(Spinoff) Are Rap/Hip Hop Albums As Relevant As They Were 20 Years Ago?

[5 Grand]

Spinoff from the Nas/Preemo thread.


I said a Nas/Preemo album would have been news 20 years ago.

Someone disagreed.


Are albums relevant?

I can remember before file sharing and you had to wait for the album to come out and go to the store.

I even remember the late 80s when you had to call the store to see if they had the album, because every store didn't have every album. (As I got older and as time progressed, Tower Records would carry every album on the day it was released)

Then file sharing became a thing circa 2000, but people were still buying albums.

Speaker box/Love Below went diamond, so people were still buying albums then.

GRODT and The Massacre both sold multiplat. Kanye was going plat. So album sales meant something in the mid 00s.

But at some point, they changed the way record sales are counted and streaming became a thing.

Also, sometime in the mid00s mixtapes became a thing and the lines became blurred between an album and a mixtape.

To top it all off, people started posting freestyles. There's a Dipset freestyle where Cam is counting $20 bills. That freestyle has more views than alot of real songs. I could make a playlist of Dipset freestyles and not post one actual song.

So my question is; are Rap/Hip Hop albums as relevant as they were in the 90s?

Are Rap/Hip Hop albums the same thing/product as they were in the 90s or are albums a completely different concept than they were in the 90s?

Add on.

 

[5th Letter]

Albums come and go these days so there could be some merit to the question

 

[onetoughmiracle]

 

[Al G. Rhythm]

Basically the answer is no and I remember seeing that Nas/preemo thread and thinking “ehh nothing special at this point”

but it’s not just albums it’s collaborations, deluxe editions, and track listings

Like you could tell me Eminem and Dr Dre got together to do a track with a feature from Royce and I would hardly bat and eye

but go back 20 years ago and…

 

[The Lonious Monk]

Nope albums aren't as relevant. Part of that is because streaming, part is the state of music in general, and part of it is a decline in Hip Hop.

I think very few albums released now will still be listened to a decade or two from now.

 

[5 Grand]

Nope albums aren't as relevant. Part of that is because streaming, part is the state of music in general, and part of it is a decline in Hip Hop.

I think very few albums released now will still be listened to a decade or two from now.

Also there's waaaay more albums now than in the 80s and 90s.


In the 80s a rap album might come out every 3 months, so an album by Run DMC or LL Cool J was a big deal. I remember in the summer of 86 Run DMC and Whodini both had albums out at the same time. Then the following summer LL, KRS and Rakim all had albums (along with Dana Dane, Public Enemy and a few other people)

By the time The Source and Rap City became a thing, albums would come out weekly. It got to a point where you couldn't afford to buy every album that was out, whereas in the mid 80s, you'd walk in the store and walk out empty-handed because there was nothing to buy.

 

[Achewon87]

They're kinda irrelevant, unless you're a fan of the artist...

We're in a singles driven environment, which makes sense with the way music is consumed by most people now...

In the 90's you're 1st album had to be a Home Run or you might not get a 2nd chance, especially if the label had certain expectations...

 

[5 Grand]

They're kinda irrelevant, unless you're a fan of the artist...

We're in a singles driven environment, which makes sense with the way music is consumed by most people now...

In the 90's you're 1st album had to be a Home Run or you might not get a 2nd chance, especially if the label had certain expectations...

The way I remember it, in the 80s you'd release a single, and if that was a hit you'd release another one. If the second single worked, you'd get another single. And if that worked, the label would pay for your album. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Eric B and Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, Big Daddy Kane, Stetsasonic, etc. They all released one or two (or three) singles before the first album officially dropped.

Nowadays you might release 5-10 full length mixtapes, that have as many tracks as an album, before a label would even think of giving you a deal.

Nowadays you have to make the album first. Back in the day you had to make one or two songs and a label would give you a budget to make your first album.