Monday, December 27, 2010
20 Lessons We Learned From Celebs in 2010
by Chris Yuscavage
They say those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Well, let's just say we learned a thing (or 20) in 2010 based on the actions of our favorite celebrities -- and we won't soon forget them. From LeBron James to Eminem to Nicki Minaj, these are the lessons we'll definitely take with us as we move forward into 2011.
The Lesson: How to become the hottest up-and-coming rapper without any help from a major record label.
Who Taught Us: Wiz Khalifa when he took over Twitter, thanks to his 'Kush & Orange Juice' mixtape, and eventually inked a deal with Atlantic Records, thanks to his overwhelming buzz.
What We Learned: You don't need a major record label to help you get some buzz in the rap world. All you need is quality music, a faithful following (shout out to the Taylor Gang!) and the support of all the rap blogs out there to turn yourself into a star. Which brings us to our next lesson...
The Lesson: How to (nearly) send your entire rap career up in smoke.
Who Taught Us: Wiz Khalifa, Kid Cudi, Bruno Mars, T.I. and all the other artists out there who risked their careers for weed, cocaine, prescription pills and other illegal drugs.
What We Learned: You can have quality music, a faithful following and the support of all the rap blogs--but if you also (allegedly) have 900 pounds of weed on your tour bus (okay, maybe we're exaggerating a little, Wiz), a baggie full of coke in your hotel room or a pocketful of pills, you can lose your career just as quickly as it started. Bottom line: You don't need a major record label anymore, but you do need someone to hold your stash. Word to weed carriers.
The Lesson: How to use a prison sentence to your advantage.
Who Taught Us: Lil Wayne, who released a chart-topping album, 'I Am Not A Human Being,' and connected with his fans like never before during an eight-month bid at Rikers Island.
What We Learned: Jail is just about the last place artists should go to improve their chances of becoming successful (hell-oooo, Shyne!). But if you have to go there, you might as well make the most of it. Use your time to write letters to your fans, kick a nasty drug habit or even release one of the most successful projects of your career. Somehow, Weezy did all of these things and established the blueprint for a successful prison bid. And from the looks of it, T.I. is already following it.
The Lesson: How to overcome a public relations nightmare.
Who Taught Us: Yeezy taught us by deading his "beefs" with Taylor Swift and George W. Bush and stepping back into the spotlight with a stellar new album, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.'
What We Learned: We learned that getting plastered at the 'MTV Music Video Awards' and stealing the spotlight away from a 19-year-old country singer is not necessarily career suicide. Sure, it's close. But it's actually a very forgivable offense -- provided you can deliver a damn-near-classic album featuring a bunch of songs that you've already given away for free and apologize at least 47,358 times during the press run leading up to it.
The Lesson: How not to handle a major career decision.
Who Taught Us: LeBron James, who left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat and announced it publicly for the first time during a one-hour ESPN special called 'The Decision.'
What We Learned: Even if you're making a decision that's going to change your future, your legacy, your public perception, your life and your entire existence, it's probably still a good idea to consider how it'll affect other people. Because if you don't? Well, you're not the only one that has to live with the decision, and people aren't going to let you forget it.
The Lesson: How to get the mainstream media to respect rap music enough to quote it for something other than the use of profanity.
Who Taught Us: Jay-Z when he released his first book, 'Decoded.'
What We Learned: Mainstream media will never condone a rapper calling a female a "bitch." Unless you explain them that the "bitch" in question is actually a drug-sniffing K-9 dog. Well played, Hov!
The Lesson: How to transform your image from a drug-peddling, wife-beating, slightly homophobic MC to a model citizen (well, almost -- we heard 'Roman's Revenge') and a role model.
Who Taught Us: Eminem and his Grammy Award-nominated album, 'Recovery,' which showcased his private war against drug addiction.
What We Learned: Once upon a time, Slim Shady rapped about guzzling fifths of vodka and taking enough drugs to kill a woolly mammoth. Less than a decade later, he's rapping about overcoming drug addiction and empowering a generation of kids to go straight-edge. Apparently, anyone can have a change of heart.
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The Lesson: How to sign a record deal before your 10th birthday.
Who Taught Us: Willow Smith, who released her smash single, 'Whip Your Hair,' and signed a deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation.
What We Learned: As long as your parents are Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, anything is possible. Even if you're just 9 years old. Oh, and we also learned that Rihanna's finally got some competition. Good luck, girl. You're gonna need it.
The Lesson: How to completely blow the buzz surrounding your movement.
Who Taught Us: Young Jeezy, Gucci Mane, T.I. and Plies, who all failed to capitalize on their past success this year due to a variety of mishaps.
What We Learned: Remember way up there when we said that all you needed to be successful is quality music, a faithful following and the support of the rap blogs? All four of these artists forgot about at least one of those factors this year -- and their careers suffered as a result of it. Time to go back to the drawing board, fellas.
The Lesson: How to become one of the most Googled celebrities on the planet without displaying any real talent.
Who Taught Us: Kim Kardashian, who now has a $586 zillion-dollar empire despite the fact that she doesn't sing, dance, or do much of anything outside of dating professional athletes.
What We Learned: If the revolution is televised, it's probably going to be shown on a reality TV show. No, seriously. Kim was Googled almost as often as the BP oil spill this year -- and the only thing she's ever really done is Ray J and a reality TV show that features her playing the part of herself (aka a girl who once did Ray J). No offense to the oil spill, but this was 2010's real disaster!
The Lesson: How to "fake it 'til you make it" as a rapper.
Who Taught Us: Rick Ross, who somehow became more popular than Young Jeezy in 2010, thanks to a song called 'B.M.F.' (Blowin' Money Fast), which borrows the abbreviation of Jeezy's Black Mafia Family affiliates.
What We Learned: You don't have to be the realest rapper in the game to actually be considered the realest rapper in the game. We can't front: Ross worked damn hard to keep his "Boss" title this year. He hopped on more instrumentals than we can even name. But is 2010 officially the year that "keepin' it real" died -- or did someone out there prove that those photos of Rick Ross dressed as a correctional officer were doctored and we just missed the memo?
The Lesson: How to get yourself kicked out of Hollywood.
Who Taught Us: Mel Gibson, who was recorded making angry, vulgar, racist remarks to his ex-girlfriend and threatening her life.
What We Learned: Drug addicts? Sex fiends? Alcoholics? Wife beaters? Racists? Raging lunatics? Hollywood will accept just about any of these types of people. The only catch: You're not allowed to be more than one of these things at a time. And after hearing Gibson go off on his ex-girlfriend during a phone call, he fit the description of almost all of them. Sorry, Mel. Do not pass go, do not go to the set of 'The Hangover 2' and get the hell out of town!
The Lesson: How to use the old adage "sex sells" to improve your shelf life as an R&B artist.
Who Taught Us: Ciara and Keri Hilson, who both turned to overtly sexual music videos (Ciara chose 'Ride,' while Keri went with 'The Way You Love Me') to try and jump-start their careers.
What We Learned: Can't sell a record anymore to save your life? No worries. Simply put on something skimpy, show a little bit (okay, a lot) of skin and shake (and pump and gyrate and grind) what your mama gave ya! Forget that Ciara was once considered the next Janet Jackson and Keri Hilson was once viewed as the anti-Rihanna. These two went in in their respective music videos to try and get some extra spins. And while that left a few tongues wagging initially, it also didn't prove to be a long-term solution for either.
The Lesson: How to make people forget about the fact that you played a part in killing dozens of dogs, spent a couple of years in prison, allegedly gave a woman herpes, racked up millions of dollars in debt and turned yourself into the worst role model in the history of professional sports.
Who Taught Us: Michael Vick, who saved your NFL fantasy team and earned at least some of your respect back, thanks to his MVP-like 2010 season.
What We Learned: No reputation is beyond repair. If someone as hated as Vick can make a comeback, Mel Gibson has to get a chance at redemption, too. Um, right?
The Lesson: How to force your record label to give you a release date.
Who Taught Us: Lupe Fiasco and his fans, who successfully petitioned and protested until Atlantic Records set a release date for Fiasco's next album, 'Lasers.'
What We Learned: Power lies in the people. We're still not 100 percent convinced that Lupe's next album is actually going to come out in March like Atlantic Records is saying it will (we'll believe it when we hear a single). But if nothing else, the petition and protest put together by Lupe's fans show that young people can step up and come together to fight for something when they feel passionate enough about it. No shots -- but it's just a shame that that thing had to be a Lupe Fiasco album and not something that actually matters.
The Lesson: How to make your fans realize that blogs filled with rumors are not life-and-death situations.
Who Taught Us: Bow Wow, The-Dream and Kanye West, who all revealed that they'd considered suicide over some type of public scandal.
What We Learned: Sometimes, we probably make things like Bow Wow's career woes, The-Dream's divorce and Kanye West's PR nightmare over the Taylor Swift incident into bigger deals than they really are. Which is why these artists brought us back to earth by threatening to kill themselves (yes, really) over all the rumors surrounding their respective problems. Note to everyone who has Perez Hilton, Bossip and The Young, Black & Fabulous bookmarked: The stuff you read is not that serious.
The Lesson: How to ruin a perfectly good celebrity marriage.
Who Taught Us: The-Dream and Christina Milian, Tony Parker and Eva Longoria, and Nas and Kelis.
What We Learned: Show us a beautiful woman and we'll show you a guy who's tired of $&%^*#@ her. If you're gonna cheat, guys, be a little more careful. Like, don't do it when paparazzi cameras are right down the street. Damn it, Dream!
The Lesson: How to become the next Superhead,
Who Taught Us: Kat Stacks, who revealed she'd had sexual encounters with everyone from Bow Wow to Soulja Boy to half of Lil Wayne's Young Money crew.
What We Learned: That we should have appreciated Superhead when she was still around. Sure, she aired out half the industry, but damn, how tame does her reign seem compared to Kat Stacks and her bangs?
The Lesson: How a rapper can remain relevant in 2010 without actually releasing any music.
Who Taught Us: 50 Cent, who threatened to stab his dog on Twitter, tweeted about shooting up a gay wedding after Perez Hilton made derogatory comments about him and leaked a photo of himself on the set of a movie after losing more than 50 pounds.
What We Learned: Once you reach a certain level of fame in this country, you don't actually have to do anything anymore to stay famous (see: Kardashian, Kim). No one showcased that better than Fif this year, when he managed to keep his name out there in the news with dropping a new album -- or any noteworthy music at all really. As long as the Internet exists and the tweets are still talking, 50 Cent and celebs like him are here to stay.
The Lesson: How to become a successful female MC without turning yourself into a hardcore sex kitten.
Who Taught Us: Nicki Minaj, whose debut album, 'Pink Friday,' is surprisingly devoid of all the sexuality you'd expect from a commercially successful femcee
What We Learned: Sure, Nicki's big boobs and bigger booty have played a big role in her success. But she seemed to take the opposite approach to chicks like Ciara and Keri Hilson this year on 'Pink Friday' when she toned down her oozing sexuality a touch and focused on trying to be a role model for all her "Barbz" (sigh -- we know, we know). Just add it to the list of lessons we definitely didn't think we'd learn this year but did anyway. Can't wait to see what we learn in 2011!
What lessons did you learn in 2010 as a result of watching everything that happened in the world of entertainment?
Source: BV