Sometimes musicians manage to release a song (or two) or an album which connects with music fans at large and becomes a hit. But unfortunately not all musicians manage to harness that success and build a lasting, loyal fan base. This is a common occurrence in rap music and the below mentioned rappers are a few such examples of artists who started out well but fizzled out quickly.Solé
Solé is a female rapper from whose career peaked somewhere around 1999 – 2000 when she had 2 hit songs with JT Money; the first being the JT Money song Who Dat which featured her, and the second being 4,5,6 which is Solé’s on song which featured JT Money and singer Kandi. Unfortunately she never managed to turn the success of the singles into a lasting career. She released one studio album Skin Deep which sold more than 300,000 copies.
Skee-Lo
Skee-Lo had one of the hottest hits of the nineties with his song I Wish. The relatable track got massive airplay when it came out and is a staple on “one-hit wonder” lists. Skee-Lo released his album, also titled I Wish, which ended up being certified gold in the USA for selling more than 500,000 copies making it very successful. The song itself is great because it’s clean, relatable and a rather humble take on life as opposed to the vast majority of rappers who prefer to take the arrogant route lyrically. Skee-Lo quit rapping and then came back to release 2 more albums in the 2000s but they could never replicate the success of I Wish.
Smilez & Southstar
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if you’ve never heard of Smilez & Southstar. They were a duo who got a top 40 hit with their song Tell Me which was the second single of their career. The catchy track which sampled the popular seventies song Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart) is very radio-friendly and particularly appealing to ladies. The duo also had success with their debut album Crash The Party which sold more than 300,000 copies in the USA. Unfortunately they didn’t have much success after that and quickly faded into obscurity.
MIMS
In early 2007 MIMS dropped This Is Why I’m Hot, a song which took the world by storm and made the New York native an instant star. I personally got sick of the song which was played on every radio station, TV channel, movie and series channel, it was all over the Internet and every party and club you can imagine. The infectious song’s appeal comes from its slightly hypnotic but minimalist beat and the catchy refrain on the hook which is easy to learn and rap along to. The song charted in more than ten countries. It had more than 634,000 downloads in 2007 alone and sold 1.9 million ringtones that same year. MIMS followed up the massive song with a track titled Like This which also did pretty good but did not match the performance of its predecessor. It was a hit in its own right though and managed to chart in the UK and in the US, peaking at the number 32 position on the Billboard Hot 100. MIMS released his debut album Music Is My Savior which sold more than 250,000 copies in the USA. He released his second album Guilt two years later but it didn’t do much commercially when compared to his debut effort. It sold just over 12,000 copies in its first week of release and thus ended MIMS’ prominence in hip hop.
J-Kwon
J-Kwon hit the ground running when he dropped his first single Tipsy back in 2004. The song quickly reached the number two spot on the US Billboard Hot 100. He was only held back from the number one spot by Usher’s mega-hit song Yeah, which would end up becoming the second most successful song of the decade on that chart. Tipsy immediately had put a spotlight on J-Kwon whom some thought might become the next big thing in rap. His debut album Hood Hop was a commercial success and managed to sell more than 625,000 copies in the USA mainly off of the strength of Tipsy. Alas the young man’s future releases weren’t well-received. He released Hood Hop 2, Hood Hop 2.5 and the eponymous album J-Kwon but by then he was basically forgotten by the rap community at large.
