2010 Magazine's Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion

Very glad I saw this Silent Ballet list. I don't look at that site, but maybe I should. So far this Mar-Khalife is decent. First track prog/fusion with singing in French.

I don't how to feel about the fact that a rapper I've never heard of is more popular than the Arcade Fire. I know that the statistical data we have is inadequate, but my faith in it has been shaken.

― Zsa Zsa Gay Bar (jaymc), Thursday, December 30, 2010 1:14 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i cant tell if this is half joke half serious or what
im sure youve known about an indie act & not a rapper before but that wasnt rlly my point

Sort of joking, yeah, but at the same time: Arcade Fire is not just an indie act but one that has had a #1 album on Billboard, which all things considered, I still think is a not-bad indication of one's general level of popularity. I guess it surprises me a little that there could be an act I've never heard of that is nevertheless more popular than a band with a #1 album. But maybe that's the situation we find ourselves in.

rappers, because of their reliability on live shows, are probably also relying on a much larger # of songs than ever before -- its hard to tour on the same album for a year and a half so you get dudes releasing a lot more songs w/ minor variations on similar themes -- gucci, boosie, gotti, all these guys do this -- to keep the catalog evolving & keep live show price up in the air

rock music's LP focus would never allow for this, bcuz its so contingent on 'consistency' -- which really is a different application of 'consistency' than you would use for gucci vs, say, gorilla zoe's stream of mostly-zzz mixtapes from last year

(gucci is more consistent than zoe, but its measured differently than the consistency of arcade fire's 'perfect album')

arcade fire should totally steal one of these titles for their next album:

http://thehiphophost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/yo_gotti-all_things_white-.jpg

http://www.mixtapewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/yo-gotti-white-america.jpg

deej if the live show $$$$ is a more accurate judge of a rapper's popularity, why does arcade fire play Madison Square Garden and Yo Gotti plays like "Club Destiny" in Orlando?

Arcade Fire should cover Syl Johnson's Is It Because I'm White?

I guess it surprises me a little that there could be an act I've never heard of that is nevertheless more popular than a band with a #1 album. But maybe that's the situation we find ourselves in.

Yes it is pretty convincing that YouTube plays are as accurate an indicator of popularity as billboard charts when you put it that way.

deej if the live show $$$$ is a more accurate judge of a rapper's popularity, why does arcade fire play Madison Square Garden and Yo Gotti plays like "Club Destiny" in Orlando?

― nog it out with (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, December 30, 2010 2:05 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

new york is not the center of the universe

& the thing about media attention being self-perpetuating ... theres a snowball effect when something like say cash money or no limit are selling tons in the south -- it forces the majors to come to them -- then they get attendant media attention -- mtv rotation, bet rotation -- which grows into a national profile

Yes it is pretty convincing that YouTube plays are as accurate an indicator of popularity as billboard charts when you put it that way.

― Two Red Ducks, Thursday, December 30, 2010 2:18 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you're reading the argument backwards -- its that billboard charts are inaccurate too

& the thing about media attention being self-perpetuating ... theres a snowball effect when something like say cash money or no limit are selling tons in the south -- it forces the majors to come to them -- then they get attendant media attention -- mtv rotation, bet rotation -- which grows into a national profile

― lyrics is weak ... like clock radio similes (deej), Thursday, December 30, 2010 2:23 PM (27 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

(what i mean is, this is how it USED to work)

"new york is not the center of the universe"

totally is if you like pizza. and hot fashion models. and rats.

and dipset

like, im willing to believe arcade fire is more popular than yo gotti ... i dont have an exact grasp of how popular they are relative to him. but i dont think you guys do either. what im trying to say here isnt 'you forgot poland' or w/e with yo gotti, its just that i think the charts are a lot less reliable yardstick than people realize any more

if the Beale Street Music Festival is Memphis's Madison Square Garden than Yo Gotti is still playing at like 5:40 under Seether

can't fight the seether

if the Beale Street Music Festival is Memphis's Madison Square Garden than Yo Gotti is still playing at like 5:40 under Seether

― nog it out with (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, December 30, 2010 2:33 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah, no

5 star bitch rmx has 15 million youtube views. i think hes doing better than seether

you should explain that to the promoters in his OWN HOME TOWN then

i think patton oswalt would call you a gangsta rap otaku

Alright, deej, you're saying that Gucci and Gotti and Waka--and the gangsta rap genre in general--is just as popular as it ever was, but that a lot of their fans' willingness to download illegally, combined with their integration with new marketing strategies, such as giving way tons of free mixtapes online, are preventing them from making their full presence known on Billboard. And that the rappers who are selling loads of albums are the ones who are crossing over to older, whiter demographics (ie Drake, Kanye, Wayne, Em, etc.).

But gangsta rappers were crossing over back then weren't they? Not even just Biggie and Pac ad Jay-Z but like 3-6 and Master P and Bone Thugs were being listened to and maybe even bought by the '90s equivalent of 'Coldplay fans'. And if gangsta rap isn't reaching those audiences as well anymore--the audiences that still buy albums--I mean, isn't that the definition of a niche market?

oh seether has had numerous charting singles & platinum albums as recently as 2007, plus a decade-long career. well yeah of course hes opening for them.

"Alright, deej, you're saying that Gucci and Gotti and Waka--and the gangsta rap genre in general--is just as popular as it ever was, "

no, im not

okay my bad

google before zing, you got a thing; zing before google, chariot choogle

But gangsta rappers were crossing over back then weren't they? Not even just Biggie and Pac ad Jay-Z but like 3-6 and Master P and Bone Thugs were being listened to and maybe even bought by the '90s equivalent of 'Coldplay fans'. And if gangsta rap isn't reaching those audiences as well anymore--the audiences that still buy albums--I mean, isn't that the definition of a niche market?

― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, December 30, 2010 2:43 PM (51 seconds ago) Bookmark

i dont really think that they were, no. ime ppl checking u2 records in the late 90s werent fucking w/ rap music. aside from huge huge names like snoop & 50 cent you didnt have that kind of crossover. master p was, despite selling millions and millions of albums, a pretty underground media phenomenon, and middle-aged moms in hoffman estates werent copping their records like they are kanye's now

xp i'm pretty sure my two paragraphs up above do not anywhere add up to 'zing'

('sgood though...)

he was talking about me zinging seether, who i knew nothing about

will smith, actually, they were buying

oh right on

I think it's a p. broad generalization to say that W. Smith is the only rapper that older-ish white rock/pop fans were digging...

(in the 90s)

I knew plenty of people in college in the late 90s that were listening to stuff like Beck and No Doubt as WELL as No Limit shit.

yah but i mean kanye has long passed that crowd -- hes a straight up household name thats like ... snoop dogg, 50 cent ... who else? maybe dr. dre at one point.

im saying that rather than going thru the ranks of rap fans into that crowd, since that crowd is who still moves units, a lot of these rappers are just skipping traditional rap fans altogether & going straight for the joe 12 cd one -- not talking about dudes who liked beck AND no limit

"new york is not the center of the universe"

totally is if you like pizza. and hot fashion models. and rats.

hopefully the rats do not live in the pizza place.

I was going to suggest the suburban moms were buying Lauryn Hill.

im saying that rather than going thru the ranks of rap fans into that crowd, since that crowd is who still moves units, a lot of these rappers are just skipping traditional rap fans altogether & going straight for the joe 12 cd one -- not talking about dudes who liked beck AND no limit

this seems a bit flimsy and ill-thought out--who does this apply to? drake? kanye (kind of)? certainly doesn't apply to wayne (who kind of invented the new paradigm) or eminem or even t.i., though he hasn't released a major-label album in 2 years and so prolley doesn't apply at all to this conversation (yes I know you didn't say 'lol @ talking about 'album sales' in 2008')

also seems to me that 12 cd ppl would the first ones to quit spending money, since they'd have all their needs met with a combination of Livewire and Youtube...

maybe not the suburban moms or the swinging Hangover-type thirtysomethings blasting Kanye on their commute home...

lil wayne t.i. and jay-z are all street rappers -- all three of whom crossed over to that audience to sell more (t.i. the least successfully)

rappers now who 'actually sell' albums either aim for that audience & sell units (BOB) or dont, and dont (yo gotti)

I was going to suggest the suburban moms were buying Lauryn Hill.

― The Reverend, Thursday, December 30, 2010 3:10 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is otm -- weirdly a (superior, but) strangely similar record to Drake's in its split-the-difference approach to rap & R&B

also seems to me that 12 cd ppl would the first ones to quit spending money, since they'd have all their needs met with a combination of Livewire and Youtube...

― Ned Rag & the Evil Olive Gardens (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, December 30, 2010 3:23 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

who do u think is buying cds? serious question

another question, if anyone can find a source -- id love to know how many cds were sold in 2010 vs. 2000

xp the suburban moms or the swinging Hangover-type thirtysomethings blasting Kanye on their commute home...

actually I have no idea...I'm pretty sure a lot of casual music fans I have come across though are downloading 9/10ths of the music in their possession.

just wanted to point out that chariot choogle has been OTM in this thread

lol that xp was to answer deej's question about who is buying CDs

but srsly my answer is those with enough disposable income...

all the HARDCORE MUSIC OBSESSIVES that Drugs A Money knows are the ones buying Susan Boyle CDs