40 years from now...

[Warner2BruceTD]

Apparently Kim Kardashian is pregnant, his fame stock just rose.

Absolutely, considering Kardashian is much more famous. Best career move he ever made. White people over 25 everywhere know his name now:

DINOCOSTA ‏@DINOCOSTA
If only Kim Kardashian's dad was alive to receive the news...his daughter is pregnant by something named Kanye West. How proud he would be.

 

[Houston]

Not this shit again.

If you don't think Brittany Spears is one of the most famous and instantly recognizable artists of our time, then you don't have much of a grasp of pop culture.

'Household name' does her no justice.

Kanye has...

29 top 100 hits, in comparison Spears has 28 even with her 5 year head start. Oh yeah, and if you count his features than Kanye has over 50 that charted.
5 Consecutive #1 albums(and counting). A feat that Brittney never accomplished.
A top 10 most played song of the decade. Another feat that Brittney never accomplished. Which is weird seeing how much more instantly recognizable her music is than his.
18 Grammy's(9th of all time) with 51 Nominations(top 5 all time) and counting. Spears has 1 award.

Won't even get started on the fact that his debacle with George Bush/Taylor Swift were two of the most talked about stories of their respective years. And you think the guy isn't a household name? :yao:

Why? Because 30 year old white guys who attend Bon Jovi concerts aren't big fans of him? Great litmus test.
The irony is that you are nowhere in Kanye's target audience. You're white, over 30, conservative, I'm guessing not a fan of hip hop, and yet you still know who he is.

You can focus on the old and meaningless. I'll focus on the droves of young people(mainly white) that Kanye can pull into his performances...ones that didn't come specifically to see him play

What do you know, he does have fans. Since I'm sure you'll disregard the 5 #1 albums, I'd figure a visual aid would serve better.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

And despite all of that, Brittany Spears is still more famous, and it's probably not even close.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Let's play a game.

Do you know who these people are? Don't look them up. Just be honest.

Georg Solti
Alison Krauss
Pierre Boulez

 

[EmpireWF]

Not off hand but Krauss sounds most familiar.

 

[Houston]

Alison Krauss does some stuff with Robert Plant. Has a lot of grammy's.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Let's play a game.

Do you know who these people are? Don't look them up. Just be honest.

Georg Solti
Alison Krauss
Pierre Boulez

Not off hand but Krauss sounds most familiar.

Alison Krauss does some stuff with Robert Plant. Has a lot of grammy's.

Solti, Krauss, & Boulez are the all time leading Grammy winners.

Equating Grammy wins with fame holds no water. One has zero to do with the other.

Nobody gives a shit about the Grammy's in 2012 (2103 I suppose, if somebody reads this in 4 hours). The Grammy's ceased being relevant decades ago. Many artist don't even bother showing up. The process is well known to be a political game. In fact, West was snubbed for years, the committee was criticized for it, and now they bend over backwards for him to overcompensate.

Besides, the debate here was never 'Brittany Spears is a better musician than Kanye West'. I'm not a fan of West, and as I said earlier in the thread, i'd honestly have a real hard time even identifying one of his songs, that's how far off he radar he is to me, but i'm sure he's a better musician than Spears. Again, this means absolutely nothing in terms of fame. I made this analogy earlier, but who is more famous, Velvet Underground (perhaps the most critically acclaimed rock act of all time), or, say, Duran Duran? Or Motley Crue? Or Journey? Or The Monkees?

And I still contend that the hip hop genre has solid steel walls around it compared to other genres. Meaning, the fame of a hip host artist is limited to fans of the genre. So while a Kanye West may have a million number one records and be insanely popular and successful within his gigantic fan base, a county fan or a jazz fan or a metal fan is not likely to know who the fuck he is. Meanwhile, everybody knows who Brittany Spears is, her fame extends well beyond her music.

I don't even think Kanye West would rate as the most famous artist in his genre. I think Eminem is way more famous. Same for Jay-Z.

 

[EmpireWF]

In 40 years, she'll be over 70 and unless she's still doing TV work, she won't be remembered by anyone younger than 25-30ish.

Maybe she could...like whatever old disco artists maintain some kind of public name today.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

In 40 years, she'll be over 70 and unless she's still doing TV work, she won't be remembered by anyone younger than 25-30ish.

Maybe she could...like whatever old disco artists maintain some kind of public name today.

Personally I think if she didn't record another song again in her entire life, she would maintain her fame. She was a cultural icon, and probably still is, and will be well known forever. (i.e - James Dean, somebody like that)

I think if West retired and disapeared like Dave Chappelle or something, he would fade from public consciousness like any number of artists who were once big but did not maintain their fame. Lionel Richie, Tiffany, Richard Marx, John Mellencamp, Randy Travis, people like that. All MEGA famous at one time, but not iconic, so now footnotes (relatively speaking, still famous to some degree but obviously not at the levels we are discussing).

 

[Houston]

Solti, Krauss, & Boulez are the all time leading Grammy winners.

Equating Grammy wins with fame holds no water. One has zero to do with the other.

You're missing the totality of it. How many #1 albums or top 100 songs do Krauss, Solti, and Boulez have? My point was to show that with Kanye it's a combined effort, what is he missing? You talk about not knowing his songs, but the guy has a song that was in the top 10 most played of the decade. What else could you ask for? You talk about critical acclaim. Well he's no Lou Reed but the guy has albums that Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and other major publications have called some of the best ever. Forget Grammy's if you want, Kanye is constantly appearing on major year end Best Albums list. His latest solo album(released in 2010) is considered one of the best of the decade so far.
Don't take my word. Read it yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Dark_Twisted_Fantasy#Accolades
And of the albums that accompany it towards the top, I highly doubt any has sold as many copies.




Forget about your self importance for right now and look at it objectively, what can you ask from him? Does he need more fame? 50 top 100 hits aren't enough for you? Does he need 8 #1 albums? He's easily one of the most acclaimed artist of the decade. Does he need to be #1?

Meaning, the fame of a hip host artist is limited to fans of the genre. So while a Kanye West may have a million number one records and be insanely popular and successful within his gigantic fan base, a county fan or a jazz fan or a metal fan is not likely to know who the fuck he is. Meanwhile, everybody knows who Brittany Spears is, her fame extends well beyond her music.

What in the world are you even talking about? In this day and age you don't get 5 consecutive #1 albums, not to mention one of the most popular songs of the decade without crossing over and appealing to fans outside of your genre.

Hip hop has "solid steel walls". lolwut? Do you realize that hip hop was the most successful genre of music this past decade? The best selling single of the decade was a hip hop song. If hip hop has steel walls then country, jazz, metal, and rock are currently in solitary confinement.

You seem completely lost on this subject.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Forget about your self importance for right now and look at it objectively, what can you ask from him? Does he need more fame? 50 top 100 hits aren't enough for you? Does he need 8 #1 albums? He's easily one of the most acclaimed artist of the decade. Does he need to be #1?

Perhaps there is a limit on just how famous a person can be, regardless of how much they achieve in their field. I can't see him being more famous than he already is unless he somehow becomes an A-list Hollywood star or something. It could be that he's capped.

What in the world are you even talking about? In this day and age you don't get 5 consecutive #1 albums, not to mention one of the most popular songs of the decade without crossing over and appealing to fans outside of your genre.

Hip hop has "solid steel walls". lolwut? Do you realize that hip hop was the most successful genre of music this past decade? The best selling single of the decade was a hip hop song. If hip hop has steel walls then country, jazz, metal, and rock are currently in solitary confinement.

You seem completely lost on this subject.

Again, outside of his (large) fan base, nobody knows who he is or gives a shit about him. This is what I mean about hip hop having 'steel walls'. Unless you are a fan, there is a good chance you don't know who these people are.

I may be underrating his fame to some extent, but there is no question you are overrating it. All of those #1 records are not that big of a deal in the big picture that we're discussing here. Go knock on 100 random doors in America, and more people would know who Spears is. I would be willing to be my life on it.

 

[dave]

I am not saying Britney will be remembered 40 years after her first hit because she's a "great artist." Being a great artist doesn't matter anymore. She's like Madonna, she keeps the public's attention. And, like Madonna, barring death, Britney will still be pumping out albums written and produced by Swedish geniuses ... and thanks to future medical advances, will probably still look 30.

 

[Pitty]

Does anyone else find it ironic that Warner keeps saying Spears is more famous but doesn't even know how to spell her name?