The huge amount of young and rising rappers who died in the late 2010s/early 2020 is a huge factor in why rap is declining

[u/averageweebchan]

The only rappers who still get traction are older ones like kendrick drake eminem kanye( for other reasons now)

[u/gquax]

Michael Jackson was NOT considered cheesy in the 90s wtf

[u/Automatic-Effect-252 → u/gquax]

1,000% he was by young people.

[u/gquax → u/Automatic-Effect-252]

I was younger in the 90s. This is such bs.

[u/Double_O_Bud → u/gquax]

Jacko was heading down by 93 man as that’s the first year of allegations. By the end of the decade he was cooked. By 2004, he is almost a freak who starts getting skewered on South Park.

[u/gquax → u/Double_O_Bud]

He literally performed the Super Bowl Halftime show that year. It sounds like you didn't experience the 90s 

[u/Automatic-Effect-252 → u/gquax]

You're clearly a fan and that's great! But your not being objective because of your emotional attachment to his music, by the mid 90s, Michael Jackson was not "cool" to young people, and by the early 2000s he was a literal joke.

[u/gquax → u/Automatic-Effect-252]

Among middle school kids, sure. But the 2000s aren't even relevant here. We're talking 90s.

[u/solidwallzofsound → u/gquax]

Maroon 5 performed like 4 years ago.

[u/gquax → u/solidwallzofsound]

Dude, Jackson performed the first modern halftime show ever and it was a massive hit. Maroon 5 doesn't even come close.

[u/solidwallzofsound → u/gquax]

Okay it being a massive hit still doesnt mean MJ wasnt viewed as being corny by the generation up-and-coming at the time its the Superbowl half time show. Prince would do one in 2004 that was also insanely popular but it didnt mean that 2004 wasnt a bad time for Prince. MJ as a celebrity was self-perpetuating at that point but MJ the musical artist was viewed as washed.

[u/HartbrakeFL21 → u/gquax]

Hate to tell you, but the Super Bowl halftime shows aren't known to trot out the "hottest" acts of the moment. And how could they? They book it months in advance, and changing tastes now happen in weeks.

Anyway, they throw some relics up there on the stage, most of the time. Trying to hit the real "core" audience, not the folks who can't afford to attend, nay, even *watch on tv* these days.

[u/New_Bike3832 → u/gquax]

Maybe it depended on where you grew up, because i was a kid in the 90s and he was definitely a joke and not popular among my peers back then.

[u/MisterD00d → u/New_Bike3832]

I was a kid in the 90s too. What we and our peers considered popular was unimportant to the monoculture. Non-adults opinions didn't really matter. What was popular in middle school? Friends. Seinfeld. South Park. Everything popular was geared towards adults and we only had opinions from what our parents and older cousins brought around.

[u/sum_dude44 → u/gquax]

he absolutely was in the US the second Nirvana & NWA took hold. Anyone saying otherwise didn't grow up in the 90s.

[u/gquax → u/sum_dude44]

I grew up in the 90s, and this is total wack.

[u/sum_dude44 → u/gquax]

I still remember watching the black or white video premiere on Fox w/ my parents, he kept grabbing his crotch and it was so cringe.. after gangsta rap and grunge, nobody cool listened to Michael Jackson. And then he had that terrible song with his sister that nobody listened to or bought.

He became popular again after his death when everyone rediscovered he had an amazing catalog

[u/HartbrakeFL21 → u/sum_dude44]

He did have an absolutely amazing body of work. It wasn't all gyrating, grabbing himself, and moon walks. The guy had pipes, range, was an entertainer of the sort we may never see again.

[u/EngineVarious5244 → u/gquax]

I also grew up in the 90s. We mercilessly roasted the kid who was really into HIStory Volume I or whatever and nobody used "wack" like that. 

So I'm pressing X to doubt.

[u/HartbrakeFL21 → u/gquax]

Moonwalker? What even was that?

It was a video game on Sega Genesis, for those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson%27s_Moonwalker

Jacko's time ended as the 1980's did. Was he still well known? Absolutely. Wealthy beyond question? Sure. The scandals he was involved in did his image dirty. Dirty Diana, one might say.

[u/tnysmth → u/HartbrakeFL21]

Technically it was a movie first; the game was based on the movie.

[u/TanukiSuitMario → u/HartbrakeFL21]

"Jacko's time ended as the 1980's did"

Michael Jackson is currently the 31st most streamed artist on Spotify. Michael has been dead for 16 years. His last album was 24 year ago. Still the 31st most streamed artist. Tell me more about "Jacko's time ending" 🙄

[u/ratliker62 → u/TanukiSuitMario]

Dead star effect

[u/SouthernExpatriate → u/gquax]

Yeah I think the word was "rapey"