Joe Budden was on his podcast when he got a question that required lots of conversation. They are asked who is a rap superstar. Due to the current world, the answer is not as clear as it once was. It is now philosophical in discussion.
Budden talked about how many artists are not of the “superstar” quality. He then goes on to explain that superstars are so big that their albums sell themselves just by having the artist’s name on them. They are so big that other artists have to change their release schedule. Just so that they have a chance of selling albums. He called Cardi B a superstar.
“You still got to know how to sell a f*king album. When Adele come out, you gotta move. When n****s come out, you gotta move. When a superstar comes out, you mortal, mere minion n****s have to move. Nobody does that for Lil Nas X, nobody does that for the seven Meg Thee Stallion releases that dropped over the past two years. What are we saying?”
His cohost, Parks Vallely, however, sees things a bit differently. He thinks that the game has changed and album sales are not as important as they used to be. He is seeing a superstar as someone that is very famous; someone that has an entire company as a management team. Superstars have to surround themselves with people that know how best to raise them as high as they can be.
“Griselda has a lot going on (too). There’s mad artists that have a lot going on, your management team has got to be a whole f**king company of people. You got to have a team of know-it-all people.”
The philosophies of superstars
They are talking about two vastly different philosophies on popularity and superstardom. Budden sees things purely through the eyes of meritocracy. That is, superstars are judged purely based on how well their work is doing. Vallely sees things as a utilitarian. He says that people have to have the right marketing team that can make anyone recognize the name. It is not a one-man show, but rather a collective effort to make the product be sold.
Justin Acosta lives in Barstow, California. He recently graduated from University of California Davis and is excited to have a job and prove himself. He has a speech impediment, but he is not going to let that slow him down.
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