History DeaderThanDisco / HipHop

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Hip-hop/rap music is especially known for being a very cutthroat industry, even by pop music standards, and is full of stories of artists who released a hit radio single or two, became wildly popular for a brief period and then garnered an immense backlash (as the examples below demonstrate). In fact, the success stories of long-running rappers such as Music/{{Eminem}}, Music/SnoopDogg, Music/KanyeWest, Music/JayZ, Music/{{Nas}}, Music/LilWayne, Music/{{TI}} and Music/TechN9ne are major exceptions to the rule. The vicious nature of the rap industry has been the subject of many a rap single; one of the most famous examples is Music/CypressHill's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7D27mL2JkI "(Rap) Superstar"]]. These artists were once on top of the rap game, but now they're almost universally hated.

'''Note:''' A rapper is not Deader Than Disco if they've had one or two underperforming songs/albums or are seen as SnarkBait by the general public. Otherwise, ''every'' mainstream rapper in existence would be this trope! For a rapper to be DeaderThanDisco, they need to have irreparably fallen into mainstream obscurity to the point where they are remembered only as a punchline, either through [[OvershadowedByControversy career-damaging behavior]] or [[SocietyMarchesOn simple shifts in cultural taste]].

'''Second Note:''' This is not a forum for ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike. Just because you're personally disgusted by a specific rapper doesn't mean they can't be enjoyable in principle or have significant lasting appeal with the general population.

'''Third Note:''' If someone or something fell out of popular favor at one point in time but made a comeback later on, it belongs under PopularityPolynomial. Do not confuse that with DeaderThanDisco (which implies that the work of creator has ''not'' made a comeback and has a very slim chance of ever making one).
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[[folder:Genres]]
* NewJackSwing suffered from a ton of backlash by the mid-1990s, with some critics calling the scene watered down cookie cutter R&B/Hip Hop and slowly driving them out. However, you could make the argument that over saturation might have been the real culprit. All the new jack swing songs started to sound the same. New jack swing was arguably at its climax in 1991 until Creator/{{Jodeci}} came out and created a new R&B sound, which was later dubbed Hip Hop Soul (by the time that Creator/MaryJBlige's debut album was released).
* {{Crunk}} music is firmly DeaderThanDisco today. Created by the Music/ThreeSixMafia in the '90s, and then popularized by Music/LilJon and the Eastside Boyz in 2003 with their huge hit "Get Low", it was absolutely massive in the mid-2000s. It was this genre that put southern hip-hop on the map, making the city of UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} ''the'' capital of HipHop (an effect that's still being felt today). Crunk filled clubs and house parties all across the nation, basically being to the '00s as to what {{trap|music}} is today. However, it quickly gained a ''massive'' hatedom both in the hip-hop community and out, with its misogynistic, objectifying, [[OdeToIntoxication glorification of drugs]], and screaming vocals about immature subject matter (primarily about being drunk/stoned, and [[IntercourseWithYou having sex with prostitutes]] InDaClub, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a lot of songs combined all of those]]). The lyrics took ClusterFBomb and NWordPrivileges to the extreme (which, being based off of HipHop, is really saying something), with virtually every other word being "fuck" or "nigga".[[GenreKiller The final killing blow]] was likely Music/SouljaBoy's backlash. Today, virtually all crunk artists are DeaderThanDisco, with the possible exception of Lil Jon (mainly because of his viral hit "Turn Down for What", in collaboration with DJ Snake). The basic idea of crunk ("danceable hip-hop music") lives on in the form of trap, but crunk itself is dead and unlikely to come back any time soon, as it's not only [[TheScrappy the most hated genre]] of hip-hop but the entirety of music in general.
* Crunk's sister genre, {{crunkcore}}, is also firmly Deader Than Disco, maybe even more than its parent genre itself. It developed in the late 2000s as a type of crunk that featured the vocal styles of screamo; many crunkcore bands, however, did not scream and often just combined crunk stylings with scene images and pop melodies. Bands like Music/{{Millionaires}}, Music/BrokeNCYDE, 3OH!3, Family Force 5 (notably combining crunkcore with modern Christian themes) and Blood on the Dance Floor helped popularize the genre. They also gained ''massive'' criticism, for not only carrying the same misogynistic IntercourseWithYou themes as regular crunk, but for their ''even more'' annoying vocal and image style. Crunkcore died out just as immediately as it got popular, and while many of these bands continue to exist, they [[GenreShift changed their sound]] to abandon crunkcore completely.
* One of crunk's other offshoots, snap, is also stone dead. Spawned in Atlanta sometime in the mid-00s, its origins aren't entirely clear, though most will point to Dem Franchize Boyz and [=D4L=] as the creators of the genre. What is known is that it quickly became MONSTROUSLY popular. A LighterAndSofter variant of crunk that downplayed the aggression in favor of a more danceable sound, snap ruled the charts from 2005 to around 2008 thanks to hits like [=D4L=]'s "Laffy Taffy", Dem Franchize Boyz' "Lean wit It, Rock wit It", David Banner's "Play", and the Ying Yang Twins' "Wait (The Whisper Song)", which were downright ubiquitous and sold absolutely incredible amounts via online sales. Its downfall came almost as swiftly as its rise for two reasons: one was the rise of smartphones, which allowed people to store a song library on their phones and killed off the ringtone market (a great deal of snap's dominance came from ringtone sales), while the other main cause was the absolutely gargantuan {{Hatedom}} from both hip-hop and the mainstream as a whole, who saw snap as stupid, substance-devoid, and MoneyDearBoy personified; the term "ringtone rap" was largely referring to snap, and as the genre derived most of its popularity from cheap digital singles and ringtones, this view was not inaccurate. By the end of 2008, snap was having its last gasp by way of V.I.C.'s "Get Silly"; following this, the genre spent 2009 rapidly dying and was essentially gone completely by 2010. Nowadays, snap is viewed as the absolute nadir of 2000s hip hop and pop in general, not to mention one of the worst things to ever occur in rap period, and there has been absolutely nothing even resembling a revival of the genre; the artists themselves are invariably remembered as a bunch of one-hit wonders if they even are remembered, as it's more likely that people will just recognize the songs without knowing who recorded them.
* AutoTune — or rather, the extremely obvious robotic type of auto-tune that was popularized by Music/TPain in the late '00s — has fallen victim to this. When T-Pain used autotune to make his voice sound metallic, it launched a trend of countless rappers and singers doing the same thing, such as Music/KanyeWest, Music/LilWayne, Akon, Music/FloRida, Music/{{Kesha}}, and 3OH!3. It was inescapable from 2007-10, and filled up parties everywhere. However, it was also subject to frequent mockery due to how annoying it sounded, and the backlash became too much to bear. Most artists who used it began to move away from it (not autotune mind you, just the technique), while those who continued using it found diminished sales and show attendances. T-Pain, the one who popularized it, would hit this status himself (see below). By now, it's viewed as a punchline for late-00s hip-hop and is seen as one of the most regrettable trends as of late.
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[[folder:Rappers]]
* A white girl from rural Australia, Music/IggyAzalea risked everything at the young age of 16 to drop out of school and move to America in order to achieve her dream of being a rapper. Eventually, she found mentorship by none other than southern hip-hop legend Music/{{TI}}. Having overcome numerous prejudices in the world of HipHop and out, she gained a large following as she released her mixtapes and toured relentlessly. She hadn't yet become a mainstream act, but she was making numerous lists detailing the most promising upcoming rappers. While her tweets would [[UnfortunateImplications occasionally give off some rather unfortunate vibes]], it was well under wraps. Though she was not without a hatedom, even then, she still had a large following and was generally well-liked outside of it. In time, record executives saw that she had ''massive'' amounts of crossover appeal due to her poppy hooks, EDM beats, [[MsFanservice liberal use of sex appeal]], and, well, being white, so they sought to turn her into the next big pop-rap star. In February 2014, she released "Fancy" featuring Music/CharliXCX, which quickly went viral due to its ''Film/{{Clueless}}''-parodying video and became utterly massive. It was the Song of Summer that year, shooting up to #1 on the ''Hot 100'' and staying there for seven weeks (breaking the record for a female rapper set by Lil' Kim in 2001), with its music video becoming one of the most-viewed videos on [=YouTube=] that year. Its success also helped featured vocalist Music/CharliXCX use it as a launchpad to score a hit of her own with "Boom Clap", initially written for ''Film/TheFaultInOurStars'' soundtrack before [[BreakawayPopHit shedding itself of its origins]]. Also, because Iggy was featured on Music/ArianaGrande's massive #2 hit "Problem", she became one of only twelve artists to occupy the Top 2 spots on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (a distinction shared with Music/TheBeatles). Following the success of "Fancy" was "Black Widow" featuring Music/RitaOra. In keeping with the theme of {{homage}}ing {{Chick Flick}}s, it was a throwback to ''Film/KillBill''. It also went viral, hitting #3 and allowing her to essentially take over the airwaves of both urban and pop radio. All of this was enough to get her debut album ''The New Classic'' to hit #3 and reach Gold status. She also appeared on her mentor T.I.'s song "No Mediocre", which, while not issued to pop radio, helped make it massive on the urban format. After that, her next follow-up "Beg for It" was released for her UpdatedRerelease ''Reclassified'', and while it wasn't ''quite'' as big as the aforementioned singles, it was enough to dominate urban radio. She was seen as the next Music/NickiMinaj (who at the time looked to be fading away), leading a renaissance for female rappers.\\\
Unfortunately, as more attention was placed on her, the public began to notice her flaws. Her ongoing feud with the similarly-named Azaelia Banks (who herself would end up meeting the same fate; read below) reached ridiculous levels, she was being accused of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy cultural appropriation]], and her aforementioned tweets got more attention from the public. Not helping matters was her complete [[EpicFail inability to freestyle]], which she showed on live television, and the revelation that "Fancy"'s massive success was due to [[AdoredByTheNetwork the media's attempt to turn her]] [[WolverinePublicity into the new face of hip-hop]] ([[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2014/07/15/clear-channels-on-the-verge-program-helped-make-iggy-azalea-a-star-heres-how-it-works/ Clear Channel forced their stations to play the song at least 150 times a week]]). It also gave a bad impression to people when she was starting to be marketed more as a pop star than an actual rapper. By that point, she was already despised by the hip-hop community for her feud with Banks, but now the Iggy hate train was beginning to catch on with the mainstream. Whereas Minaj made a quick comeback with "Anaconda" and has managed to hold a consistently successful career despite not being the most well-liked rapper either, Azalea began to show real signs of trouble starting with, fittingly enough, her single "Trouble" featuring Jennifer Hudson. It was, by all accounts, a flop, only reaching #67 and failing on urban radio, let alone pop territory. ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Furious 7]]'', an otherwise stellar movie, tried to cash in on her popularity by featuring her as a cameo. She also contributed a song to the [[Music/Furious7Soundtrack soundtrack]], "Go Hard or Go Home" with Wiz Khalifa, and many complained about it. There's a second version that omits her; it's generally agreed to be better than the original by those who listened to it. The real kicker was "Pretty Girls", her collaboration with Music/BritneySpears. Hyped as being the "next song to tear up the ''Hot 100''", it debuted at #29 before quickly sliding down the charts, the general consensus being that it was a [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks boring retread of "Fancy"]] (a complaint also held against "Beg for It"). As it turns out, the [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative oddly-specific style]] of "electro-hip-pop songs with music videos homaging chick flicks" could only be done so many times before it got stale. Soon afterwards, it was announced that her ''Great Escape'' concert tour, which was to be her first tour as an arena-sized act, was cancelled for "unknown reasons" (read: only a third of tickets were being sold).\\\
Once one of the most promising rappers (not just white or female) on the market, Iggy Azalea has become so widely hated people find it hard to believe she was once considered inspirational, and her fall from grace was harder and faster than any artist (rap or not) since Music/VanillaIce and/or Music/MilliVanilli. Nicki Minaj is still going strong, but Iggy is primarily known as "that white Australian girl who pretends to be a ghetto chick from Atlanta". Whenever Iggy is featured in mainstream media articles, it's often done to humiliate her, and comment sections are almost nothing but unbridled hatred. It's saying something when people are referring to Azalea as the 21st century equivalent of Vanilla Ice, celebrating the fact that she went home empty-handed at the Grammys, starting a petition to have a Billboard Music Award revoked (with the excuse of "Fancy" having been released before the eligibility period being used as a front to the hate-driven campaign), causing an uproar over her being booked at a Pittsburgh gay pride concert (which was later cancelled due to said uproar), causing another uproar over her impromptu appearance with Music/DemiLovato at the [=VMAs=], using "Igloo Australia" (a diss coined by Azaelia Banks) as practically the default name for her, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking comparing her hair to a bird's nest]], and pointing out that she wears more makeup than SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker. The biggest news she made in 2015 was when she got [[BreastExpansion breast implants]] to go with her already enhanced backside (which, safe to say, wasn't really big news at all). She's set to release her sophomore album ''Digital Distortion'' in 2016, but there has been almost no hype for the album so far. In fact, her 2016 lead single "Team" was a clear indication of just how far she had fallen. It debuted just short of the Top 40 at #42 before immediately plummeting down the charts. On both radio formats, it barely got any traction before being dropped faster than a hot potato. Around the same time, she broke up with her boyfriend, basketball player Nick Young. It's saying something about how hated she is when everyone took Young's side when teammate D'Angelo Russell filmed him admitting to cheating on her; apparently, cheating on Iggy Azalea makes you a beloved hero, while taking her side makes you a pariah. She was named a judge on the Australian version of ''Series/TheXFactor'' that June, but it's very unlikely to to repair her reputation internationally. The general consensus of her music is that it's generic EDM-pop-rap with an annoying fake auto-tuned voice and that her previous success with "Fancy" and "Black Widow" was a fluke. The general consensus of Azalea herself is that she's a manufactured, phony, culture-appropriating, racist {{jerkass}}.
* Speaking of which, Music/AzealiaBanks' musical career is spiraling downhill for reasons that are largely identical to Iggy Azalea's (see above). Kicking around the scene for a while, Banks got her break when "212" was released in 2011 to sterling reviews. While still unsigned, anticipation of a full-length release had reached fever pitch, and in February of 2012, she announced a title: ''Broke with Expensive Taste''. The ''1991'' EP (which featured "212") and the ''Fantasea'' mixtape proved that she had more to offer than just a cool single, but ''Broke'' was still just a name and nothing more due to label issues. It was also around this time that she started to become known on Twitter, as a feud with onetime friend Iggy Azalea had started to turn overly hostile. Due to Azalea's already-prominent {{hatedom}} within hip-hop as a whole, however, this was not an issue and most people actually backed Banks. While she was already becoming known for starting shit with other people for reasons that seemed more than a tad petty (as opposed to her very valid criticisms of Iggy Azalea), few people really paid attention and just wanted ''Broke'' to drop.\\\
[[DevelopmentHell Two years and untold label troubles later]], it finally dropped to excellent reviews and was hailed as being worth the wait, but during that time, Banks had since become infamous for a seemingly never-ending series of Twitter beefs with a fairly large and diverse array of musicians; indeed, it seemed as if she was starting shit with someone new every week for reasons that were largely extremely trivial and pointless. While still respected as a musician, Banks' feuds and online rants about race relations, politics and sexuality were beginning to seriously wear at people's patience. In 2015, the dam finally burst. A ''very'' ill-advised accusation of dishonesty regarding many of Creator/BillCosby's accusers around the end of 2014 was, by all accounts, the beginning of the end; the first half of the year was marked by increasingly deranged and psychotic rants about white people, LGBT people (which made Banks look especially hypocritical considering her open bisexuality and pull in ballroom culture), and incredibly vicious and mean-spirited insults towards critics, fellow artists (to the point where some like Music/LadyGaga outright refused to collaborate with her because of her attitude) and anyone else unfortunate enough to be the target of her weekly beef.\\\
A trio of incidents in 2015 sealed the deal: a series of violent and threatening tweets towards the descendant of an 18th-century slave owner, a feud with ''Vice'' associate editor Mitchell Sunderland where Banks infamously responded, "and even if i am a homophobe... so wat? [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney i still make more $ than you..]] still have an extra hole.. and still own everything.", and a September incident on a grounded Delta Airlines flight where she rudely attempted to push past other passengers who were exiting, violently attacked a man who wouldn't get out of her way, verbally abused a flight attendant who was attempting to defuse the situation (reportedly calling him a "fucking faggot") and attempted to flee after being notified that police were en route. She later found herself in legal trouble yet again that November after apparently getting into a scuffle with a bouncer at a Los Angeles club (followed by ''another'' incident with a bouncer at a New York club around the end of the year that got her arrested), but that was largely inconsequential when so much damage had already been done.\\\
It only took just a few years, but compared to how she started to how things are for her now, Banks' musical career is little more than a blip in the minds of the public, and the fact that she fell so quickly by her own hand makes for a perfect case study in how one's behavior on social media can render them OvershadowedByControversy, with former fans, fellow artists and critics alike bemoaning her as a "lost talent". Even those who previously lauded Banks for not being afraid to speak her mind have largely switched to viewing her as a hateful, hypocritical and bellicose {{jerkass}} and borderline BoomerangBigot who has completely sabotaged her own career and has gone well beyond the point of being able to [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity use controversy to her advantage]], as it has long since eclipsed her actual musical work, and her behavior shows absolutely no signs of changing anytime soon (if ever). As of early 2016, she's released the EP ''Slay-Z'', which was well-received for its musical production; she's stated she'll be releasing more music soon, but her new releases were immediately forgotten by [[DiggingYourselfDeeper the next controversy she'd gotten into]]. Between an Instagram post where she laughed at Iggy Azalea for opening up about feeling suicidal, actually believing an article on a satirical news site that said Sarah Palin claimed "blacks willingly accepted slavery" and [[DudeNotFunny calling for Palin to be gang-raped by a group of black men]] before writing an insincere "apology letter", insulting Music/{{Beyonce}} hot off the heels of ''Lemonade'''s release, publicly endorsing Creator/DonaldTrump's presidential bid (which she later retracted), throwing racist and homophobic remarks at former Music/OneDirection member Zayn Malik, getting into a Twitter feud with 14-year-old ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' star Skai Jackson ([[https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/my-memes-are-more-relevant-than-you?utm_term=.yrLvyzvNm#.ww1X9zXNR in which Jackson is universally agreed to be the winner]]), [[http://time.com/4327980/twitter-suspends-azealia-banks/ getting suspended from]] Website/{{Twitter}} after all these feuds, being cut out of her headlining spot from a British music festival and bleaching her skin (flying in the face of her previous calls for black women's empowerment), it's safe to say Banks has utterly shot down any chances she could've had at redemption. While "never say never" is the motto of the music world, Banks by this point has just burned far too many bridges, and is now utterly friendless (with her ''very'' few remaining defenders being little more than needles in the giant haystack of the web), and is far more known for her loud opinions and causing controversy by the public than she is for any of her musical talents (to the point where some are even legitimately surprised to find she's actually a rapper) that it would be nothing short of a miracle if she can make any sort of return, let alone a "phoenix shaking off the ashes" kind of return. In October 2016, a TMZ [[http://www.tmz.com/2016/10/16/azelia-banks-russell-crowe-hotel-fight/ report]] revealed that Banks had a row with actor Creator/RussellCrowe in a dinner party at a hotel to the point that she was kicked out, which was then followed by a claim from her that Crowe was physically violent and called her a racial slur. This was then followed by an account from RZA where he backed the stories of the witnesses, said that her account was a crock of shit and furthermore painted a picture of her as both an ungrateful mooch and a truly unstable individual whose behavior left him greatly embarrassed and outright ashamed. Needless to say, any damage that may have been repaired was not only undone but compounded; it's now a question of when she will truly strike rock bottom.
* Of the many urban contemporary acts that rose to prominence in the 21st century, few fell harder and faster by their own hands than Music/CeeLoGreen. Kicking around since TheNineties as a member of hip-hop group and Music/OutKast labelmate Goodie Mob and releasing a few solo albums around the TurnOfTheMillennium, he first rose to superstardom with 2006's "Crazy" from his side project Gnarls Barkley (a collaboration with Music/BrianBurton). The song was inescapable that year, reaching #2 and going double platinum. [[OneHitWonder Although the duo was never heard from again]], [=CeeLo=] returned in 2011 with "Fuck You!" ([[{{Bowdlerise}} commonly known as]] "Forget You"), which was co-written and produced by R&B superstar Music/BrunoMars' ProductionPosse The Smeezingtons. It eventually became even more iconic than "Crazy" ever was, going platinum a whopping ''six times'' and appearing in the soundtracks of franchises such as ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''Film/TheMuppets''. While its parent album ''The Lady Killer'' didn't sell particularly well, [[AcclaimedFlop it was adored by critics and audiences alike]]. All of this was enough for him to land a spot as a judge and coach on Creator/{{NBC}}'s hit singing competition ''Series/TheVoice'', where he was praised by audiences for taking a chance on unconventional competitors and assembling strong teams. Despite the limited amount of hits under his belt, he was on top of the world; it appeared that nothing could stop him.\\\
However, it soon became apparent that the wheels were falling off. First was an incident at Coachella 2011 where he arrived nearly half an hour late, resulting in his microphone's audio being cut off and being booed offstage. A few months later, he infamously replied to a scathing review of his performance with "I respect your criticism but be fair! People enjoyed last night! I'm guessing ur gay? And my masculinity offended u? well fuck U!", which generated a storm of angry comments. He later apologized, but the damage has already been done. At a Times Square performance of Music/JohnLennon's "Imagine" at the very end of the year, he notoriously changed the line "and no religion, too" to "and all religion's true", which was regarded as a bastardization of the original lyrics. He later clarified that he meant no disrespect with his change to the lyrics and wanted to share a message of religious freedom, but few were convinced. He also showed up late for an appearance on a radio show in 2013 (which resulted in him being escorted out of the building), but that was inconsequential when so much damage had already been done. Worst of all, however, was his arrest in October 2012, after a woman he ate with at a restaurant accused him of sexually assaulting her. The investigation took nearly a year, but [=CeeLo=] was cleared of all charges after evidence against him proved to be insufficient; the incident was quickly forgotten by much of the public, thus barely making a dent to his image.\\\
2014 proved to be an even worse year for [=CeeLo=]. At the beginning of the year, it was announced that Pharrell Williams would be replacing him as a panelist on ''The Voice'', as his nonsensical ramblings, loopy disposition, illogical coaching decisions and weaker-than-usual team were criticized for bringing down the show's otherwise well-received fifth season. However, the final nail in the coffin came at the end of August that year, when his sexual battery case returned to the news. Pleading no contest to a felony count of furnishing ecstasy, he was sentenced to three years of formal probation, 360 hours of community service and 52 Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings. In response to this incident, he infamously tweeted "People who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!" and "If someone is passed out they're not even WITH you consciously! so WITH Implies consent". These tweets generated a firestorm of controversy on the Internet and resulted in him being dropped from two festivals and the cancellation of his Creator/{{TBS}} reality show ''The Good Life'', which had just been renewed for a second season; any mention of the show was entirely removed from the network's website and app. He deleted his Website/{{Twitter}} account entirely amidst the backlash, but he later reactivated it, stating that "I truly and deeply apologize for the comments attributed to me on Twitter. Those comments were idiotic, untrue and not what I believe." However, virtually no one was convinced by his apology. Things didn't improve for him, as unfavorable comparisons to Bill Cosby's sexual assault case that came to light a few months later emerged (which was only made worse by [[DiggingYourselfDeeper his coming to the defense of Cosby]]). He's returned to ''The Voice'' twice in minor roles: once in 2015 as a mentor for Music/BlakeShelton's team and again in 2016 to perform "Crazy" with a (female) finalist. Both gained a ton of backlash.\\\
Once one of the most well-loved acts in the world, [=CeeLo=] Green is now remembered primarily for being a TwoHitWonder for "Crazy" and "Fuck You!" ([[MemeticMutation as they became massive memes]]), his stint on ''The Voice'' and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick his rape comments]]. Airplay of his music is sporadic nowadays; his 2015 album ''Heart Blanche'' and all of its singles (including a half-hearted tribute to the late Creator/RobinWilliams) got mediocre reviews and didn't reach any chart or certification. He was [[TheOtherDarrin replaced]] by [[Series/KeyAndPeele Keegan-Michael Key]] as the voice of Murray in ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania2''. Fans of ''The Voice'' consistently cite him as the show's worst panelist (even more so than the polarizing Music/ChristinaAguilera). Much like Azealia Banks above, his fall from grace serves as a sobering cautionary tale about how easily one's own actions can render them OvershadowedByControversy.
* Music/MCHammer is a notable example of a single musician succumbing to this trope. In the early '90s, he was one of the biggest rap stars in the world, with the album ''Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em'' going diamond (ten million sold -- the first rap album to accomplish that feat) and "U Can't Touch This" becoming a sensation. He made flaunting flashy clothes and lifestyle fashionable (rather than the strictly "hood" styles of most rappers of the time), and was on the leading edge of rappers acting as commercial pitchmen. Then, however, came three factors that derailed his success.\\
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First, he switched his sound to GangstaRap in order to stay relevant. Whilst his 1994 album ''The Funky Headhunter'' was a platinum-selling success upon its release, and spawned the minor MemeticMutation "it's all good", not only did it get him labeled a sellout by other rappers (the fact that he recorded several diss tracks probably didn't help), it [[ContractualPurity ruined the clean-and-wholesome image]] that he had cultivated (he was, and still is, a Pentecostal minister, and included a Christian song on every one of his albums), which had allowed him to sell rap to mainstream America [[LighterAndSofter without the controversy raised by the more hardcore artists]].\\
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Second, [[WolverinePublicity he was massively overexposed.]] Even at his height, rivals like Music/LLCoolJ were dissing him for what they saw as over-the-top commercialization, which included shoes, T-shirts, Hammer pants and his SaturdayMorningCartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Hammerman}}''. This may have actually provoked his switch to gangsta rap, as it's possible that he felt he needed to prove to his detractors that he wasn't a one-trick pony.\\
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Finally, he singlehandedly redefined the phrase "ConspicuousConsumption" for [[TheNineties Generation X]]. There was his infamous mansion, for starters. Then there were his expensive music videos, which set records at the time. Throw in the cars, the thoroughbred racehorses, an entourage that ballooned up to nearly 200 people at one point (allegedly, he would "hire" friends and relatives who needed a job to do nothing as a form of charity) and to top it all off, the ''gold chains for his Rottweilers''. He had to file for bankruptcy in 1996 as a result of this, and he remains a symbol of living beyond one's means. This is referenced in Music/{{Nelly}}'s song "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)", where he talks about how he's going to "blow 30 mil like I'm Hammer."\\
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Hammer's reputation has been damaged to the point that he is remembered by younger audiences as a OneHitWonder. That demographic would be shocked to discover that not only did he have six top 40 hits (including five top ten hits), but "U Can't Touch This" wasn't even [[ChartDisplacement his highest-charting song]] on the Hot 100 (it was "Pray", which peaked at #2, whereas "U Can't Touch This" peaked at #8).
* Mystikal was once one of the biggest SouthernRap stars of all time. After his indepedent debut in 1995, he was signed to No Limit records and recorded ''Mind of Mystikal'', ''Unpredictable'' and ''Ghetto Fabulous'', the latter two of which quickly made it into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 (with ''Unpredictable'' being the #1 HipHop album at the time) and spawned the hit singles "Ain't no Limit" and "That's the Nigga". He then left NO Limit and recorded ''Let's Get Ready'' in 2000, which hit #1 and spawned the EarWorm hit single "Shake Ya Ass", which has been featured in dozens of movies. His follow up album ''Tarantula'' in 2001 wasn't as succesful, only entering in at #25, but it had two hit singles with the title track and "Bouncin Back" and received better critical reviews then his previous album, with Mystikal even being nominated for a Grammy award. It seemed like he was on top of the world.\\
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However, everything went downhill in 2003 when Mystikal was accused of forcing his hairdresser to perform oral sex on him. He soon pleaded guilty and in 2004 was sentenced to six years in prison, killing his popularity overnight. By the time he finally got released, the world had largely forgotten about him. He mentioned that he was still obligated to Jive records for one more album and released a promo song "Papercuts", though the album never came. He then signed to Cash Money Records and released a single "Original" featuring Birdman and Music/LilWayne, but it failed to make much of an impact. The final nail in the coffin came in 2013, when John Oliver was hosting ''Series/TheDailyShow'', he used Mystikal's song "Danger (Been So Long)" to mock Anthony Weiner, a New York congressman who had previously been forced to resign over a sexting scandal (and whose behavior that year later torpedoed his mayoral campaign). Oliver chose the song because Weiner called himself "Carlos Danger". He then recorded "Feel Right" for Mark Ronson's album ''Uptown Special'', which was nominated for three Grammy Awards, though the song itself flopped, largely because of the sex scandals and due to the fact that it languished in the colossal shadow of Ronson's previous single, "[[Music/BrunoMars Uptown Funk]]". He also appeared on Steve Stone's single "Rain Dance" with Tech N9ne. Since then he's toured the U.S. with Danny! but failed to draw much in the way of crowds. It's safe to say that it's highly unlikely Mystikal will ever manage to even come close to being as successful as he was in the late 90s and early 00s. His heinous crime cost him many fans; even though those that have forgiven him aren't exactly clamoring for him to release another album.
* Music/SouljaBoy exploded out of nowhere in 2007 with "Crank That (Soulja Boy"), a viral dance tune that became the first ever rap song to become a hit through the power of the internet. The dance spread across waves like wildfire, and the accompanying music video got a whopping ''27 million views'' on Creator/YouTube at the height of its popularity, an insane number when [=YouTube=] was still in its infancy. The song topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks in late-2007, when he was just [[ImprobableAge 17 years old]]. A year later, he released "Kiss Me Thru the Phone", which would become an inescapable rap crossover hit that was played non-stop on both pop and rhythmic stations, and sold over five million in the U.S. alone. It seemed like Soulja Boy would continue onward into more viral success.\\
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However, his popularity would collapse rapidly by the '10s for a few reasons. His primary audience was kids and teens, who eventually matured and grew out of him. He infamously dissed the well-regarded Music/LupeFiasco in a 2010 interview, prompting Lupe to release a successful diss track in response. Soulja also tried to play the part of being OneOfUs, but gaffed with lyrics that referred to [[Anime/DeathNote Light Yagami]] as "[[IAmNotShazam Death Note]]", turning off the anime fans he was attempting to court. Nowadays, despite his five Top 40 hits, he's remembered as a OneHitWonder for "Crank That", which is only brought up as a symbol of how bad rap music got in the '00s. His newer albums have completely flopped.
* Of all the acts that fell off at the turn of the '10s, few fell harder than Music/TPain. After he was discovered by Akon, he exploded seemingly out of nowhere with is debut album ''Rappa Ternt Sanga''. As the title would suggest, he abandoned rapping early on in favor of singing. However, calling it "singing" was something of a stretch. The entire album was one big celebration of AutoTune, which T-Pain used to make his voice sound robotic. Despite being panned by many, the use of auto-tune quickly caught on and produced two Top 10 hits with "I'm Sprung" and "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)". His music became a staple of clubs and parties all over the world. He continued that success with his 2007 album ''Epiphany'', which proved to be an even bigger success, as it produced his first #1 hit with "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')", became his first chart-topping album, and sold even more than his first album did. In early 2008, he also made Music/FloRida a star by appearing on his debut 10-week #1 single "Low", making him inescapable everywhere. By this point, it seemed like everyone was following his lead with extensive use of auto-tune, as countless rappers and singers were [[FollowTheLeader mimicking his style]]. It looked like T-Pain was going to carry on as one of the leaders of modern hip-hop music.\\\
However, as he got more and more popular, an equally large backlash had also been forming. He was already widely disliked for his abuse of auto-tune that spread like a plague, as well as his lyrics that often [[OdeToIntoxication glorified]] the use of [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll alcohol and drugs]], and the fact that women in his music were little more than [[MisogynySong material objects of pleasure for him]]. Auto-Tune itself was also getting a backlash by the '10s, which may have been spearheaded by Music/JayZ's hit "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", made as a response to the omnipresence of the software. He began to be seen as a symbol of everything wrong with urban music, and while it wasn't immediately noticeable, the fall was beginning to take place. His 2008 album ''[=Thr33=] Ringz'' only peaked at #4 on charts despite being released a year after his last chart-topping album, and produced one Top 10 with "Can't Believe It" that was powered by Music/LilWayne, and two other songs that only barely scraped the Top 40. The transition to the '10s marked the beginning of the end for him. While 2011's ''REVOLVEЯ'' produced a #10 hit with "5 O'Clock", featuring Wiz Khalifa and Music/LilyAllen, it was powered solely by a strong debut from Khalifa's fanbase, as he was a hot, fast-rising rapper at the time (and, to a lesser extent, some Americans deciding to give Allen a chance after [[AmericansHateTingle ignoring her for years]]). The followup "Turn All the Lights On" (featuring Music/NeYo) failed to even reach the ''Hot 100''; the album itself only debuted at a measly #28 and became his first album to not reach certification. Robotic auto-tune began to die out because of this; the many artists he influenced began to move away from that kind of sound. Not helping matters was hip-hop and R&B's general decline from being ''the'' mainstream genres, and the rise of ElectronicMusic supplanting it at clubs and parties. This may have been the result of hip-hop being flooded with obvious auto-tune in the first place. All of this left T-Pain in a tough spot, since he couldn't easily escape the backlash to auto-tune due to being the GenrePopularizer for it. By 2013, it was almost like he never existed. That same year, he released a single "Up Down (Do this all Day)", which featured B.o.B. (another artist who would fall into this, see above), and it reached a measly #62. The following year, he released a greatest hits album titled ''T-Pain Presents Happy Hour: The Greatest Hits'', which didn't even make the Top 200. T-Pain is set to release his fourth album ''Stoicville: The Phoenix'' in 2016. The hype for it is almost non-existent. The two singles he released for it, "Make that Shit Work" and "Roof on Fye", have failed to chart anywhere at all.\\\
Though still touring today, he's gone from playing in massive arenas and headlining massive events to playing in nightclubs, resorts, and small-name music festivals. His "music", if it can even be called that, is now viewed as emblematic of everything wrong with hip-hop in the mid-to-late '00s - trashy, excessive, misogynistic, annoying, and generally idiotic. It's telling when almost all of his music nowadays is completely forgotten, only remembered for the terrible lyrics and annoying auto-tuned voice that sang them. Even the songs that he was featured in have been forgotten by sheer association (who seriously remembers Rick Ross' "The Boss" or Lil Mama's "Shawty Get Loose"?). "Low" seems to be the only exception to this. Airplay is virtually non-existent, only getting an occasional spin on throwback stations, with his spot on "Low" making up most of it. While "never say never" is the motto of the music industry, it'll be miraculous if he could ever crawl out of the hole he's fallen in, and since he is the symbol of one of the most reviled, DeaderThanDisco trends of recent memory, that miracle is a vanishing possibility.
* Music/VanillaIce burst onto the hip-hop scene in 1990 with his debut single "Ice Ice Baby", which topped the Hot 100. His next single, "Play That Funky Music", wasn't ''quite'' as big as "Baby", but it was enough to peak at #4. All of this was enough for Ice's debut album ''To the Extreme'' to spend 17 weeks on top of the ''Billboard 200'', going on to sell over 7 million copies in the United States. At this point, Vanilla Ice had a bright future ahead of him.\\\
Unfortunately, his record label, Creator/AristaRecords, had created a fake backstory about Vanilla Ice, and worst of all, Ice was being accused of plagiarism, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial which he awkwardly denied]]. As it turned out, the bassline for "Ice Ice Baby" was stolen from Music/{{Queen}} and Music/DavidBowie's "Under Pressure"; while "Funky Music" did not properly credit Wild Cherry's lead singer Rob Parissi as a songwriter. The original artists were then properly credited after the lawsuits were settled, at the cost of "Funky Music" being blacklisted from most radio stations. His motion picture debut, ''Film/CoolAsIce'', [[BoxOfficeBomb didn't make the Top 10 on its debut weekend]], got terrible reviews, and earned Ice a [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAwards Razzie]] for Worst New Star (and its soundtrack debuted at #89). All his albums since then have ''completely failed to chart anywhere''. In fact, [[http://www.mtv.com/news/1435113/vanilla-ice-explains-his-skate-rock-comeback/ the executives at Republic Records]] ''seriously'' compared his 1998 RapRock album ''Hard to Swallow'' to Creator/JohnTravolta's CareerResurrection in ''Film/PulpFiction''. He soon fell into drug addiction and at one point was nearly DrivenToSuicide, forcing him to (understandably) put his recording career on hold to focus on his mental health recovery.\\\
While he's made a full recovery, is back to recording new music (with Creator/PsychopathicRecords no less), and has made a small fortune [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20317_the-7-most-wtf-post-fame-careers-famous-musicians.html flipping houses]] on [=DIY=] Network, of all things, to most people in America he is ''the'' [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy punchline]] about white rappers. WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead sharing that look of "Are you kidding me?" when the video for "Ice Ice Baby" came on and then abruptly switching channels probably sealed the deal. (They would do the same thing with Music/MilliVanilli -- see their entry on the main music page for further details.)
* In the early 2010s, Music/TheBlackEyedPeas frontman [=will.i.am=] attempted a solo career. His comeback solo album was first planned to be released in 2011 with the lead single being "[=T.H.E.=] (The Hardest Ever)"… [[ScheduleSlip and then it was pushed to next year… and the year after that]]. By the time the album was finally released, the singles were already being criticized for being generic, annoying [=EDM=], not to mention the fact that both the album name ''[=#willpower=]'' and the single "[=#thatPOWER=]" [[WereStillRelevantDammit are hashtags]], a feeble attempt to boost the album's sales using social networking that failed. The final nail in the coffin for him was when the album was finally released and he got caught under fire for copying parts of the song "Rebound" by Arty and Mat Zo for "Let's Go" without even gaining permission first. And it's not just a subtle SuspiciouslySimilarSong, either--[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcyXbLPj-Bk the "sampled" parts are almost virtually the same as the original]], to the point where even software like Shazam will recognize "Let's Go" as "Rebound". This alone eventually led to the album gaining a flood of scathing reviews on [=iTunes=], and some people thought it wasn't a mere coincidence that the background color for the album page of the [=iTunes=] Store was the same as the color of the rating system. The album was re-released in November 2013 with "Feelin' Myself" replacing "Let's Go", but by then the damage had already been done--both that song and "It's My Birthday" flopped hard in America, and by then most audiences were probably unaware that the album was re-released anyway. While Fergie maintained a successful solo career in the late 2000s and even managed a modest success with "L.A. Love (La La)" in 2014, it's highly unlikely that [=will.i.am=] will ever recover from ''that'' massive bump in the road, despite him being one of the four coaches in the UK version of ''Series/TheVoice''.
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[[folder:Other]]
* Producer Scott Storch was on top of the world in the mid-2000s. It all started in the early-'90s, where he became the drummer for hip-hop group The Roots. Eventually this led to his own career as a producer, and was behind a large number of hits that defined the new millennium. The hits he produced included (just to name a few) Beyonce's "Naughty Girl", Terror Squad's "Lean Back", Mario's "Let Me Love You", 50 Cent's "Candy Shop", Jadakiss' "U Make Me Wanna", Chris Brown's "Run It!", Fat Joe's "Get It Poppin'"… you're starting to get the idea. He could've been described as the Max Martin of producers -- the ultimate mastermind behind mainstream urban hits. As you can imagine, he made quite a pretty penny off of these hits. $70 million to be exact. Storch lived a life of luxury, owning a large collection of supercars, an amazing Miami Beach pad, a massive yacht, and his own private jet, and he dated some of the most beautiful women in the world ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and]] Creator/ParisHilton). It seemed like this gravy train was going to keep on rolling.\\\
Unfortunately for Storch, his life of lavish was fueled by one thing: [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll Cocaine]]. By his own admission, he bought at least half of his cars while completely high on coke. His coke-fueled habits led to him living beyond his means, which is really saying something. He managed to blow through his entire fortune in just a few years. This also affected his ability to produce, as less people were lining up to buy his beats. Of course, while his source of income slowed down, his extreme spending habits did not. By 2009, he had to declare bankruptcy, which he did again in 2015. [[RichesToRags Today he has less than $5,000 in assets, and his company was valued at]] '''[[RichesToRags $0]]'''. He's almost completely forgotten in the '10s, only remembered as a symbol of '00s excess and (for many entrepreneurs) an example of what ''not'' to do when you finally get rich.
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However, his popularity would collapse rapidly by the '10s for a few reasons. His primary audience was kids and teens, who eventually matured and grew out of him. He infamously dissed the well-regarded Music/LupeFiasco in a 2010 interview, prompting Lupe to release a successful diss track in response. Soulja also tried to play the part of being OneOfUs, but gaffed with lyrics that referred to [[Anime/DeathNote Light Yagami]] as "[[IAmNotShazam Death Note]]", turning off the anime fans he was attempting to court. Nowadays, he's largely only remembered for "Crank That", which is only brought up as a symbol of how bad rap music got in the '00s. His newer albums have completely flopped.

Once one of the most promising rappers (not just white or female) on the market, Iggy Azalea has become so widely hated people find it hard to believe she was once considered inspirational, and her fall from grace was harder and faster than any artist (rap or not) since Music/VanillaIce and/or Music/MilliVanilli. Nicki Minaj is still going strong, but she is primarily known as "that white Australian girl who pretends to be a ghetto chick from Atlanta". Whenever Iggy is featured in mainstream media articles, it's often done to humiliate her, and comment sections are almost nothing but unbridled hatred. It's saying something when people are referring to Azalea as the 21st century equivalent of Vanilla Ice, celebrating the fact that she went home empty-handed at the Grammys, starting a petition to have a Billboard Music Award revoked (with the excuse of "Fancy" having been released before the eligibility period being used as a front to the hate-driven campaign), causing an uproar over her being booked at a Pittsburgh gay pride concert (which was later cancelled due to said uproar), causing another uproar over her impromptu appearance with Music/DemiLovato at the [=VMAs=], using "Igloo Australia" (a diss coined by Azaelia Banks) as practically the default name for her, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking comparing her hair to a bird's nest]], and pointing out that she wears more makeup than SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker. The biggest news she made in 2015 was when she got [[BreastExpansion breast implants]] to go with her already enhanced backside (which, safe to say, wasn't really big news at all). She's set to release her sophomore album ''Digital Distortion'' in 2016, but there has been almost no hype for the album so far. In fact, her 2016 lead single "Team" was a clear indication of just how far she had fallen. It debuted just short of the Top 40 at #42 before immediately plummeting down the charts. On both radio formats, it barely got any traction before being dropped faster than a hot potato. Around the same time, she broke up with her boyfriend, basketball player Nick Young. It's saying something about how hated she is when everyone took Young's side when teammate D'Angelo Russell filmed him admitting to cheating on her; apparently, cheating on Iggy Azalea makes you a beloved hero, while taking her side makes you a pariah. She was named a judge on the Australian version of ''Series/TheXFactor'' that June, but it's very unlikely to to repair her reputation internationally. The general consensus of her music is that it's generic EDM-pop-rap with an annoying fake auto-tuned voice and that her previous success with "Fancy" and "Black Widow" was a fluke. The general consensus of Azalea herself is that she's a manufactured, phony, culture appropriating, racist {{jerkass}}.

It only took just a few years, but compared to how she started to how things are for her now, Banks' musical career is little more than a blip in the minds of the public, and the fact that she fell so quickly by her own hand makes for a perfect case study in how one's behavior on social media can render them OvershadowedByControversy, with former fans, fellow artists and critics alike bemoaning her as a "lost talent". Even those who previously lauded Banks for not being afraid to speak her mind have largely switched to viewing her as a hateful, hypocritical and bellicose {{jerkass}} and borderline BoomerangBigot who has completely sabotaged her own career and has gone well beyond the point of being able to [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity use controversy to her advantage]], as it has long since eclipsed her actual musical work, and her behavior shows absolutely no signs of changing anytime soon (if ever). As of early 2016, she's released the EP ''Slay-Z'', which was well-received for its musical production; she's stated she'll be releasing more music soon, but her new releases were immediately forgotten by [[DiggingYourselfDeeper the next controversy she'd gotten into]]. Between an Instagram post where she laughed at Iggy Azalea for opening up about feeling suicidal, actually believing an article on a satirical news site that said Sarah Palin claimed "blacks willingly accepted slavery" and [[DudeNotFunny calling for Palin to be gang-raped by a group of black men]] before writing an insincere "apology letter", insulting Music/{{Beyonce}} hot off the heels of ''Lemonade'''s release, publicly endorsing Creator/DonaldTrump's presidential bid (which she later retracted), throwing racist and homophobic remarks at former Music/OneDirection member Zayn Malik, getting into a Twitter feud with 14-year-old ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' star Skai Jackson ([[https://www.buzzfeed.com/eleanorbate/my-memes-are-more-relevant-than-you?utm_term=.yrLvyzvNm#.ww1X9zXNR in which Jackson is universally agreed to be the winner]]), [[http://time.com/4327980/twitter-suspends-azealia-banks/ getting suspended from]] Website/{{Twitter}} after all these feuds, being cut out of her headlining spot from a British music festival and bleaching her skin (flying in the face of her previous calls for black women's empowerment), it's safe to say Banks has utterly shot down any chances she could've had at redemption. While "never say never" is the motto of the music world, Banks by this point has just burned far too many bridges, is now utterly friendless (with her ''very'' few remaining defenders being little more than needles in the giant haystack of the web), and is far more known for her loud opinions and causing controversy by the public than she is for any of her music talents (to the point where some are even legitimately surprised to find she actually is a rapper) that it would be nothing short of a miracle if she can make any sort of return, let alone a "phoenix shaking off the ashes" kind of return. In October 2016, a TMZ [[http://www.tmz.com/2016/10/16/azelia-banks-russell-crowe-hotel-fight/ report]] revealed that Banks had a row with actor Creator/RussellCrowe in a dinner party at a hotel to the point that she was kicked out, which was then followed by a claim from her that Crowe was physically violent and called her a racial slur. This was then followed by an account from RZA where he backed the stories of the witnesses, said that her account was a crock of shit and furthermore painted a picture of her as both an ungrateful mooch and a truly unstable individual whose behavior left him greatly embarrassed and outright ashamed. Needless to say, any damage that may have been repaired was not only undone but compounded; it's now a question of when she will truly strike rock bottom.

'''Third Note:''' If someone or something fell out of popular favor at one point in time but made a comeback later on, it belongs under PopularityPolynomial. Do not confuse that with DeaderThanDisco (which implies that the work has ''not'' made a comeback and has a very slim chance of ever making one).

Finally, he singlehandedly redefined the phrase "ConspicuousConsumption" for [[TheNineties Generation X]]. There was his infamous mansion, for starters. Then there were his expensive music videos, which set records at the time. Throw in the cars, the thoroughbred racehorses, an entourage that ballooned up to nearly 200 people at one point (allegedly, he would "hire" friends and relatives who needed a job to do nothing as a form of charity) and to top it all off, the ''gold chains for his Rottweilers''. He had to file for bankruptcy in 1996 as a result of this, and he remains a symbol of living beyond one's means. This is referenced in Music/Nelly's song "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)", where he talks about how he's going to "blow 30 mil like I'm Hammer."\\

Finally, he singlehandedly redefined the phrase "ConspicuousConsumption" for [[TheNineties Generation X]]. There was his infamous mansion, for starters. Then there were his expensive music videos, which set records at the time. Throw in the cars, the thoroughbred racehorses, an entourage that ballooned up to nearly 200 people at one point (allegedly, he would "hire" friends and relatives who needed a job to do nothing as a form of charity) and to top it all off, the ''gold chains for his Rottweilers''. He had to file for bankruptcy in 1996 as a result of this, and he remains a symbol of living beyond one's means. This is referenced in Nelly's song "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)", where he talks about how he's going to "blow 30 mil like I'm Hammer."--who ironically himself fell to this trope as well (see below).\\