#Lifeisgood...for rappers that sell albums. Every rapper out there wants to be #1 on the Billboard charts and most will do whatever it takes to promote the hell out of their new album leading up to its release. And while rappers have different flows, subject matter and skills, most have very similar marketing tactics. Here are 7 Things (Most) Rappers Will Say/Do Leading Up To The Release of Their New Album.
THEY WILL SAY "THIS IS MY BEST ALBUM"
My best album to date. "God forgives,I Don't"
— TEFLON DON (@rickyrozay) July 23, 2012
I smell bullshit. One thing you'll hear every rapper say leading up to the release of their new album is "this is my best album." It doesn't matter if the album sounds like complete trash and their album before the new one was a certified Hip-Hop classic, the latest one is the best one. You'll never hear a rapper say "this is probably my 3rd best album"...although it would be refreshing.
THE RAPPER WILL ASK FANS TO BUY THEIR NEW ALBUM
Last day to Pre-order B.O.A.T.S. on iTunes, we goin LIVE at midnight!! Get yours here... smarturl.it/btsdlxit
— Tity Boi (2 Chainz) (@2chainz) August 13, 2012
If someone is your fan, do you need to ask them to go buy your new album? I mean seriously, if this person is an actual fan of yours chances are they know your new album is out and how to buy it. If the intelligence of your fans is not to the level that they know music is available in stores and on iTunes, we have bigger problems. It also reeks of desperation a bit...you don't see Elton John on Twitter goin "hey muhfuckas, my new album is on iTunes...buy that shit."
DISS SOMEONE
The oldest trick in the book for rappers looking to generate interest around their new album release is to diss someone. Canibus (almost) catapulted his career into the stratosphere by dissing LL Cool J on "Second Round K.O.":
Unfortunately for Canibus, he forgot LL was a real MC and LL's proclamation that 99% of Canibus's fans didn't exist proved to be true. Rappers continue to use this promotional tactic to this day as seen recently with Azealia Banks dissing Jim Jones.
THEY WILL SAY "(INSERT SUPERSTAR ARTIST HERE) WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE ALBUM BUT WE COULDN'T CONNECT"
In order for the artist to make people think "hey, this rapper guy is really someone special and important", a rapper will usually reference another rapper (but someone way more successful) and say for example "Jay-Z was supposed to be on the album but we couldn't connect." I mean really, anyone can say this and we'd never know if it was actually true. If it involves Jay-Z, it probably isn't because Memphis Bleek can't even get Jay-Z on a song with him and Jay funds Bleek's entire life.
THE RAPPER WILL RELEASE A VIDEO OF A CAMERAMAN FOLLOWING HIM AROUND FOR A DAY
In case you've never seen the inside of a radio station or tv studio, leading up to the release of their new album, a rapper will usually release a video which is basically a cameraman following them around for the day as they do all sorts of exciting stuff like talk into a mic at a radio station perform in front of people and buy things you can't afford.
SAY THE ALBUM IS FOR THE REAL FANS OR THE STREETS
In order to preemptively protect themselves should their album go triple aluminum, a rapper will usually say that their new album is for the "real fans" or "the streets." Why you ask? Well, if only "real fans" end up buying the album (and the artist doesn't sell well) the rapper can say "my real" or "core" fans still supported the album. If they say it's for "the streets", this is an even better excuse for poor sales since "the streets" don't buy albums. So if the album drops and it goes quadruple tinfoil, the rapper can say "the streets still supported that shit." My question then would be: will the streets support your car payment?
RELEASE EVERY PIECE OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE UPCOMING ALBUM VIA A SERIES OF TWEETS
You know how an album, and all the info that used to go along with it, used to drop at the "same damn time?" Not anymore. Now, every piece of information surrounding the impending album release is released in a series of tweets...shit...this is even done for free mixtapes:
Album covers...back of the album art...tracklistings...features...producers. Whether you like it or not folks, you will be finding out about all of this shit separately in a series of tweets leading up to the album release.
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