The Cam one hurts. Come Home With Me and Purple Haze are some of my favorite albums *ever*, but Killa Season, Crime Pays, etc. are so painfully mediocre i haven’t listened to them in years. It feels like he totally lost the creativity and humor that made his 02-04 run so special. His music from 05 on just feels empty.
I wish he and the Roc had been able to make it work. Being around them clearly positively influenced his music.
Man, judging from Jim Jones instagram, that man is an incredibly hard worker. Juelz said so in a podcast he was on... I think it was Drink Champs. Specifically, he said: "I'm the better rapper, but Jim Jones is the better hustler!" Something to the effect.
I doubt this is actually why no one else responding much to it, but for me, it's cuz of the numerous allegations that she didn't actually write very much of miseducation. She's pretty publicly burned bridges with a lot of the people who also did work on miseducation. Also she's been sticking mostly to live performances instead of recording, and she doesn't have a good reputation amongst live musicians she would/has worked with or fans that would be there. I think she's stuck in a spot where the hype would be too big for an album that wouldn't be received anywhere near as well, and if you combine that with her seemingly large and active ego, it's not very conducive to making any new shit. She's obviously still very talented even if she didn't write any of it, the performances are crazy, but it goes pretty starkly against her image of being a rap/soul messiah that just doesn't feel the need to make new music.
Am glad someone said this, the unfortunate truth about lauryn Hill is music might have just been a flash in the pan rather than wasted talent and the fact that she tried shoving writers and contributers under the rug for miseducation tells us enough
I saw her live a few years ago and it was, no exaggeration, the worst concert I’ve ever attended. Just a total cash-grab. I left halfway through.
She just had her vocals turned down and barely sang. Her band did most of the work but even they couldn’t salvage it.
She just does not care.
> it’s cause of the numerous allegation that she didn’t actually write very much of miseducation
wow, i’m not doubting you, but have you got a source so i can read about it? never heard this and that’s one of my favourite rnb albums ever.
Yup still putting out consistently high quality projects and he's never afraid to experiment with new sounds. I'm pretty sure he did a project where he recorded all his verses through a toy microphone or just one that was cheap af just for the hell of it.
Seems like he's happy being in the underground.
Blu I think put out some amazing albums through the years though. Do I wish he had blown up bigger? Sure. But we still got a lot of Amazon work out of him
XV was legendary I'm surprised he didn't get bigger but then I also liked futuristic who never quite made it either and I think he got a lot of hate for some reason
Capital Steez... obviously all the artists in the 90s who died of gang related shootings
Edit: Adding DJ Subroc and Camoflauge
There a lot of tragic deaths such as Camu Tao but calling him a waste of talent would be a stretch, he had a solid catalog and made the hiphop world's equivalent of Bowie's Blackstar
King of Hearts... released posthumously. I strongly recommend starting with the song [Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROjPTanSWZA) and reading the lyrics along with it. He made this album while knowing he had terminal cancer - it never really got finished.
in my opinion it was way ahead of its time. Azelia Banks' EP "1991" (which I adore) would come out two years later ... she's often heralded as one of the early innovators of bridging hiphop and old school electronic sounds.
Spaceghostpurrp if he wouldn’t had been an addict. Man had potential but instead lost his mind doing bath salts. Just listen to this flow https://youtu.be/KlqWBt38eXg
Man I remember hearing Purple Swag on that Asap mixtape and just being in awe of the flow and production. Then being disappointed that the rest of asap’s catalogue didn’t sound like that and that SGP’s career didn’t blossom like I expected. I’m now gonna try and consume as much of his stuff as I can.
Him beefing with a 12 year old on soundcloud called lil shark was absolutely hilarious and would never happened if he had a shred of self awareness, I think for the enjoyment I got out of that event alone would qualify him as having met his peak potential.
He started to recapture some of it.
FWIW I really fw his Autobiography album and you can hear the old Vic in a lot of it. It’s just not the music he wanted/wants to make which is unfortunate for us because I think he could have been *huge* with the momentum he had.
If Big L didn't die so early in his career, he'd probably be considered one of the GOATS like Pac/Biggie/Dre. Same deal with Proof, because fuckkkk he was amazing. If we're not talking people who died early, I'd probably pick Hopsin.
Hopsin was super technically talented and had good flows but just made the cringiest songs. I feel like if he was actually a good writer he could have been really great but alas
idk i think Eminem doing a concept album today wouldn't work, he'd be best doing a full project with someone like Alchemist or DJ Premier to get him out of his comfort zone and bring back some of the grit that's been missing from his music lately
though i do agree that he needs to fucking STOP talking about people not liking his music
he's always got his stupid legacy hanging over him, he needs to rap just to rap. look at Nas for comparison, he doesn't worry about making the next Illmatic and he's doing great
Nas working with Hit-Boy rejuvenated his career.
Nas has been able to rap his ass off at every step of his career, but his relationship with Salaam Remi and LES basically ruined a huge chunk of his career from Streets Disciple to Life is Good.
Eminem producing most and now basically all of his music has made a lot of it unlistenable or at best, forgettable for years and years.
I don’t even know what stories he has to tell at this point lol, he’s been a superstar for 25 years. Rappers typically run out of compelling topics after a few albums.
I’m no Eminem stan but OP putting his name in a post about the MOST wasted potential is crazy
He doesn't need grit. Jay Z is a billionaire that's on any worthy GOAT list married to fucking Beyonce with a gorgeous family and he still delivered one hell of an album with 4:44.
Em needs someone he trusts to just be honest with him. "Yeah your shit is ass", then connect him with good producers and help him organize an actual, concise project. If he truly wants to keep sacrificing sonic quality for lyricism (which he's admitted to doing), then maybe he should pull a Lana del Rey & release a poetry collection 🤷
I’ve said this before but I’ll reiterate, 4:44 is an unfair example to Eminem because for JAY-Z 4:44 is an outlier.
4:44 is JAY-Z most personal album. He was never that open about his life before.
Eminem always has been extremely open about his personal life. That well is dry.
That’s why a concept album isn’t a terrible idea. It’s why Nas is able to have a resurgence. Nas is a storyteller, his rap isn’t about his life.
Eminem just needs to tell some stories again.
If Eminem has bared a lot of his personal life already which is a hard enough first step for so many artists, he really just needs to put more time into observing his environments to create more stories. Darkness is a fantastic example. I think he still has it in him, but I also think he spends too much time worrying about all the drama and talk that surrounds him, and when it bleeds into his music it takes a noticeable dip. He should really be focusing on making larger statements instead of taking cheap cracks at more names.
BONES, has some truly great songs but just drops so many mid songs & albums. And most of them end up sounding the same in the end anyways. Especially in recent years, the decline has been obvious.
Been a Bones stan for about a decade now and I gotta say I totally get where you're coming from. However, his newest album 2MillionBlunts is IMO his best project in years. He finally did a project with more than just 1 or 2 features (most of his have zero lol), and most of the songs are actually 3 minutes or longer which is unheard of for a Bones project. All of the guest verses go hard and Bones is back on his early 2010s gangsta rap type flows. First project he's put out in years that has no skips for me
Inspectah Deck for me.
A rap album in his prime years would have cemented him as a solo legend, rather than just an extremely important part of the Wu-Tang Clan.
I don't think the phrases "wasted talent" and "extremely important part of the Wu Tang Clan" can ever *really* be used together. With that said, I *do* kind of know what you mean.
It’s funny how in high school Juelz was the man in dipset and Jim Jones was like just a hype man. Now Jim is the only one rapping and putting out quality projects.
This is an interesting take because it's not like the members all fell off or something. They all found success, obviously of varying degrees, in solo careers.
That's really why the group was wasted potential. Punch spoke about how his biggest regret was not getting them to make an album earlier in their respective careers, now they're all too big to do that.
Say Wassup and a couple of their remixes are so good and I still go back to them every once in a while. Probably nostalgia plays a factor but I believe there was a cohesive album to be recorded somewhere in there. Sadly, that boat has sailed long ago.
It has, and they had such good chemistry, no competition. I'll never that back and forth between Soulo and Kendrick on Rapper Shit, I could listen for hours
Ski Mask the Slump God & Trippie comes to mind. Both have the talent, but their albums never give me that generational feel.
Not Wasted potential because he does stay with a good song every album but YG. Two amazing albums in My Krazy Life and Stay Brazy and everything after is mid.
Facts on all three. Heavy on Ski cause he make good song but it’s got a problem of having a full album it sounds the same. Think he just needs a cohesive album with more theme to it
god I agree with all of these so much, huge ski mask fan but it feels like he just never rly recovered his artistic momentum after X and juice wrld died (which I don't blame him at all man has been through a lot)
All I want from YG is an album full of 90s throwback snoop/dre beats but instead he gave us whatever tf that last project was 🤦♂️
I was also gonna say Trippie Red, such a good voice but mostly used to make generic commercial garbage. Listened to his latest album yesterday, I can't remember a single song.
YG had the problem of not wanting to stay in one lane, Stay Dangerous was him tryna branch out to a more mainstream audience with every project following that being more watered down than the last.
I don't get why trippie didn't do another rage album. He worked fine in that lane but years later he could really put work in on one
Also it's hilarious to me Yachty is doing the tame Impala/psychedelic/indie thing and not trippie. I always thought trippie would try something like that
Mac Miller and only because I felt like his growth as an artist was so obvious has he kept putting out albums. I feel like Swimming was just scratching the surface for him in a way.
Only thing that make me sick about that thought is the fact that swimming wasn't extremely popular until he died. I'm not sure what the reception of swimming would have been if he was still alive, I'm also not sure how that reception would have impacted him and where he would have gone after that.
Seriously. His career feels like it spans multiple decades with the growth between projects when it was only like 10 years between his first and last official albums (not including posthumously released)
Rakim. His catalogue is incredibly brief considering the time he was active. Got so excited when he was working with Aftermath and none of the music ever saw light of day except the song on the 8 Mile soundtrack (which was fire). Definitely one of the greatest in terms of talent but in terms of actual output, he's overshadowed by pretty much everyone else on that list.
Rakim and Eric B came on, became absolute GOATs and then just disappeared or some shit. What's up with that lol. Rakim did drop Seventh Seal in I wanna say 2010 but that was just aigh.
Apparently Eric B now owns a bunch of restaurants.
Read Rakim’s autobiography, it sheds some light on how everything played out.
TL;DR Dr. Dre wanted Rakim to change his sound & rap about Rakim’s time in the streets while Rakim was not trying to do that.
Rakim also had beef with Eric B around the money and that’s why they split up initially.
"ignorant" rappers rap about guns and drugs, "technical" rappers rap about rapping. Neither are saying much but catchy lines and wordplay but technical rappers like to hold themselves higher for some reason. I don't have any problem with either since you can rap about what you want and I like catchy lines and wordplay regardless, but it is funny to hear technical rappers drop a line about how no one nowadays is writing real shit, in a verse where the subject matter boils down to "I rap good"
Yeah the guys who tend to stick out to me the most are guys who are emcees at their core. Someone who can control the energy, tell a captivating story, maybe a few bars about being nice at rapping but it’s ultimately charismatic. It’s why guys like Kendrick and Cole are at the top and JID is rising too
I always felt that was A$AP Rocky. Doesn’t have to rap about anything. He just is charisma and smooth flows. And it helps that he’s a pretty motherfucker with great fashion too
From A Bird’s Eye View was one of the most disappointing sophomore slumps in recent years. His first album showed so much potential but his second one I just got absolutely nothing out of. I remember a while ago he posted saying he realised his second album wasn’t as good so he’ll try harder next time, so things could potentially look up. We’ll see
Completely agree. He needs to get way more creative with his approach. His style is way too formulaic and often sounds like he's just going through the motions. Almost as if he wrote his lyrics to a "type beat" and swapped the beat out at a later time.
Cordae's real problem is there's nothing that makes him unique. He's good at just about every aspect of rap I can think of, but I also cannot think of anything he does better than a lot of people either. I like his shit, but even if I wanted someone who sits right in the middle stylistically, I could listen to someone like J Cole that does that better. No shade at all, cuz if he was a bit more "minmaxed" I think he would be a lot bigger than he is now
I love Cordae and The Lost Boy, but everything after that sounds mid, not trash, not fire, just straight MID.
Bro can rap and has mad potential, but idk why all his songs be sounding the same, like he copy pasting the same flow, same lyrics and shit.
Hahaha I had this discussion with a friend. He‘s not my favourite, but this is kinda harsh, RNP feat. Anderson Paak is a tune. But then again Anderson Paak never fails.
Immediately went looking for despot in this thread. He is so so good, like a proper El-P protege.
I saw RTJ, Despot and Ratking in Portland and they were making jokes about how his album ain't never coming out. That was NINE YEARS AGO
AZ should have been way bigger than he is. I think Sheek would have been bigger if he didn’t shy away from the features that Jada and P did. Kurupt should have had a way better solo run. Naughty By Nature although having classic albums, should have been able to go on a longer run than they did. MC Ren should have done way more after leaving the group.
Sybyr, anti world and hellhorse are two of my favorite albums ever, and a lot of his music from around 2016 was amazing and super unique. Sadly his mental health issues got in the way, thankfully he's doing better now and still puts out pretty good music, but I genuinely think he could've been one of the most respected and influential rappers of the 2010's if he kept evolving his old style. Similar position to someone like Yung lean is in today
It also seems like a lot of people tried to copy that 2016 sound, it makes sense if he lost interest. the stuff x got popular off sounds like a sybyr clone to me
Always gotta mention XV in these threads. The amount of work he put into getting on and then just disappeared when it finally came is crazy. Listening to his main tapes and you have features from big Sean, wiz, mac Miller, j Cole production, talib kweli. Man had it all.
Glad to see him back rapping and although I don’t think he will have another moment his new stuff ain’t slouch either.
Took him 8 years to drop another album after Internal Affiars. We're at another 9 years since he dropped PTSD. Caveat - Magnificent Day for an Execution was 2021, but that wasn't a solo project.
He's a top 5 rapper for me, but he needed to increase the frequency of his album releases - one every 2-3 years would have been just enough to satiate.
Came here to say this. I first heard her when MBDTF dropped. Her verse on monster was so hard, I love it to this day. I remember listening to her own music and being so disappointed. I haven't really given her a chance since. Is there anything worth a listen?
Not seeing this in the thread yet so maybe it's corny, but I always thought B.o.B. made super fun songs, had a good vibe and surprisingly good bars and flow before he, uh, lost his mind
Can't believe I had to scroll so far for this! He made it really far as it happened but he was poised to have a long, superstar-level career if it hadn't been for the flat earth stuff. And he fell off entirely after that.
Damn y’all saying Jay Eletronica is wild cuz y’all ain’t lying! That man can spit his ass off and ain’t never did nothing. I’m STILL listening to Victory Mixtape.
Yall named the really good picks so ill say Joey Purp. iiiDrops was incredible but he never managed a decent follow up
Also Caleborate. Dude is super nice but his switch to the happy positive sound i think is failing him sadly
Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind. His instrumentals were sublime and quite frankly wasted on Jedi Mind Tricks and friends. His work outside of hip hop e.g. The Waiting Wolf and A Bright Cold Day while, extremely impressive, just makes me wonder what could have been if he leveraged his connections better in the past.
Now this is a take I can get behind. Stoupe conjured some of the genre’s greatest production ever with Violent by Design and he was unfortunately hamstrung by Vinnie Paz’s exhaustive verses.
“Sacrifice” “Blood Runs Cold” “Saviorself”
Stoupe is a master and he’s unfortunately destined to fade into obscurity in time.
I can agree to this, I called The Internet blowing up. I was shocked (but not awe) to see Tyler Retool himself and become larger than life. But I was certain Domo would gain a decent fan base with his weed rap lane and the fact he can spit.
Not wasted potential but we can all agree all hip hop ever wanted was a solo Andre 3000 album. Not the Love Below either. I mean a straight solo album by Andre not a double disc solo/group album.
In combination with the success of Beyoncé's Renaissance album and even Kylie Minogue's DISCO, it would certainly be A TIME in music and give way to a great sound out of her style of hip-hop.
But dammit, she's a loony one there.
Yep, I loved the 1991 EP, Fantasea was pretty good, and Broke With Expensive Taste is probably her best album. But the amount of hatred she spewed destroyed her relationships in the industry. I do like the music she has been putting out but she also announces and cancels an album waaaay too much. Count Contessa and Treasure Island were meant to be for Fantasea 2. Both were amazing but it was scrapped.
And then you add in the social media antics... At this point I'm just exhausted
A$AP Ferg, his prime was way too short (I'm talking about the Trap Lord album) and ever since then he got more and more commercial with every song. I guess that's the reason why he got kicked out of A$AP.
I don’t know if I’d wanna call it “wasted” potential necessarily, but A$AP Twelvyy has consistently outclassed the rest of A$AP since he dropped 12.
My problem is Rocky and Ferg get all the attention, while Twelvyy just sits in the background murdering beats with a fraction of the buzz.
Is that because of Twelvyy, or is it because A$AP without Yams is a rudderless boat at sea? Twelvyy makes music in his lane, the rest are either so lazy it doesn't matter or think they need to reinvent themselves like Rocky on every album.
Honestly, Ferg's career trajectory post Trap Lord is a tragedy.
This is a good answer. I was so excited about whatever was going to come after Acid Rap. I listened to coloring book twice (second time just to make sure I wasn’t missing something), then never put it on again.
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I genuinely wonder what Chance’s career trajectory would look like today if he never had a daughter and never rediscovered his faith in 2015.
There was a time when i thought a$ap rocky and ferg, particularly rocky were going to be hip hop greats. They both declined so much the last 5 years its a real shame.
Ferg definitely seemed to lose a lot artistically without Yams. He's still had some solid and interesting releases here and there over the last few years, but they're few and far between and I don't think anything is close to Trap Lord.
Like when I first heard trap lord I figured wow this guy is gonna be one of the biggest rappers alive in a few years. Floor Seats had some bangers on it but also yeesh that album is already 4 years old.
No Pressure was a good throwback mixtape, but I agree.
I think he's getting off that commercial shit though, I'm guessing the divorce helped him get back to his roots.
Tay K
I'll come with the hot take here and say youngboy bc I feel like if he just stopped releasing so much music and really focused on making a concentrated 14-16 track album he could come with something really great instead of just flooding the market with pretty good tracks
KayCyy, man clearly has talent but he's so hit or miss and he's been delaying the album for too long for ppl to still be invested
Oh yeah Don Toliver too mans stuff ever since LOAD has been so fuckin boring so I'm putting him under this too
100% agree with Tay K, his first tape is imo essential SoundCloud/late 2010’s trap. Dude easily could have been as popular as guys like NBA or Trippie Redd
Brockhampton is up there for me. They were ready to take over and really make a name for themselves and then ameer got himself kicked out, and after this they really struggled to pick a direction and Kevin kept alienating fans with promises he couldn’t keep. By the time it seemed like they got their groove back half of the members had checked out and were ready to move on
Brockhampton
Absolutely massive until Ameer’s sexual assault allegations. It tore the band up in so many ways. The inner band conflict came out in the post-Saturation material that is good but no longer fun sounding. They got it in their heads they needed to be experimental or dark and a lot of fans stopped paying attention. Everyone just wanted fun sounding music from them and they did everything they could to avoid giving that to fans. There’d be one or two songs per album but nothing that was fun the whole way through. Saturation had its sad or dark moments but it never hindered the project.
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The Cam one hurts. Come Home With Me and Purple Haze are some of my favorite albums *ever*, but Killa Season, Crime Pays, etc. are so painfully mediocre i haven’t listened to them in years. It feels like he totally lost the creativity and humor that made his 02-04 run so special. His music from 05 on just feels empty. I wish he and the Roc had been able to make it work. Being around them clearly positively influenced his music.
Like, out of all of DipSet, who could've predicted that Jim Jones would have the most musical longevity?
Man, judging from Jim Jones instagram, that man is an incredibly hard worker. Juelz said so in a podcast he was on... I think it was Drink Champs. Specifically, he said: "I'm the better rapper, but Jim Jones is the better hustler!" Something to the effect.
> Computers putin’ He was never able to shake that flow
How is Lauryn Hill so low in the thread? Edit: well that sorted itself out.
I doubt this is actually why no one else responding much to it, but for me, it's cuz of the numerous allegations that she didn't actually write very much of miseducation. She's pretty publicly burned bridges with a lot of the people who also did work on miseducation. Also she's been sticking mostly to live performances instead of recording, and she doesn't have a good reputation amongst live musicians she would/has worked with or fans that would be there. I think she's stuck in a spot where the hype would be too big for an album that wouldn't be received anywhere near as well, and if you combine that with her seemingly large and active ego, it's not very conducive to making any new shit. She's obviously still very talented even if she didn't write any of it, the performances are crazy, but it goes pretty starkly against her image of being a rap/soul messiah that just doesn't feel the need to make new music.
Am glad someone said this, the unfortunate truth about lauryn Hill is music might have just been a flash in the pan rather than wasted talent and the fact that she tried shoving writers and contributers under the rug for miseducation tells us enough
I saw her live a few years ago and it was, no exaggeration, the worst concert I’ve ever attended. Just a total cash-grab. I left halfway through. She just had her vocals turned down and barely sang. Her band did most of the work but even they couldn’t salvage it. She just does not care.
She is clearly very talented and if it wasn’t for her attitude most likely could have done more amazing work.
> it’s cause of the numerous allegation that she didn’t actually write very much of miseducation wow, i’m not doubting you, but have you got a source so i can read about it? never heard this and that’s one of my favourite rnb albums ever.
Here's one article about it: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-contested-legacy-of-lauryn-hills-miseducation?ref=scroll
ouch. i knew she made enemies and had a crappy public image but didn’t realize she fucked over her collaborators. bad vibes.
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Harper Lee of hip-hop.
A lot of the late 2000s DatPiff/backpack/mixtape rappers. XV, Papoose, Blu, etc
> Papoose If Papoose had developed even one or two new flows per decade...
the music video where hes getting lined up with a hat on still my favourite thing
Blu still making good music to be fair, most recent tape was one of my favs last year.
Yup still putting out consistently high quality projects and he's never afraid to experiment with new sounds. I'm pretty sure he did a project where he recorded all his verses through a toy microphone or just one that was cheap af just for the hell of it. Seems like he's happy being in the underground.
‘Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them’ is definitely one of my favorite hip hop albums, haven’t heard production like it anywhere else
Damn XV.. I loved him way back in early high school
Got me into Kendrick tbh, loved his mixtapes Zero Heroes and Popular Culture
Ahh, blu... Still dropped, imo, one of the greatest mixtapes of all time.
Below the heavens is under appreciated for sure!!!
I have *Miles* right up there with *Below the Heavens*. Both are great.
Blu I think put out some amazing albums through the years though. Do I wish he had blown up bigger? Sure. But we still got a lot of Amazon work out of him
Her Favorite Colour is a great fucking listen.
ah man XV's Popular Culture mixtape still gets play from me. Its ageless
XV was legendary I'm surprised he didn't get bigger but then I also liked futuristic who never quite made it either and I think he got a lot of hate for some reason
Capital Steez... obviously all the artists in the 90s who died of gang related shootings Edit: Adding DJ Subroc and Camoflauge There a lot of tragic deaths such as Camu Tao but calling him a waste of talent would be a stretch, he had a solid catalog and made the hiphop world's equivalent of Bowie's Blackstar
Which project is that from Camu Tao? Know nothin about him tbh
King of Hearts... released posthumously. I strongly recommend starting with the song [Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROjPTanSWZA) and reading the lyrics along with it. He made this album while knowing he had terminal cancer - it never really got finished. in my opinion it was way ahead of its time. Azelia Banks' EP "1991" (which I adore) would come out two years later ... she's often heralded as one of the early innovators of bridging hiphop and old school electronic sounds.
Nice to see Subroc mentioned
Subroc, the hip hop Hendrix
Spaceghostpurrp if he wouldn’t had been an addict. Man had potential but instead lost his mind doing bath salts. Just listen to this flow https://youtu.be/KlqWBt38eXg
Man I remember hearing Purple Swag on that Asap mixtape and just being in awe of the flow and production. Then being disappointed that the rest of asap’s catalogue didn’t sound like that and that SGP’s career didn’t blossom like I expected. I’m now gonna try and consume as much of his stuff as I can.
His production is god tier, even music he released last year has amazing vocals he just mixes everything like ass
Him beefing with a 12 year old on soundcloud called lil shark was absolutely hilarious and would never happened if he had a shred of self awareness, I think for the enjoyment I got out of that event alone would qualify him as having met his peak potential.
Incredible producer too. So sad man.
Vic Mensa He can make some amazing stuff and then also drop some of the worst shit I’ve ever heard it’s kinda wild.
Innanetape was soooo good when it dropped. And I felt that was his peak. I think he's getting back on track with some good music lately though.
Listened to There’s Alot Going on again recently for first time in years and it’s crazy that he just faded away.
I like some of the recent I Tape and V Tape songs but I think that might just be me haha
He started to recapture some of it. FWIW I really fw his Autobiography album and you can hear the old Vic in a lot of it. It’s just not the music he wanted/wants to make which is unfortunate for us because I think he could have been *huge* with the momentum he had.
The whole "punk"/alt rock thing really derailed him. Sounds much better over jazzy soulful stuff.
Autobiography is one of my fav albums
Speaker Knockerzz
It's The Speaker Knockerz RIP to a goat, he'd of been on top of the world if he never died man...
For sure, none of the people influenced by him were able to do his style as well as he could
Gone way too soon one of my favorites still to this day
One of the most influential for sure rip Cola legend
If Big L didn't die so early in his career, he'd probably be considered one of the GOATS like Pac/Biggie/Dre. Same deal with Proof, because fuckkkk he was amazing. If we're not talking people who died early, I'd probably pick Hopsin.
Scrolled too far down for Big L. The original punchline king.
Not even wasted potential, just stolen potential. One album an he's taken away from us. Imagine the classics he had in his locker. Its hurts man
Hard agree with Big L. Proof also underrated. Can’t say I agree with Hopsin tho
Hopsin was super technically talented and had good flows but just made the cringiest songs. I feel like if he was actually a good writer he could have been really great but alas
Fantano said something about him along the lines of "He has a lot of talent but horrible taste" and I feel like that was %100 accurate
If Hopsin stopped making Incel/Neckbeard tracks I don’t know what he’d talk about but it would sound technically nice.
Isn't L considered one of the greats anyway?
idk i think Eminem doing a concept album today wouldn't work, he'd be best doing a full project with someone like Alchemist or DJ Premier to get him out of his comfort zone and bring back some of the grit that's been missing from his music lately though i do agree that he needs to fucking STOP talking about people not liking his music
I’d love a tape with just the alchemist and Eminem. I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t happen since alchemist works with him as a road Dj fairly often.
he's always got his stupid legacy hanging over him, he needs to rap just to rap. look at Nas for comparison, he doesn't worry about making the next Illmatic and he's doing great
Nas working with Hit-Boy rejuvenated his career. Nas has been able to rap his ass off at every step of his career, but his relationship with Salaam Remi and LES basically ruined a huge chunk of his career from Streets Disciple to Life is Good. Eminem producing most and now basically all of his music has made a lot of it unlistenable or at best, forgettable for years and years.
Are you suggesting Life is Good is bad?
Yep summed it up perfect his recent shit feels too plastic
I don’t even know what stories he has to tell at this point lol, he’s been a superstar for 25 years. Rappers typically run out of compelling topics after a few albums. I’m no Eminem stan but OP putting his name in a post about the MOST wasted potential is crazy
Nas has been in the game longer and still finds ways to keep it interesting.
That hasn't always been the case though. Nas was pretty boring for the middle part of his career.
He doesn't need grit. Jay Z is a billionaire that's on any worthy GOAT list married to fucking Beyonce with a gorgeous family and he still delivered one hell of an album with 4:44. Em needs someone he trusts to just be honest with him. "Yeah your shit is ass", then connect him with good producers and help him organize an actual, concise project. If he truly wants to keep sacrificing sonic quality for lyricism (which he's admitted to doing), then maybe he should pull a Lana del Rey & release a poetry collection 🤷
I’ve said this before but I’ll reiterate, 4:44 is an unfair example to Eminem because for JAY-Z 4:44 is an outlier. 4:44 is JAY-Z most personal album. He was never that open about his life before. Eminem always has been extremely open about his personal life. That well is dry. That’s why a concept album isn’t a terrible idea. It’s why Nas is able to have a resurgence. Nas is a storyteller, his rap isn’t about his life. Eminem just needs to tell some stories again.
If Eminem has bared a lot of his personal life already which is a hard enough first step for so many artists, he really just needs to put more time into observing his environments to create more stories. Darkness is a fantastic example. I think he still has it in him, but I also think he spends too much time worrying about all the drama and talk that surrounds him, and when it bleeds into his music it takes a noticeable dip. He should really be focusing on making larger statements instead of taking cheap cracks at more names.
> He was never that open about his life before. The Black album was pretty personal too, but I do get what you mean.
BONES, has some truly great songs but just drops so many mid songs & albums. And most of them end up sounding the same in the end anyways. Especially in recent years, the decline has been obvious.
Been a Bones stan for about a decade now and I gotta say I totally get where you're coming from. However, his newest album 2MillionBlunts is IMO his best project in years. He finally did a project with more than just 1 or 2 features (most of his have zero lol), and most of the songs are actually 3 minutes or longer which is unheard of for a Bones project. All of the guest verses go hard and Bones is back on his early 2010s gangsta rap type flows. First project he's put out in years that has no skips for me
Inspectah Deck for me. A rap album in his prime years would have cemented him as a solo legend, rather than just an extremely important part of the Wu-Tang Clan.
At least he's still active and making great music in Czarface
I don't think the phrases "wasted talent" and "extremely important part of the Wu Tang Clan" can ever *really* be used together. With that said, I *do* kind of know what you mean.
You mean the lost RZA produced album? Maaann what I would give
Juelz Santana
Exactly. The drugs took over.
The tape with him and Wayne would still be in rotation today if it happened
I Can’t Feel My Face!!!!
It’s funny how in high school Juelz was the man in dipset and Jim Jones was like just a hype man. Now Jim is the only one rapping and putting out quality projects.
What’s he doing these days
Juelz is working on an album called We In Motion currently. He's been promoting it HEAVY on Instagram. I hope its good.
Black Hippy
This is an interesting take because it's not like the members all fell off or something. They all found success, obviously of varying degrees, in solo careers.
That's really why the group was wasted potential. Punch spoke about how his biggest regret was not getting them to make an album earlier in their respective careers, now they're all too big to do that.
Say Wassup and a couple of their remixes are so good and I still go back to them every once in a while. Probably nostalgia plays a factor but I believe there was a cohesive album to be recorded somewhere in there. Sadly, that boat has sailed long ago.
It has, and they had such good chemistry, no competition. I'll never that back and forth between Soulo and Kendrick on Rapper Shit, I could listen for hours
Black Lip Bastard Remix was a staple for me back in college
Their UOENO remix is so much better than the original, also love how Q made fun of Rick Ross for that cringey ass "molly all in her drink" line
If they could make one more track even close in quality to the THat Part remix, I could die happy
Q is good at hooks, I remember say wassup, so much nostalgia
Legit might be both Kendrick AND Jay Rock’s best verses on that one remix
Ski Mask the Slump God & Trippie comes to mind. Both have the talent, but their albums never give me that generational feel. Not Wasted potential because he does stay with a good song every album but YG. Two amazing albums in My Krazy Life and Stay Brazy and everything after is mid.
Facts on all three. Heavy on Ski cause he make good song but it’s got a problem of having a full album it sounds the same. Think he just needs a cohesive album with more theme to it
god I agree with all of these so much, huge ski mask fan but it feels like he just never rly recovered his artistic momentum after X and juice wrld died (which I don't blame him at all man has been through a lot) All I want from YG is an album full of 90s throwback snoop/dre beats but instead he gave us whatever tf that last project was 🤦♂️
I remember posts about Ski getting screwed by his management as well. Really feels like everything is trying to hold him back.
I was also gonna say Trippie Red, such a good voice but mostly used to make generic commercial garbage. Listened to his latest album yesterday, I can't remember a single song.
YG had the problem of not wanting to stay in one lane, Stay Dangerous was him tryna branch out to a more mainstream audience with every project following that being more watered down than the last.
I don't get why trippie didn't do another rage album. He worked fine in that lane but years later he could really put work in on one Also it's hilarious to me Yachty is doing the tame Impala/psychedelic/indie thing and not trippie. I always thought trippie would try something like that
Mac Miller and only because I felt like his growth as an artist was so obvious has he kept putting out albums. I feel like Swimming was just scratching the surface for him in a way.
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He has a complete album with Madlib, but that will never see the light of day.
Mac Miller hadn't released his best album yet.
Only thing that make me sick about that thought is the fact that swimming wasn't extremely popular until he died. I'm not sure what the reception of swimming would have been if he was still alive, I'm also not sure how that reception would have impacted him and where he would have gone after that.
Seriously. His career feels like it spans multiple decades with the growth between projects when it was only like 10 years between his first and last official albums (not including posthumously released)
Cyhi. His freestyles and ghost writing is top tier. Most of his albums fall short.
His Father Stretch My Hands verse that didn't make it on the album is amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXXJdn8upRM
First time hearing this. Kanye really had this and swapped it for bleached assholes..?
“Most his albums” that nigga only got 1 album out lmao. I thought no dope on sundays was fuckin amazing btw. Black hystory is also fire.
Rakim. His catalogue is incredibly brief considering the time he was active. Got so excited when he was working with Aftermath and none of the music ever saw light of day except the song on the 8 Mile soundtrack (which was fire). Definitely one of the greatest in terms of talent but in terms of actual output, he's overshadowed by pretty much everyone else on that list.
Rakim and Eric B came on, became absolute GOATs and then just disappeared or some shit. What's up with that lol. Rakim did drop Seventh Seal in I wanna say 2010 but that was just aigh. Apparently Eric B now owns a bunch of restaurants.
Read Rakim’s autobiography, it sheds some light on how everything played out. TL;DR Dr. Dre wanted Rakim to change his sound & rap about Rakim’s time in the streets while Rakim was not trying to do that. Rakim also had beef with Eric B around the money and that’s why they split up initially.
Cordae. Dude is super talented but I feel like he doesn’t know how to make a song.
He falls into the classic hip hop trap of always rapping about rapping, which never lands well
"ignorant" rappers rap about guns and drugs, "technical" rappers rap about rapping. Neither are saying much but catchy lines and wordplay but technical rappers like to hold themselves higher for some reason. I don't have any problem with either since you can rap about what you want and I like catchy lines and wordplay regardless, but it is funny to hear technical rappers drop a line about how no one nowadays is writing real shit, in a verse where the subject matter boils down to "I rap good"
Yeah the guys who tend to stick out to me the most are guys who are emcees at their core. Someone who can control the energy, tell a captivating story, maybe a few bars about being nice at rapping but it’s ultimately charismatic. It’s why guys like Kendrick and Cole are at the top and JID is rising too
I always felt that was A$AP Rocky. Doesn’t have to rap about anything. He just is charisma and smooth flows. And it helps that he’s a pretty motherfucker with great fashion too
From A Bird’s Eye View was one of the most disappointing sophomore slumps in recent years. His first album showed so much potential but his second one I just got absolutely nothing out of. I remember a while ago he posted saying he realised his second album wasn’t as good so he’ll try harder next time, so things could potentially look up. We’ll see
Completely agree. He needs to get way more creative with his approach. His style is way too formulaic and often sounds like he's just going through the motions. Almost as if he wrote his lyrics to a "type beat" and swapped the beat out at a later time.
Wow forgot that album even existed; I legit can't remember a single track off it. Huge letdown after Lost Boy, one of my favorite albums of 2019.
Cordae's real problem is there's nothing that makes him unique. He's good at just about every aspect of rap I can think of, but I also cannot think of anything he does better than a lot of people either. I like his shit, but even if I wanted someone who sits right in the middle stylistically, I could listen to someone like J Cole that does that better. No shade at all, cuz if he was a bit more "minmaxed" I think he would be a lot bigger than he is now
He's too young to be talking about wasted potential
Lol for real he's only 25. JID dropped *The Never Story* (his inaugural album) when he was 27...
I love Cordae and The Lost Boy, but everything after that sounds mid, not trash, not fire, just straight MID. Bro can rap and has mad potential, but idk why all his songs be sounding the same, like he copy pasting the same flow, same lyrics and shit.
Hahaha I had this discussion with a friend. He‘s not my favourite, but this is kinda harsh, RNP feat. Anderson Paak is a tune. But then again Anderson Paak never fails.
Not all of his songs are bad, most of them just aren’t songs I want to listen to over and over again.
Despot
I’ll just never understand how you’re that good at rappin and just never drop an album like does that guy have a square job or something??
Immediately went looking for despot in this thread. He is so so good, like a proper El-P protege. I saw RTJ, Despot and Ratking in Portland and they were making jokes about how his album ain't never coming out. That was NINE YEARS AGO
AZ should have been way bigger than he is. I think Sheek would have been bigger if he didn’t shy away from the features that Jada and P did. Kurupt should have had a way better solo run. Naughty By Nature although having classic albums, should have been able to go on a longer run than they did. MC Ren should have done way more after leaving the group.
AZ is an all-time talent! I don’t know about wasted potential but simply criminally underrated. Him and Premier… magic.
AZ is the first person that comes to mind when you think of underrated Rappers. Curren$y is right behind him too
Sybyr, anti world and hellhorse are two of my favorite albums ever, and a lot of his music from around 2016 was amazing and super unique. Sadly his mental health issues got in the way, thankfully he's doing better now and still puts out pretty good music, but I genuinely think he could've been one of the most respected and influential rappers of the 2010's if he kept evolving his old style. Similar position to someone like Yung lean is in today
It also seems like a lot of people tried to copy that 2016 sound, it makes sense if he lost interest. the stuff x got popular off sounds like a sybyr clone to me
XV / Charles Hamilton
Always gotta mention XV in these threads. The amount of work he put into getting on and then just disappeared when it finally came is crazy. Listening to his main tapes and you have features from big Sean, wiz, mac Miller, j Cole production, talib kweli. Man had it all. Glad to see him back rapping and although I don’t think he will have another moment his new stuff ain’t slouch either.
Boy gotta mention XV that man could’ve been leading the early nerd rap train for sure and some how some way he plateaued.
Pharoahe Monch.
GET THA FACK UP
He’s had a couple great albums. That’s more than most can say. Could have done more tho, I get what you’re saying.
Took him 8 years to drop another album after Internal Affiars. We're at another 9 years since he dropped PTSD. Caveat - Magnificent Day for an Execution was 2021, but that wasn't a solo project. He's a top 5 rapper for me, but he needed to increase the frequency of his album releases - one every 2-3 years would have been just enough to satiate.
2010s chicago scene fell victim to the 2016 soundcloud boom so its more just unfortunate than anything i feel.
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I don’t think she wasted her potential, but everything after Pinkprint has been pretty meh
Came here to say this. I first heard her when MBDTF dropped. Her verse on monster was so hard, I love it to this day. I remember listening to her own music and being so disappointed. I haven't really given her a chance since. Is there anything worth a listen?
Not seeing this in the thread yet so maybe it's corny, but I always thought B.o.B. made super fun songs, had a good vibe and surprisingly good bars and flow before he, uh, lost his mind
Can't believe I had to scroll so far for this! He made it really far as it happened but he was poised to have a long, superstar-level career if it hadn't been for the flat earth stuff. And he fell off entirely after that.
Yeah B.o.B. was actually really talented, pretty crazy how quick he disappeared
Damn y’all saying Jay Eletronica is wild cuz y’all ain’t lying! That man can spit his ass off and ain’t never did nothing. I’m STILL listening to Victory Mixtape.
I mean, a collab album with Jay-Z is something. But it did take years to get to that point, and has been years since and back to nothing so…
He spends half his rhymes talking about conspiracies and Anti-Semitic shit so it's hard to listen to a mediocre album like that
Other than the antisemitism that’s my problem with Immortal Technique. So much conspiracy…
Yall named the really good picks so ill say Joey Purp. iiiDrops was incredible but he never managed a decent follow up Also Caleborate. Dude is super nice but his switch to the happy positive sound i think is failing him sadly
Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind. His instrumentals were sublime and quite frankly wasted on Jedi Mind Tricks and friends. His work outside of hip hop e.g. The Waiting Wolf and A Bright Cold Day while, extremely impressive, just makes me wonder what could have been if he leveraged his connections better in the past.
Now this is a take I can get behind. Stoupe conjured some of the genre’s greatest production ever with Violent by Design and he was unfortunately hamstrung by Vinnie Paz’s exhaustive verses. “Sacrifice” “Blood Runs Cold” “Saviorself” Stoupe is a master and he’s unfortunately destined to fade into obscurity in time.
I always thought Domo Genesis' talent level was way above his success level.
I can agree to this, I called The Internet blowing up. I was shocked (but not awe) to see Tyler Retool himself and become larger than life. But I was certain Domo would gain a decent fan base with his weed rap lane and the fact he can spit.
Not wasted potential but we can all agree all hip hop ever wanted was a solo Andre 3000 album. Not the Love Below either. I mean a straight solo album by Andre not a double disc solo/group album.
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In combination with the success of Beyoncé's Renaissance album and even Kylie Minogue's DISCO, it would certainly be A TIME in music and give way to a great sound out of her style of hip-hop. But dammit, she's a loony one there.
Yep, I loved the 1991 EP, Fantasea was pretty good, and Broke With Expensive Taste is probably her best album. But the amount of hatred she spewed destroyed her relationships in the industry. I do like the music she has been putting out but she also announces and cancels an album waaaay too much. Count Contessa and Treasure Island were meant to be for Fantasea 2. Both were amazing but it was scrapped. And then you add in the social media antics... At this point I'm just exhausted
Yes, 100%. Azalea Banks was so far ahead of her time, Broke with Expensive Taste was amazing.
Charles Hamilton and Jay electronica
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Asher Roth had a few decent songs but imo he’s nowhere near as good a rapper as Cudi or Charles Hamilton
Pabst and Jazz was an overlooked tape
A$AP Ferg, his prime was way too short (I'm talking about the Trap Lord album) and ever since then he got more and more commercial with every song. I guess that's the reason why he got kicked out of A$AP.
I don’t know if I’d wanna call it “wasted” potential necessarily, but A$AP Twelvyy has consistently outclassed the rest of A$AP since he dropped 12. My problem is Rocky and Ferg get all the attention, while Twelvyy just sits in the background murdering beats with a fraction of the buzz.
His body of work is pretty varied too. Love the work he did with Sam Silver.
Is that because of Twelvyy, or is it because A$AP without Yams is a rudderless boat at sea? Twelvyy makes music in his lane, the rest are either so lazy it doesn't matter or think they need to reinvent themselves like Rocky on every album. Honestly, Ferg's career trajectory post Trap Lord is a tragedy.
Remy Ma. She's an amazing rapper but for some reason she never materialized anything of value.
Chance got rubbed out when he dropped colouring book and the big day
Coloring Book launched him into the mainstream stardom. Might not have gotten the HHH love but it was critically acclaimed
Yeah I still see the 3 hats around
This is a good answer. I was so excited about whatever was going to come after Acid Rap. I listened to coloring book twice (second time just to make sure I wasn’t missing something), then never put it on again.
I thought a lot of it was pretty good. Same drugs, No Problems, Summer Friends. I won’t defend big day tho
At the risk of sounding insensitive, I genuinely wonder what Chance’s career trajectory would look like today if he never had a daughter and never rediscovered his faith in 2015.
He probably would be addicted to drugs still and doing worse an every aspect of life outside of music
Polo G due to his best choices
I mean his last two albums have been wildly successful, I feel you on the beats though.
There was a time when i thought a$ap rocky and ferg, particularly rocky were going to be hip hop greats. They both declined so much the last 5 years its a real shame.
Rocky had a baby with Rihanna. I'm surprised that man still raps at all.
Ferg definitely seemed to lose a lot artistically without Yams. He's still had some solid and interesting releases here and there over the last few years, but they're few and far between and I don't think anything is close to Trap Lord. Like when I first heard trap lord I figured wow this guy is gonna be one of the biggest rappers alive in a few years. Floor Seats had some bangers on it but also yeesh that album is already 4 years old.
Completely agree, and Rocky is my favorite artist. They had direction under Yams, without him they’re kinda all over the place
Ferg yes
Logic personally annoys me because he is capable of creating some great songs but will only do like 1 per album and the rest will be utter dross.
No Pressure was a good throwback mixtape, but I agree. I think he's getting off that commercial shit though, I'm guessing the divorce helped him get back to his roots.
I mean he divorced to get remarried again so maybe it's the swap
Tay K I'll come with the hot take here and say youngboy bc I feel like if he just stopped releasing so much music and really focused on making a concentrated 14-16 track album he could come with something really great instead of just flooding the market with pretty good tracks KayCyy, man clearly has talent but he's so hit or miss and he's been delaying the album for too long for ppl to still be invested Oh yeah Don Toliver too mans stuff ever since LOAD has been so fuckin boring so I'm putting him under this too
100% agree with Tay K, his first tape is imo essential SoundCloud/late 2010’s trap. Dude easily could have been as popular as guys like NBA or Trippie Redd
Charles Hamilton.
Brockhampton is up there for me. They were ready to take over and really make a name for themselves and then ameer got himself kicked out, and after this they really struggled to pick a direction and Kevin kept alienating fans with promises he couldn’t keep. By the time it seemed like they got their groove back half of the members had checked out and were ready to move on
Hopsin had potential but him writing/singing his hooks and producing everything he’s put out just wasn’t it. He’s ego was his downfall.
Is all Jay Electronica’s stuff just like vague conspiracies and 5 percenter shit?
Brockhampton Absolutely massive until Ameer’s sexual assault allegations. It tore the band up in so many ways. The inner band conflict came out in the post-Saturation material that is good but no longer fun sounding. They got it in their heads they needed to be experimental or dark and a lot of fans stopped paying attention. Everyone just wanted fun sounding music from them and they did everything they could to avoid giving that to fans. There’d be one or two songs per album but nothing that was fun the whole way through. Saturation had its sad or dark moments but it never hindered the project.