With what appears to be a much more mature worldview and the abundant good sense to avoid a reality TV series about his marriage.
When people talk about the dominant genres of music, they forget about the long tail. Rap and pop acts (and a little bit of country) dominate the Top 100, but rock acts dominate the total. There are so many of them that it’s very rare for one to break away from the pack (Mumford and Sons, U2, Coldplay, and Green Day) have been notable exceptions in recent years), but their sum total is a bigger part of “today’s music” than rap could ever hope to be.
Nope, I didn’t before I quoted your post.
I dunno if most people should know this. I know that when I asked my wife just now, she knew. It sounded like knowing it depressed her. Maybe we shouldn’t know? Since I didn’t know until you told me, I don’t find it surprising. Heck, I don’t know who most people are married to. As long as I can keep track of who I’m married to, I’m probably good.
(Now, to read the thread)
ETA: Wow, I’m more surprised that there are folks who don’t know who Jay-z is! I know who they both are, but don’t give a rat’s ass who is married to who. Heck, I wasn’t aware that Kim Gordon and Turston Moore were married for awhile. They’re my favorite band, and I’m related to one of them.
Have not read any other replies: Yes.
Jay-Z had his first taste of pop music success around 1996. It also was a business success and ushered in a new era of entrepreneurship in music, especially in hip-hop. He had been unable to secure and keep a record deal after trying for around 8 years. Using the connections and perseverance of his partners they got a distribution deal, blockbuster movie soundtrack placement, and Gold album. In hip-hop circles his first album is considered a “classic” and frequently mentioned with the debuts of Nas and Biggie as the highlights of the era if not all-time.
I first became aware of Beyonce sometime around 1998 when Destiny’s Child had a hit song/video with Wyclef. I don’t think they really took off until their follow up album, that had a few big hits like “Bills Bills Bills.” This would have been around the time Jay-z released his 3rd or maybe even 4th hit album. His 2nd album was a hit but not critically acclaimed nor a huge commercial crossover. I think he really crossed over with the “Annie” sampling “Hard Knock Life.” At least that’s when I remember a lot of people outside of hip-hop heads and “urban music” listeners taking notice.
The first time I think I noticed Beyonce as anything other than " Beyonce Knowles from Destiny’s Child" was when she did a duet with Jay-z, became Jay-z’s GF, and Jay-z had a huge role in her solo debut album and subsequent career.
At this point Jay-Z was huge, and had Beyonce duet on his first single from his 7th album- and 5th #1 album from 1998-2002. Her appearance on his single was her first significant solo work. Additionally her first solo single “Crazy in love” was co-written by, featured, and ostensibly about Jay-Z. That went number 1 as did her album, and that’s pretty much what made her career as Beyonce.
Post-2002 I can’t really think of one without the other. Though it’s easier to think of Jay-Z’s career without Beyonce since the majority of his acclaimed work happened before their partnership and perhaps before anyone had even heard of Destiny’s Child. They’ve both benefited a lot professionally from the relationship.
Jay Z, of course. (Is there a hyphen in his name?)
I agree that not knowing is a bit “living under a rock.”
After reading the thread: For all those who didn’t know and gave justifications, do you know who Angelina Jolie is married to?
That’s interesting because most of the hardcore independent rappers I know ( who, yes, make music with social satire and commentary) consider the music they live to be hip-hop and generally as just one of the elements of hip-hop.
Watered down pop music that incorporates rap or other elements of hip-hop.. I usually see as something else- maybe hip-hop influenced dance music or “beat based” R&B.
I’ve also seen rappers refer to it as R&B- Rap&Bullshit for at least 20 years.
While I consider myself a big fan of rap music (and the album called “R.A.P Music” one of the albums of the year in 2012 in any genre), like many of my age And non-NYC upbringing, my earliest exposure was through rapping that actually Was performed over disco music- like Rapper’s Delight and other Sugar Hill era stuff.
Fwiw, I am 35. My parents , now 60 year-old white folks, introduced me to rap music. Though I’m not sure if they know much about Jay-z,they could tell you all about Grandmaster Flash and stuff from back then. Also they were primarily fans of rock, country-rock, and stuff like CSN/CSNY.
Is this supposed to be a trick question?
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt aren’t actually married.
More like not caring.
“Can I Get A…” was my first exposure to Jay-Z in the “mainstream” music arena and I am pretty damn white.
That’s pretty much wrong.
Hip hop is the name of the culture in general, which consists of rapping(MCing), graffiti, breakdancing, DJing, etc.
The words hip hop and rap are interchangeable when referring to the music. They’re not different styles.
Not only do I not know who this Beyonce is married to, I don’t even know who she(?) is in the first place. (I’m guessing “she” because this person has a husband, but George Takei has a husband and he’s definitely a guy, so who knows. That name or pseudonym or whatever isn’t really giving me any clues.)
I do watch television and I listen to the radio (Sirius XM, not terrestrial. Fave station is The Pulse, followed by The Blend). I don’t really read magazines anymore, but I do read ONTD from time to time online.
Now to read the other replies.
You don’t have to care about them, but not knowing who they are is living under a rock.
So you watch television and read a gossip site but have no idea who one of the biggest music superstars of the past 15 years is?
To be fair, that kind of depends on whether or not they live in the US…I doubt Beyonce is as ubiquitous in semi-rural Britain or rural Ireland or, really, any non-urban, non-American region as she is in the US.
She’s pretty ubiquitous here in rural Australia.
I know Beyonce is married to Jay-Z, but I don’t know who he is or why he’s famous. I am familiar enough with some of her songs to sing the refrain though I’d rather not because they pretty much uniformly suck.
I know Chris Brown is dating Rihanna but I probably just spelled her name wrong. I know she’s a singer, but I don’t know any of her songs. I have no idea what his claim to fame is.
Thinking that not knowing about them means you are living under a rock means you are living under a rock (or at least very much unaware of what’s important and not important to other people).
I do know who Beyonce is, and more vaguely who Jay-Z is. But I doubt many of my scientific colleagues do. They don’t watch entertainment news on TV, or read about it in newspapers or magazines. If they do hear the names, it’s of no importance to them, so they don’t remember them. (To be fair, I do poke fun at some of my friends sometimes when they show a complete ignorance of popular culture.)
They’re not living under a rock, since they are very much aware of many other things. It’s just that someone like Beyonce doesn’t even register for them.
While I’m sure they are probably big in their genre, not everyone listens to that genre. After reading the thread I can see why I haven’t heard of them because I don’t listen that stuff. If they have been mentioned on ONTD, I would have skipped over those posts because DUH! Why would I read a post about somebody I’ve never heard of? That makes no sense! And it’s not like I’m on ONTD every day, it’s something I might peruse once in while when I’m bored and don’t feel like doing anything, I might cruise over there and scroll through the posts to see if anything interesting is there. I’m much more often on one of the spinoffs than the mothership though.
Most of my TV viewing is documentaries rather than crud like Entertainment Tonight or whatever gossip show is popular now though. I do watch the Food Network fairly regularly because I enjoy their game shows such as Chopped and Sweet Genius. And I love BBT and catch that every week.
What difference does it make who these people are anyway? It’s not like they do anything important such as make laws or start wars, right? Who care which celebrity someone’s heard of and which they haven’t. I sure don’t!
I understand what you’re saying, but I think it is strange that you are tacking the word ‘importance’ onto this. You don’t have to find something of importance to be aware of it.
These tottering scientific dark, dank, library dwelling professors that are your colleagues… do you think they know of the Beatles? Elvis? Michael Jackson? Prince? Janet Jackson? At what point does popular culture make a blip on their screen?
You may need to find something interesting or important to remember it. I don’t doubt that many of my colleagues have seen or heard the name Beyonce, it just hasn’t registered for them as something to be retained in their memory. A lot of people would have no idea who Rosa Gumataotao Rios is, although they see her name every day.
They’re hardly library dwellers, and they’re not living under a rock. They’re are well informed about US and international news and many are engaged politically. They travel widely and have visited dozens of countries. Overall, they are probably far better informed about the world in general than the average person who has heard of Beyonce.
Since my contemporaries grew up in the 60s, they know about the Beatles and Elvis. They may be more aware of Michael Jackson due to his scandals than his music. A lot of them probably are unaware of Prince or Janet Jackson.
“probably big in their genre”? This is not some musician who’d only be known to fans of a particular genre or a niche audience.
This is one of the biggest pop superstars of the past decade and a half, whose nearly every move is the stuff of gossip, who’s graced the cover of countless magazines, headlines award shows, a constant of any news and entertainment medium, etc. There is no bigger celebrity in the world today.