Eminem is still the most popular rapper out there. Drake and J. Cole outsold him too.

maybe the true "heads" see Kendrick as their fave, but I'm telling ya that most are more into what are the big hits

in 2015, these are the top songs as rated by radio play
Big Sean - I don't fuck with you
Pitbull & Ne Yo - Time of Our Lives
Fetty Wap - Trap Queen
Wiz KHalifa - See You Again

in 2014 it was these

Niki MInaj - Only
Big Sean (again) - I dont fuck with you
Bobby Shmurda - Hot Boy
Iggy Azalea - Black Widow
Nicki Minaj - Anaconda
Iggy Azalea - Fancy
Pitbull & Ke$ha - Timber

Kendrick is nowhere near these acts in terms of exposure and popularity.

You may not be out of touch, just only in touch with those that think as you do Re: rap and hip hop.

It happens to anyone. I thought that Sonic Youth was the biggest act out there when I was 23, only to find they have only one album that sold more than 400,000 copies. Turns out I am the only one of my friends that truly LOVED Sonic Youth.

no because it's not out until the 10th in the US. Because for some stupid reason the industry thought they should change new releases to Fridays now. Meh.

it's possible. I listen to "popular radio" at the beach, but that's all like girlie pop, they don't really play hip hop. So maybe yeah, what do I know. I was only thinking of like Kendrick being on a lot of late night shows and stuff. Guess I figured there was a lot of popular exposure. Don't know. (Don't really care either haha)

I liken current Kendrick Lamar to U2 in 1985. They were "important" Their songs "mattered" and everyone who thought they had good taste loved them.

Kendrick has the potential to crossover like U2 did, and create more universally loved music, like U2 did, while keeping much of the original fanbase and adding a bunch of people who would not have known U2 was good unless MTV or the radio burned it into their heads with endless replays.

I fucking cannot stand M&M though. I just do not give a fuck about whatever problem he happens to be whining about in his latest tunes.

yeah Eminem has become pretty much the worst.

Lil Wayne lost so much of his relevance, when was the last time he had a hit record? it's crazy.

Dammmmnnn.. i ain't seen my man burn someone on SYG like that since back in the day yo!

You are trollingz us right? You can't be that naive.. overcoming struggle? Bullshit all this "rap" is pure corporate greed, hedonism, and ignorant bragging. These dudes are triumphing by milking the community, and selling out to an audience of middle class white kids, period. At least initially rap music was full of people ACTUALLY from the street, now? Bunch of studio gangsters and self absorbed narcissists

I liked MMLP2 and Shady XV quite a bit actually. Certainly more than Relapse and Recovery.

like other people already pointed out, i was referring to the "good shit".

I'd rather listen to MC Serch.... ;)

No. Even then its not what it was or even could be.. the reality is rap is like Delta Blues, it was authentic only in the particular societal circumstances that gave birth to it. When Jim Crow died blues became Elvis.. a corporate ghost.

Same with punk.. punk was an underground gutter music, put it on the radio what does it become? Green Day...

Rap came out of the Reagonomics 80s.. contemporary rap is an artificial nostalgia. The society that gave it life no longer exists.

Rap has been taken over by "the industry" and so has become a caricature of itself. This is what Kanye epitomizes, and why most of us here don't like or respect him as an artist.

i think that with ShadyXV he's lost the last bit of artistry he still had left on MMLP2. by this point it's pretty safe to say that Em really hates music and loves rapping. his production is as minimal and non-melodic as it gets, and he puts the most effort on rapping with that choppy flow using over complex rhyme schemes, while he truly says nothing behind it all. i think that deep down he's just one of those weirdo underground rap nerds, who really admires the aspect of technical rapping, even though he's still a huge artist popularity-wise.

I dont' necessarily disagree... but Shady XV was still better than Relapse, Recovery and Encore haha. And I did really like MMLP2. Having said all that, I could make a long list of dudes I'd rather listen to for sure.

we've shown you the deeper/more substantial side of Kanye many times, and the album "Watch the Throne" as a whole is exactly what i described, but okay.

like i've said here many times, i have a soft spot for Relapse. but i agree about MMLP2 being better than Recovery/Encore. not that it says it much though..

You missed the point by a country mile because you are so absorbed with Kanye's narcissism that you cant accept his faults as being reality. And his faults are typical of EXACTLY what is wrong with contemporary rap music

Relapse is def better than Recovery and Encore. It's at least an interesting album. And when it's good it's really good. It just has a lot of missteps. Less than f'ing Encore tho haha.

Let's not do the pointless Kanye tug-o-war yet again, plz.

admittedly i do find Kanye's last three solo albums to be flawless. i've listened to them many times, still can't find any faults in them. i do have a lot of criticism for his other works though, and i also think he says a lot of dumb/unnecessary shit on his interviews, at times even to the point where it's hard to take his words seriously. i also find his recent obsession with fashion design kinda boring. etc. i might be a huge fan but am definitely not blind..