internet-hyped acts of 2011

"video games" is my favourite song any of these people has made, i also like "212" a lot (and to a lesser extent "gucci gucci"). but as an artist i care about hearing in the future, i'd vote azealia.

gucci gucci is the song i like most of all these. then i guess novacane

rip tyler, the creator

frank ocean is the male lana del rey

i knew i'd forgotten someone! xp

I think I would like Frank Ocean but finding dl's of his shit is a pain and all I've heard is Novacane.

voted kreayshawn

oh lol i didn't even know that apparently kreayshawn and azealia banks are twitter beefing

hahahaha

Voted Azealia just because she can go just about any direction from where she's currently standing. Frank Ocean has likewise managed to keep from being painted in any kind of corner. Lana Del Rey, Kreayshawn and The Weeknd all seem to have already shown their hand.

i didnt see it on there but this is otm
https://twitter.com/#!/KREAYSHAWN/status/154116878770515968

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/01/azealia-banks-takes-shots-at-kreayshawn-on-twitter

lmao azealia banks is a dipshit shocker

uh oh looks like there's gonna be a GIRLFIGHT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhBM7H-ggvY

D-40 Enters Banks-Kreayshawn Beef On Internet Typing Board - more

azealia cause i keep coming back to "212" for more. cannot get enough!! i love "blue jeans" but revisit it like never. kreayshawn is interesting cause she has the same raw disdain that azealia does but she just seems a little... annoying? or maybe a lot? i don't really get the accolades for frank ocean. sometimes i wonder if it's cause his songs aren't SO IN YOUR FACE and he actually doesn't seem like a jerk. but apart from those negative qualities.. i dunno. a lot of people i like like him though. so i guess i'm missing something. weeknd is sad comedown sex music for scenesters, the appeal of which i can totally understand but have absolutely no interest in.

actually that's not true, i like plenty of sad comedown sex music for scenesters. i don't know why i said that. i just don't like weeknd. i keep wanting to hit FFWD. hurry up!

azealia

i enjoy 'gucci gucci' but kind of in spite of kreayshawn and not because of her, and i truthfully didn't revisit it much
i like "video games" a lot but have been lukewarm on LDR's other stuff (i'd like to hear 'born to die' in someone else's hands)
not really bothered about FO or the weeknd either way

Kind of bizarre I'm saying this but Frank Ocean.

frank ocean for sure

hard to compare tho--do kreayshawn/LDR/AB have as much music as FO/weeknd?

frank ocean's songwriting seems kinda basic to me - not much complexity in his language or craft that i can see. a strong performer can sell it ("i miss you") but he isn't one at all.

tyler has had way more success & impact than any of these ppl -- he was really a hyped act of 2010

gucci gucci is the song i like most of all these.

"gucci gucci" was my #1 single of the year, but i'm skeptical of kreayshawn ever coming that close to a song that good

i really really like "212" and "liquorice girl" but i don't know... i think her eventual album should be pretty good, but it's a lot of hype off of one or two songs

i like 'house of balloons' but have no use for the two weeknd albums after that... the dude definitely hit on something that i like, but i'm not sure if he's talented enough to continually mine the same sound/themes over and over again and put out consistently good or great albums. i still have some tepid anticipation for his 'debut album' or whatever, but we'll see

lana del rey i couldn't care less about

i'm gonna vote for frank ocean... his mixtape is pretty good and i think there's a few really great songs on there. and i like "thinking about you" and "i miss you" a lot. i think lex is right about his songwriting, and i'd like to see him find his sound a bit cuz 'nostalgia, ultra' is a bit all over the place. and if he just has a pretty solid career writing songs for other people, his career will probably end up better than anyone else on this list.

the frank ocean song with the samurai was really really bad

i'm not even sure what you're talking about

"gucci gucci" isn't that great and of course everything else she has done or will do is shit but on the slim pickings of this thread she's king

dayo i think you're thinking of the tyler song he's on -- the hook on that is pretty great imo

it's this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmN9rZW0HGo

the dude definitely hit on something that i like, but i'm not sure if he's talented enough to continually mine the same sound/themes over and over again and put out consistently good or great albums.

the sad thing is that this doesn't have to be a problem except that he(? they? i missed when the weeknd stopped being 'an anonymous collective') have to drop a new album every 2 months or whatever. i don't really know why anyone besides a rapper would drop material that frequently.

frank ocean feels like a fake R&B star. I think I don't like him for the same reasons why people don't like the weeknd. AZ BANKS seems like the safe choice here because she hasn't really fucked up yet

tyler has had way more success & impact than any of these ppl -- he was really a hyped act of 2010

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, January 4, 2012 7:16 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

he's on par w/ the weeknd in terms of making unlistenable music tho

the sad thing is that this doesn't have to be a problem except that he(? they? i missed when the weeknd stopped being 'an anonymous collective') have to drop a new album every 2 months or whatever. i don't really know why anyone besides a rapper would drop material that frequently.

― we bought a zoo in a hopeless place (some dude), Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8:32 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yeah i have no idea why he did this -- some arbitrary decision to release a "trilogy" or some shit -- he should've just ridden his first album + 'take care' buzz and dropped a bomb album two months from now

i feel like it's kind of telling that frank ocean is on watch the throne and the weeknd is on take care, like the rap world cares way more about the kind of 'buzz' they have, the r&b world cares more about tunes and whether you can sing better than those jokers

I thought drake WAS the weeknd

the draknd

i feel like it's kind of telling that frank ocean is on watch the throne and the weeknd is on take care, like the rap world cares way more about the kind of 'buzz' they have, the r&b world cares more about tunes and whether you can sing better than those jokers

― we bought a zoo in a hopeless place (some dude), Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

well, frank on 'watch the throne' was more or less straight trendjacking, but then again they also had dubstep beats and production from lex luger and southside on there, so it's not an utter shock

people only know about the weeknd cuz of the OVO blog, so him showing up on 'take care' is a bit of a diff situation

it never seemed to me like drake is THAT responsible for the weeknd being well known, although obviously they have a pretty strong common ground in both locale and sound where the connection was almost inevitable

i still don't know what the weeknd did on "headline" -- the stupid 'they know' part?

i don't give a shit about any of these artists

i don't think drake specifically had a huge hand in the weeknd becoming well known, but as far as i know his stuff broke on the october's very own blog, and initially he def benefited from the confusion over whether or not drake and/or shebib were involved. people responded independently to 'house of balloons' but there was def a boost from the general cosign.

o well I only liked the weeknd cuz drake told me to, now I don't like the weeknd anymore

i like frank ocean cuz he doesnt think the moon landing happened

again tho if az banks or kreayshawn or LDR had a bunch of songs i might go for them, i just feel weird voting for someone like kreay who i basically dont think will ever make another song as good

voted for the white girl from Oakland

i love sad parties so i voted for the weeknd

o well I only liked the weeknd cuz drake told me to, now I don't like the weeknd anymore

― tracy mcgr8080 (dayo), Wednesday, January 4, 2012 8:50 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

well, this is a much better position than when you were defending the weeknd, so good for you

it's not that huge a diss on kreay that she'll nvr make a better song than gucci gucci imo -- i think i posted the same sentiment during last summer -- its more that it's *that good* a song

it's kind of insane that kreayshawn is still like this hotly discussed artist, all off of one song that nobody thinks she will top that peaked 6 months ago and didn't break into the top 40 or anything

i think it's less that she won't make a song as good as that and more that she seems to have no vision for how her music should sound after it

well don't forget that her friend says the n-word

and fwiw the reason why rap discussion is so great on this website is that people don't throw around terms like 'real hip hop' so please don't start now.

love these poll resutls

and fwiw the reason why rap discussion is so great on this website is that people don't throw around terms like 'real hip hop' so please don't start now.

― tpp, Friday, January 13, 2012 11:11 AM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

sure instead they use the valuable metric of # of songs

it's a more valuable metric yeah

i think that is a valuable metric tbh

i guess i think it's a weird almost technical thing, in which the focus is going to become 'how good a rapper' over 'how good is the track', which is fine & makes sense but which feels like a different conversation to me. & w/azealia there is however much there is to go on, like a few songs, & i can't imagine changing the conversation from 'how good are those specific songs', maybe that's me though bc i know there's interest in gauging potential or talent or w/e.

man azealia banks seems like a 'la roux'-level idiot

this seems very OTM, with a crucial difference being that her voice doesn't sound like steel wool being rubbed over glass

Has Azealia Banks said anything about women in violent relationships basically deserving it yet? If not, I'm still prepared to go with La Roux as being more annoying.

wait really? oh wow what a spectacularly clueless person

also gives "Bulletproof" a little extra ironic edge

for your edification

"There's far more ways to be sexy than to dress in a miniskirt and a tank top … I think you attract a certain kind of man by dressing like that. Women wonder why they get beaten up, or have relationships with arsehole men. Because you attracted one, you twat."

good lord

k i take it back

a compendium of la roux idiocy: http://poptimists.livejournal.com/725974.html

That quote saddens me.

I don't hear any Nicki Minaj influence on Azealia Banks personally. AB doesn't come across as a "girl rapper" which other people have mentioned here already, and there's a large stylistic difference between them.. Simply "using different dialects" is not enough to convince me that she ripped off any one rapper's style.

I just don't think she's particularly exciting or engaging; every piece of enjoyment I've gotten from one of her tracks has been tied to the music she has used, which has been lifted from elsewhere and is just as enjoyable in instrumental form

it's like the inverse of the emperor's new clothes, in that she is releasing some enjoyable songs where she is the least enjoyable/most easily ignorable part of them

It does kinda bother me, however, that she wasted no time before trashing other artists in interviews. Three of the artists in the poll options are chiefly known for one song (so far)... Not enough to merit loudmouth beefing.

nicki and azealia went to the same hs and were both active rappers when nicki caught fire iirc

"went to the same high school" does not equal "one artist ripped off the other's style"

lol Azealia is like 9 years younger than Nicki

a female rapper using funny voices in 2011 without ANY minaj influence whatsoever is like an early '80s metal guitarist doing a bunch of finger tapping solos and then saying "eddie van who?"

i'm not suggesting she ripped off nicki, quite the opposite.
What little i've heard of both women's early work suggests that they were both working this mode at the same time independently

Nicki's is more unique and original, whereas AB is a combination of elements we've heard before that does not include Nicki Minaj.

Whoever said Nicki is far more cartoonish nailed it. Azealia is uses different dialects but not for the purpose of "making funny faces."

well no, for her it's "making amused faces"

ok haha those are different styles IMO

I would never place Nicki Minaj in the AWK-influenced "party" category that Ke$ha is in... She is more party.

AB is more party that is..

"the party category"? is this an actual thing or total crazy talk?

no thats just what I say...

as if "party rock" could ever be a force in popular music, it is to laugh

well... Azealia rapping over dance tracks is going to make her music sound more like another dance artist's than a hip-hop artist's, but that sort of has nothing to do with what's actually going on with her in terms of both flow and subject matter, all of which is Nicki 2.0

Hey, I can be the answer
I’m ready to dance when they vamp up
And when they hit that dip get your camera
You can see when that bitch sets the pamper
And get in that young sister beacon
The bitch who wants to compete and
I can freakin fit that pump with the peep in
And you know what your bitch become when her weaved in
I just wanna sip that punch with your peeps and
Sit in that lunch if your treating
Kick it with your bitch who come from...
You knows where to get mine from in the season
Unless you wanna lick my plum in the evening
And flick that tongue, tongue d-deep in
I guess that cunt getting eaten
I guess that cunt getting eaten
I guess that cunt getting eaten
I guess that cunt getting eaten
I guess that cunt getting eaten

I was in the 212 on the uptown
Hey nigga, you know what's up or don’t you?
Wonder who made ya
I’ma rude bitch nigga, what are you made up of
I’ma eat your food up, boo
I could bust your 8, I’ma do one too
Fuck it
When you do make bucks
I’ma look right, nigga, I bet you do want to fuck
Fuck 'em like you do want to come
...you discovered I'm a 212
Cock-a-licking in the water...
Caught the warm goo and you do right too son
Nigga, you’re a cooler dude
Plus your bitch might lick it
Wonder who let you come 212, what do you...son
Fuck are you in to, huh?
Niggas better do run run
You could get shot homie if you do want to
Put your guns up
Tell your crew don't front
I'm a hoodlum nigga
You know you were too once
Bitch about to blew up to
I’m the one today
I’m the new shit too
Yeah I’m Rapunzel
Who are you bitch, new lunch?
I’ma ruin you cunt!
I’ma ruin you cunt!
I’ma ruin you cunt!
I’ma ruin you cunt!

Ayo, ayo

I heard you’re riding with the same tall, tall tale
Tell him I made some, made some
Saying you’re grinding but you ain’t going nowhere, nowhere!
Why procrastinate girl?
You gotta lot, but you just waste all yourself
They'll forget your name soon, name soon
And won't nobody be to blame but yourself, yeah

What you gonna do when I appear?
W-when I premier
Bitch the end of your lives are near
This shit been mine, mine!
What you gonna do when I appear?
W-when I premier
Bitch the end of your lives are near
This shit been mine, mine!

Bitch I’m in the 212
With the fifth cock nigga
Its the 212
Fuck your gun, dude!
When your goons sprayed up
Bet his bitch won't get him
Betcha you won't do much
See, even if you do want to bust
Your bitch ... and touch your crew up to pop
You’re playing with your butter like you do want to cock the gun too
Where did you eat too, hun?
And fuck him with your cutie-cue ...
What’s your dick like homie?
What are you into?
What’s the run dude?
Where do you wake up?
Tell your bitch, "Keep hating"
I'm a new one too, huh
See I remember you when you were the young new face
But you do like to slumber don't you
Now you blew up too hun
I’ma ruin you cunt!
I’ma ruin you cunt!
I’ma ruin you cunt!

What you gonna do when I appear?
W-when I premier
Bitch the end of your lives are near
This shit been mine, mine!
What you gonna do when I appear
W-when I premier
Bitch the end of your lives are near
This shit been mine, mine!

the first thing that leaps to mind when I read this is "We R What We R" and "Tik Tok", no question; clearly nothing like "Roman's Revenge" or "Did It On 'Em"

nah that's clearly more on the Andrew W.K. side of the party category

It's too early to tell, but since people want to talk about her "rapping" so much... Nicki seems more versatile, for example Azealia would absolutely not fit in doing a guest version on "Dance (A$$) (Remix)"

guest verse*

she's much closer to nicki than kesha, that's pretty obv

Yes but I don't see how the influence from Nicki is so glaring... She's also trying to cover lots of ground with one song, wheras Nicki appears naturally crazy and ends up showing off her talents by accident

i don't think she's really that close to nicki either (she's way closer to kid sister or domonique young unique and shit) but she did say that nicki bit her style or whatever it was which was just stupid

Ugh... she should quit being interviewed while she's ahead.

xp If it were up to me "post-AWK party-music" would be a valid genre. I don't care how ridiculous that sounds!

new banks

http://pitchfork.com/news/45104-new-azealia-banks-needsumluv/

the first thing that leaps to mind when I read this is "We R What We R" and "Tik Tok", no question; clearly nothing like "Roman's Revenge" or "Did It On 'Em"

the first thing that leaps to mind when I read it is "I hate it when DJP c+p's wildly inaccurate things off the internets" http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-angry008.gif

I heard "212" played out sandwiched between "Pon De Floor" and "Jump & Shout" on Sunday night.

It was like the DJ was responding to this thread.

I want to go to there

the second thing that leaps to mind is "you can suck it"

^ I can see when that bitch set the pamper

Her new song sounds like she stopped partying.

and started party rocking