Can you name a famous rapper with NO gimmicks whatsoever, /mu/?

>>51475161
Nas.

He's extremely overrated though.

>>51475161
how bout gang starr?

Yung Lean

>>51475195
>>51475195
all gimmicks

Fred Durst

>>51475180
You mean GURU
I'd add DOOM, if you think he has any gimmicks you're not paying attention

>>51475236
come on dude i love doom but what else can you call wearing that mask all the time?

>>51475246
Fuck off, that's not a gimmick, it's a motif

WAKA
FLOCKA
FLAME

>>51475260

Gimik m8

>>51475161
there are none.

>>51475260
...

>>51475321
It'd be a gimmick if it didn't go beyond the mask, if behind the mask was goofy funny Zev Love X still trying to give us The Gas Face, but instead we have an adyacent theme of villainy and DOOM's personas. Therefore not a gimmick m8, just a motif.
i have all night if you still wanna fuck with doom tho

>>51475352

If he wasnt "that rapper with the mask" he wouldnt be anywhere near as well known.

>>51475397
What about that rapper from Rhymes Like Dimes? What about that rapper from Hey!? what about that rapper from "?"? What about that rapper from "who do you think I am?"? What about that rapper from the Monstah Island Czars? Do you even fucking KNOW what you're talking about?

>>51475397
>implying he's well known outside of here and a couple other communities

nigga. If I've never heard him on the radio, I wouldn't classify him as "well known"

>>51475161
Lil Ugly Mane?

>>51475449
https://soundcloud.com/diplo/bbc-radio-extra-diplo-hip-hop-month-mix
There you go!

>>51475526
>Implying he doesn't deserve his recognition after a seminal hip-hop album
Guess what faggot that mask didn't write those masterpieces

>>51475352
everyday i'm rustlin

>>51475161
mobb deep

>>51475573
not even rustled, just nice and based.

>>51475161
Nigger, if someone had no gimmicks whatsoever it would be his gimmick.

>>51475651
And then there's this faggot

>>51475449
why do fucking nerds think nobody knows about famous artists outside of their korean cartoon image board
mf doom is famous as fuck and very popular

krs one

also i don't know what gimmicks means

Sent from my iPad

Rap is a gimmick
Rap's birth comes from the New York Disc Jockey's parties in which a Master of Ceremonies had to keep attention on the spotlight, giving credence to the DJ that was the main entertainment for the night, the MC's ways to keep attention were breakdancing and, you know it, talking in rhymes, their purpose was convincing people they weren't just hiring a generic DJ but a whole party

>>51475563
Did I imply that, because I don't think I did? I just pointed out that he's getting plenty of mainstream attention.

MGK

Grandmaster Caz

chance the rapper

gim·mick
ˈɡimik/
noun
noun: gimmick; plural noun: gimmicks

a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.


>>51475236
>muh mysterious villain identity with muh mysterious mask
>>51475474
are you fuckin kidding me? his whole schtick revolves around 90s memphis horrorcore revival
>muh nostalgia muh scary anonymous internet persona
>>51475173
>>51475576
questionable. these both involved the rise in 90s eastcoast hardcore hiphop renaissance. question is were they following trends and just did it better than the rest?
>>51475730
being white in rap is a gimmick in itself :^)
>>51475824
shut up

I think the biggest question is if that characteristic of the MC is a part of his character or intentionally designed to sell and attract

Obie Trice, real name no gimmicks

You literally can't be a famous musician without having an unique and appealing gimmick.

>>51475310
BRICKSQUAAAAD

>>51475449
What is it about fucking nerds thinking anything that isn't on top 40 radio is obscure muh sekrit club music. Doom is widely known, Dangerdoom went huge on some of the most mainstream barely indie radio.

>>51476316
tycho has literally nothing interesting about him or his music yet he's famous. czechmate

Big KRIT, Freddie Gibbs, Joey Bada$$

>>51475310
no gimmicks whatsoever
just strait retardism

>>51476337
He has neat album covers, that counts as image brah. You rarely know what vaporwave producers look like, yet the entire genre is gimmicky as fuck. Knamsayin'?

Will Smith

>>51476337
>being dumb

>>51476011
:^)

>>51475161
Soulja Boy.

Rap itself is a gimmick. It requires no talent and lowers the IQ of all who hear it.

>>51475173
Minus the "He's extremely overrated" part, this. And nothing else ITT.

>>51475198
Define gimmick

Obie Trice, real Name no gimmicks.

>>51475449
Topkek

>>51477865
It's kind of true it doesn't require talent. Given enough time anyone good write a pretty good rap. But that doesn't mean I don't like it.

>>51479513
anyone could write some semi-decent bars but having the talent to make them sound good over a beat isn't something everyone is capable of

>>51475161
Chuck D

>>51479113
come on, Guru is a better answer

>>51479543
That's a good point actually. Yung Lean's lyrics aren't dreadful even if they're a bit nonsensical but he has almost no vocal presence without the aid of auto-tune.

>>51476337
kek

Kanye West

>>51479477
Only good answer in this thread

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This guy still lives in the projects just because he prefers it.

>>51479577
I guess you could make a case for Guru, yeah, didn't notice he'd been posted
In all honesty I kinda skimmed over that post because he added DOOM and DOOM is about as gimmicky as you can get

Mr. Cheeks
Xzibit
Edo G
Evidence
Defari
Dead Prez
The Roots
Das EFX

Lil B

>>51479668
Not bad except for Xzibit

>>51479668
Das EFX is gimmicky as fuk

>>51479724
Not really. They were just like that. It wasnt an act at all.

>>51475161
Eyedea, I guess? Then again, he isn't really famous, is he?

I'd count the Wu-Tang Clan but I guess that their group dynamic is a gimmick in itself.

>>51479747
i really think they only did that whole scoobiedo jibber diggity shit to stand out.

>>51479783
Their entire xao lin dragon shit image is a gimmick

Wait, Kid Cudi? He doesn't really have any gimmicks I'm aware of.

>>51479841
But it's part of the music, too.

Are gimmicks inherently bad in your opinion? The kung-fu shit is just plain enjoyable in my eyes.

>>51479892
Not at all, I didn't call it bad, it's just a gimmick. DOOM wearing a mask is a gimmick but I love DOOM and I like the mask

Rap doesn't work without a marketable gimmick.

>>51479867
>Muh sad
>Muh lonely stoner
>Muh space and planets and stars
>Muh singy songy rapping about lonely stoners in space

>>51479957
I honestly feel like this sometimes too.

>>51479945
Aight, just confirming. I've seen people on here say really crazy shit like saying that gimmicks are inherently bad because they detract from the 'purity' of the music or some bullshit.

>>51479957
This. Especially since a gimmick is often what makes you unique during live performance.

>>51479957
>Vince Staples still makes music
>and you still posted this terrible comment

>>51475236
>>51475180
Guru is the answer. /thread

Drake
he started from the bottom and rose to the top the hard way, it's not a gimmick

>>51479724
yeah, the "iggity" thing is basically the definition of a rap gimmick

>>51480017
Even as a joke, this is probably the most cancerous answer in the thread

Q-Tip

>>51479957
No shit. I don't know if gimmick is quite the right word, but you need a personality, a weirdness, something that sets you apart.
For example, if I told you to do your best impression of Danny Brown, or Chance the Rapper, you would have an idea as to what to do. You would know how to sound, what to rap about, what to portray yourself as, etc. Say what you want about them, but they have personality.
Now, if I said to you "do your best Jon Connor or Bishop Nehru impression" what would you do? These guys may be technically talented, but they're boring and unremarkable as all hell because they have no personality to them and nothing to indicate that they're any different from a white teenage soundcloud rapper with slightly better-than-average skill. Call it a gimmick, a character, a personality, you need it to get big in rap, and stay big.

>>51479980
>Muh singy songy rapping about lonely stoners in space
That's more a musical style than a gimmick though, isn't it?

>>51480089
Essentially, what you're saying is that a rapper needs to find their voice, right?

>>51475180
>one of the best yet

Jay Z

Mos def talib 90s the roots nas etc

i am a fairly popular rapper, ive toured and maybe youve heard me feature in a few big name songs

im going to fix hip-hop dont worry /mu/

you will know when its me.

Common

literally

>Rappers without gimmicks
I think you mean boring rappers anon

>>51480347
>>51480258
Friendly reminder that "Look how intellectual I am" is still a gimmick

Lord Finesse

Stupid thread.

>>51480595
yeah, especially Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Common all on the "God is great" bullshit. talented guys, but they can get really annoying reaaally fucking fast. huge gimmick

>>51480744
yeah that's why he's a washed up 40 year old rapper who hasn't released anything relevant in 2 decades (also the Mac Miller lawsuit). his life is a gimmick

Rap itself is a gimmick to corral kids raised on nursery rhymes and Dr suess

>>51480143
you can defend all of these guys by saying that, then. it doesn't make it less ridiculous when it's shoved on your face so often.

chief keef

>>51475161
ITT: people give general descriptions of rappers and make fun of them for various character traits

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dylan

unless spitting hot fire is a gimmick

Slug of Atmosphere

>>51475161
xzibit

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>>51480934

I would say Vanilla Ice, but then I remembered his gimmick was "being a legitimate rapper".

>>51480595
the worst gimmick. especially when outside of music they have a lot of shit opinions.

>>51475703
KRS-One is all about his teacher gimmick.

Lil Wayne

>>51481153
birdman is my dad gimmick

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"HOLD UP WAIT A MINUTE, YALL THOUGHT I WAS FINISHED"

"WHEN I BOUGHT THAT ASTON MARTIN YALL THOUGHT IT WAS RENTED"

>>51481225
His gimmick is yell

>>51475161
RTJ

>>51481129
he's such a tryhard. how many elements of hiphop is he claiming now? 37?

>>51481261
As much as i love el-p his whole production releies on that dystopian future shit

3 Stacks.

>>51479668
Dead "Immortal Technique 2.0" Prez?
No gimmicks? lel

>>51480595
>common
>trying to appear intellectual
U wot m8

That's like milo and Aesop, not fucking common.

>>51476279
underrated post

RZA
Chief Keef if autism isn't a gimmick

>>51481472
RZA's gimmick is his speech impediment and being a weaboo

CYNE

what exactly is kendrick's gimmick?

>>51479998
>he's all that famous

>>51481679
Kendrick is going ayylmao like Outkast

>>51481679
MUH ILLUMINATI
MUH ALMOST CONSCIOUS (conscious rap is a meme)

>>51481679
that double time bullshit

>>51475161

Bishop Nehru?

>>51481765
OP said famous rapper. And Nehru's issue was already addressed here >>51480089

>>51476279
guess I didn't need those sides today

>>51479606

CD and LR era Kanye was without gimmicks.

/thread

>>51481953
What was the gimmick for the Graduation era? Also:

>producer trying to make it as a rapper isn't a gimmick

>>51481953
>I'm a confident producer rapper who's trying to make it and I sample soul a lot I'm so different!

Drake

His music is still shit though

>>51482344
I think his music is good but of all people he definitely has a gimmick. I mean fucking hell dude, he's "the soft one"

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Just because a rapper has gimmicks doesn't mean they are bad, neither is liking gimmicks bad.

I fucking hate these dumb cynics on /mu/.

lil b

>>51481362
>implying immortal tech has a gimmick
>not immediately killing yourself after posting that

>>51482609
>defending Immortal Technique
I'm not going to tell you to kill yourself I'm just going to tell you to please step aside and think about what you're doing for a minute.

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>>51482609
>implying IT isn't the Alex Jones of hip hop
>OBAMA WAS BORN IN A TEST TUBE
>BUY THIS SURVIVAL GEAR
>INVEST IN GOLD
>9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB

>>51481684
He's definitely popular

We are the gimmick...

>>51482841
His bullshit is so annoying
>walking under telephone wires gives you cancer
>the Government created AIDS
come off it already

>>51479513
I feel like given enough time most people could write a song, too, so why does that matter at all?

>>51476279
FUCK i was searching to see if anyone did it yet

>>51480164
not necessarily just that, there are rappers with a pretty normal voice/sound but something else interesting about them.

Aesop Rock or Sage Francis, unless being white is a gimmick.

>>51481953
>le chop up soul sample and change it's speed guy xD
>not gimmicky as fuck
common son

>>51483847
Oh wait OP said famous. Well fuck nevermind.

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>>51481696

>>51476341
>southern rapper number 102
>le gangster rapper revivalist
>boob bap rip off
three of the most unoriginal acts in hip hop right now are u srs

>>51483814
Nah, I'm talking voice in the literary sense, not the literal sense.

Essentially, giving their art character.

Okay, everyone. Shut up.

The Fugees.

There, we're done, no need to have made it harder than it should have been, Christ.

>>51479543
Whatever dude, even rising NBA star Gordon Hayward wrote a good rap song like it was nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYK7elqoi4M

Q-Tip
Wycleaf
Lauryn Hill
Phife Dawg
Del The Funkee Homosapien
Most G-Funk artists
B.o.B
J Dilla
Apollo Brown
Ras Kas
Beastie Boys
Bas
Vince Staples

Shit thread OP, kill yourself

>>51484002
Exactly. No gimmicks

Apparently being within the genre of hip hop is a gimmick ITT

>>51475430
what are you talking about? what kind of response is that?

>this shit thread

Is there a musician without a gimmick?

>>51481696
>>51481725
>>51481741

So no gimmick.

>>51484267
>Wycleaf
Di you listen to the Fugees? Wyclef was a huge gimmick

>>51481741
Jesus, what isn't a gimmick to you people?

>>51484614
As much as I disagree with his list, that is certainly not true.

ATCQ

>>51484655
I dunno buddy, Wyclef kept on proclaiming himself as the hardest of the group, but everybody knows he was just a loud personality. Lauryn fucking clobbered him

>>51480272
fuck off

>>51483871
Popular != famous

Is Cise Starr famous enough?

>>51480272
g2b young thug

>>51482474
a character trait isn't gimmick

>>51484267
>Beastie Boys
le shouty white men

You already know my capital, capital STEEZ

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Did Biggie have a gimmick, ya know other than having perfect flow?

>>51485125
His gimmick is all that third eye shit and also being dead

rap is based on gimmicks

>>51485130
he (arguably) started the whole "im already pretty much dead, self deprecation lel" meme in rap

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Which rapper has the best gimmick?

Pic related

>>51484729
Yeah, but a gimmick is a trick or technique you do to be popular. Wyclef just being loud and obnoxious didn't make him popular.

>>51485147
haha dude more like c-rap amirite I was born in le wrong gymnasium

rap is based on gimmicks .

Flobots

>>51485171
Depression in hip hop is a meme?

>>51482517
>>51479682
Lil B is the epitome of rap gimmick

>>51485213
wesley willis

>>51485236
>le wrong gymnasium
Fucking Christ, I feel bad for laughing.

>>51485213
ICP by far.

>>51485287
nah but he took it to some straight up suicidal shit... although maybe the geto boys did that before.

I guess what I mean is that he clearly played himself off as not only a gangster but a straight up villain/morally bankrupt person with no redeeming qualities

>when i die i wanna go to hell
>cuz im a piece of shit it aint hard to motherfuckin tell

>>51481679
DO DO DO DO!!!

>>51481679
Lookin like a fuckin raccoon

>>51484267
Good list, and yes we all know this is a terrible thread. Dilla's only Gimmick is being dead.

>>51475208
this

No such thing. Any quirk or characteristic of a rappers personality can be considered a gimmick. Even if they cover up their face (MF Doom) or hide their identity that in itself is a gimmick too.

>>51476011
low music iq

>>51475310
http://ominousxylophone.tumblr.com/post/102734916538/peopleafraidtomerge-flocka

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Kanye transcends gimmicks.

>>51485766
Kanye is a gimmick

>>51475161
can you name a famous rock band with NO gimmicks whatsoever?

>>51486945
So many, what a stupid fucking thing to post

big boi

>>51486989
THAT'S THE POINT

>>51480272
fantano no

>>51475161
cecil otter

>>51485287
>wassup nigga why you so depressed and sad all the time time like a lil bitch?
>niggas wanna hear you rap
>don't nobody care you how feel

>>51476337
I found out about him through his good iso50 design blog.

Earl Sweatshirt

Nas, Mobb Deep and Gang Starr have been mentioned here, I'd agree with all three of those

>>51476992
Why? You were obviously annoyed by that post but had no idea what to say. Why say anything?

>>51479999
why did everyone just ignore these quads?

>>51489194
Because those were boring quads.

Time and place nigger

OutKast..? Or do they have a gimmick

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>>51477865

outkast

>>51476279
this nigga won

>>51489342
>>51491005

Southern rap was definitely a gimmick when they started out. And that's not even talking about the assorted gimmickry involved in that double album.

J. Cole arguably has none

>>51488625
oh you were serious? I thought you were a troll that just linked up a bunch of buzzwords.

>>51479655
>This guy still lives in the projects just because he prefers it.
cool gimmick :^)

>>51493404

Explains why he's so boring.

>>51479606
Kanye himself is a gimmick.

>>51475680
I knew of doom before finding /mu and i don't even listen to hiphop.

>>51494901
>>51493404

Finally we found a rapper without a gimmick

If you listen to any rap other than J.Cole you are listening to memerap :^)

Killer Mike?

ITT: People who think "gimmick" means "plain"

MF DOOM has the whole mask and supervillain thing, Kendrick has his weird voices, Eminem use to have Slim Shady (still does, just not as prominent), Nicki Minaj has her huge fake ass, Will Smith had his "non-explicit but still make hits" thing.

MOST rappers don't have gimmicks. Somebody like Lil Wayne doesn't have a gimmick just because their voice sounds nasally, somebody like Drake doesn't have a gimmick just because they act sad sometimes, Jay-Z doesn't have a gimmick because he acts confident sometimes, Outkast isn't a gimmick just because 3K and Big Boi are from an underrepresented region.

>>51480272
Go to bed Kitty

Andre 3000, definitely.

>>51484803
Young Thug wouldn't post that he already fixed hip hop with the Rich Gang ep

>>51495406
Jay-Z has a gimmick though, its called biting off other rappers.

>>51485623
whats this show?

>>51496803
He's just bigging up his brothers, don't ever mess with HOV again in /mu/ if you know what's good for you.

Bones

>>51475449
I get stopped all the time by college kids when I'm wearing my DOOM hoodie
Matter of fact I'm wearing it right now mid-shit

>>51479867
no gimmicks, but def got shtick

>>51496990
What's the difference between a gimmick and schtick?

>>51475161
Cole?