Ever stan so hard for an artist only to one day be completely thrown off by an underwhelming project of theirs? It's happened to quite a few of us. In this week's Crowd Participation, some of us came together to discuss this highly important and distressing matter. It's like being cheated on by a once faithful spouse, or having your reliable local health food store sell you some bad flaxseed oil. If the above image is any indication, Mariah's got some 'splaining to do.
Cornfed says:
Yowser, there are more than a few that make this list. I'll go with my top two:
Dave Hollister: After a somewhat too urbane debut, Ghetto Hymns, Dave released the brilliant Chicago: The Movie 85 and a serviceably pleasing Things In The Game Done Changed. Then Dave hit me with Real Talk, a plodding, tiresome and unintelligable work if there ever was one. I felt like he kicked me in the nuts and, after one listen, I wanted to return the favor.
Mariah Carey has managed this feat not once but three times: EMC=2 following the classic Emancipation of Mimi is self-explanatory. Glitter following the megawatt Butterfly (I know that Rainbow was between these, but I loath to admit in public just how much I liked Rainbow). And the schmaltz gone awry Music Box following her stunning eponymous debut and the fun, if uneven Emotions. Why?? Why do I keep going back knowing that she'll beat me again?!
ill Mami says:
Tupac broke my heart. I really dug him when he was down with Digital Underground doing the "Humpty Dance" and exuding Black pride in "Same Song." I was totally loving him when he was chronicling Brenda's demise after she had her baby, and loved how he was down with the homies when they called. But when he began his thuggery, I couldn't be down. The madness that followed (the spraying of bullets, the rape charge) and the intense rage that followed was like watching a small child upset that the world would not bend for his whims. And what made it worse was that you knew how it was all going to end.
I can't say that I hated All Eyez On Me or The Don Killuminati. But his popularity was at such a fever pitch that it was damn near impossible for me to really form an unbiased opinion without someone telling me I was crazy because I was not on Team 'Pac. Alot of those albums were a bit too much gangsta-ness and negativity for me. I guess in the end, no one will be able to say that he was only a studio thug. It's too bad you can't get a prize for that.
- Advertisement -
Clay says:
I know this is a beloved album, but I was sorely disappointed with Mary J. Blige's Share My World. I loved What's The 411?, What's The 411? Remix and My Life. Share My World just completely let me down, with the exception of "Missing You." Maybe my expectations were just too high. Share My World was released back when you had to buy full CDs for $12.99 -- an album of only two songs you liked was like robbery!
- Advertisement -
nOva says:
My Mariah Carey collection runs rather deep, and I was all set to give E=MC2 a chance even after I heard the first single. But never have I imagined in my lifetime that I'd walk away from a Mariah album going "I like the beat to one song." I wouldn't recommend E=MC2 to an enemy. It serves as the greatest testament to how a once respectable artist and vocalist is able to slide by merely on the fact that our expectations and standards have plummeted significantly over the years.
- Advertisement -Usher, who I still have fleeting respect for, no longer cuts it for me. The themes on Here I Stand (aside from the lead single) are somewhat refreshing, but the production is the same lazy, paint-by-the-numbers dreck that I expect to be handed over to less-talented, less-experienced, less-savvy artists. This might be acceptable if I was still twelve.
DJ Diva says:
- Advertisement -I have always been a stan for Prince and there have been several occasions where he released some albums that made me even raise an eyebrow. I was very upset when I purchased the Chaos and Disorder album he put out in 1996. His last album before his contract with Warner Bros was up and it was straight garbage with the exception of "Dinner With Delores"! I was disgusted and it took me a long time before I bought another Prince album. Long as in 2 years later when I bought The Vault.
Has this ever happened to you? Let us know!
- Advertisement -
