What's the difference between Mainstream and Underground??

[AfterThought]

Let's look at the definition of mainstream: the dominant trend in opinion, fashion, or the arts. It's the styles that cause a splash for a while, the trend that everybody follows, the artist that follows that trend (and is successful) is mainstream.

[J u s T C]

Originally Posted by Noble

Then you can't say content is irrelevant.

How did you not get the context in my post?

I think rappers cant talk about ANYTHING they want. Being "real" is a desireable quality.

The difference is that underground guys general think they are the shit because they know what multis are.

[J u s T C]

The levels of success for certain content changes all the time so you can't use content as the measuring stick. why do you think it's called "underground"


It's not as exposed, it has nothng to do with content

---------- Post added at 12:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 PM ----------

Originally Posted by EtH

The difference is that underground guys general think they are the shit because they know what multis are.

nothing to do with what we're talking about, just stereotyping.

[NOBLE]

You're saying content is irrelevant to whether or not someone reaches mainstream success? But you've also said that success and exposure is what defines someone as being mainstream as opposed to underground. Correct?

[J u s T C]

Not to mention i've already stated that you can fnd underground artists who rap every dfferent type of content under the sun ncludng what mainsream artsts rap about

how can it be about content when L.B member 1 s rappng the same sht drake is?

or when soundcloud has it's own 10 play cheef keef?

it's determined by levels of exposure

[NOBLE]

I think often times, success and exposure are manufactured. It's almost like once you're being promoted by certain major labels, you're going to gain a certain amount of exposure regardless. They practically determine who is and who isn't successful because they control the channels.
And while record labels do coach artists on what to write and try to tell them what to say, it is ultimately up to the artist whether or not they're going to listen and go along.
My basic point is...people should be defined based on what they have control over and the choices they make as individuals. It's just like we don't have control over what race we are or what gender, so we shouldn't be judged/categorized on those things. But we DO have control over whether or not we choose to smoke crack...and we can be judged on that. I believe in this day and age, how successful an artist is on the mainstream is out of individual control. The record labels and corporations determine that. So if we are going to categorize and define people as mainstream/underground, we need to look at the content...because THAT is something they have control over as individuals. It's a matter of personal choice. Someone who raps about the same thing that Drake does is just a mainstream carbon copy, regardless of whether they've made record sales yet or not. In the same sense, I would consider certain artists who have gained a lot of exposure like Mos Def or Talib Kwali still underground. Underground to me means "original content." I'm not knocking how anyone else looks at it though. I understand we all define mainstream and underground a little differently which is why I raised this question just to see how people look at it.

[Jason]

this is a pretty straightforward question

mainstream means it is in the mainstream media .. be it television .. radio.. etc

underground means it is not heavily exposed to the masses .. harder to find .. smaller followings

not sure why this is even a question lol

---------- Post added at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

just read the title lol .. content doesnt matter .. mainstream/underground boils down to the simple factor of level of exposure

[Liquid Wolf]

I think mainstream is all about record sales and popularity

underground rappers who talk about money bling and cars are just idiots

thats one thing young buck said thats memorable and real

"new rappers who play the game like they rich to me that shit funny"

[IV]

You're 44 and still don't know the difference?