how popular do you think they would be? And be honest.

intha916 said:

Take a wild guess

Slim & Justin have this-[] amount of talent while alot o brothas can wipe them off the floor and still don't get the props from media, so if they were black with that TALENT their careers would finish b4 they start,,,they would get a sharp kick str8 on the asshole(excuse my french).

Harlepolis said:

Yes absolutely. As a matter of fact, I can't recall one single famous commercial artist who was black, much less a famous commercial artist who was black and had no talent.

intha916 said:

I would still want them to choke on their own vomit and die!!!

Eminem/Justin same person. Fake,no talent, puppets,nasty,ugly,no talent,shock value,non-artists,have no purpose,must die,no talent... did I leave anything out?

savoirfaire said:

I won't say that. B2K comes to mind right off. But I do agree on Em and Justin. I don't think either is totally devoid of talent. They just aren't anything special. I mean what's the difference between Usher and JT? If anything Usher has had slightly better songs. It's even worse with Em. There are 100's of MCs out there with as much skill and talent as he has. I guess whats rubbing me the wrong way isn't that they can sell records, it's that the hype machine is in full effect. I know this isn't anything most of us don't already know but I saw cats (some black) talking about Em on E's true hollywood story last night talking like Em was hands down the best MC in the world. So called critics try and tell us these cats are "special" because of their talent and not their skin color. That shit is just plain insulting.
[This message was edited Wed Jul 23 15:32:24 PDT 2003 by intha916]

intha916 said:

Ok, I know very little about rap music, and I totally avoid the shit-pop of Timberlake and virtually every other singer on the radio today. So I can't compare their "talent" and skin color to others. What I do know is this:

I listen to a great variety of excellent music. When critics hear it, it is praised. The music I listen to is often groundbreaking, diverse, exciting, everything that music should be. And you know what? Most of it never sells! I don't give a shit what the skin color is of the artist, it just does not sell! I disagree with this! I think most of the music that's out there right now sucks, and it nearly makes me cry when I hear people talking about how great it is. I just don't understand how they can like the shit that's out there. And I have heard just as much popular shit by black musicians as by white, it makes no difference! I mean, just look at all the now famous rappers who make their fortunes by following an identical formula: lots of jewellery, big asses, and big trucks. And, look at all the white punk band clones out there! Their time is almost done now, but I remember listening to our rock station here, you could hear up to a dozen pop-punk songs in a row by different artists who I had never heard of the week before.

Fact of the matter is, Justin sells because he represents an all-american boy. And the market he sells to is a helluva lot less discriminating than the older generations.

And eminem sells because he is the one parents don't want their kids to listen to. Rebellion pumps his sales up.

Yes their are black performers that do the same thing, and I'm sure, many do it better, but, as I mentioned before there are tons of talented black AND white artists who don't get the respect they deserve. It's how the music industry works.

They market what's easy, not what's good. And if the stuff sells, they don't care what color box it comes in.

"They market what's easy, not what's good. And if the stuff sells, they don't care what color box it comes in."

That's the truest thing you said. They only color the record companies care about is green. But we aren't talking about the record companies, we are talking about the record buying public. Really the question I asked needs no answer. Of course we know that Em and JT's success is mainly (if not all) due to the color of their skin. What makes them any different than Pat Boone covering Little Richard songs or Elvis doing a white version of Chuck Berry? It speaks to a bigger issue that in 2003 race DOES matter when selling records. Another thing you correctly pointed out was the "rebellion factor". White kids do like to listen to what they think there parents hate. That's wht brought them to hip hop in the fisrt place. But Em is now going mainstream wether he likes it or not. I work with white folks in their late 30's who bump Emenim. That's the first sign that Em's 15 minutes is running out fast. God knows what or who will be next to pop up and take his place.

If Eminem was black he would have some "heatseekers," but he would not be the posterchild of this current musical landscape. His whiteness is part of his appeal. You have to remember, before Eminem, white rappers weren't considered cool or marketable. Vanilla Ice seemed to be the deathknoll for the white emcee, but Eminem conquered pop and made white kids feel that they could be down, plus he had some geographical allegiances with the black people (Detroit) so he (::cough::andhisrecordcompany::cough: used that to his advantage.

Justin Timberlake is basically a kid trying to use R&B as his bunker. After the TRL wreckage many of its stars were running scared and had to find new avenues to explore or be sunk with the pop/boyband ship. Justin ran to R&B. Pink to rock. Britney to ??? (is she still trying to masquerade under the young Janet-Madonna hybrid thing?), Christina is trying to assert her identity through her vocals slowly tip-toeing her way to R&B acceptance, but with a pop stance.

Usher, I was never a fan of his. I don't feel him or his music. I think he is cocky and spoiled. Plus his music is nothing that ever moved me.

no one would know who they are

50 Cent...Ludacris...Jay-Z...the list goes on.

R. Kelly, Ginuwine, Usher, Craig David, Ruben Stoddard, that list goes on too.

Plus...Eminem has skills and Justin has that pop juice right now. Quit frontin.

Chico319 wrote:

Eminem/Justin same person. Fake,no talent, puppets,nasty,ugly,no talent,shock value,non-artists,have no purpose,must die,no talent... did I leave anything out?

You're kidding right? Those two have amazing talents. Their incomes are very well deserved. I'm an Eminem fan so I'll automatically back him up. I'm not a Justin fan at all, but I can respect his talent and the fact that he is keeping it real and not acting like a total jackass. Those two guys can do stuff that no one here can do.

As far as the black and white issue, they'd definitely make less money, but they'd still be millionares. Neither one of them would be dancing on street corners or selling CD's out the back of their cars right now.

as far as Justin goes im sure he always wanted to do stuff like this but didnt have a way to get it going...(enter the neptunes)...


and Eminem part of his appeal is him being white since being a "popular" white rapper was not a common thing..(anybody who knows a bit about hip hop knows there always been white,black,asian,hispanic,etc...underground rappers nothing new... but eminem is the first white rapper to make it with some cred....)

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[This message was edited Thu Jul 24 0:33:36 PDT 2003 by Christopher]

EvilWhiteMale said:

I completely agree.
Don't hate, these two have talent, they may not be the best of their genre, but they are good.

intha916 said:

Usher can dance his ass off and wipe the floor with any "R&B dancer/singer" (Ginuwine, Sisqo, Justin, etc.) His songs are definitely better, too.