If you’re white, and you like Hip-Hop, there’s a pretty good chance you browse r/HipHopHeads. This idea has always been in the back of my mind, but now I have the data to prove it.
It’s official – white people make up 70.8% of r/HipHopHeads.
I have nothing insightful to say about this stat, I just thought it was funny.
What does interest me though, was looking at r/HipHopHeads opinions (always wrong) on their favourite Hip-Hop albums, through the scope of the census data, and compare it to my own opinions (always right).
Lets break it down.
r/HipHopHeads Top 10 Hip-Hop Albums
#1 – Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
#2 – Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
#3 – Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid m.A.A.d. City
#4 – Nas – Illmatic
#5 – Madvillain – Madvillainy
#6 – Kanye West – Yeezus
#7 – Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
#8 – Kanye West – Late Registration
#9 – Travis Scott – Rodeo
#10 – Kanye West – The College Dropout
#1 spot goes to “To Pimp a Butterfly” with a whopping 9.1% (1212 people) voting in favour of the album, no surprise there. #2 is not a huge surprise either, with 7.9% (1051 people) voting for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” as their favourite.
I say it’s not a surprise, but it doesn’t mean I agree. I’ve never considered MBDTF to be the ‘best’ Kanye album, let alone my favourite. I understand why people enjoy it, it’s incredibly eclectic. It’s also undoubtedly unique. The College Trio was unique in a sense because it was Soul being revived, chopped and given life in a modern Rap setting, but in a lot of ways, the College Trio still rode off the whole ‘Ringtone Rap’ trend. “808’s & Heartbreak” and “Yeezus” were definitely cases of Kanye taking an intricate sound and polishing it into something more palatable for the masses.
MBDTF in a sense stands as a monument to Kanye’s self-proclaimed ‘creative genius’. There is almost nothing that has the same feel as MBDTF. Personally, I enjoy the album – but not enough to post on every single one of The Needle Drop’s reviews asking why MBDTF only got a 6.
But I want to point your attention to something else. In some feat that I can only attribute to an act of witchcraft or voodoo, “Yeezus” is #6 on the list. Are you fucking kidding me? It’s above “Late Registration”! It’s even above “College Dropout”! What the fuck?
Someone in the thread had a good explanation that almost explains it. Something along the lines of “Yeezus” being the most polarising Kanye album, such that you will have people staunchly defending it, as opposed to “Late Registration” or “College Dropout” for which most people will enjoy and jam out to, but don’t quite feel strongly enough about it to place it as their favourite.
Everything else on the list makes sense, though my top 10 might not look the same (that’s for another post).
Also “Rodeo” was a good album, but definitely not #9 good.
PS. I chose “The College Dropout” as my favourite album. Whether I think it’s the best album is up for debate, but it will definitely always be my favourite album.
03 Jia Huei 