Debut Trainwreckord Suggestion: Smokepurpp's Deadstar 2

Deadstar 2 - Smokepurpp

Alright, I have an idea for a debut trainwreckords. I mentioned it in a previous post, but Smokepurpp's DeadStar 2, or DS2(Not the Future album).

This will take me some time to recap, but long story short, down below. You can watch YouTube videos about this, as to be fair, most of this information I got from there, as the artist's Wikipedia page does not even have all this info. That is how forgotten/short-lived/non-descript this artist is: 

So, for the uninformed, SmokePurpp was one of the SoundCloud-era rappers who was on the bad side of the fence. He is known for being Lil Pump's co-star, so that is already a problem. He started as a producer, but because he could not find anyone to rap over his instrumentals, he went into rapping. After this, he soon gets signed by a record label, and he puts out his debut mixtape, Deadstar, in 2017. Keep this in mind that this is where he peaks, as it reaches #42, and Audi to this day is his biggest hit on streaming(Also, his only good song). The next year, he put out one-off singles and a Collab mixtape with Murda Beatz, reaching #40. But no album yet. This is already a red flag that I think most new artists fall into. They do not capitalize on their big hit before the album at the right time. Once you have a big hit, release the album. Do not wait until the big hit fizzles out, and try hard to find the next hit that never happens. As it is, the hits drive the album, so no hit, no album coming out any time soon. If there were a right time to put the debut album out, then maybe it would be this time in 2018. But Purpp rather wanted to get into some antics, and I think for any artist, especially if you are on the rise, if your main gimmick is antics and you get yourself into many controversies, that turns your existing fans away from you and prohibits any new fans who want to listen to your music. Most of these controversies include beefing with J. Cole by having fans chant "F J. Cole" at concerts after he released the 1985 advice track, as well as getting into a fight with Russ's goons after burying the hatchet with Cole. Aside from beefs, some of these gimmicks also include Purpp and Pump pretending to have a falling out with each other that is as fake as a Jack Doherty YouTube short, more on that later, and of course, his infamous Tim Westwood freestyle. It is a long story again, but it was not until late 2019, I guess, that he must have realized that he had fallen behind with no debut yet, so he quickly got his marbles together and got the debut ready. But, with a poor critical/user score and sales(To me, and this is a problem with a lot of his music, he bites off of other people. Some of these songs are really just Travis Scott rip-offs, and of course, a lot of the features outshine him. For this album, for instance, we have Denzel Curry as a saving grace, a mandated Lil Pump feature, and also a Trippie Redd song already featured on his most recent 4th Love Letter to You Mixtape. I bring up features for this one because Kanye was supposed to have a feature, and a lot of people say that that would have been his next big hit, with Kanye backing out due to him focusing on Christian music back in 2019, remember that? Now, I know Lil Pump and Ye had a big hit together, but all this time later, does anyone really remember it? Or, did it stay on the charts for that long? Ironically, Smokepurpp has a writing credit on that song. If it were a hit, I would predict it being in the same vein. Still, not enough to save this album from poorly charting at #137 and even putting both him and the label in some debt.), as well as my theory of waiting too long to drop a debut(Literally on Taylor Swift's birthday and the day Juice WRLD died, or the day SoundCloud rap died as some say), this brings us to where we are today. But, the reason why I consider this a trainwreckord is because the story post-album gets a lot worse.

A few months later, I guess he realizes how bad the album went down, so he decides to step away from this changed sound of biting everyone else off and go back to his old pre-Audi sound. He releases the album only a few months later in June 2020 and despite being promise of it being better and there being more features (Another mandated Pump one, Jack Harlow, Rick Ross), the album does worse in not charting on the hot 100, only selling 5k, and the fact that it still does not have a Wikipedia page all this time later says something! To me, I feel like the album was rushed, only coming 6 months after the debut. If Purpp took his time examining what was wrong with the first one, also maybe not releasing during the pandemic or BLM, and maybe tried changing up his sound or carving things up on the originality scale on making something better(Even if it means not dropping until 2022 or something, idk, then we would be looking at a different story here in 2026 and maybe a great comeback story(Sadly, we do not live in that world). But, worse happens. Basically, Purpp's career keeps getting worse with him doing everything that happens to some rappers post-fall-off. Instead, we got an album with pisspoor Ronny J production, Purpp rapping about the same old, same old, and most of the album feeling very unfinished, with most of the tracks being less than 2.5 minutes and still having Purpp either bite off other artists or have his features outshine him:

• He comes back with an EP in 2021, but one of the songs is accused of biting off Yeat and the new rage sound of the time.
• A year later, he goes viral for performing for 10 people at a less than 500-person venue. From what I have heard, he was doing shows at Dave & Busters, which is something, given that he cannot even sell out a state fair stage, a casino, or a 1,000-person PAC. I know, like a lot of these rappers of this time, he mostly plays overseas and has bigger audiences there for foreign festivals, like in Finland. I mean, Purpp and Pump could do a co-headlining arena tour in Europe, but they probably would not be able to sell out nightclubs if they did it here in America.
• He has asked fans if he fell off, which, if you have to do that as an artist, is only making things worse, not better. Speaking of his fall off, he has had to resort to paying for features and doing scam-sponsorships to earn some money back, probably due to poor investment earlier on.
• He is kind of inconsistent with his music drops, as he usually drops singles or smaller projects with no album ever since Florida Jit. Maybe it will do worse, and he is afraid of the backlash. Maybe he has just retired and has another job, but wants to do music as a side hustle. Speaking of the music, the fact that he has done phoned-in features for unknown artists or even KSI, R3HAB, or yunomiles should say something else, too.

Maybe he has just disappeared from the spotlight, which alright. The final piece of the puzzle is not appearing on a Jack Doherty or N3ON stream, which all the rappers from the last decade, and even the 2000s, with Jim Jones, have done. I mean, you have Iggy Azalea, YG, Offset, Swae Lee, and even other SoundCloud fellows like Trippie Redd, 69, Pump, etc. Surprised he has not made it on there. 

So, DeadStar 2, the fact that the debut is already a sequel too, for debut trainwreckords? If so, would that make Florida Jit Smile or Everything I Thought I Was in this case? Or, would you say that gimmick ruined Purpp's career, or the fact that he did drugs between the delay of the debut album, and he had to go to rehab, only to quit it?