Super Bowl Halftime
- Thread starter gamecockcat
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Too short is a badazz and should’ve been on my list. Nas and lil Wayne have very few raps that I enjoy
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This is an objectively silly comment. Kendrick has been popular for almost 15 years already, has won the third most Grammys among rappers, has dropped classic after classic especially Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and To Pimp a Butterfly (arguably two of the greatest rap albums of all time), and literally just headlined a Super Bowl Halftime show. I can appreciate having fond thoughts of 90s rap since that was the best time for it, but completely discounting the best rapper of this generation is simply ludicrous.
Do you often put that much thought into something no one gives a s*** about?
If you were younger you would know this is really good and would realize you actually like it.
In other words, our appreciation for music is often conditioned and not really our choice at all.
In other words, our appreciation for music is often conditioned and not really our choice at all.
I whipped that up in 10 minutes, while procrastinating at the office
Are you really comparing sales of Kendrick, who released his first album just 13 years ago and has only five albums, to the Rolling Stones who have been around for six decades and have 31 studio albums, 39 live albums, and 28 compilation albums. Obviously that latter group will have a ton more sales.
The Serena Williams bit and crip dance was awesome. Like, moon walking badazz chit
I'll give it a go. I'm not a Kendrick superfan, but I have physical copies of all his albums and to me it's quite obvious why he's probably the best rapper out there right now.
I'm 36, but I think I have an older school view of music. I almost exclusively listen to music as an album from start to finish. I hate the Spotify-cation of music where everything is playlist after playlist. I buy physical copies of albums on vinyl and listen to them in full.
I say that because one reason I really like Kendrick is because he still makes albums, not just collections of songs released together. He has five full studio albums and they're all incredibly cohesive projects with a few of them being concept albums that tell a fully developed story from front to back. Because of this, I can understand why removing individual songs and performing 90 seconds of them during a halftime show leaves some people questioning what's so good about Kendrick. He's best when you appreciate his full projects.
As a lyricist he's a great writer. His third album, DAMN, won a Pulitzer. If you go look at the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Music it's basically all classical composer, pianists, opera singers, and then Kendrick. I think that's a pretty good indication of how complex and layered his music is. He doesn't waste a line when he writes. He'll sew lines together over the course of a song or album to set up a double or triple entendre that references things from earlier in the song, album, or from pop culture or current events.
From a pure rapping point of view he's also just a very skilled rapper. He delivers his lyrics with passion and emotion with great breath control. This is something where you probably have to really understand the genre to appreciate though. Skilled rapping really isn't easy. Throughout his albums he switches up flow, cadence, delivery styles, and plays different characters.
He's truly committed to making art and not just radio friendly music. But when he wants to, he can switch it up a bit and write a radio banger like Not Like Us that stands on its own and is still chock full of complex lyrics you need to listen to 100 times to fully appreciate.
Appreciate the time to write that. His music is not my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean he isn't great at what he does.
As a soon to be 40 year old building out a vinyl collection, it isn't remotely close to what it was even 25 years ago. As soon as people could buy singles on iTunes, it all went south from there. It's the reason streaming figures are used now.
Sure, people still buy full albums (I will for my favorite artists), but the days of even 100k album sales in a release week are far gone for the majority of musicians.
I'm 36 and have quite a good vinyl collection. I started buying vinyl in 2008 when I was dormed across the street from CD Central in Lexington.
Take everything hmt says with a grain of salt... this is what he said about Taylor Swift yesterday...
"but she just has an insanely loyal base. Outside her base she has very little appeal." Guy is a clown
“Kendrick just isn’t popular” 
Let's be honest, Kendrick isn't going to be popular on an off topic message board for the University of Kentucky that runs about 80% conservative. That being said, it accomplished what the NFL and Apple wanted, it got eyes on the screen for better or worse.
To me this is so funny to see. I collected vinyl in the early to mid 2000s. You sure as heck didn’t see them in Target and Walmart and not every single pop star had one out. But the price has jumped so much.
I’ve bought maybe one new record in over a decade.
Pretty sure the LA Super Bowl with Snoop and Dre and all of them was well liked.
I just never heard of this guy until that Drake stuff. I had no idea this guy was around for 15 years like someone said.
But it is about politcs. Kendrick made several political statements during his performance. The MAGA folks went crazy online afterwards. He's not exactly on those folks radars otherwise.
I'm not condemning conservatism, sorry if it seemed that way.
Like I said, these yearly threads are a favorite of mine. There's good music conversation within as some complain about the show while others act as if their music selection would've been the one that broke records and everyone would've enjoyed. Matt Jones does his yearly "this show isn't for you, elder white person" tweet and most of us realize in real time that none of us know who or what is popular now.
As a metal guy, I understand my favorite genre is on the outside looking in. Metal was big 40 years ago, rock and alternative 30 years ago. For this show, you choose what's in at the time and the megastars of now. Every once in a while, you throw a bone to nostalgia but if you do that too often, what you've created becomes lame. So yeah, of course KL was chosen and of course it broke records.
As a metal guy, I understand my favorite genre is on the outside looking in. Metal was big 40 years ago, rock and alternative 30 years ago. For this show, you choose what's in at the time and the megastars of now. Every once in a while, you throw a bone to nostalgia but if you do that too often, what you've created becomes lame. So yeah, of course KL was chosen and of course it broke records.
wrong thread. But.... The point is she has crazy rabid fans. The avg person could give 2 *****. But she will get a bunch of teen girls to force their parents to shell out $200 for tickets to 3 different shows so they can all think about the dude that didn't pay them enough attention and dated the cheerleader instead. LOL
87.3m unique listeners a month. Million. It's not limited to the US, but that's nearly a third of our population.
It was a **** take, own up to it.
Not at all. People who would never go to an Eagles concert would know some of their songs and like them. People who would never go to a Michael Jackson concert would definitely know his songs and love several of them. People who would never go to a country show of any kind would still listen to a Chris Stapleton song and respect the talent and songwriting ability... not everyone but a large swath of the US and even the Western world. I bet you can't name 3 songs she's done... and don't mean "she did that one song about breaking up with her bf".... LOL
No it's not. You keep using this Unique listener metric for stuff. I don't know if you know this but online data can be manipulated. I know, trippy right.? I suggest you go out in the wider world a few times in your life and notice how many times you just randomly hear a Taylor Swift song anywhere. I get that she has rabid fans. But she isn't as big as Michael Jackson was in his time. That dude couldn't poke his head out of a window without people falling over to get a picture. It's just a different world now. Celebrity is dead mostly because of their own choices. I don't like it but it's dead. She is just a 35 yo woman still pretending to be a heartbroke teenager. She'll make another billion dollars before her fans figure it out but there won't be 2 songs she wrote that anyone will remember in 10 years. LOL
And that is part of the problem. Singles don't build a brand. We called it "one hit wonders" when we were younger. Now it's just all one hit wonders even if some of them are the same people. Most people never develop a respect for any new artist... and I'm talking more about music in general now. Music is just weird right now.
That and it also shows how little people think about this since album isn't just vinyl. Very few artist write "albums" anymore. There is little draw for the concert over the whole project and now people just go to listen to 2 songs. It's just a cheaper product across the music industry. I don't even know how people are arguing this. LOL
I guess some people just love to pretend to still be young and cool and just call everyone who disagrees with them... old grumpy men.
Kendrick’s performance did better ratings than the game itself and it has 328 million views on the NFL YouTube making it the most viewed video ever on their YouTube. Second place is the Shakira and JLo halftime show at 321 million followed by third place of 260 million going to the Rihanna halftime shows
And that’s not even counting the Apple Music version that’s also on the NFL YouTube channel, which gives it an additional 39 million views, which is the 9th most viewed NFL YouTube video.
And that’s not even counting the Apple Music version that’s also on the NFL YouTube channel, which gives it an additional 39 million views, which is the 9th most viewed NFL YouTube video.
Now this I can respect. If you like the whole album and are into the lyrics then I get it.
There will never be anyone who resonates with the majority of fans because such a musical act does not exist and has never existed.
You wrote a lot of words to basically say "nuh uh".
You went from she has a limited base to she isn't bigger than MJ in three posts.
Out of curiosity, I looked up TS number 1 singles and MJs. She has one less (12 to MJs 13). As a solo artist, she has sold 47 million albums in the US compared to 89 million for MJ as a solo artist in the US. Also, keep in mind, she's doing that in the streaming era.
MJ was likely the bigger international pop star but you are vastly underestimating TS.
The chiefs, who have been good since Mahomes came into the league, had viewership increase by 15 percent when she started dating Kelce.
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I knew the halftime show was not for be (46, white male). I don't know one of his songs (if it isn't on 90s on 9 or Lithium, I'm not listening to it). I thought it was visually awesome, but since I didn't know any of the songs, it was just blah to me. I didn't hate it, it just wasn't my favorite.
I heard a national radio personality explain it good. For the average person, they want to hear big hits songs they can sing along to (no matter what genre they like). And be somewhat cheesy. I think that was the problem for most, as he played some not as popular songs and a new song.
Also, it is also nearly impossible to find someone who applies to all demographics who will do the Super Bowl. It just isn't going to happen.
I heard a national radio personality explain it good. For the average person, they want to hear big hits songs they can sing along to (no matter what genre they like). And be somewhat cheesy. I think that was the problem for most, as he played some not as popular songs and a new song.
Also, it is also nearly impossible to find someone who applies to all demographics who will do the Super Bowl. It just isn't going to happen.
Wait... you mean that people enjoy being able to sing along with songs at live concerts.... The horror. Don't let other itt know you said this or they'll say you are an old fuddy duddy. LULZ.