Does selling records keep you relevant in music today?

I love about 90% of 90s hip hop artist. Hip hop was so diverse yet the flow was the same back then. You had rough. You had gangsta. You had love. You had party music. No one rapper was greater than any other leader of each respective crew. Everyone sold records everybody did shows everybody got money. I think maybe, because hip hop as a culture was still forming and
branding itself. It hadn't yet really crossed over to mainstream. It wasn't until the ladder of the 90s or early 2gs that those of us that had been around were able to see the fall from grace that many rappers faced. Companies folding. Music not selling. The internet becoming more influential in the development of acts, all made it harder for a OK artist to stay relevant. For example a rapper that had a buzz in 1996 with no mix tape. No internet. Just maybe a couple of guess spots on ok records. And 1 hot 16 bars on a hit, would have a deal, advance, the hottest management team and everybody wanting them. Back then even the most mediocre rapper was going platinum. 2012 not so much. Artist damn near have to have to touch of GOD himself to go platinum today. And often that's not enough to have a relevant career. Not in the days where rappers are selling more ring tones than records. Nas, one of if not THE best to do it ever! Has never won a grammy. Or a MTV award. And only has 2 multi platinum awards. Ice Cube is the best story teller ever hands down, & can't get air play on a new song in his home town. He only has 1 multi platinum plaque. WTF? Yet these 2 have managed to stay at the fore front of hip hip for years! I believe because they were greats among the great.

Today that’s all different. Even if you have talent, it takes much more than skill alone to maintain a stay in world of music. Not when music is not just music anymore. Music is the biggest product placement whore ever pimped! Every rapper has a clothing line to rock, a bottle to pop, a smell good spray, a book to read, a movie to watch, a credit card to swipe. LOL ok I just through that in there. But I laugh every time I see a RUSH card commercial. Basically music has become the avenue you take to get to “branding”, where the real money is. A rapper can have NO skills, can’t ride a beat, no delivery, no real concept or idea and have a 3 or 4 album career independently. 2Chains, Waka Flaka Flame, Gucci Mane all have a successful relevance in hip hop. Like it or not (Kanye shrug). Albums not selling is by no means going to change that. Numbers don’t matter today! They don’t lie, but they aint everything now. Look at Diddy Dirty Moneys Last train to Paris. The Album didn’t even go platinum. For puff that has to hurt. But I do know that Ciroc has shipped a million cases in 2011. Wiz Kalifah is a great example of how branding and timing play a huge part in ones career. Who knew Wiz before the 2010-2011 football season? I didn’t! He had 2 albums prior to Rollin Papers. In this case it was almost instant that once the Steelers made the playoffs that Wiz was a house hold name and as much as I HATE the Pittsburgh Steelers (Glad they lost this weekend by the way! Team COLTS) I couldn’t get that damn “Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow” out of my head. What this one song meant to a whole nation of terrible towel holders, Disney can’t create that kind of magic. His album Rollin Papers however, has yet to see platinum status. As big as Wiz is now and he cant sell a million albums, its a problem. A big one!

Now I have no issue with up and coming artist getting their money any way they can. My only complaint with the business today is that, some artist that I would love to see become these great entertainers might not be. Nippsy Hustle, Royce da 5’9 both have the talent to be amazing. Royce even has Eminem behind him, and still Bad Meets Evil has only gone gold. Im afraid to say that with only music these 2 artist might stay in the position they are in right now. And relevance fading with every new crop of artist coming up. I hear too much _______ (insert faceless rappers name here) and not enough GOOD MUSIC.

With that being said, I hate to present a problem and not provide a solution. My solution to this problem is if you are a fan of an artist, BUY THE ALBUM! Not the ringtone, not the single, but the whole damn album. Support everything they do. It makes a difference.