Record Labels Are A Thing of The Past

During a performance in San Diego, California, Chance the Rapper performed his hit song “No Problems to the back round of images that very anti Record labels. Chance  changed the labels names to insulting terms, swapping out Sony for Phony, going from Def Jam Recordings to Don’t Join Recordings, and from Aftermath Entertainment to Can’t Do Math Entertainment. If this is a sign of things to come, record labels will be a thing of the past in five to ten years.    

For the past 40 years, hip hop has been a pop culture trend setter. It is the music of the youth and the youth are the people in charge of setting trends for the future. The trend now in hip hop seems to be independence.  Artist now seem to want to take control of their own business and reject the control of record label. All of which are signs that the days of record labels in hip hop are coming to an end.

The emergence of music of music streaming services like Apple and Spotify, have changed the way people receive music. These companies act as distributors the same way labels use to. An artist doesn’t have to go to a label to get their music put out. The artist could go to apple, spotify, or most commonly the internet and put it out for free. Social media allows individuals to become stars on their own. A label simply cannot do anything for you in the internet based world we live in.

Look at someone like Chance the Rapper. Chance has become one of the biggest artist in hip hop. He recently won a Grammy for a free mixtape and is doing arena tours with music he made using his own money.  Chance is the future of hip hop, and he did that without the help of a label. I think more and more people will follow Chance’s lead in the future and leave no more room for record labels.

The artist of this generation will take the power back from the labels. Independence is the new wave.

Is Kendrick Lamar A Top Ten Rapper of all time?

Kendrick Lamar is arguably the greatest rapper of this generation. Since 2011, mainstream media has fallen in love with the Compton native for his lyricism, honestly, and overall complete artistry. He has won seven Grammy’s and appeared in songs beside music heavy weight’s like Beyoncé, U2, and Rihanna. On one of his latest songs The Heart Part 4, Kendrick out right says, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I am the Greatest Rapper Alive.” And he probably is right. But is he top ten all time in the history of rap? The answer is, not yet. 

Earlier this month, Kendrick Lamar dropped his 3rd major studio album Damn. Social media was ablaze with compliments and praise for 14 track LP. Like his other two classic albums, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, and To Pimp a Butterfly, Damn seems to have lasting messages that will reveal itself over time. It’s too early to call his latest installment a classic, but it sold 603,000 units its first week, making it the fastest selling album of the year thus far. Kendrick is probably on his way to his third straight classic album. Which is in addition to his classic Section.80 album, that was released under Top Dawg Entertainment.

These are all great accomplishments that cannot be taken away from Kendrick, but the sample size isn’t large enough to compare to other rap legends just yet.   

Lets look at others who he would be competing against. People like Jay-z, Eminem, Tupac, Biggie, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Jadakiss, LL Cool J, Nas, and Scarface. That’s just to name a few. These artist all have more extensive musical catalogues, time put in, and bigger legendary acceptance than Kendrick does at this junction in his career. There is no denying K dot’s talent and his incredibly high ceiling. However, at this time I think it’s unfair to place him up against these greats. He simply needs more time.

Though, in 10 years I don’t think the discussion will be is Kendrick Lamar top 10? I think it will be is Kendrick Lamar the greatest rapper of all time? Only time will tell. But what do you think, is the man they call Kung-fu Kenny Top ten right now? Comment below!