Quote from ahoaho
100,000 records sold is certified gold, which is pretty big.
But on the topic of basing the pop status of something off the album sales/how much play time something gets is not the point I was making. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album has sold more than 5 million copies. Does that make it a pop album?
But on the topic of basing the pop status of something off the album sales/how much play time something gets is not the point I was making. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album has sold more than 5 million copies. Does that make it a pop album?
certified gold is 500k. which in hop hop terms today is like multiplat cuz album sales droppin. as for the miles davis thing. i'd say maybe. think of the pop artists of today, soulja boi, britney?, etc. the ppl that everybody talks about. if in their hayday they were hyped over like the pop artists of today, then yes they were pop.
Quote from ahoaho
And I say that their music has lasted so long because it's quality music, not because of the fact that it was popular (even though, in 1992 when Midnight Marauders came out, Nirvana was the most popular band in America). Look at MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. THAT is pop music. They ran a gimmick to sell records, without thought to the artistic direction of the work.
And Tribe was NEVER big among mainstream America, because of the message they put out. That's like saying that Spike Lee's flicks were more popular than Steven Speilberg flicks. Or that, in 1992, a Denzel Washington movie would sell more than a Richard Gere or Billy Crystal or Patrick Swazey movie. In certain demographics, yes, but in the mainstream, no.
And Tribe was NEVER big among mainstream America, because of the message they put out. That's like saying that Spike Lee's flicks were more popular than Steven Speilberg flicks. Or that, in 1992, a Denzel Washington movie would sell more than a Richard Gere or Billy Crystal or Patrick Swazey movie. In certain demographics, yes, but in the mainstream, no.
let's switch over to today. are ppl still making quality music? yes. will the best band out there currently(Coldplay) outsell everybody else? yes. as for the quality of the music, in the golden age everybody and they grandma was puttin out heat. how come only the few like Tribe's music lasted so long yet the others didnt? same goes with the billion other blues players out during the time of miles. now the only way for them to even get remembered is DJ's diggin up crates and samplin they sh1t.
lets speak demographics: minorities - hispanics, blacks, asians, native americans, etc. only make up like 20% of the population. and in the inner cities maybe 30-40% with the exception of white flee neighbhorhoods. point is, them motherfockers aint buyin shlt save for the couple DJ's buyin vinyl and fans here and there. but the rest tryin to sell u bootlegs. so who been keepin these artists alive? white america, like it always has for as long as music business existed. look at ghostface killah, one of the most skilled MC's of all time(lyrically on par wit Tip) on a major label strugglin to sell 100k, had to make a youtube video pleading his fans/supporters to buy his albums. guess he musta lost his supporters.
now who are we to say who's pop or not. why can't a pop artist make classic albums?(kanye, nas, biggie), why can't indie cats sell sh1tload of records?(100k in indie terms is alot since they recieve 50% of w/e they sell).
i wanna end this with a quote from one of my favorite rappers.
"If skills sold, truth be told, i'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli, I wanna rhyme like Common Sense, (But i did five Mil) I ain't been rhymin like Common since."
________________
"Hip-hop was set out in the dark. They used to do it out in the park"
(bluesrock lots of slide work). 
Yeah Malmsteen is a bit like that though Symphony and guitar is a quality album. Most of the rest of his albums are too 80's with the singing 
