Cinnamon234 said:

Not to mention anger. I grew up listening to Michael & his brothers, practiced their dance steps, wore a 'fro like them and enjoyed reading J5 stories every month in Right On! magazine. But all the love I had for Michael went away with "Bad". He's done everything in his power to erase his blackness(even "fathering" white children). To someone like me who grew up during the 60s, that's a slap in my face. OK Michael, if that's how you feel, screw you. You've lost my support.

I don't expect white folks to understand, but it bothers me young blacks don't "get it". Maybe Najee's right about it being a generational thing.

You know, I saw great promise with this group when they came out with "Behind the Front". I thought they would've carried De La Soul's torch. But no. They just had to go for the money and get that Fergie chick and go uphill and downhill at the same time.

NWF said:

This Will-I-Am or whateva his name is, is all about buffoonery nowadays,,,,,he reminds me of those "minstrel show coons" back in the day.

Harlepolis said:

Yeah, you're right. But I would say that moreso about the Dirty South/Crunk rappers like Lil' Jon and Yukmouth.

NWF said:

All of them are "New Age" Uncle Toms.

Najee said:

Yeah but that first pic will get your ass shot.
Sometimes it is better to turn to disney flicks than to get shot.

skyecute said:

I agree, here in the Bay Area, Invincible was the best selling urban album of 2002 and radio was constantly playing You Rock My World, Butterflies and Heaven Can Wait. After the verdict, every R&B and Hip Hop station played MJ megamixes and were celebrating.

Nearly every mainstream rapper in the past 10 years have been sellouts

Najee said:

Kool and the gang were still kool and funky even when j.t came on
board. They did have a few poppish hits like cherish, joanna, and the nauseating
celebration but for the most part they still could funk too. I felt sorry for
them one time i saw them in concert following the barkays on stage back in the 80's. The barkays bought their wild energtic performance to the stage and kool followed them on stage but midway through their set some people started leaving and i was like damn. Kool and the gang still did their thing i just guess some folks weren't in to some of the pop sounding material.

NWF said:

Yeah i remember when they were out around 1998-1999 and they were the shit. Then when they came back with the elephunk album and had some chick in the group and making songs with justin shitlake i was like man this don't sound
nothing like the blackeye peas from 1999. I was like what the hell are they doing. And you are right they had the de la soul thing going. I ain't gonna knock them for crossing over but damn they really stepped to the left and lost me.

Every artist signed to a label is looking to "sell out" their records and make money. There's a subjective difference between those who are simply doing what they love and making money and those who are doing what they know to make money.

That is true for every soul.

But there are those artists who are competent and accomplished, and loved, but calculate their music to sell the most albums. Many times, that's regrettable. Other times, you get a Purple Rain or a Thriller.

As far as lionel richie goes, i still respect him as an artist and his growth as
a songwriter, i guess you would have to put him in the sell-out category. How do you go from funking with the commodores and saying yeoww!! to writing songs for kenny rogers and the andrews sisters. It hurt me when he left the group cause i was a big commodores fan back in the day and the caught in the act album is one of my favorites of all time. What is even more nauseating is to see j.d nichols jacking up some of the commodore classics with his irritating
accent. Lionel will you please come back with the commodores even if you sing the countrified songs like sail on and still.

phunkdaddy said:

Wrong. THIS pic would get your ass shot:



Recogize!

phunkdaddy said:

My two favourite songs from the Commodores. Sail On sounds a little country, but not still.
[Edited 4/10/07 5:59am]

I consider the queen of sellouts to be Shitney Ass Motherfuckin' Houston. A lot of people don't think she is because she was always a pop artist since day one. However, when I saw a documentary on her a few years ago on the "E" channel, it just confirmed what I already know. When recording her very first album, the producers told her....."Whitney, tone it down, you sound too black. You want a crossover hit don't you?".

Najee said:

Just curious. Did Ice Cube suffer any consequences for releasing this song? I just read the lyrics, and the song is disgusting.

I would not necessarily call ice cube a sell out just because he has done
a couple of disney movies. After all he is a fairly good actor, not quite
will smith, but considering where he has grown from boys in the hood.
Even though i am not a fan of west coast music, mainly because it is derivative,
ice cube when he does his music has stuck to his west coast roots. He did so
with his last two releases and with his side project west coast connection.
I was listened to a little cube back in the day with classics such as death
certificate and predator but how look how much of the west coast sound was
being recycled in the early to mid 90's. I wonder if people would consider
snoop dogg a sellout for making records with justin shitlake.

vainandy said:

Correct. It was Clive Davis' idea.

This is an easy one.

Avril Lavigne.

She said that she'd NEVER be like those pop tarts. She's completely reverted to that personna.

She's a big, fat liar.

I'd like 2 add Pharell Williams 2 this list of sell-outs. Pharell first came out as a skateboarding, geeky nerd. Hell the band was even called N*E*R*D. Now he's in videos with a bandana around his face and all this multi-colored diamond chains. He only pulled out "Skateboard P" when Lupe Fiasco and the Pack made skate culutre cool in hip-hop circles, and had the nerve 2 have a song called "How To Hustle" on his In My Mind CD when he has never been a hustler.

gemini13 said:

Yeah, especially if Avril was already a pop tart since her debut album. It was already a joke for the media to put her within the same sentence as Joan Jett.

rico86 said:

HEY! Don't talk about my idol!

Harlepolis said:

I couldn't have said it better myself. This band is a joke. I can't stand anything about them. Why do people keep buying their records? Absolute garbage.

Empress said:

YES!! At last, other people that hate the BEP. That tune that uses the Pulp Fiction theme...utter lazy shite

TonyVanDam said:

WON'T IT THOUGH?!?..i remember this one.

LittleSmedley said:

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call them minstrels. They're just harmless and corny. Though they didn't used to be that way.

Anyone who sucks a pussy/dick to get a contract...

To me, Mariah. She had amazing potential, and she talked about how her later albums would be less produced & pop after her first one, once she got some control. That obviously didn't happen!

I'm big fans of George Benson, Quincy Jones & Al Jarreau, but they seemed to really pop out from their jazz roots. They made excellent pop, yes, but I might still call them sell outs.
[Edited 4/11/07 13:32pm]

NDRU said:

So any artist who change their style or add a new style in their music is a sell-out?

From a musical perspective, everyone at some point becomes a sellout don't they?

Instead of viewing it as a negative, one may also think of the artist as buying into the system to make money:

Case in point: Ice Cube. I have owned most of his albums from Amerikka's Most Wanted and never in a million years would I think of him becoming the gangsta Bill Cosby.

After bitching about the system in many of his earlier songs, he became wiser with age and became a millionaire peddling whatever it is he has to pitch to the public. He is a smart businessman but I don't think he is selling out, but buying into the system.

Same with Prince. All the BS he spouted about con-tracts are very interesting. Since signing a contract was at least partially the reason Musicology made 2004 a banner year, couldn't you argue he betrayed his own principles?.

I would think everyone wants a piece of the pie and would rather be a millionaire for a day than a starving indie artist without recognition for their craft or talent.

Krytonite said:

is that what I said