Mediocrity is god now.

^^^I will again say, while I never liked the song, "Crank dat" appealed to the right demographics to make it a hip hop hit amongst the ranks of songs like "In Da Club" - 50 Cent, "My Humps" - B.E.P., "Ballin" - Jim Jones.

Alot of people in thier persuit of what they feel "takes talent" or "sounds good" manage to overlook fundamental elements that take genius to combine and formulate a hit record.

Grandmas were "crankin dat", but so were dudes in the trap, give that young man his credit for that 1. If not how can you give credit to anyone? NUMBERS DON'T LIE.

The trap liked em. Grandmas liked em. Subburban girls wanted to lose their cherry to him, that's Justin beiber status. lol. Hell, the only people who didn't like him were "real hip hop fans" leaning on GZA and Ice T's old azzes like their gripes with a 16 year old kid made sense in their +40s. Don't take that man's succes from him, he did a good enough job of that on his own.

The popularity of Crank That was mostly due to it being a dance based meme rather than something that stood on the merits that are the subject of criticism, so when people say Soulja Boy's music is garbage they are not wrong simply because Crank That was popular.
 
Lol everybody has the tendency to be an armchair quarterback but god damn...


lets see some of yall make some major $ and gain nationwide fame off a "dance based meme" if its so simple and easy.
 

That sounds like hate to me.

If you want to know what a hater is go watch the movie Amadeus.

Salieri is a classic example of a hater because his envy of Mozart's music drives his hatred of Mozart, this makes Salieri a hater, while on the other hand Mozart thinks Salieri's music is garbage and mocks him for it, yet Mozart is not a hater because he is not at all envious of Salieri.

---------- Post added at 04:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:05 PM ----------

Lol everybody has the tendency to be an armchair quarterback but god damn...


lets see some of yall make some major $ and gain nationwide fame off a "dance based meme" if its so simple and easy.

You completely missed the point.
 
The popularity of Crank That was mostly due to it being a dance based meme rather than something that stood on the merits that are the subject of criticism, so when people say Soulja Boy's music is garbage they are not wrong simply because Crank That was popular.

Just general discussion, not trying to argue, but I have to disagree with this.

What makes "Crank Dat" more of a "dance based meme"(and again, i never cared for the song) than say...a David Guetta record? Now, even if you think a D. Guetta record is another "danced based meme", what makes it more of one than say..."Bad" by Michael Jackson? An old Elvis record? Little Richard?

There takes a certain ammount of talent to be able to make a successful popular dance record. If it was such an easy task, labels would make EVERYONE bring out a record that fit the formula and continuously have success rather than hitting or missing as they so often do.

Soulja himself supports my statements...if it was that easy, why can't he just rinse and repeat cycle and stay relevant?
 
Just general discussion, not trying to argue, but I have to disagree with this.

What makes "Crank Dat" more of a "dance based meme"(and again, i never cared for the song) than say...a David Guetta record? Now, even if you think a D. Guetta record is another "danced based meme", what makes it more of one than say..."Bad" by Michael Jackson? An old Elvis record? Little Richard?

There takes a certain ammount of talent to be able to make a successful popular dance record. If it was such an easy task, labels would make EVERYONE bring out a record that fit the formula and continuously have success rather than hitting or missing as they so often do.

Soulja himself supports my statements...if it was that easy, why can't he just rinse and repeat cycle and stay relevant?

What dance would you associate with David Guetta and is Winnie the Pooh doing it?

You are placing too much emphasis on the track being the catalyst that drives it's own popularity, I have said many times on here in response to the question "how do I make it" that in this day and age you have to make "meme" for yourself and if you want to know exactly what I was talking about then look no further than Gangnam Style...without it's video full of random awesomeness there is no way it would have been an international hit.

Understanding why something is popular only goes so far because there are certain things that you just can't exploit because they are totally out of your control, like even Soulja Boy was not controlling elements that were working in his favor, I guess a good example would be some random dude making a video of Bert & Ernie to M.O.P's Ante Up, it's great marketing for the song but it's not calculated it's just something some dude decided to do, now multiply that kind of creativity a few times and that's when you got a meme that works for you, AKA viral marketing.
 
What dance would you associate with David Guetta and is Winnie the Pooh doing it?

You are placing too much emphasis on the track being the catalyst that drives it's own popularity, I have said many times on here in response to the question "how do I make it" that in this day and age you have to make "meme" for yourself and if you want to know exactly what I was talking about then look no further than Gangnam Style...without it's video full of random awesomeness there is no way it would have been an international hit.

Understanding why something is popular only goes so far because there are certain things that you just can't exploit because they are totally out of your control, like even Soulja Boy was not controlling elements that were working in his favor, I guess a good example would be some random dude making a video of Bert & Ernie to M.O.P's Ante Up, it's great marketing for the song but it's not calculated it's just something some dude decided to do, now multiply that kind of creativity a few times and that's when you got a meme that works for you, AKA viral marketing.

I can feel where youre coming from with that. Especially with the gangnam style reference. Maybe if i start doing retarded shit in videos to my beats just to get a bunch of views/haters I'll blow up lmao
 
What dance would you associate with David Guetta and is Winnie the Pooh doing it?

You are placing too much emphasis on the track being the catalyst that drives it's own popularity, I have said many times on here in response to the question "how do I make it" that in this day and age you have to make "meme" for yourself and if you want to know exactly what I was talking about then look no further than Gangnam Style...without it's video full of random awesomeness there is no way it would have been an international hit.

Understanding why something is popular only goes so far because there are certain things that you just can't exploit because they are totally out of your control, like even Soulja Boy was not controlling elements that were working in his favor, I guess a good example would be some random dude making a video of Bert & Ernie to M.O.P's Ante Up, it's great marketing for the song but it's not calculated it's just something some dude decided to do, now multiply that kind of creativity a few times and that's when you got a meme that works for you, AKA viral marketing.

I was associating guetta with that mellow rave vibe...go crazy when the beat drop style he's dominating right now. There was never a dance called "the michael jackson", but if SB is a "dance meme" MJ definetly is the same, is he not?

I think you're also underplaying the success of the song with the idea society embracing it and making parodies, references, ect. is what gives it success.

There's no parody or dance demonstration/instruction vid of "crank dat" that lead people to the song, the song lead to the parodies/demonstration/instruction vids.

Gangnam style, Crank Dat, Thriller, these aren't shot in the dark...oops it just happened hits. There was tons of calcuation and fan appeal made to surface in the polishing phases of these songs. Not all that is soley due to an artist, but it's far from shots in the dark with fingers crossed.

ALL it takes to make a hit record is a catchy song, an awesome visual(imagery/videos/ect.), a fanbase with an interest, and the ability to keep the interest long enough to turn huge profits.

"ALL" isn't repeated as easily as it may seem. Images can be tarnished, fads grow old, what was hot a month ago no longer is, them you're faced with the task of reinventing yourself, that takes an even bigger ammount of talent. But we're still pretending EVERYONE comes out the gate hot. Just doing that makes you 1 in a million.
 
I was associating guetta with that mellow rave vibe...go crazy when the beat drop style he's dominating right now. There was never a dance called "the michael jackson", but if SB is a "dance meme" MJ definetly is the same, is he not?
Michael Jackson had the Moon Walk but despite it's popularity it was not really tied to a particular song it was more like the twist as opposed to something like the Macarena but even the Macarena is not exactly like Crank That because the Internet facilitates a new dimension of participation that just was not possible in the 90's.

I think you're also underplaying the success of the song with the idea society embracing it and making parodies, references, ect. is what gives it success.

There's no parody or dance demonstration/instruction vid of "crank dat" that lead people to the song, the song lead to the parodies/demonstration/instruction vids.
You seem to be stuck on the idea that people gravitated toward the song only and not to the dance and instructional vid that accompanied that song, and that people copying the dance didn't lead to more people copying the dance thus resulting in a viral dance craze.

Gangnam style, Crank Dat, Thriller, these aren't shot in the dark...oops it just happened hits. There was tons of calcuation and fan appeal made to surface in the polishing phases of these songs. Not all that is soley due to an artist, but it's far from shots in the dark with fingers crossed.
You are implying that I said all hits are the result of luck or some such bullshit when I never said any such thing, I said understanding why something is popular only goes so far because there are certain things you have no control over.

ALL it takes to make a hit record is a catchy song, an awesome visual(imagery/videos/ect.), a fanbase with an interest, and the ability to keep the interest long enough to turn huge profits.

"ALL" isn't repeated as easily as it may seem. Images can be tarnished, fads grow old, what was hot a month ago no longer is, them you're faced with the task of reinventing yourself, that takes an even bigger ammount of talent. But we're still pretending EVERYONE comes out the gate hot. Just doing that makes you 1 in a million.

Now we are kind of on the same page.

Obviously it's more complex than that and it's not always so easy to explain the finer details of why certain things work or don't work because most people don't sit down and ponder why they feel the way they do, for example when I was a kid I was watching the movie Aliens and at some point something just didnt feel right and I kind of stopped paying attention to the story until I figured it out........the scene looked fake because the foreground and background were both in focus at the same time, I don't know why they guys making the movie didn't see this but to me it was obvious wack shit invading my enjoyment of an otherwise awesome movie, funny thing is wack shit is an important element to some of the things I like such as Monkey, I mean that show has everything wrong with it, it's a Japanese production of Chinese story overdubbed into English spoken with a fake Asian accent, one of the dudes is played by a chick, the special effects consist of a doll flying around on a ball of pink cotton wool.....but it just has the right combination of wackness that makes it awsome.
 
A lot of times the biggest hits are the simplest tunes, which people may confuse as mediocre.


A catchy hook or a catchy riff is sometimes all that is required.
 
I got a kick out of that first SB vid.
But that second one is really a piece of work.
That is his legacy right there.

I think its funny that some people actually see the distinction between the kind of success he has and the kind of success a person should get with "art", but see them as equal. Like, people think he "deserves" respect just because he is so damn good at being a fukking tool.
He should be lobotomized and his earnings should be donated to charity.
 
^^^I find it amusing that one can determine what "art" is and isn't without realizing that's more of a reflection on their thought process than the guy they're trying to take down a peg.


Plenty of guys right here on FP are full of passion and love what they do with all the dreams and aspirations in the world who COULDN'T EVEN MAKE A SONG AS GOOD AS THE BAD STUFF POSTED BY SB.

He's just an easier target to tear down because he's actually surpassed most people's idea of "success"(that can be no better defined than art, all in the eye of the beholder).

It is however amusing to me that people can't recognize and respect the ability to capture a large audience through your art. Whether it's Gangnam Style, Crank Dat, Chocolate Rain, Hide you Kids they Raping Everybody, or Thriller.

It's like Photography vs. Painting vs. Sculpting. In all forms of art a magical moment has to be captured. Sometimes it can be without having a clue of what you're doing, they all take different levels of manual work, and all rely on other instincts as well to identify the right factors to create greatness...but only being able to do it once doesn't take away from the art in question. It does differenciate between guys with staying power and guys who hit it on the nail once or twice before being forgotten.

The irony is, I flat out explained to you guys FROM THE MOUTH OF SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHETHER YOU BELEIVE ME OR NOT. The dude has no earnings left to give to charity or have a lobotomy performed on himself. The bitterness kinda shows when you can't even give credit where it's due.

And FYI, the guys who are "good at being tools" remain on top. They're usually also good at convincing you they're NOT TOOLS. No reason to list names, but most of the time, the guys labeled as "artists" are the biggest tools doing everything in their power to keep you thinking they're a step ahead.

They're the 1st to advertise a product in a vid or release a track produced by the new big sensation(other than the tracks he did for his in house) because they have the means to halt other's work until theirs drops. They convince us they're "the best at what they do" thru longevity and sales/marketing because they set themselves up politically within the business structure behind them so that when they do flop, rather than getting dropped, people pretend it never happened.

SB's better at looking like "a tool' than the guys in question because he's REALLY BEEN BEHIND HIS OWN MUSIC since day one and built everything he did from ground up...yet...he's the tool. The real tools have consulting, management, and development around to keep them from even coming off like a tool. The guys without that who still manage to come out the gate with something hot are outdoing a whole room full of musicians and music studies who are "in the know". Yet we pretend they don't deserve credit for the "Don't Likes", The "Crank Dats", The "Gold in My Grills"?

#Logic :cheers:
 
Sometimes it's important to have challenges to our perceptions of what constitutes art, for example Duchamp's Fountain, the Sex Pistols or Soulja Boy.
 
^^^True, FYI, never once in the convo did I say what constitutes "art" in my eyes...I have said a few times I personally never cared for "Crank Dat". I respect others views.

My thing is, there's alot of people with what IMO is "worse art" than SB that seem to think they have all the things he's lacking.

Another factor I always consider because of my level of intelligence that most overlook(irony)...My opinion is not always right. If millions love something I don't, they must KNOW something I don't. Most tewnd to think the millions are stupid and they're the smart ones. Surgeons and Astronauts were "crankin dat" cause they're dumb?

#Logic :cheers:
 
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