TDE is Dead..

Will TDE survive Kendrick Lamar leaving? I don't think so, not at this rate.

[CommonSenseless]

TDE sabotaged themselves. SZA has the potential to literally be the biggest contemporary female pop artist in all of music but TDE seemingly has no plans for her. Isiah Rashad disappears from the face of the earth for about 5 years then releases a poorly received album with almost zero promotion. Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q were at the height of their popularity 4-6 years ago and the label refused to capitalize on it. Ab-Soul should have already had a great career with at least 1 or 2 all time classic records by now. They also aren’t getting any younger. They are already in their mid-late 30s. I think a lot of it has to do with how astronomically big Kendrick eventually got and it completely shifted the label’s priorities. Just terrible talent management all-around.

[mayflower]

I really respect how Cole is running his label. He seems very attentive to his artists.

[beecebollowell]

I think part of why Dreamville has been able to be so consistently quality is that their releases support each other. J. Cole dropped his album last year, which was the label's big release, so everyone else either did features or put out singles. Then this year, while Cole is finishing up whatever his next album is, we're getting everyone else's albums to keep the label relevant plus that group tape earlier in the year. Meanwhile, TDE doesn't seem to have a cohesive plan for when music is coming out, dropping random singles that go nowhere and only one or two albums in a year. Realistically we should have gotten albums from Q, Soul, SZA and / or Jay Rock over the past few years to fill in the gaps between Kendrick, but all we really got were a couple EPs and Reason's album. Dreamville still feels like a close collective, and TDE just doesn't.

[wheninrome]

The problem with TDE isn’t their scouting or talent. It’s because they are disjointed as a whole. They treat every artist like Kendrick, being radio silent and not building hype. They are very poor as whole in terms of capitalizing on momentum due their holier than thou attitude of “quality over quantity”.
As if both can’t be achieved

[reymax]

TDE isn’t just falling behind, they are straight up irrelevant right now. No one has dropped in years and Mr Morale’s hype all went towards PgLang.

[diasboavidachavane]

The reason of TDE decline is not because Kendrick left I think that TDE become a bigger label because all artists dropped consistent albums in a row, and stopped for a long time to dropp and dreamville is doing what TDE used to do, to drop albums constantly

[JordanNMusic]

As music evolves…artists can still be successful w/o relying on a music group/ conglomerate to back them up. Denzel Curry, IDK, Redveil, JPEGMAFIA, AG Club, LaRussell… being signed to a label helps. But you don’t necessarily need to be signed to a music group like TDE.

[takeyourmedsplz]

TDE has an antiquated approach to dropping albums and promoting artists. It's really unfortunate cuz artists like SZA are exceptional as fuck and need their own room to grow but it feels like TDE really had a focus on Kendrick. If they're gonna make it through losing Kendrick, it's gonna have the be off the strength of 3 to 4 GREAT albums that get a lot of attention.

[bigttheory]

if pglang ends up nurturing the next generation of innovators akin to tde, that would be amazing to see, especially with baby keem pushing the envelope rn

[rckkatansky]

The fact that SZA has yet to release a follow up to CTRL, which came out 5 YEARS AGO is still mind boggling. Hell, even Kendrick dropped earlier than her. The label is a mess

[Frostpaine]

i think Dreamville absolutely murdered it w this last mixtape. i feel like there’s so much more synchronicity and unity of vision/outlook in that group that fs makes its projects feel greater than the sum of its parts. Cole definitely had a vision that he very slowly and meticulously churned out to provide these guys a proper space to cultivate their talents. Genuinely feels like Dream as a collective is elevating at every opportunity and i’m here for it 100%; they real

[RigVertigo]

TDE has the roster, but they’ve been sitting on their ass since the pandemic. I was hoping that with tours being canceled, they could buckle down and do a Black Hippy project…but, nada. Sza had a couple of great singles and it seemed like the rollout was beginning…but, nada. Q, Jay Rock, Soul…dead silent. Not to even speak of their B squad. Meanwhile Dreamville has been prolific the whole time.

[flawlesslikeme]

sza is a superstar, she has only become more popular since control and they just refuse to drop her music ☠️ they must hate success

[SwiftDreamer]

Let's be real, Isaiah Rashad is carrying TDE right now

[kopaiii]

I think doechii is a step in the right direction, considering i liked her feature on Isaiah’s album and her newest single, but TDE definitely has been on the decline since the black panther album and only shows small signs of greatness whenever Isaiah rashad drops it seems, and even that took forever to drop. The main 4, aka black hippy, besides Kendrick, seem to have declined and taken a big step back while the newer members haven’t lived up to that level that made TDE great yet. I’m hopeful but skeptical tbh.

[melaned]

I’ve already gone thru the 5 stages of grief with TDE. I’m at the point of accepting that the managers like Top or Punch are just cool with letting their label fade out of relevancy. You can only keep fans invested for so long

[M-wo]

In 2017, TDE put out DAMN & CTRL. They had Hip hop and R&B in a chokehold

[deebo]

I love the chemistry Dreamville has too. Like if I see JID and EARTHGANG on a track, that shit is gonna be fire and full of energy. If I see Bas and Ari on a track I know the vibes will be immaculate. If I see Cole hop on any of their tracks, they getting a goated feature. Cozz is slept on a bit but at the same time he needs one of those hit albums to really establish himself bc he definitely has the bars. Lute’s Goldmouf project was dope. Just really like them as a unit. The D-Day mixtape was heat. As was ROTD3. Also I’ve always wanted them to pick up 6LACK, I feel like he’s a no brainer Dreamville artist.

[jayjibsbeats]

This literally made me go and checks Sza's discography and to see that she hasn't released a new album since 2017 is horrible. They way these artist and labels have their fans starving for music is just ridiculous.

[bigol]

there was a minute where TDE to me represented such a fresh style and sound, for all their artists there was just a vibe to the production and the overall presentation of the projects that was ahead of the curve and still hasn't been replicated