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Tonight, over 25 million people will sit down and watch the NFL Draft.

And for the most part, they will be wasting their time. Because, despite what Mel Kipper and his pointless grades say, you don’t learn sh*t from watching the draft.

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It takes years to see if these draft picks will actually become something.

Even the ones with the most potential don’t pan out. (We’re looking directly at you, f*cking JaMarcus Russell.)

The same can kinda be said when it comes to music. When an artist has a hit — like a real, real hit — people just assume that magic can be recreated, and they will have a long, fulfilling career.

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Yeah, naaaah. 

Despite the potential everyone has when they first hit mainstream success, a lot of these artists fade. 

So playing off the Draft tonight, we decided to go back year by year and find the biggest busts in hip-pop since 2000.

2000 Bust: Black Rob 

Diddy’s Bad Boy records did something that was truly remarkable: in the year 2000, the label produced three acts who can be considered one-album-wonders: Black Rob, Shyne and Carl Thomas. Very rare. Although Shyne’s “Bad Boyz” and Carl Thomas’ “I Wish” were huge records, there was nothing in the world bigger than Black Rob’s “Whoa.” Add that to the fact that Rob’s Life Story was a hood classic, and Rob was supposed to be the man to take Biggie’s spot. Unfortunately, numerous, numerous run-ins with the law and a sh*tty follow up killed all that.

2001 Bust: Blu Cantrell

For a short period in 2001, the most famous Blue in the world was Blu Cantrell. That “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)” record was such a smash, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. That would be her only record to do any kind of serious charting in the States, even though a couple of years later she would have some overseas success with “Breath.” However, Blu is on the comeback trail! A couple of months ago, she released another ex-boyfriend-slamming anthem called “S.O.S (Tell Me Where You At),” where she takes shots at Jay-Z. Ehh, don’t go this route, ma.

2002 Bust: Truth Hurts 

Like, what happened here? For her first single, Truth Hurts had a feature from Rakim and a pretty mean, but illegal, DJ Quick beat. And she also had the backing of Dr. Dre…and that just might explain it right there. Eminem and Kendrick Lamar are outliers. Ask Bishop Lamont, Hittman, Eve and Joell Ortiz how hard it is to have a career with Dre steering the ship.  

2003 Bust: Bone Crusher 

Life can be so cruel sometimes. Bone Crusher is an example of this. “Never Scared,” his smash debut single, featured verses from Killer Mike and T.I. All three rappers were at the same level fame-wise at that point. However, since then, Tip has been one of the most successful rappers over the last decade, while Killer Mike is respected as one of the best independent rappers out there. As for Bone Crusher? Ehhhh…

2004 Bust: J-Kwon 

So what happened with J-Kwon? We’re actually not sure. The So So Def rapper had a genuine smash with “Tipsy.” Not only that, but “Hood Hop,” the rapper’s follow up single, is actually a really, really strong song that just never got picked up. It happens. Years later, there would be ugly news saying that he was missing. But it ended up being all good.

2005 Bust: Teairra Marí

Before there was Rihanna, there was Teairra Marí. She was supposed to be the first lady of Jay’s label, while Rihanna rode some weird niche “Pon de Replay”-lane. It didn’t work out like that, though. “Make Her Feel Good” did decently as a single, but “No Daddy” bricked terribly and so did the album. And then Jay kinda just threw her to the side. Naturally Teairra was quite salty.

2006 Bust: Young Dro

It’s amazing that Young Dro hasn’t put out another album since 2006’s Best Thang Smokin’. Though not the biggest seller in the world, the album produced a huge single, “Shoulder Lean,” plus he had real support from his boss, T.I. He was also a really good rapper. He’s produced many mixtapes, but there’s nothing like having something wrapped plastic and having people actually pay fo’ yo sh*t. Damn, Dro: Fans have been waiting for that P.O.L.O. album for six years and counting now. Sigh.  

2007 Bust: Rich Boy

Rich Boy’s self titled LP was such a good album, mane. True, it was largely because of Polow da Don’s production, but Rich Boy was no slouch on the mic. (He wasn’t the greatest rapper, but he was charismatic.) It’s unfortunate that Rich Boy didn’t produce another hit after “Throw Some Ds.” Since that album came and went, Rich Boy has steadily been putting out free content. It doesn’t seem to be working much: his latest tape, Back to Class, only has 34,000 downloads on Dat Piff

2008 Bust: Shawty Lo

Like, when you think having a reality show about your 11 baby mamas is good for your career, then you know things aren’t going well. At least Shawty Lo will always have “Dey Know,” which was such a monster.

2009 Bust: Ron Browz

Man, Ron Browz’s “Pop Champagne” was such a hot song that Jim Jones muscled dude for the track, turning it into his own hit. There is a very explainable reason why Browz never really picked up after this song: the music was sh*t. Just try to listen to “Gimme 20 Dollars.”  

2010 Bust: Cali Swag District 

Cali Swag District is in a tough situation: because while everyone knows the song, no one knows that they actually did it. Ugh. At least Kate Upton is pleased with the song.

2011 Bust: Foster the People & 2012 Bust: Carly Rae Jepson: 

Look, it’s not fair to say these artists are busts yet… but, damn, is it looking like that. Both artists had huge smash hits, Foster with “Pumped Up Kicks” and Carly with “Call Me Maybe” and both had alotta nothing following that.