Am I the only person who has noticed that within the last two weeks, there have been a crapload of Freeway and Young Chris songs hitting the InterWeb/streets (fyi - the InterWeb is the new bootleggah, minus the exchange of cash for goods)?
Anywho, my man Sei put me on (I PUT ONNNN) to this NPR review of the Carter 3 (an album I kinda went on a lil while back). In said review, the author (Robert Christgau) suggest that the Carter 3's sales (a milli a milli a milli, in the first week) were due to "a daring marketing strategy that doubled as a cocky musical challenge" and that "In the two-and-a-half years between major-label releases, Lil Wayne whetted his fans' appetites by giving away more songs than anyone can count."
The key there is that he gave the shyt away. So now I'm seeing artists like Mickey Factz, Freeway, Young Chris, and others with songs poppin up all over the InterWeb. Mickey is definitely giving his songs away in the form of a mixtape series called "The Leak". I'm not so sure about Freezer and Young Chris leaking everything that's hit the name from them on purpose, but this stuff isn't hitting the nets by chance either. And while I think Mickey's leaked songs are a pretty brilliant mixtape concept, it doesn't have me itching to hear an entire album, just "Good Money". Not that Mickey's songs are wack (because they aren't), but because I'm not into being inundated with free songs off the InterWeb because there's far more noise than there is music. And that's what I think the problem is with technology and music nowadays. The market is flooded with crap.
But back to my original point...
My guess is that the TIPPORDS (read: TIs) at Def Jam/Universal saw the success of the Carter 3 and thought similarly to what Christgau seems to have thought. That is... "Wayne put out a bunch of free shyt and then he sold a million in the first week because fans started itching for more." Then the TIs started thinking it could work for everyone else. Not too shrewd, not to stupid either though. Why wouldn't it be worth a shot for other
Leaking songs to the net prior to an album's release is nothing new. Lots of artists have leaked a mixtape (or two) to create a buzz for their albums. But Lil Wayne took the shyt to a stupid-azz level. I repeat, a stupid-azz level. There were so many songs and mixtapes hitting the net/streets between the Carter 3 and his release prior to that, that I got tired of hearing it. No bull. I will give him credit in that he obviously had a serious work ethic that most of these artists don't seem to have. But I can't be convinced that the leakage of 6 or 10 or 20 songs (or ten mixtapes) by any other artist in a relatively short period of time means anything either, unless all of (or a majority) of those songs are completely and undeniably DOPE. Not that Wayne's were dope across the board, but there were so many released that you couldn't help but liking some of them if for nothing else than his slick wordplay.But my point in this post is that maybe (just maybe) the higher-ups at these record labels are going to start pulling a Lil Wayne and releasing a bunch of their artists' records in the form of mixtapes, interWeb leaks, or some other form of "free promotion" in an effort to create a buzz similar to that of the Carter 3. I'm all for free music (of course) but I personally think it's a crock of shyt that all those songs were the sole reason that people wanted to buy the Carter 3. I think that it was a combination of lots of factors like media hype, Lil Wayne's level of lyricism, his features, his run-ins with the law, and the free ish he unleashed on the hip-hop audience. But I do agree with Christgau in that Lil Wayne "redefined" the mixtape scene.
I wonder if this is going to pan out well for Chris and Free considering studio time is not free and I am sure Def Jam is going to want their advance money recouped. Rappers might want to start investing more in themselves (ie - their product) by purchasing top-notch home studios (that is, if they own a home or momma/roommate wil let them) and providing their favorite producers with Food and Liquor (and weed probably) in order to keep the costs low on all this music they are gonna give away free on the InterWeb. It is a Recession, isn't it?!?!
4 comments:
I believe this is a template 50 Cent truly introduced, although that was moreso still in the CD era as opposed to the downloading we see now, but the same model all together. I think 50 really changed the music industry with his barrage of mixtapes that got people feenin for a real album, which we instinctively assume will be better than the mixtape magic we're exposed too. All in all I think the formula still requires being a hot rapper that's in high demand outside of the "free-ness", something both 50 and Wayne possessed with their respective crazy sales.
I agree. 50 was the first to kinda revolutionize the whole mixtape market. Well, DJ Clue too but he was not an actual rapper.
I think the difference now is that some mixtapes are arguably better than albums so you can't really assume that the album is going to be great. Prime example is how I was siced about the Untitled album off the Nigger mixtape. And the Untitled Album is good, but I think the mixtape might actually be better (especially the production).
And I also agree that the formula requires that you be a hot rapper in high demand and that goes along with my point of it being a combination of factors that led to the milli the milli the milli. Wayne murked a few feature spots and then the buzz began and he was in high demand. From there, he just kept dropping ish, featuring, and the buzz became astronomical.
You like the N*gger mixtape better?? Really? I mean it's great, and I agree with you, wonderful production. But, I LOVE the Untitled album, especially that Project Roach track and just the overall feel of the album. Okay, so I love both, but I can't say that I love the mixtape over the album.
I think the production on the mixtape is better than the production on the album. Some of the mixtape material is re-hashed stuff that's old so that takes away from it a bit. But it flows from song-to-song better than the album and the sound bites in-between make sense and help the transitions from song-to-song.
The album is very good (definitely better than that milli milli album) but NaS has this thing where he always manages to pick beats that are either average or don't do enough to compliment his dope level of lyricism. If NaS did another CD with just DJ Premier production it would be a guaranteed 5 mic album. You know what you're going to get lyrically. You know you're going to get some dope story-telling. You're going to get some slick concepts. But the variable is always the music behind his words.
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