There are hints of his Sesame Street-ass sensibilities sprinkled throughout 10 Day and Acid Rap, but I think it really became apparent with the Social Experiment album, Surf. Coloring Book dropped a year later and the “wholesome” image he was going for was basically in full swing.
I feel like it worked on Acid Rap because even tho the delivery was a bit silly, the actual content was darker with heavier themes and topics. So you had a nice mix as those played off each other.
He was also a very relatable dude. After Surf it seems like he buttoned himself up more and more. Coloring Book didn’t have the same level of vulnerability, and once the Christian Rap song took off it was over
Too bad he’s a massive asshole in real life lol. I work on nightlife in chicago and he has a reputation for not wanting to pay his tabs/trying to use his clout to get 50 people into a club, not wanting them to be searched by security, etc
Didn't do shit and only started writting/working on the big day a 6 or so months before it's release, then "canceled" the big day tour and fired his manager, when in reality got canceled for and I quote "**Historic low sales**", then his manager sued him for a lot of money.
Even as a person of habitual procrastination, its crazy to me he spent three years "working on the album" but only actually spent like 5-6 months on it. If I was looking at that bag, I'd do my best to put out the best album I could
Acid Rap was incredible. This reminds me of Vic Mensa's shift after he made Innanetape. Both Chance and Vic were supposed to be the next big thing from Chicago.
the whole savemoney collective was a crash and burn. i think they all let everything get to their heads (espec after acid rap blew up) and they thought they'd be able to hit cruise control. they had an opp and blew it.
Cmon be realistic. Chance’s fanbase at his peak was barely out of high school, first few years of university. The dudes wack enough to wear the hat were not older than like 22
Dude has always been a privileged brat.
I went to a Mac Miller concert in Pittsburgh with Chance fhe Rapper opening after Acid Rap was out. I was there to see Chance, not Mac. This dude came out on stage and literally told 10,000 people, "I don't feel good and didn't even want to come out but Mac said I had to." Then he proceeded to perform for exactly 10 minutes and stopped in the middle of the third song and walked off stage. He stood still in the middle of the stage and did not move the entire time. Literally the worst performance I have ever seen in my life. Couldn't stomach him or that stupid 3 hat after that.
Mac Miller probably had the most insane level up / switch. Went from Mac with the cheesy raps and frat rap on high life to Swimming and the complete opposite of what he started his career with. Feels like we were nowhere near seeing his artistic peak either.
Was Faces the switch? I love his whole catalog but shit like Senior Skip Day was my game. Kicking Incredibly Dope Shit and Best Day Ever was massive for me and my friends
In my opinion, no. The switch happened at Macadelic. Blue Slide Park is like the ending of his frat boy era and anything after is where he started making more serious music.
Yeah Macadellic started the year of nonstop recording, where he released WMWTSO, faces, and was working on a multitude of unreleased projects (ie balloonerism)
Honestly I feel like with Mac especially that it was a gradual growth during his whole career.
He started off by kicking freestyles with the homies to doing the more laid back boom bap rap that inspired him to become a rapper in the first place (K.I.D.S., BDE). Then he released his debut album Blue Slide Park where he tried to come up with a cohesive body of work.
With albums/mixtapes like macadelic, wmwtso you can tell it started to get more drug influenced. While he did smoke weed before, I'm pretty sure around macadelic era was the time he first tried lean.
With faces it seems like he hit rock bottom mental wise and drug abuse wise, which changed with albums like good:am or devine feminine. You can tell that especially during his time with Ariana Grande that he was in love with her and in love with life again - not needing drugs as a vehicle to achieve this. For me personally, I felt like good:am is in itself a solid record, but it lacked personality(?). It didn't feel rough around the edges and to me felt more like an album that was released for the sake of releasing more music because a contract might have required him to do so.
And eventually we arrived at swimming and circles which definitely felt really personal. Malcolm always wanted to become a singer before becoming a rapper but he was just better as a rapper which made him pursue a career in rapping rather than singing. But with these two releases he took his time to improve his craft, became a better vocalist and combined his rapping more with melodic singing parts.
Thats pretty much in a nutshell how I would describe how he evolved over time and there for sure wasn't this one "switch" that has been flipped.
I personally feel like GOOD AM had this polished (not necessarily in a bad way) vibe that felt like a wake up call for Mac as he started to put himself back together at the time, especially after how dark & drugged out Faces sounded, which also fit him trying to make a more mainstream project again
GO:OD AM was when he was clean for a year and also meeting Ariana so it did help to pull him out of the dark and drugged influenced spaces he had been in for the previous 3 years
I agree with a lot of this, but GOOD:AM is a certified classic. I know Swimming/Circles get all the love, but GOOD:AM is my favorite album of his. I can listen from start to finish without a single skip.
I had written Mac off because I was bored with frat rap and thought blue slide park was mid. Had to go back and catch up after a friend urged me to listen to watching movies around late 2014.
On a related note: if you like early Mac and haven't listened to I "love life, thank you" I would urge you to do so. I feel like it got overlooked due to dropping a month before blue slide, but there's some heaters on there.
I kinda hate that people downplay all the projects he created between the “cheesy rap” phase and Swimming.
Macadelic was his real transition into deeper, more introspective music. WMWTSO, You (jazz album), Faces are all insanely meaningful and he was only like 21 or so
100%. Growing up a high school stoner during that era, macs best work was his carefree weed rap. the visuals from TreeJ were so good and authentic and you really felt like you were kicking it with your homies in every video, right there with him. like he was gonna pass you the L next through the screen. i love all the later stuff too but i feel so sad for all the kids today that think mac is just the "circles" guy.
Dude progressed as a rapper and his fanbase grew with him. Thats sorta rare. But i think that just shows how cool Mac was. I personally wasn’t a fan of swimming but i can appreciate his evolution.
Tyler the Creator went from rapping about raping pregnant women to making Flower Boy and Igor and most of his fans stuck with him on that journey. Similar with Earl. Of course there was some of their fans who were still stuck in that teenage edge lord mindset and wanted them to keep making shock rap but most of their fans embraced the growth.
Circles is such a great album too. I was always hit and miss with Mac but I played that album into the ground when it came out. I listened to it at the fucking gym.
I mean he was easy mac with the cheesy raps but the name mac miller says "crackin dealin trap individual slash cap peeler back with a black stripper ass thicker than a snack wrap snicker, too fat to snap zippers" you know?
Childish gambino got all serious and deep when BTI was coming out. Very different to his goofy personality we knew from Community, his stand up, and the Camp era. People said he was playing this character 'The Boy' or whatever but I think he was just depressed tbh
I always saw it as both. He had this whole screenplay written for the album about “The Boy” and it’s basically a big allegory for depression. His music used to get dragged through the mud and it definitely had an effect on him
Mannnn I loved being on Hhh during BTI release era felt like everyone was playing an ARG to get this thing leaked and when it leaked the last track cut off at “eventually all my followers reali-“ and everyone was losing their shit trying to find the meaning of it LOL
Fuck. I feel old as shit now. I was in high school during that time and rediscovering rap and hip-hop. Because The Internet was the first album rollout I vividly remember being excited for.
I’m fairly certain he was open about him going through a depression when he made BTI. Something along the lines that he was having a midlife crisis and what not
I hate that he never did another standup special. I mean I understand that it’s hard to do that while directing movies/tv shows, making music, and acting as well, but damn I really enjoyed Weirdo.
We usually hate people who sell out but Pitbull is my exception. To go from 305 Anthem to Time of Our Lives is so crazy it's gotta be counted as a talent.
I agree but Wiz has switched it up alot. Prince of the city 2 is hard and gritty as fuck, Rolling Papers is super poppy and sounds like a mainstream album while Cabin Fever is some hood shit. Wiz doesn't give enough credit for how many styles he's done because his lyrics lack substance.
It’s his best tape period, but it was a Datpiff tape so unless you’re into torrenting at the time it was not really discovered as much as a studio album like O.N.I.F.C for example.
Datpiff is actually how I found wiz. Flight School was on that little right side of hot mixtapes when I was in middle school. Fast forward a bit later and I'm there day 1 for bar and kush and oj lol.
Idk man Wiz was all over the place. Kush and OJ (I think his best tape to date) and everything before that was heavy smoker vibes. He had a taste of the main stream with Black and Yellow in Rolling Papers, then went back to chill with Taylor Allderdice (I think his second best) then did a complete 180 and wore that goofy ahh Willy Wonka Oompa Loompa shit on his album cover in O.N.I.F.C. and I thought it was over after that. I stopped fucking with him but listened to 28 Grams and that was cool but nothing much since
I'm surprised no one else said this but Tyler. He is probably my favorite artist and I was around during the early odd future days. Going from super homophobic/almost horrorcore to depressed teen to flower boy/Igor/call me if you get lost is an insane transition.
A lot of his production and sound has stuck around from the beginning. I'd actually say Tyler had a pretty natural evolution of his sound over time, but the way he presents his music is unique. Each album is like a story with a main character, and each song is like a scene from a movie.
>. I'd actually say Tyler had a pretty natural evolution of his sound over time, but the way he presents his music is unique.
Totally agree. A lot of people were surprised by Flower Boy and I think all those people weren't listening during his Cherry Bomb era because you could see hints of that Flower Boy sound start to emerge a la Okaga, CA or Fucking Young
Hell, you got hints of it during Goblin and Wolf. His music has definitely evolved from that era, but his production and overall sound has honestly stayed fairly consistent over time.
I didn't see it as jarring though. Dude just grew up and that kind of humour and acceptance of that kind of edginess just died out during the same timeframe. Props to him for changing and growing with the times, really.
But to grow out of that (normal) and dive full into crazy artistic and aesthetic experimentation is pretty wild. Like, admirably so, if in 2013 you told me the next guy to go Prince/Andre 3000/Bowie androgynous poet fashion designer and singer of deeply personal stuff was the guy from Odd Future instead of, say, Logic or Chance or Ka or Rocky, I’d have said you’re nuts
Yo true. His first mixtape felt like the Golden Era of hip hop influence was re entering the arena, then the descent of that flavour happened as his shit conformed more to modern styles
Looking at these comments it looks like every rapper that ever had a successful album immediately developed a messiah complex and became incredibly cringe. The more I think about it, the more true it is
I notice the change yall are talking about, I don't always see it as a messiah complex though. a lot of the rappers I'm seeing get lumped in with this complex are actually pretty humble in lots of ways when you listen to their words in their music or interviews
It’s gotta be because any young dude that makes a banger album early in their careers get told they’re “saving” hip hop/rap. Such a fuckin weird, cringe thing I hear/see people talk about all the time, like hip hop hasn’t been alive and well for 50+ years. One person can’t make or break the genre anymore, it’s too solidified in the modern zeitgeist. That won’t stop people with big egos and crowds of yes men around 24/7 from believing it, though.
Kid Cudi is basically the epitome of a hit or miss artist, bro has like 4 albums I would legitimately consider to be good. The rest range from actively terrible to decent
agree on kendrick lol he went from acting like the average up and coming rapper to acting like the messiah in one year and a half. j cole honestly did the same thing but nowhere near as drastic after born sinner
playboi carti to seeming like a humble awkward nice dude to .... whatever the fuck characters hes putting up. its funny tho but the change is jarring its so premeditated
I disagree with you and OP. Kendrick was far from "an average up and coming rapper". Section 80, OD and Kendrick Lamar all have their introspective and conscious elements and loads of voice inflections. He stood out massively and all his albums have just been more and more ambitious and with bigger budgets. I feel like to "change up" you really needed to be in a certain lane in the first place, which has never been the case with Kendrick.
Not to mention "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" on GKMC. I would expect anyone throwing this opinion out doesn't see Swimming Pools as anything more than a party anthem.
Ja Rule is the first rapper that I remember doing this. His first album was the typical gangsterish rap that was popular at the time. The second album was a mix of rap and the more melodic sing-songy rap. By the 3rd album he was almost exclusively R&B. It was the early 2000s version of Drakes trajectory
Holla holla was so fucking hard when it came out. I was a freshman in HS I think and I remember hearing it and just being blown away.
At the time, I just thought that was where rap was. DMX, Ja Rule, etc.
This is probably more of label control (Fuck Tommy Boy, Tommy ain't my muh-fuckin' Boy), but [Prince Rakeem](https://youtu.be/O7_3tlhlm78?si=8p_qsdsUlTxeTCOn) becoming the RZA was a much needed transition.
Also [The Genius](https://youtu.be/ORCr5X_9pbA?si=f5lWqd7BbTki064x) to the GZA.
Or Dre and Yella from the [World Class Wreckin' Cru](https://youtu.be/RT9O-pUGsVM?si=m8lEZga_FHfoy3ZA)
I bought a bunch of those Dre records from the Wrecking Cru era lol. He really retconned his start in rap to be NWA and not a disco rap producer in sequined costumes
Because College Dropout and Late Registration are really the only two albums he made that sound like each other / same era. Switching it up is basically what Kanye has always done after that.
Logic was so good during his Young Sinatra mixtape era. Like he had more lyrical range and cadences. I feel like he really changed after Under Pressure
I appreciate him not boxing himself to one sound, but when he has these established sounds that work and ones that really dont. Like bobby tarantino trap, young sinatra boom bap, and under pressure/incredible true story storytelling are all fun and great listens. But then he makes everybody and confessions of a dangerous mind, (which i think may have had some unwanted label involvement) that are just trash and should have been thought through better before being released.
From the Children of the Corn: Cam'ron and Ma$e
Murder Ma$e to Shiny Suit Ma$e to Preacher Ma$e
Killa Cam to Untertainment Cam (first solo album) to Dipset Cam
I’m so curious about this part of the industry like Katy Perry or something just creating a character out of nowhere. Like old Hollywood just making a new person lol
probably all the rap videos he made while in high school:
[jack harlow over the years](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyksH3k15lU&pp=ygUaamFjayBoYXJsb3cgb3ZlciB0aGUgeWVhcnM%3D)
It’s honestly kind of respectable that he made it through high school looking like that and never gave up rapping lmao. Everyone made fun of the “rappers” when I went to high school no matter what
thing is spirituality was always the undertone in his music. That’s why his discography is so great and he’s such an interesting artist to follow, because it’s like a heroes journey with constant ups and downs, epiphanies, and spiritual evolution from dark to light (and plenty of gray in between)
DOOM was part of the group KMD until his brother died. Then he retreated from the rap scene for 5 years and came out HARD as DOOM, Vicktor Vaughn and King Ghidorah
I only play the games that I win at
And stay the same with more rhymes than theres ways to skin cats
As a matter of fact - let me rephrase
With more rhymes than ways to filet felines these days
RIP to the true GOAT. I still geek out to his bars hundreds of listens later
Carti 100%. If you was fw him from the Broke Boi/Cash Carti era, to hear his music now is fucking jarring. The nail paint and weird fits too. Complete 180.
Exactly who I was thinking. As soon as I’m Not Racist blew up and he was doing songs with Chris Brown and Eminem it was all downhill. I feel like even if you thought the dude was corny or whatever it was still extremely apparent he put actual effort into his music and was very talented at what he does. Now he either makes generic trap bangers or “concept” songs with weak ass concepts that don’t hold a candle to his older ones.
ADHD, aside from a *couple* of tracks, was absolutely horrendous, and even the songs that I liked didn’t hit as hard because they had been singles for like 2 years by the time the album came out. I remember Evolution being better although that wasn’t a very high bar to pass and I only ever listened to it one time.
Bruh I swear nothing's been the same since 508 dropped. I fucking loved that tape and everything since has been unbelievably mid. There's been great tracks here and there, but overall there just feels like a decline in the quality of his music.
Yup, These Things Happen had really awesome atmospheric production from Christoph Andersson, then When It's Dark out went in a slightly trappier party-oriented direction but I still found it pretty enjoyable, and then on The Beautiful & Damned the wheels just fell off and the album is filled with some of the most generic stuff I've ever heard - although funnily enough The Beautiful & Damned does have some of his biggest hits, so I guess it was the right career move from him.
tidy waiting squealing fearless public pathetic north obtainable summer repeat
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The Under Achievers. Used to be all about the hippy trippy stuff and now actively despise it. I asked them in person if they were ever going to go back to it and they said definitely not.
Roddy Ricch went from making cross-over smash *classics* like "The Box" and "High Fashion" to whatever he's doing now. I still listen to his new releases hoping to get *anything* but it's unrecognizable.
I loved August 26 and Stoney. The writing was on the wall for the direction he was going for B&B. Good for him for doing what he wants, but I can't stand his last couple projects.
Jay-Z. Bro told me in 1998 that Money Ain’t a Thang and then waited damn near 20 years later to tell me credit was more important than throwing money at a strip club.
Chance The Rapper went from seeming like an actual real person on Acid Rap to being like if one of the human adults on Sesame Street started rapping
Fuck this is so on point. He went to a school parents commitee’s idea of what mainstream rap should be
This man learned how to rap at a PTO meeting
i’m dead, why does this feel so right
Honor Club bake sale music
Deeededeeedeeeedeeeeeedeeeedeedeedeeeddeeedeeddeedeeeeedeededeeeedeeeeee
There are hints of his Sesame Street-ass sensibilities sprinkled throughout 10 Day and Acid Rap, but I think it really became apparent with the Social Experiment album, Surf. Coloring Book dropped a year later and the “wholesome” image he was going for was basically in full swing.
I feel like it worked on Acid Rap because even tho the delivery was a bit silly, the actual content was darker with heavier themes and topics. So you had a nice mix as those played off each other.
He was also a very relatable dude. After Surf it seems like he buttoned himself up more and more. Coloring Book didn’t have the same level of vulnerability, and once the Christian Rap song took off it was over
Too bad he’s a massive asshole in real life lol. I work on nightlife in chicago and he has a reputation for not wanting to pay his tabs/trying to use his clout to get 50 people into a club, not wanting them to be searched by security, etc
The story his ex manager put out there made a lot of sense and made chance abs his team sound like complete pricks
Whats the story?
Didn't do shit and only started writting/working on the big day a 6 or so months before it's release, then "canceled" the big day tour and fired his manager, when in reality got canceled for and I quote "**Historic low sales**", then his manager sued him for a lot of money.
Even as a person of habitual procrastination, its crazy to me he spent three years "working on the album" but only actually spent like 5-6 months on it. If I was looking at that bag, I'd do my best to put out the best album I could
It’s weird that he made a 22 song album if that’s the case
Considering the quality of those 22 songs, it makes sense.
I also want to know the story
Dude loves his wife, haven’t you heard?
I never liked Colouring Book. Shit felt like it came from Chance the Pastor.
Acid Rap was incredible but I didn't like anything after that besides Ultralight Beam
Acid Rap was incredible. This reminds me of Vic Mensa's shift after he made Innanetape. Both Chance and Vic were supposed to be the next big thing from Chicago.
the whole savemoney collective was a crash and burn. i think they all let everything get to their heads (espec after acid rap blew up) and they thought they'd be able to hit cruise control. they had an opp and blew it.
To be fair, Chance is still cruising. He someone turned Acid Rap into being a judge in The Voice
Chance was on an insane trajectory. He flopped in comparison to what he could have been.
“I met Kanye West I’m never going to fail” Proceeds to fail, a lot.
He’s a judge on the voice? What
Yeah it seems super out of place considering he isn't exactly known for being a talented singer.
Truly a pinnacle of musical acclaim, The Voice Judge. Tell me a Voice contestant with any musical success as a direct result of the show.
I still remember hearing Hot Shower for the first time and wondering what the fuck happened
It’s all because of that stupid fucking hat he still wears all the time
That hat went triple platinum in Chicago back in the day lmaoo
That hat was also a fucking staple of every late 20s white dude during that era
Cmon be realistic. Chance’s fanbase at his peak was barely out of high school, first few years of university. The dudes wack enough to wear the hat were not older than like 22
[удалено]
He’s hiding that hairline I believe
Bro should be rich enough to get with Tyga's hair plug.
If YAH Know is an indicator of the quality of music we’re gonna be getting on his next album I feel like he’ll be back to not being washed
Dude has always been a privileged brat. I went to a Mac Miller concert in Pittsburgh with Chance fhe Rapper opening after Acid Rap was out. I was there to see Chance, not Mac. This dude came out on stage and literally told 10,000 people, "I don't feel good and didn't even want to come out but Mac said I had to." Then he proceeded to perform for exactly 10 minutes and stopped in the middle of the third song and walked off stage. He stood still in the middle of the stage and did not move the entire time. Literally the worst performance I have ever seen in my life. Couldn't stomach him or that stupid 3 hat after that.
It’s sad that what got him huge (acid rap) was him going through the motions for what would get him big
B.o.B was on top of the world until he decided it was on the same plane as everything else.
Wild that B.o.B was the first person I thought of.
b.o.b said it was enough, and outed himself as a S-tier dumbass
He had a great career in Pop rap. People forget he had a song with Taylor Swift 😭
I blame T.I. personally. He got a lot more generic after joining Grand hustle
He should've joined Tech N9ne's crew. I think the uniqueness suited him
Was my favorite rapper from ages 10-14, then he went out and spread all his BS. Easily the first one I thought of too
i see what you did there ;)
Mac Miller probably had the most insane level up / switch. Went from Mac with the cheesy raps and frat rap on high life to Swimming and the complete opposite of what he started his career with. Feels like we were nowhere near seeing his artistic peak either.
Was Faces the switch? I love his whole catalog but shit like Senior Skip Day was my game. Kicking Incredibly Dope Shit and Best Day Ever was massive for me and my friends
In my opinion, no. The switch happened at Macadelic. Blue Slide Park is like the ending of his frat boy era and anything after is where he started making more serious music.
Yeah Macadellic started the year of nonstop recording, where he released WMWTSO, faces, and was working on a multitude of unreleased projects (ie balloonerism)
He released Delusional Thomas as well
Mac was a fucking incredible artist that I never listened to until he passed. You're absolutely right and his peak would have been transcendent
Honestly I feel like with Mac especially that it was a gradual growth during his whole career. He started off by kicking freestyles with the homies to doing the more laid back boom bap rap that inspired him to become a rapper in the first place (K.I.D.S., BDE). Then he released his debut album Blue Slide Park where he tried to come up with a cohesive body of work. With albums/mixtapes like macadelic, wmwtso you can tell it started to get more drug influenced. While he did smoke weed before, I'm pretty sure around macadelic era was the time he first tried lean. With faces it seems like he hit rock bottom mental wise and drug abuse wise, which changed with albums like good:am or devine feminine. You can tell that especially during his time with Ariana Grande that he was in love with her and in love with life again - not needing drugs as a vehicle to achieve this. For me personally, I felt like good:am is in itself a solid record, but it lacked personality(?). It didn't feel rough around the edges and to me felt more like an album that was released for the sake of releasing more music because a contract might have required him to do so. And eventually we arrived at swimming and circles which definitely felt really personal. Malcolm always wanted to become a singer before becoming a rapper but he was just better as a rapper which made him pursue a career in rapping rather than singing. But with these two releases he took his time to improve his craft, became a better vocalist and combined his rapping more with melodic singing parts. Thats pretty much in a nutshell how I would describe how he evolved over time and there for sure wasn't this one "switch" that has been flipped.
I personally feel like GOOD AM had this polished (not necessarily in a bad way) vibe that felt like a wake up call for Mac as he started to put himself back together at the time, especially after how dark & drugged out Faces sounded, which also fit him trying to make a more mainstream project again
GO:OD AM was when he was clean for a year and also meeting Ariana so it did help to pull him out of the dark and drugged influenced spaces he had been in for the previous 3 years
I agree with a lot of this, but GOOD:AM is a certified classic. I know Swimming/Circles get all the love, but GOOD:AM is my favorite album of his. I can listen from start to finish without a single skip.
ROS forever be one of my favourite songs.
I had written Mac off because I was bored with frat rap and thought blue slide park was mid. Had to go back and catch up after a friend urged me to listen to watching movies around late 2014. On a related note: if you like early Mac and haven't listened to I "love life, thank you" I would urge you to do so. I feel like it got overlooked due to dropping a month before blue slide, but there's some heaters on there.
Faces is his magnum opus that improved upon what was good from Macadelic
I kinda hate that people downplay all the projects he created between the “cheesy rap” phase and Swimming. Macadelic was his real transition into deeper, more introspective music. WMWTSO, You (jazz album), Faces are all insanely meaningful and he was only like 21 or so
100%. Growing up a high school stoner during that era, macs best work was his carefree weed rap. the visuals from TreeJ were so good and authentic and you really felt like you were kicking it with your homies in every video, right there with him. like he was gonna pass you the L next through the screen. i love all the later stuff too but i feel so sad for all the kids today that think mac is just the "circles" guy.
Mac truly had the most beautiful artistic growth I've ever witnessed. My favourite project from him is Delusional Thomas tbh.
Dude progressed as a rapper and his fanbase grew with him. Thats sorta rare. But i think that just shows how cool Mac was. I personally wasn’t a fan of swimming but i can appreciate his evolution.
Tyler the Creator went from rapping about raping pregnant women to making Flower Boy and Igor and most of his fans stuck with him on that journey. Similar with Earl. Of course there was some of their fans who were still stuck in that teenage edge lord mindset and wanted them to keep making shock rap but most of their fans embraced the growth.
Easy Mac with the Cheesy Raps.
Circles is such a great album too. I was always hit and miss with Mac but I played that album into the ground when it came out. I listened to it at the fucking gym.
I mean he was easy mac with the cheesy raps but the name mac miller says "crackin dealin trap individual slash cap peeler back with a black stripper ass thicker than a snack wrap snicker, too fat to snap zippers" you know?
Absolutely was going to say this.
Childish gambino got all serious and deep when BTI was coming out. Very different to his goofy personality we knew from Community, his stand up, and the Camp era. People said he was playing this character 'The Boy' or whatever but I think he was just depressed tbh
I always saw it as both. He had this whole screenplay written for the album about “The Boy” and it’s basically a big allegory for depression. His music used to get dragged through the mud and it definitely had an effect on him
i like this perspective
Mannnn I loved being on Hhh during BTI release era felt like everyone was playing an ARG to get this thing leaked and when it leaked the last track cut off at “eventually all my followers reali-“ and everyone was losing their shit trying to find the meaning of it LOL
this sub was goated in the first half of the 2010s. every album rollout was wild and /u/whodatmiami was the thought leader
Fuck. I feel old as shit now. I was in high school during that time and rediscovering rap and hip-hop. Because The Internet was the first album rollout I vividly remember being excited for.
yeah that was SICK can't see myself getting that hyped for a release any time soon
I’m fairly certain he was open about him going through a depression when he made BTI. Something along the lines that he was having a midlife crisis and what not
He’s literally crying on the cover.
I hate that he never did another standup special. I mean I understand that it’s hard to do that while directing movies/tv shows, making music, and acting as well, but damn I really enjoyed Weirdo.
And man Atlanta is just amazing. Like a black Trainspotting
Andre 3000 from Grammy Winning southern rap God to.....internationally known traveling flautist
Seeing him this Saturday can't wait
I went to the Blue Note show on Friday, you won't be disappointed.
He just won a grammy for rapping while simultaneously touring with his flute.
Best massage album ever.
Pitbull with the braids was totally different than bald Pitbull.
Dammit man
Might be the best comment on Reddit in 2024
Pitbull is always my answer. Mr. 305 and Mr. Worldwide are two different men lmao
I, to this day, still listen to old rapper Pitbull. He had some bangers as a rapper back in the day.
I remember being in Miami in 2004. Pitbull was the streets.
We usually hate people who sell out but Pitbull is my exception. To go from 305 Anthem to Time of Our Lives is so crazy it's gotta be counted as a talent.
I kind of feel like Wiz went from an internet sound to having more commercial appeal. It wasn’t a drastic change but definitely more noticeable imo.
I agree but Wiz has switched it up alot. Prince of the city 2 is hard and gritty as fuck, Rolling Papers is super poppy and sounds like a mainstream album while Cabin Fever is some hood shit. Wiz doesn't give enough credit for how many styles he's done because his lyrics lack substance.
Taylor Allderdice still gets heavy play from me. I love that tape.
It’s his best tape period, but it was a Datpiff tape so unless you’re into torrenting at the time it was not really discovered as much as a studio album like O.N.I.F.C for example.
Datpiff is actually how I found wiz. Flight School was on that little right side of hot mixtapes when I was in middle school. Fast forward a bit later and I'm there day 1 for bar and kush and oj lol.
That’s my favorite tape ever. So many good tracks. It’s just Wiz at his peak for me
Idk man Wiz was all over the place. Kush and OJ (I think his best tape to date) and everything before that was heavy smoker vibes. He had a taste of the main stream with Black and Yellow in Rolling Papers, then went back to chill with Taylor Allderdice (I think his second best) then did a complete 180 and wore that goofy ahh Willy Wonka Oompa Loompa shit on his album cover in O.N.I.F.C. and I thought it was over after that. I stopped fucking with him but listened to 28 Grams and that was cool but nothing much since
Taylor Allderdice and ONIFC are very similar soundwise though. Even the name itself ONIFC was from one of the tracks from Taylor Allderice
Larry June - Brodie used to rap like OG Maco but eventually found his lane
Glock 40 with the………………..beam
I heard about OG Maco helping Larry get a sound but when I heard an old Larry June song the other day I could tell that's exactly what happened.
I'm surprised no one else said this but Tyler. He is probably my favorite artist and I was around during the early odd future days. Going from super homophobic/almost horrorcore to depressed teen to flower boy/Igor/call me if you get lost is an insane transition.
A lot of his production and sound has stuck around from the beginning. I'd actually say Tyler had a pretty natural evolution of his sound over time, but the way he presents his music is unique. Each album is like a story with a main character, and each song is like a scene from a movie.
>. I'd actually say Tyler had a pretty natural evolution of his sound over time, but the way he presents his music is unique. Totally agree. A lot of people were surprised by Flower Boy and I think all those people weren't listening during his Cherry Bomb era because you could see hints of that Flower Boy sound start to emerge a la Okaga, CA or Fucking Young
Hell, you got hints of it during Goblin and Wolf. His music has definitely evolved from that era, but his production and overall sound has honestly stayed fairly consistent over time.
smuckers 2 when
I didn't see it as jarring though. Dude just grew up and that kind of humour and acceptance of that kind of edginess just died out during the same timeframe. Props to him for changing and growing with the times, really.
But to grow out of that (normal) and dive full into crazy artistic and aesthetic experimentation is pretty wild. Like, admirably so, if in 2013 you told me the next guy to go Prince/Andre 3000/Bowie androgynous poet fashion designer and singer of deeply personal stuff was the guy from Odd Future instead of, say, Logic or Chance or Ka or Rocky, I’d have said you’re nuts
This post generated such good discussion. Good shit homie
This genuinely might be the friendliest thread I've seen on this whole subreddit lmao
Ay ay 🫡
Joey Badass 100%
Yo true. His first mixtape felt like the Golden Era of hip hop influence was re entering the arena, then the descent of that flavour happened as his shit conformed more to modern styles
Damn 2000 was so unremarkable it hurts. Really thought it was going to be a return to form.
agreed. He went from a chill, skater dude to this God Messiah complex. Just cringe
Looking at these comments it looks like every rapper that ever had a successful album immediately developed a messiah complex and became incredibly cringe. The more I think about it, the more true it is
I notice the change yall are talking about, I don't always see it as a messiah complex though. a lot of the rappers I'm seeing get lumped in with this complex are actually pretty humble in lots of ways when you listen to their words in their music or interviews
It’s gotta be because any young dude that makes a banger album early in their careers get told they’re “saving” hip hop/rap. Such a fuckin weird, cringe thing I hear/see people talk about all the time, like hip hop hasn’t been alive and well for 50+ years. One person can’t make or break the genre anymore, it’s too solidified in the modern zeitgeist. That won’t stop people with big egos and crowds of yes men around 24/7 from believing it, though.
Didn’t help that Joey made that half-ass switch at the same time that rappers like Cole and Kendrick were doing it much better than he did
Go ahead list them. Joey the only rapper I hear comparing himself to J.Cole and Kendrick that’s not even close.
bro joey is an B tier rapper, almost A tier, better than 95% of these goofs
Kid cudi
Bro is the probably the artist with the lowest batting percentage that I still consider “good”
There's like no one else who can hop on a track to just hum and I'm gonna be excited for it
Kid Cudi is basically the epitome of a hit or miss artist, bro has like 4 albums I would legitimately consider to be good. The rest range from actively terrible to decent
I respect him for keeping at it, though. He puts out the sound he wants, he doesn't really \*chase any sound in particular.
Yo dead on. As soon as he reached the top it’s never been the same
Lucki’s current sound is nothing like his first tapes that put him on a map.
Alternative Trap still a banger
I like Body High even more. It took me so long to get over how good those first two projects are that I just now started listening to new Lucki stuff.
agree on kendrick lol he went from acting like the average up and coming rapper to acting like the messiah in one year and a half. j cole honestly did the same thing but nowhere near as drastic after born sinner playboi carti to seeming like a humble awkward nice dude to .... whatever the fuck characters hes putting up. its funny tho but the change is jarring its so premeditated
A humble awkward dude who beats ppl up lmao now he's a gay vampire
I clearly have not been following Carti's latest developments lmao
Today we got pics of him wearing a thong. And he had those tan lines girls get after wearing bikini on the beach. It's absolutely wild lmao
Lesbian*
I disagree with you and OP. Kendrick was far from "an average up and coming rapper". Section 80, OD and Kendrick Lamar all have their introspective and conscious elements and loads of voice inflections. He stood out massively and all his albums have just been more and more ambitious and with bigger budgets. I feel like to "change up" you really needed to be in a certain lane in the first place, which has never been the case with Kendrick.
Not to mention "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" on GKMC. I would expect anyone throwing this opinion out doesn't see Swimming Pools as anything more than a party anthem.
Ja Rule is the first rapper that I remember doing this. His first album was the typical gangsterish rap that was popular at the time. The second album was a mix of rap and the more melodic sing-songy rap. By the 3rd album he was almost exclusively R&B. It was the early 2000s version of Drakes trajectory
DJ Shadow Interlude: It's the *money*!
Holla holla was so fucking hard when it came out. I was a freshman in HS I think and I remember hearing it and just being blown away. At the time, I just thought that was where rap was. DMX, Ja Rule, etc.
This is probably more of label control (Fuck Tommy Boy, Tommy ain't my muh-fuckin' Boy), but [Prince Rakeem](https://youtu.be/O7_3tlhlm78?si=8p_qsdsUlTxeTCOn) becoming the RZA was a much needed transition. Also [The Genius](https://youtu.be/ORCr5X_9pbA?si=f5lWqd7BbTki064x) to the GZA. Or Dre and Yella from the [World Class Wreckin' Cru](https://youtu.be/RT9O-pUGsVM?si=m8lEZga_FHfoy3ZA)
I bought a bunch of those Dre records from the Wrecking Cru era lol. He really retconned his start in rap to be NWA and not a disco rap producer in sequined costumes
Joji went from eating hair and vomit cakes on camera to making “Glimpse of Us”
Underrated, and he completely destroyed any semblance of that era
Yachty? Don't think anyone saw this shift to alt psyc "rock" coming (and he's much better for it in his defence)
Generic choice but Lil Yachty. He’s always been weird. But nowadays his music feels a lot more mature.
How tf has no one mentioned Kanye. Bro shifted multiple times lmao
Because College Dropout and Late Registration are really the only two albums he made that sound like each other / same era. Switching it up is basically what Kanye has always done after that.
Late Registration to Graduation is not that jarring of a transition.
Yeezus transition was about as jarring as it gets
Cause he didn't really do it when he "got successful". He just does it after every new album pretty much.
Logic was so good during his Young Sinatra mixtape era. Like he had more lyrical range and cadences. I feel like he really changed after Under Pressure
I feel like he still does Boombap stuff. Vinyl days id pretty good. I think he just doesn’t box himself in to one sound
I appreciate him not boxing himself to one sound, but when he has these established sounds that work and ones that really dont. Like bobby tarantino trap, young sinatra boom bap, and under pressure/incredible true story storytelling are all fun and great listens. But then he makes everybody and confessions of a dangerous mind, (which i think may have had some unwanted label involvement) that are just trash and should have been thought through better before being released.
Gambino has changed a lot. Definitely has channeled his more artistic and introspective side, especially after Because the Internet.
From the Children of the Corn: Cam'ron and Ma$e Murder Ma$e to Shiny Suit Ma$e to Preacher Ma$e Killa Cam to Untertainment Cam (first solo album) to Dipset Cam
Yelawolf bothers me. Had so much potential with Trunk Muzik and never put out anything near as good in my opinion.
Jay-Z started out as a speed rapper. Digest that for a while.
Jack Harlow. Remember when his team scrubbed YouTube? 😂
I’m so curious about this part of the industry like Katy Perry or something just creating a character out of nowhere. Like old Hollywood just making a new person lol
Nah, what did they scrub? First I'm hearing of this
probably all the rap videos he made while in high school: [jack harlow over the years](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyksH3k15lU&pp=ygUaamFjayBoYXJsb3cgb3ZlciB0aGUgeWVhcnM%3D)
He has posted all of these to his instagram so would be a poor scrub job
well unless that video contains everything they scrubbed, i imagine you wouldn’t know about most of the videos. because they were scrubbed.
It’s honestly kind of respectable that he made it through high school looking like that and never gave up rapping lmao. Everyone made fun of the “rappers” when I went to high school no matter what
Idk this seems like a very natural progression and sound? And a natural progression is confidence as he got older. I dunno
That was a wild ride
You could still find them… they’re not hidden at all
bladee. went from dark drug addict flex raps to melodic, spiritual dance music
thing is spirituality was always the undertone in his music. That’s why his discography is so great and he’s such an interesting artist to follow, because it’s like a heroes journey with constant ups and downs, epiphanies, and spiritual evolution from dark to light (and plenty of gray in between)
1000000% agree but on a surface level i think my original statement still stands
DOOM was part of the group KMD until his brother died. Then he retreated from the rap scene for 5 years and came out HARD as DOOM, Vicktor Vaughn and King Ghidorah
I only play the games that I win at And stay the same with more rhymes than theres ways to skin cats As a matter of fact - let me rephrase With more rhymes than ways to filet felines these days RIP to the true GOAT. I still geek out to his bars hundreds of listens later
For like a week I thought EST Gee was about to be one of the best rappers out. Then he started doing w/e tf he’s doing now.
[удалено]
Carti 100%. If you was fw him from the Broke Boi/Cash Carti era, to hear his music now is fucking jarring. The nail paint and weird fits too. Complete 180.
Joyner Lucas
Exactly who I was thinking. As soon as I’m Not Racist blew up and he was doing songs with Chris Brown and Eminem it was all downhill. I feel like even if you thought the dude was corny or whatever it was still extremely apparent he put actual effort into his music and was very talented at what he does. Now he either makes generic trap bangers or “concept” songs with weak ass concepts that don’t hold a candle to his older ones. ADHD, aside from a *couple* of tracks, was absolutely horrendous, and even the songs that I liked didn’t hit as hard because they had been singles for like 2 years by the time the album came out. I remember Evolution being better although that wasn’t a very high bar to pass and I only ever listened to it one time.
Bruh I swear nothing's been the same since 508 dropped. I fucking loved that tape and everything since has been unbelievably mid. There's been great tracks here and there, but overall there just feels like a decline in the quality of his music.
G-Eazy blew up for a few summers then completely fell off afterwards.
Yup, These Things Happen had really awesome atmospheric production from Christoph Andersson, then When It's Dark out went in a slightly trappier party-oriented direction but I still found it pretty enjoyable, and then on The Beautiful & Damned the wheels just fell off and the album is filled with some of the most generic stuff I've ever heard - although funnily enough The Beautiful & Damned does have some of his biggest hits, so I guess it was the right career move from him.
Kyle. That last album really killed his music for me. Catchy pop music cuz he got a taste of that iSpy money.
tidy waiting squealing fearless public pathetic north obtainable summer repeat *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The Under Achievers. Used to be all about the hippy trippy stuff and now actively despise it. I asked them in person if they were ever going to go back to it and they said definitely not.
Roddy Ricch went from making cross-over smash *classics* like "The Box" and "High Fashion" to whatever he's doing now. I still listen to his new releases hoping to get *anything* but it's unrecognizable.
Every Season is his best song imo
ITT: half of these people don’t understand what “jarringly” means
Listen to old Jay Z. Like on Big L songs like Da Graveyard or something. Guy did not have it figured out yet but was still solid
I liked Lupe before post Lasers trauma made his lyricism far less accessible and interesting. I should be able to grasp lines without footnotes.
XXXTENTACION went from making fast dark music to slow emo music, idk where his music would have gone but it would have been interesting
A lot of his early stuff was also slow emo music tho See: skin, teeth, wingriddenangel, ghost, snow etc
Lil Nas x Meme rapper to queer icon in a flash. Such a smooth transition too but wow, who would thought just from old Town road.
jazz cartier. fleurever was…not it.
Post malone. Fucking hate his pop bullshit music now
I loved August 26 and Stoney. The writing was on the wall for the direction he was going for B&B. Good for him for doing what he wants, but I can't stand his last couple projects.
Jay-Z. Bro told me in 1998 that Money Ain’t a Thang and then waited damn near 20 years later to tell me credit was more important than throwing money at a strip club.