Wow so Eminem is basically a male popstar that makes rap music. v interesting
Would this mean that Gaga's collab with Too Short, if made a single, would be paid dust by urban as well?

Gloria Loring is American and Alan Thicke is Canadian.

I've already explained Robin above, but they don't play Justin that much, relatively speaking. Even now, on his current era, only one of the three singles was an actual urban hit. And even that may not have happened if there wasn't a radio deal that helped spur the song/Jay-Z on it.

Nelly and Gwen were one time flukes that never happened again. Shouldn't Luxurious have been played more? That was more R&B than Hollaback Girl. And Say It Right was ignored.

I'm not saying the format is "racist", but race definitely plays a role in what artists stations think may appeal to its format. It works both ways too. Do you think Usher would be able to go to #1 on HAC if he had done Blurred Lines?

It seems like you are pulling excuses to dismiss my examples here.

Fact is, "urban" is dominated by black artists because... well, most of the people doing "urban" music are black. There are only a handful of white/non-black artists who are even tapping into the genre, and those artists (at least most of them) have been represented on the urban format for quite some. Just because an artist "raps" or "sings urban music" doesn't mean they will or should be played on the format. Like many formats, a certain type of "urban" is played on the format & it depends on whatever trend is going on at urban (like pop radio), and not only Eminem has struggled over the years, and he has done much better than many of his black counterparts. Can you explain why Nas and Common - two black rappers - have struggled on the format with many of their songs, despite being "black" and "urban" - and why have they performed relatively worse compared to Eminem?

Urban stations have never played his music though.
His singles are always voted off those ''Hot or Not?'' feedback polls the day they premierre, at least where i live.

For the most part, did he ever get spins from Urban?

Excuses? All I'm saying is doesn't make sense to classify all of those artists together as if urban radio is open to all of them equally. You can't compare Robin's history there to one fluke from Gwen Stefani or even to Justin's pattern.

Who are these non black artists who you see tapping in the genre who are represented on a somewhat regular basis besides maybe Justin and Eminem?

Not sure what Nas and Common have to do with this. Their style of music is different than most mainstream urban rappers and Eminem's style imo.

And yes, a certain type of "urban" (or any genre) is important to follow when trying to connect with a format. But you can't deny that there are artists who don't follow that style who can't get with unorthodox songs that others can't. Like I said it works in reverse too. Most black artists would not have been able to have a hit like Suit and Tie on Pop radio.

It's a format issue. 50% of Eminem's music (like "Just Lose It" and "Without Me") might be too silly in theme, and the other 50% of it (like "Guilty Conscience" or "The Way I Am") is too dark/intense.

That being said, unlike someone like Macklemore/Pitbull/Flo Rida, Eminem has a huge and legitimate fan base of real hip hop heads, and is taken seriously as a real rapper. Most of the urban stations that play hip hop, however, are also heavily R&B...and Eminem's music doesn't as easily slide into a Keyshia Cole song the same way Drake or Lil Wayne might. A station that was 100% Hip Hop, with little to no R&B on their playlist, would play Eminem's music.

Some of you are truly ignorant. Saying urban isn't spinning his song because only white people like him. Are you implying that only black people like, make, and listen to urban music and pop music is only for white people?

Ignorance at it's finest. There are plenty of white, black, and whoever else that like urban and pop music.

I'm continually amazed @ the stupidity displayed.

Urban is not here for that SCREAMING gibberish of a song.

people saying racist when Robin & JT just had hits over there recently.

Aw so sad! Hopefully they will start playing his song soon.

I think it's more about Eminem's production than his race. Urban played the hell out of Paul Wall, but, his production has urban appeal. For instance:



I love hip hop, but, I really don't use Eminem. Primarily because of the production -- if you listen to him back to back with most of the hip hop that does well on urban format, his music sticks out like a sore thumb. It's not like he really needs us anyway. He's still the most commercially successful rapper of all time even without much urban support.