When Buzz Falters…

13 years ago view-show 669,933

So I caught This Cool Kids video last night and it got me thinking about their career up to this point. The Chicago duo was considered one of the hottest hip-hop acts a mere three years ago. Then they kept fans interested into ’09 with Gone Fishin’. After that, behind the scenes politics stalled When Fish Ride Bicycles, their debut album, to the point where their movement stalled to a crawl.

That’s not to say their careers are over. However, it’s hard to argue against them losing steam despite dropping Tacklebox this past summer. Our attention spans hold some of the blame since fans crave new music at a ridiculous pace.With that said it feels like they may have lost a ton of potential since they hit the scene. Truth be told it’ll take a lot of legwork to bring back or exceed the anticipation the group once enjoyed.

Additionally, this article isn’t meant to single them out. So many other artists and groups from Saigon to Rhymefest just to name a couple deal with the same issues when it comes to maintaining fan interest. Heck, everyone thought Jay Elec was chillin’ in a cave somewhere until he signed with Roc Nation last month.

However, one key thing that separates Jay Elec from Saigon and The Cool Kids is business acumen: indispensable for any artist in 2010. Chuck admitted the duo signed a bad deal with it’s previous label and released what should’ve been When Fish Ride Bicycles throughout their mixtapes. So while their songs got featured in ad campaigns their shot at longevity ultimately suffered thanks to Rule #4080. Saigon also got blackballed by Atlantic, faced several delays on his debut album and fought to get released from his contract. Jay Electronica could’ve signed with Diddy and have everything work for the moment. But he hit Bad Boy with the pump fake and scrambled towards Jay-Z. Then again, I can’t really blame him given Sean Combs’ record at developing artists.

Nevertheless, fans are on the outside looking in wondering why the hell their favorite artists aren’t putting out albums. In the meantime, it doesn’t take long for people to lose interest and head for greener pastures. That’s a trend that predated the internet. Therefore the “here today gone tomorrow” phenomenon runs at a ridiculously rapid rate when you add the web’s knack for feeding instant gratification.

So what will happen to said artists in limbo? In the Cool Kids case they apparently cleared things out with their label and are really to roll out their new projects. If that’s the case then the ball is in their court for the next year. One has to wonder if they have another slew of e-hits or even quality indie releases on their hands. If not then, well, another one bites the dust. Hopefully that’s not the case going into 2011.

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