Will BTS be able to defeat Kenrick Lamar, let alone Taylor Swift or Morgan Wallen?


    Peak chart positions of Kendrick Lamar


    2020 no songs released

    2021 #18 - Family Ties

    2022 #3- N95

    2023 #93 - The Hillbillies


    Did not win #1s in Hot 100 until 2024


    So he was mot a part of the Narrative in 2020 and 2021 and only began to regain his relevance in 2022 after BTS foolishly did not resume its concert

    Kendrick has bigger cultural capital than many mainstream stars like Drake actually. He might not be a very commercial artist but he is one of those artists who get a lot of cultural and critical respect. His type of fame and artistry is different and I don't think any kpop group will get that kind of respect and acceptance in US.


    You bring up his chart positions but TPAB in 2015 is considered to be one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time. 2017 Damn got him a Pulitzer Prize. TPAB has infact influenced a legion of contemporary hip hop artists. Kpop might top charts but they are not influencing artists in the west in terms of music.


    Taylor Swift is popular but also contentious. Her music is not liked ubiquitously. In fact it's a style of music people regularly scoff at. Morgan Wallen is popular with conservatives so he is even more contentious in the mainstream. I would argue even these artists are not at Kendrick Lamar's level of respectability and universal acclaim.

    Hi,


    Which narrative? Yours? Like I said it’s ok if you’re not part of the community, but you keep speaking about it here and your statement of “nobody talked about” KDOT is buns.


    The man literally won Grammies in ‘21 and ‘22, performed in the biggest sporting event in the world, and at the time had the highest grossing rap tour in the history of the culture and had 20-30 million monthly streams with no new music prior to Mr.Morale. Nobody talked about? A has-been? Yeah ok, like I said buns.


    -knysom

    Quote from yerisvelvet

    Kendrick has bigger cultural capital than many mainstream stars like Drake actually. He might not be a very commercial artist but he is one of those artists who get a lot of cultural and critical respect. His type of fame and artistry is different and I don't think any kpop group will get that kind of respect and acceptance in US.


    You bring up his chart positions but TPAB in 2015 is considered to be one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time. 2017 Damn got him a Pulitzer Prize. TPAB has infact influenced a legion of contemporary hip hop artists. Kpop might top charts but they are not influencing artists in the west in terms of music.


    Taylor Swift is popular but also contentious. Her music is not liked ubiquitously. In fact it's a style of music people regularly scoff at. Morgan Wallen is popular with conservatives so he is even more contentious in the mainstream. I would argue even these artists are not at Kendrick Lamar's level of respectability and universal acclaim.

    so it appears he is like singer's singer, for the lack of better terms.



    He did visit Korea in 2018 through the Hyundai Cards, whose owner invited Bruno Mars back in 2023.


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    Still my impression was then BTS had put such genres into rest and only its absence led to the revival of R&B/Hip-hop/rap.






    ㅗㄷ

    Singer's singer yeah basically. Also very deeply embedded in black culture and music, something I don't see asian artists penetrating.


    I think BTS's western success was huge but it was more comparable to Taylor Swift's as in mostly in the pop sphere. Hip hop communities operate in their own ways.


    Also R&B/hip hop saw a downwards trend because Billboard changed its rules and that impact rappers a lot. The same rule changes led to the rise of country music on the charts too (Country music was always there , their fans just didn't engage with the music in a way that reflected on charts until recently). The Kendrick vs Drake beef revived all the interest because it was a genuine cultural moment.

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