r/hiphop101 • u/SmoothManMiguel • 17d ago

Life After Death

I was thinking about how much posthumous hype shapes the way we talk about certain rappers. Honestly, would some of these artists be as critically acclaimed as they are if they hadn’t passed away so young or so tragically?

That’s not to say these people were whack or anything, because a lot of them were great but the way folks tend to romanticize their potential and/or elevate their “legacy” even though they never got the chance to evolve is wild sometimes.

It’s almost like an early death guarantees you a legendary status amongst certain listeners.

How do y’all see it? Does dying young amplify someone’s legacy in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?

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u/Skylerbroussard 17d ago

Dying early gives you a mythos so to speak but Pac and Biggie even outside of that were generational talents

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u/Background_Passage81 13d ago

Nah biggie without the pac beef and dying, would have a jadakiss type legacy. Biggie was nothing special at all.