momentsgolden wrote:Then, on this INSANE notion that yelawolf is NOT marketable. LMFAO!! Yelawolf is a skater, white, rapper from the south who loves big cars and drinkin. ANY ONE of those things could make him famous NOW lol. The world is jus a web of niches and there is no "definition" of whats marketable of not.
Subject-matter has little to do with how marketable an artist is. Eminem didn't become famous because of his rhymes describing his assault fantasies and raping Jennifer Lopez. Do you think a teenage girl actually
enjoys listening to that type of music? When MMLP was first released, do you think all the girl fans were listening to his shit because of lines like, "I'm sorry Puff, but I don't give a fuck if this chick was my own mother, I'd still fuck her with no rubber and cum inside her..."
No, they liked him because of things like this:

That's "cute," "hot," "adorable," "handsome," to the teenage girls who are fans. That's what they were thinking about while listening to his music.
It's all about personality, appearance, attitude. Throw music out the window for a second when you're discussing marketability. That whole "just don't give a fuck" attitude helped Eminem attract fans. It's what made him so big. They had just lost 2Pac, an artist that constantly advocated not giving a fuck. It was the perfect time for Eminem to come out. Shit, Dre is a
genius.
Lil Wayne's music is absolute shit to most, but the guy is still marketable. Wanna know why? Because teenage girls think this is hot, and all the teenage boys want to imitate it:

Joint in hand, other hand forming a gun placed against his temple, with tattoos covering his body. That's "thug." That's "cool."
I have no clue about Yelawolf's personality or attitude, but his white trash look does not work...at all. Not since Eminem broke out, at least. His voice as well...Jesus, his fucking VOICE. I think that's the main thing that turns people away from his music.
That Watsky rapper that Solace made a thread about looks like a complete cornball, and because of that I probably won't listen to his music. Even if it's the best material ever, I'll unfortunately have to miss out because his voice + appearance just doesn't appeal to me.
It all comes down to appearance, man. A lot of people see Hopsin and they think, "fucking cornball," and because of that they turn his music down and go listen to whoever actually looks and sounds "cool."
It played a major part in Kendrick becoming famous. He's not jumping in front of the camera, annoying the shit out of the listener, or wearing dumb contacts, he's just a black guy with an OK voice. They saw him, decided to listen, and got hooked on his music.
+1 for super long post