Turn of Events

12Jun08

Since controversy seems to bring positive or negative attention to anyone popular enough to deserve it, 50 Cent and Kanye West have taken advantage of this in the past. I can still clearly recall reading 50 Cent’s famous line “I got shot 9 times” in 3 different magazine sources…and I don’t read magazines too much!

The death of Kanye West’s mother also sparked some concern, but not remarkable tension among any groups or artists against Kanye. It seems like each new year brings a batch of at least 7 or 8 new rap artists (who might not be on exactly the same level) to being a chart-topper.

This year, it was FloRida with “Low”, and last year it was Mims with “This is Why I’m Hott.” If people tried hard enough, they could probably predict the name of the song or artist who will produce next year’s hit who hasn’t even been introduced yet.

This week, Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” has reached #4, and Rick Ross and T-Pain have reached #30 with “The Boss.” After watching artists rise and fall, recover and disappear, I have learned a couple things. First, I expect a very low percentage of artists who are currently at the top of the music charts to remain visible after two years. Secondly, for all the enthusiasm that those number one songs create, I never get swept up enough to enjoy them on the level that I could if they kept producing music.

Panic at the Disco!, Maroon 5, and Carrie Underwood all disprove me. I am waiting for a lot of others to as well!

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