Support Artists Who Support You

Last December, we were greeted with J. Cole's platinum-selling 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
By March there was Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly, which debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard Charts. Last week brought us the release of Surf, a collaboration album between Chance the Rapper and Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment.



When I was talking to my friend Ashley (@ashleykayanda), she said "Chance should be bigger." On one hand, I agreed with her, but on the other hand...

Chance doesn't generate enough controversy.

He's gotta get into some trouble, gotta make some enemies, and he's just not that kind of dude. It's even harder for Chance to be completely accepted by the mainstream media because not even the whole black community has his back (some of us say he's weird). 

Mainstream popularity often makes artists lose their way.

To go fully mainstream would also mean he'd probably alienate his fans. He would end up on projects with wack artists and then his entire direction would change a la Kanye West; that is a discussion for another time...

It's kinda scary when rappers get big and don't lose touch.

I would say that he's somewhat in the same predicament as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, but Chance is in a sailboat and the other two are on a yacht. That just means that right now J. Cole and Kendrick have more power and influence in the business than Chance, hence the (bad) boating analogy. 

To witness two popular Hip-Hop artists peacefully coexist in this day and age is almost unheard of. Not only are they united, but they also address social justice and economic issues head on; Kendrick and J. Cole are in danger because they're not selling out but still managed to make it big.

Why should you care?

Because Chance should be bigger, that's why. He isn't bothering anyone, and he makes quality music, which is more than I can say for a lot of rap artists. If we support the Chances and Kendricks and J. Coles of the world and ignore the Iggy Azaleas and Futures, then record companies will drop who we don't support and uplift those that we do. It's simple economics.