Immaturity Amongst Hip Hop Artists Hurting Its Popularity

Over the years rap artists have gotten a lot of credibility for the things that they have done in their everyday lives. It has helped many rap careers take off and has caused others to fall off. As rap music has matured, so have the artists behind music. There are still artists in the industry who haven't matured fully and their popularity is suffering because of it.

I'm sure that in every music genre there are people on all levels of the business that do not like one another, but most of them do not let their dislike of another person interfere with their business. The same cannot be said about many of the numerous people involved in hip-hop. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is probably the most successful rap artist ever, to have his career built on his reputation in the streets as well as his verbal disrespect of others in the music industry. When 50 Cent came out, rap fans were looking for an artist who was really walking the walk. He having survived nine gun shots caused more rap fans to be attracted to his material. The fact that he actually had a rap sheet before being signed, compared to most other rap artist, helped him out tremendously as far as his credibility and popularity was concerned.

Though it has helped 50 Cent overall, it isn't doing much for him and his label nowadays. All of his artist's follow up albums have flopped as well as the recent G-Unit album released. If he would humble himself some and unite with some of the people in the industry who he has had problems with, it would likely help his popularity, as well as give rap fans some much-needed good music. 50 Cent being the stubborn individual we know him to be, likely will not be squashing any of his former rap beefs in the near future.

Even though 50 Cent has said and done some pretty childish things throughout his career, he at least carries himself the way a grown man should. The same can't be said for some other rap artists out there. It's understandable when a person from the streets isn't aware of other ways to carry themselves, other than what they have learned from the streets, but what a person does not know can be learned. Regardless, there will always be those successful street people who just all out refuse to grow up.

Rap recording artist Jim Jones is no stranger to confrontations. Many of his altercations are videotaped and can be found on youtube. Some of this stuff probably has helped his record sales and overall popularity in a major way, but his entourages recent "stomping" of Ty Ty and R&B singer Neyo at the Louis Vuitton store in New York, is probably going to hurt Jim Jones' popularity, even though it will lift his credibility a bit. Which one is more important for a rap recording artist? There are thousands of rappers who have had tremendous amounts of street credibility, yet failed to sell an acceptable number of albums because they failed to gain the right kind of popularity amongst fans. Hip hop is maturing along with those of us who purchase the music. If rap artists want to continue to stay popular, they are going to need to realize that a childish public altercation isn't going to help make fans want to buy their music.