[RANT] The Google Fame Ladder
Posted Mar 26 2008
Ever want to see where your favorite artists stack up on the mass appeal fame ladder? Well, all you need to do is google them!
The more search results, the chances are the more famous/richer they tend to be. Granted, many of the results are usually just puff-pieces or shit that merely mentions the name, but that type of chatter goes a long way in keeping awareness up of your name & product to the masses.
Since physical album sales are becoming more and more irrelevant by the year, fame is the new barometer for success. You can parlay fame into a clothing line, a tv show, an appearance on oprah, a sprite commercial or even the commonly-held assumption that you have talent to begin with.
Now, this only works when you have a unique artist name or unique spelling. Unfortunately, for cats like “Substantial” or “Session”, this doesn’t work because these are common words used in common language.
The following is a list of “relevant” artists and their corresponding google results as of 03.20.08.
The Google Fame Ladder:
LEVEL 1:
Eminem – 43,400,000 Results
50 Cent – 37,300,000 Results
Jay-Z – 19,100,000 Results
Kanye West – 19,100,000 Results
Soulja Boy – 12,800,000
Lil Wayne – 11,600,000 Results
LEVEL 2:
Outkast – 7,130,000 Results
Lupe Fiasco – 4,440,000 Results
Rakim – 3,740,000
Mos Def – 3,290,000 Results
Gnarls Barkley – 3,000,000 Results
Rick Ross – 2,500,000 Results
Talib Kweli – 2,300,000 Results
Ghostface Killah – 2,050,000 Results
Aesop Rock – 1,260,000 Results
Level 3:
Immortal Technique – 959,000 Results
MF Doom – 931,000 Results
Tech N9ne – 915,000 Results
Sage Francis – 735,000 Results
Blackalicious – 715,000 Results
Del The Funky Homosapien – 631,000 Results
Pharoahe Monch – 607,000 Results
CunninLynguists – 533,000 Results
LEVEL 4:
Spank Rock – 490,000 Results
Sean Price – 328,000 Results
J-Zone – 262,000 Results
Chino XL – 259,000 Results
Crooked I – 257,000 Results
Guilty Simpson – 218,000 Results
C-Rayz Walz – 157,000 Results
Tonedeff – 137,000 Results
LEVEL 5:
Anything under 100k Results
How Can We Move Up?
As you can see, we have a little work to do. If I can just get to level 3, I can quit this fucking job already. Either that or get Perez Hilton to post one of our videos in his blog, or get Stereogum & Pitchfork to agree we’re “hip” for the hipster-lemmings and basically overnight we’ll be playing every big music festival for the next 5 years.
So, next time you think that your favorite underground rapper is balling in the latest Bentley whip, google them. You might be surprised at how popular/unpopular they are. It’s the closest thing to a reality check as you’re gonna find in this plugged-in society we live in.
Hollerate.
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