Sometimes in a hip hop musician’s career, early commercial success is not always a good thing. These hip hop artists later on would suffer because they were overshadowed by their previous hit songs. We aren’t talking about one-hit wonders here. These are artists who were talented, and still had relative success after their hit songs came out, but people failed to acknowledge their greatness. An in-depth analysis of these artists will show how entering the mainstream may not always be in their best interest.

Chamillionaire

 Image Credit: Brian Solis (CC BY 2.0)

Let’s go back to 2006 when Houston, Texas rapper Chamillionaire released his hit “Ridin’”. The song became an instant classic and now has nearly 300 million views on YouTube in 2021. Today, when people hear the name “Chamillionaire”, they automatically think of his song “Ridin’”. However, little do people know that prior to that song, Chamillionaire was a Trap music pioneer, especially during a time when Trap music was mostly only popular in the Southern states. Back then, Trap music did not get the respect it deserved such as it does today.

A lot of rap critics and artists disregarded Trap music because it did not resemble the traditional boom bap style of Hip-Hop that was prevalent in the late 90s and early 00s. Some looked at Chamillionaire as some sort of Trap music “chosen one” because of his ability to combine lyricism and catchy melodies. That’s why when “Ridin’” rose through the charts, people who already knew about him weren’t surprised. It seemed like he was destined to become one of the biggest rappers of all-time.

Later on in his career, he would show his brilliance on songs such as “Hip-Hop Police” and still garnered commercial success with his song “Good Morning”, but it felt like he was always labeled as “the Ridin’ Dirty guy”. It’s a travesty that he doesn’t quite get the credit he deserves because he was definitely a more than capable rapper. It also doesn’t help that the song has now become a meme. Though, I’m sure he’s happy still collecting all those royalty cheques after all these years.

Lupe Fiasco

Image Credit: @lupefiasco/Instagram

Another rapper to suffer a similar fate would be Chicago-native Lupe Fiasco. In 2005, Lupe Fiasco was the most hyped upcoming rapper at the time. His ability to rap about social issues while making it seem cool was drawing a lot of attention. He was the Kendrick Lamar, before Kendrick Lamar, if that makes sense. The first hit he had, “Kick Push, was not the cause, it was his second hit “Superstar. The song was catchy and was being played everywhere.

His core fans knew that single was not the true extent of his skills. Much like Chamillionaire, Lupe Fiasco would be labeled and known only as “the guy who made Superstar”. By 2010, Lupe entered a public dispute with his record label, Atlantic Records.  In order for him to shed his label of being a pop-style rapper, he wanted full creative freedom on his album, but Atlantic Records would not budge. Eventually, the two sides would have to reach a compromise.

On the album L.A.S.E.R.S., he would go on to rap about social issues and fighting with his label for his creative freedom, but Atlantic Records made sure he did it on pop-style beats that would translate into profits. The success of his singles “Words I Never Said” and “The Show Must Go On” made things worse. People were not paying attention to his skill as a lyricist; they were just consuming his easily digestible singles. It is fair to say that Lupe Fiasco was unable to live up the hype he received early on, but a lot of rappers in the industry still acknowledge Lupe Fiasco as one of the genre’s best.    

Desiigner

Image Credit: @lifeofdesiigner/Instagram

A more recent example of an artist who struggled to live up to the hype is Desiigner. The Brooklyn-native exploded onto the scene with his song “Panda” in 2015. It was or probably still is on most people’s “pump-up” playlist. The song was very popular, but Desiigner was heavily criticized for sounding a lot like another rapper, Future. This would go on to plague much of his career. The Brooklyn rapper still releases music, but can’t seem to shake the “guy who sounds like Future” or the “Panda guy” label. He has other good songs such as “Timmy Turner” and is a very skilled rapper, but some people don’t want to give him a chance. Nowadays, most rappers all sound like Future or each other, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to give Desiigner another shot.

In some instances, artists may be better off with a gradual build rather than a hot catchy single. Early commercial success can lead to artists being put in a box. Additionally, the artist may struggle to re-create the same success they had on a previous hit due to high expectations.

Casual rap fans might not respect these names, but there is no doubt that these rappers are good. What other artists belong on this list? Let us know your thoughts below.

Follow Chris Hue on social media:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/chrishue95
Instagram: www.instagram.com/chrishue95

Leave a Reply