Music Debate: Could a CLEAN rap act like Heavy D be successful today?

[geechiedan]

 

[playahaitian]

Rest In Peace

Heavy D and Trouble T Roy​

 

[playahaitian]

Bump

 

[dasailr03]

Both the short and long answer today is HELL NO! As many talented rappers out there who are in complete control of their pen, can't write a clean rap or won't have a career if thats all they rap about was just clean. sure there are always the one rapper here or there but the majority can't and won't do it even though they write their own shit. The care more about the streets instead of the masses and that's why they can't do it. Heavy created his lane and never left his lane and it worked for him. It's the same argument with clean comedians. They are the exception, not the norm. If you listen to famous, big time comedians without the profanity, you will there there is not much to their body of work after all.

 

[dasailr03]

the thing was he wasn't alone..there was kid n play and tribe called quest and de la soul, mc hammer, chubb rock, mc lyte, monie love, dj jazzy jeff and fresh prince, black sheep, Lords of the Underground, Craig Mack (the couple of hits he had wasn't profane really) Big Daddy Kane, Digital Underground...you can go on. and these acts range from late 80s to mid 90s and theres BARELY any profanity or hardcore violent or misogynistic verbal imagery among them.. and MOST of them had multiple hits most mainstream...

now can anyone rattle off a list of todays artists that are like that??

all true but this during the phrase of rap evoling into a hard core business model that would & could generate money. Allt he artist you list were east coast cats by the time Rappers started to focus on the bag, all were out of flavor Jazzy jeff is a piorneer, GOAT, beast on the turntables but don't make paris hilton fake ass dj money for a weekend. ATCQ were nice as fuck but not mainstream to get their bag. Kid & play were considered soft by their own peers. Lords & blacksheep were beloved by their peers but didn't have the same success as their peers who cursed. so like it or not, cursing gets you the bag!

 

[D24OHA]

Both the short and long answer today is HELL NO! As many talented rappers out there who are in complete control of their pen, can't write a clean rap or won't have a career if thats all they rap about was just clean. sure there are always the one rapper here or there but the majority can't and won't do it even though they write their own shit. The care more about the streets instead of the masses and that's why they can't do it. Heavy created his lane and never left his lane and it worked for him. It's the same argument with clean comedians. They are the exception, not the norm. If you listen to famous, big time comedians without the profanity, you will there there is not much to their body of work after all.

I disagree, that Lil Baby song with Kirk Franklin was a banger. As with 90's hiphop as long as it has a nice beat and a hook/chorus to latch onto......it's a go.

Heavy had energy, lyrics and style.....

So no a Carlton type won't work.....but say if Da Baby circa '18/'19 had come out with the same gimmicky videos, bass bumping beats and "clean" or more radio friendly lyrics... I think it could work......dude's problems aside.. ..he had "it" for a minute.

Every era had the "clown" but not a clown rapper. Busta, Missy ....etc Da Baby picked up that baton.

There are quite a few of these younger rappers out now that could be clean, but they worry about going back to the hood and their rep....etc

Worry about stsying positive, stylish, getting the bag and hood love will come as long as you have real ties to them, and not some fabricated or financially dependant connections.

 

[playahaitian]

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