was just at Wacka Flocka show at altar bar in Pittsburgh a week ago, fun show but disappointing most of what he performed was his more EDM oriented songs . still fun though. my demographics point was that you can gauge an artists appeal by the crowd they attract . if you took a Rihanna concert and looked at the crowd I'm not so sure it'd look too different from a Drake crowd at his concert. there music also has the same flair, they use a genre to differentiate themselves and give them self crossover appeal. where as I'm from /live in Chicago and have been to many artists shows like a Chief Keef or more obscure artists like Qwel and their crowds do not resemble anything like a Drake or Rihanna crowd. I'm not saying you judge an artist silly on the crowd they draw but it says a lot. I was just at Steez Day in NYC in July and the Flatbush Zombies, Joey Bada$$ and Pro ear crew were performing . It was a show that had all races, ages and genders but it still looks nothing like a Drake or Rihanna crowd. And I disagree all day with you on Kanye , nothing about his discography indicates has anything but a pop artist. People in this thread want to say every artist who has a hit or multiple hit songs that make it to the mainstream are pop but that's asinine, all artists want their music to resonate with a lot of people but that doesn't make them pop just because they do have songs that'll resonate. Drake has done nothing but focus in on creating pop music that has roots in hiphop just like Beyoncé makes pop music with roots in a RnB. that's my point agree or disagree but I don't see how anyone could think of these artists as anything else than pop .
but that's because of the everchanging state of hip-hop and how the general populace have turned to accept it more and more. sure, that chief keef concert in chicago (come on, i'm sure you know why that didn't look like a drake concert) didn't look like a drake concert, but you would be fooling yourself if you didn't think they had an overlap in fans. hell, fredo fucks with gambino and he's more "pop" than Kanye or Drake. it's not like if keef, gucci, or any trap/drill rapper performed at pitchfork/lolla/sxsw, their audience wouldn't resemble a drake concert, even if it was slightly. also badass is a notable backpack rapper and i can definitely believe their concerts wouldn't look the same.
i wouldn't automatically call a person with mainstream appeal a pop star or say they're making pop music. when i hear pop, i think of katy perry, taylor swift and shit like that. and probably because drake's singing songs are more r&b aligned (minus some shit on thank me later) and he's recently only been dropping straight rap songs besides hotline bling (which isn't a pop song either). would you consider future a pop star?
also yeezus by itself shows kanye isn't a pop artist. hell, everything but graduation does really.
