being a hard-*** gangster. How is that not changing it up?
The problem isn't that fans don't want to change it up, it's that many of these artists aren't good at what they do when they step outside of their field, and most of their old fans aren't in the new demographic when the artist gets there.
i think this is true in many genres of music. people like to be able to categorize music, and know what to expect from it. also, some record labels may not allow for their artists to experiment as much as they like, because if an album flops due to the artist being "creative", ain't no one making any money! so they stick to a formula that they know works.
all that being said, some artists have had great success taking the experimental route. look at radiohead, outkast, and lauren hill when she went acoustic, to name a few.
Fans want to define their Artists sound most of the time. I can handle the rolling stones doing disco but I wouldnt appreciate Raekwon changing the format after Cuban Linx. It would discredit the last effort for me if he went for complete club bangers on an album, I would respect if he went concious after gangster tho ... Jays colaboration with linkin park was well recepted, Outkast has went pop and still get respect, but i dont see them the same. But Nas has changed his style many times, and I like a majority of it. I rate It was written right up there by illmatic. I just try to avoid complete contradiction. If an artist changes thats cool, In my eyes they can experiment all they want, if I didnt change with them and dont like it, I'll turn it off.
of course they allow artists to be experimental
what would you call kanye's albums?
and how about snoop, with R&G before, and now with ego trippin?
and most albums these days have a little bit of everything... a club track, a crunk song, a personal emotional type of song, a hard hitting song, songs with various singers, almost every song produced by someone different.... hiphop is all about experimenting with the different flavors and collaborating talent
if you ask me, its the artists that dont want to be experimental because they're scared to lose their fanbase and they're focused on material success and want to keep doing the most popular formula for making a hit song
I personally don't turn on my favorite artists if they make something different. I usually still like it regardless of the bad reviews.
I think the problem is the record labels.
Major labels give you a style that they create. They give you music that they think will sell.
When that artists contract is finally up, they change to a label that will give them more creative control.
This is a birth of a totally different artist from what the fans are used to seeing, and the fans can't relate.
"Pink" and "Ashanti" are perfect examples of an artist changing out of the fake "label created" artist, to a true natural, real artist that sings from the heart and soul.
I honestly think its a mixture of labels out to make money, combined with a little label ego trippen.
I don't think it is the fans as much as it is the music companies. They won't pay for anything that won't sell huge numbers. Since fans of true hip-hop are massively outnumbered by fans of pop music, the record companies will only sign, and distribute "mainstream" hip hop, which really equates to pop. Look at the god awful, no talent artists with hit records, and you'll see what I mean (ex. Solja Boy, Flo Rida).
Allowed?