I'm really sick of this current trend of late Nobody rappers getting so much recognition after untimely deaths.
Artists like Lil Peep, Nipsey Hussle and Pop Smoke, who never had hits or anything until news broke that they'd died, and suddenly there's a million tributes for these people nobody has heard about. (Obviously they deserve tributes and young deaths are never something to cheer about).
A lot to unpack here.
Lil Peep, admittedly, was not a huge artist, but still made a pretty big impact within hip-hop and rap circles around the world - he's one of the artists credited with starting the whole "emo-rap" trend that is still pretty big to this day. He had big hits before passing away.
Nipsey also wasn't a very big artist, but was loved throughout his community in Crenshaw, California, for doing the absolute most to improve the quality of life for everyone that lived there. It made the news that he was gunned down in front of his own store in his community considerably more bitter. He had big hits before passing away.
Pop Smoke was
not a small artist, however. His music was increasing in popularity
very rapidly at the time of his death. If anything, he passed away
as he was blowing up in popularity. His song, "Dior" was massive. Not very radio friendly, but it was huge.
The reason these three artists increased in popularity after their deaths is that all three had decently large fanbases to begin with. Their deaths meant they were being exposed to even more people. Just because you hadn't heard of them doesn't mean that they're unknown.
But what really annoys me about it is how their unfinished albums that would never have gained any traction are given to talented and mainstream artists who "finish" their work by just using the vocals and putting it on a beat or a track that sounds a lot more decent an popular than they would have had before.
This one goes by an artist-by-artist basis. Mac Miller (another rapper that passed away way before their time) was
very deep into recording their next album before his passing, and said album was produced in a way that would be as close to Mac's vision as possible. It ended up being critically acclaimed. On the other hand, XXXTentacion has had 2 posthumous releases, and both were panned for seeming rushed, and trying to make the most out of what was unfinished content by adding features. Avicii's own posthumous release was panned for being "unfinished".
For example, Pop Smoke has just had a number 1 album here in the UK, something which would never have happened without his untimely ending.
Again, Dior was (and still is, honestly) huge. He probably would've still gone #1 if he hadn't passed away.
Nipsey Hussle actually won a Grammy for best Rap Performance for a song that would never have been considered if he hadn't gained enough "notoriety" from his death.
I mean, yeah, probably not. If it's any consolation, the song was relatively highly acclaimed, 2019 wasn't a very strong year for rap, and the Grammy's are kinda crap in general. Taylor Swift winning album of the year over Kendrick Lamar in 2016 is still seen as a
massive upset.
TBH, the thing that annoys me most about it is that I'm an Avicii fan, and there was nowhere near as much upsurge in sales and awards for a much more talented artist after his tragic death too.
Music is subjective. For the most part, you can't really compare the level of talent between artists, especially when they make music in completely different genres. Sure, Avicii's influence on music is still clear to this day, and he helped bring electronic music into the mainstream in the 2010's, but he made music in a genre that isn't seen as incredibly popular anymore. Rap, on the other hand, is probably one of the biggest genres in the world currently behind pop, so it's probably less surprising that there's such an uptick in sales after they pass. In addition to this, the quality of music probably has a part in it. Juice WRLD, Mac Miller and Pop Smoke all had posthumous albums that were of a high quality, and the reception and sales from these albums show it. On the flipside, XXXTentacion's posthumous albums were criticized for being money grabs. Even Avicii's own album was seen as rushed, and a money grab.
He'd had multiple number 1 singles and was one of the biggest names in music at the time of his death, so why do loads of Nobody Rappers have better Posthumous careers than him?
With all due respect, Avicii was not one of the biggest names in music at the time of his passing. He was absolutely
massive in the early-to-mid 2010's, but I wouldn't say he was that big in 2018. Also, there's the possibility that he didn't have much more music in the vault after his passing. There's every possibility that Aviciis posthumous album last year may be his only one.
Also, Avicii has multiple songs that cross 500 million streams on stuff like Spotify (Wake Me Up has more than a billion). I think his posthumous career is just fine.
