I dont think one verse is enuff to gauge whether dude was going to have a 5 album solo career.
And judging from BIG L's first album im hesitant to think he would have grown out of the Hardcore set and survive during the Bling era. I dont know if he had the support that Biggie and Jay-Z did to make that adjustment.
That Scenario rmx verse was hard enough to make me want to hear more from dude and that never happened due to his death esp with him possibly rocking w/ Tribe at their apex dude could have been major IMO. I am including him whether he would have dropped one EP or five LP's.
I read this thread as folks having a Future. One EP doesnt register for me.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
It's pretty fair to say Aaliyah had already changed the game, inasmuch as she'd proved that female r&b singers didn't need to have big, churchy voices in order to make powerful music. I still think she was maybe one more album away from completely transcending the widely-held but erroneous notion that she was just a vessel for Missy and Timbo's genius, but for me she was easily the most influential r&b singer of her generation at the time of her death. She was only ever going to get better.
I disagree that Nick Drake had a particularly bright future ahead of him, though. Part of the reason he wasn't successful at the time was down to his temperament. His natural constituency, the folk circuit, was used to - and was more inclined to support - those artists who engaged an audience, who could talk to them between songs while they retuned their guitars. Because Drake couldn't or wouldn't do this (unlike many lesser talents), he was unable to establish himself as a live performer, and his records subsequently sold less and less. I have my doubts as to how much that would have changed had he lived.
It's pretty fair to say Aaliyah had already changed the game, inasmuch as she'd proved that female r&b singers didn't need to have big, churchy voices in order to make powerful music. I still think she was maybe one more album away from completely transcending the widely-held but erroneous notion that she was just a vessel for Missy and Timbo's genius, but for me she was easily the most influential r&b singer of her generation at the time of her death. She was only ever going to get better.
I wonder if she would have graduated from Timbland/Missy's stable and went mercenary ala Beyonce?
I feel like Aaliyah was on her way to Janet Jackson status but he timely passing allowed space for Alisha Keys and Beyonce to take her "place" in the Female R&B/Pop catagory.
The same way Jay-Z was able to move up w/ the loss of BIG in Hip Hop..to a degree.
I disagree that Nick Drake had a particularly bright future ahead of him, though. Part of the reason he wasn't successful at the time was down to his temperament. His natural constituency, the folk circuit, was used to - and was more inclined to support - those artists who engaged an audience, who could talk to them between songs while they retuned their guitars. Because Drake couldn't or wouldn't do this (unlike many lesser talents), he was unable to establish himself as a live performer, and his records subsequently sold less and less. I have my doubts as to how much that would have changed had he lived.
But there should be something said for the massive amount of talent the guy had (which for the most part was never really enjoyed until later on, with even now the guy is massively under appreciated). Who knows what he may have wrote or created. While I agree with your point, I just have a feeling that there was a guy who had the musical talent that could have easily gone on to create some truly brilliant stuff.
I can't imagine Lennon would have done anything I would have wanted to listen to. (no pun intended)
I figure that no one mentioned John Lennon because he had already defined his style by the time he died.
Whether he would have recorded any worthwhile records, I can't say. But just about everybody we've brought up in this thread were just hitting their stride and still evolving their sound when they passed on.
i have three tracks from kid hood. ill have to dig them out of storage. he signed with a friend (well a friend back in the 90s) label right before he died. he had a lot going for him. good rhymes and ATCQ connection. i will agree it is hard for the average person to identify with a vocal being the forerunner of something greater but he was it. play ripley on this one and believe it or not.
big l came out with ebonics at the end and while it was still... i guess... hardcore, it really put him on the map with some of the whiteys. they werent just playing that on the college level like a lot of his tracks from the first LP. lots of folks wanted to know the lyrics and the beat was good enough to get him some good airplay on major radio stations across the country. true they were more urbanized stations but that doesnt mean he could of done something else.
Sam Cooke and Jimi Hendrix both come to mind, for reasons already stated: both died at a moment in pop music where the possibilities of what they had started hadn't been fully fleshed out yet. Cooke, in particular, could have been a massive force as the late '60s crept up and think about what Hendrix might have done as rock aged into the 1970s.
I'm not so sure about Otis Redding though. I feel like his career probably would have followed the same trajectory of, say, a WIlson Pickett or Solomon Burke but something less than genre-altering. Same goes for Donny.
Forget Big L (no offense) but I think both Biggie and 2Pac would have been fascinating figures to follow into the 2000s.
if people are gonna mention all these obvious names, ill say i was always very curious what couldve come from kurt cobain. if he wouldve made it to the session with michael stipe that month, i wonder what wouldve come out of those sessions
I have to nominate Cliff Burton, if he didn't die, Metallica may have not turned into pussies and may have become an even bigger game changer then they already were before he died...instead of merely becoming a crossover rock act, they could have taken metal onto the future like Zeppelin did with blues rock...could have been mind blowing.
I disagree that Nick Drake had a particularly bright future ahead of him, though. Part of the reason he wasn't successful at the time was down to his temperament. His natural constituency, the folk circuit, was used to - and was more inclined to support - those artists who engaged an audience, who could talk to them between songs while they retuned their guitars. Because Drake couldn't or wouldn't do this (unlike many lesser talents), he was unable to establish himself as a live performer, and his records subsequently sold less and less. I have my doubts as to how much that would have changed had he lived.
But there should be something said for the massive amount of talent the guy had (which for the most part was never really enjoyed until later on, with even now the guy is massively under appreciated). Who knows what he may have wrote or created. While I agree with your point, I just have a feeling that there was a guy who had the musical talent that could have easily gone on to create some truly brilliant stuff.
IMO of course...
I view it this way: Nick Drake's art exists like an ant in amber; he died before he, like all artists, had a chance to artistically decay. His three studio LPs, a cache of posthumous albums, boots, and many reels of home recordings (literally all of which I would heartily recommend), as a corpus, is generous and enough for me. Mr. Drake is the only artist that I can name whose entire catalogue, from the classic LP cuts down to the smashed 3 A.M. taped-at-home covers of Jackson Frank, is fully necessary. From my vantage point - excepting some dated horn arrangements on Bryter Layer - the man left over one hundred perfect songs behind. I don't want to say that I wouldn't have wanted to hear more, but I'm sincerely fine with what is extant if it means the capsule/canon didn't have to live through any potential mystery-shattering disco-era missteps. I am aware how myopic/solipsistic this perspective is.
Redding would have been a game-changer, and not only for himself. For one thing, I'm not sure that Stax would have ended the same way. And try as I might, I cannot possibly imagine Sam Cooke in the late 70s. It's impossible, isn't it?
J Dilla, who died from illness at 32.
Jam-Master Jay, who was murdered at 37.
Billie Holiday, who passed at 44. Perhaps she didn't have much more of an artistic future ahead of her, as her health and voice were both deteriorating, but her influence was still tremendous and she still had much more to contribute had her own vices not hindered her.
. And try as I might, I cannot possibly imagine Sam Cooke in the late 70s. It's impossible, isn't it?
Possible.
His contemporaries who had long careers, Ray Charles, James Brown, give us a hint.
Ultimately that is what this game is about. Guessing what an artist might have done. Which is why it is fun, and also pointless and frustrating. Usually in this game Lennon and Hendrix are mentioned first. That they weren't mentioned till later (and no one endorsed Lennon) made this thread better than most of this type.
As has been suggested, we can also play, who would have had the biggest future if they hadn't fallen prey to drugs and madness.
. And try as I might, I cannot possibly imagine Sam Cooke in the late 70s. It's impossible, isn't it?
Possible.
His contemporaries who had long careers, Ray Charles, James Brown, give us a hint.
Ultimately that is what this game is about. Guessing what an artist might have done. Which is why it is fun, and also pointless and frustrating. Usually in this game Lennon and Hendrix are mentioned first. That they weren't mentioned till later (and no one endorsed Lennon) made this thread better than most of this type.
As has been suggested, we can also play, who would have had the biggest future if they hadn't fallen prey to drugs and madness.
I would have loved to hear Sam Cooke's "What's Goin' On" phase
Comments
Robert Johnson
D Boon
I read this thread as folks having a Future. One EP doesnt register for me.
To each his own.
I was thinking wow, what a great thread, no one has said Hendrix or Lennon.
I disagree that Nick Drake had a particularly bright future ahead of him, though. Part of the reason he wasn't successful at the time was down to his temperament. His natural constituency, the folk circuit, was used to - and was more inclined to support - those artists who engaged an audience, who could talk to them between songs while they retuned their guitars. Because Drake couldn't or wouldn't do this (unlike many lesser talents), he was unable to establish himself as a live performer, and his records subsequently sold less and less. I have my doubts as to how much that would have changed had he lived.
I can't imagine Lennon would have done anything I would have wanted to listen to. (no pun intended)
I wonder if she would have graduated from Timbland/Missy's stable and went mercenary ala Beyonce?
I feel like Aaliyah was on her way to Janet Jackson status but he timely passing allowed space for Alisha Keys and Beyonce to take her "place" in the Female R&B/Pop catagory.
The same way Jay-Z was able to move up w/ the loss of BIG in Hip Hop..to a degree.
But there should be something said for the massive amount of talent the guy had (which for the most part was never really enjoyed until later on, with even now the guy is massively under appreciated). Who knows what he may have wrote or created. While I agree with your point, I just have a feeling that there was a guy who had the musical talent that could have easily gone on to create some truly brilliant stuff.
IMO of course...
I figure that no one mentioned John Lennon because he had already defined his style by the time he died.
Whether he would have recorded any worthwhile records, I can't say. But just about everybody we've brought up in this thread were just hitting their stride and still evolving their sound when they passed on.
big l came out with ebonics at the end and while it was still... i guess... hardcore, it really put him on the map with some of the whiteys. they werent just playing that on the college level like a lot of his tracks from the first LP. lots of folks wanted to know the lyrics and the beat was good enough to get him some good airplay on major radio stations across the country. true they were more urbanized stations but that doesnt mean he could of done something else.
I'm not so sure about Otis Redding though. I feel like his career probably would have followed the same trajectory of, say, a WIlson Pickett or Solomon Burke but something less than genre-altering. Same goes for Donny.
Forget Big L (no offense) but I think both Biggie and 2Pac would have been fascinating figures to follow into the 2000s.
Asked and answered.
I view it this way: Nick Drake's art exists like an ant in amber; he died before he, like all artists, had a chance to artistically decay. His three studio LPs, a cache of posthumous albums, boots, and many reels of home recordings (literally all of which I would heartily recommend), as a corpus, is generous and enough for me. Mr. Drake is the only artist that I can name whose entire catalogue, from the classic LP cuts down to the smashed 3 A.M. taped-at-home covers of Jackson Frank, is fully necessary. From my vantage point - excepting some dated horn arrangements on Bryter Layer - the man left over one hundred perfect songs behind. I don't want to say that I wouldn't have wanted to hear more, but I'm sincerely fine with what is extant if it means the capsule/canon didn't have to live through any potential mystery-shattering disco-era missteps. I am aware how myopic/solipsistic this perspective is.
Redding would have been a game-changer, and not only for himself. For one thing, I'm not sure that Stax would have ended the same way. And try as I might, I cannot possibly imagine Sam Cooke in the late 70s. It's impossible, isn't it?
Jam-Master Jay, who was murdered at 37.
Billie Holiday, who passed at 44. Perhaps she didn't have much more of an artistic future ahead of her, as her health and voice were both deteriorating, but her influence was still tremendous and she still had much more to contribute had her own vices not hindered her.
Possible.
His contemporaries who had long careers, Ray Charles, James Brown, give us a hint.
Ultimately that is what this game is about. Guessing what an artist might have done. Which is why it is fun, and also pointless and frustrating. Usually in this game Lennon and Hendrix are mentioned first. That they weren't mentioned till later (and no one endorsed Lennon) made this thread better than most of this type.
As has been suggested, we can also play, who would have had the biggest future if they hadn't fallen prey to drugs and madness.
I would have loved to hear Sam Cooke's "What's Goin' On" phase
Soulja Slim
I've often wondered what would've transpired if he'd lived to capitalize on the massive success of Slow Motion.
I think its entirely possible he could've dropped his own WGO years ahead of Marvin - he was getting real serious right before he passed.
On a positive note, the music lives on, it is immortal in it's pupils.
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah.....he's up there on my list....died at 29 and left a massive catalog.....most of it great.
Peter Laughner
Sandy Denny