It’s been over 900 days since Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. dropped. In that same time span, Gucci Mane has dropped five albums. In an era where attention appears to be the most valuable commodity, what is the balance between dropping too much and too little music?
Let’s explore how constantly dropping music affects an artist’s career arc by looking at people such as Gucci, Future, Young Thug and more. Many of these artists built their fan bases through a rapid-fire approach of dropping music, but is it hurting or helping them in the streaming era? Let’s also take a look at how certain artists like K. Dot, Pusha T and Frank Ocean have earned a level of trust from their fans that allows them to take years off between projects and seemingly not miss a beat.
Since 2005 Gucci Mane has dropped 101 projects. Since he was released from prison on May 26, 2016 the hard working rapper has released four EPs, two mixtapes, and seven albums. Regardless of whether this hurts Gucci or not, dropping this much music is impressive. Impressive enough to believe he had the help of a clone ;). Let’s not forget Gucci built his fanbase by flooding the market, but is it working today? By taking a look at his album sales, it is evident that with each drop his first week sales steadily continued to drop. However, Gucci had one of the most impressive rebrands in HipHop with his lifestyle, marriage, and positivity. Like Gucci, another rapper with a similar strategy is Future. The Atlanta native dropped six mixtapes in 2011, three in 2013, four projects in 2015, and ten over the course of the next four years. Like Gucci, this frequency of project releases is what built such a core fanbase for Future. He even went as far as to drop two albums in back to back weeks in 2017.
This rapid release pace isn’t reserved just for Atlanta’s trap scene. There are some “lyrical rappers” who also flooded the market with projects. Take Curren$y for example, he dropped a dozen tapes in 2016. Although he’s been able to tour his whole career, he has not been able to break through to the mainstream. Styles P is another American rapper who’s able to drop multiple high caliber tracks considered to be lyrical rap. He’s dropped four projects within the last two years.
Let’s keep in mind that just because an artist has the ability to drop mixtapes left and right as opposed to taking their time to create a body of work that means something; a work of art to say the least, doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality will always suffer. The method of recording and releasing quickly isn’t a new concept. Let’s not forget Tupac notoriously recorded All Eyes on Me in TWO weeks. And that album is considered one of the most important, memorable and perhaps influential albums in HipHop history. But what Pac created was more of a feeling, he told stories full of passion and emotion and not necessarily focused on deep intricate lyricism...but then again, there’s only one Pac. There’s always going to be artists that are clearly above the rest and can maneuver this fast music drop strategy.
Like Pac, Lil Wayne can be considered as such an artist, he is simply out of this world ;). Even on the peak of his run in 2008, Tunchi did about a hundred features, dropped The Carter III, and to top it all off he released Dedication 3 to close the year. And that was light work compared to the 14 tapes he dropped between 2002 and 2005. Weezy was somehow able to maintain his lyrical ability and STILL drop great projects. It appears that this strategy seems to be efficient when it comes to building a loyal fanbase and keeping them engaged. On the other hand, it’s safe to say that once an artist enters the mainstream wave and has many people's eyes and ears turned to them, dropping this much music can negatively impact them not only in sales but in image.
Take a look at Young Thug, he is a perfect example of another Atlanta native who built his fanbase by dropping project after project. He put out six mixtapes in 2014, three in 2015, three more projects in 2016, and another three in 2017. According to an interview with producer London, Young Thug once recorded ten songs in a day! However, for 2019 Thug changed his strategy and took his time with his latest project that also happens to be his debut album, So Much Fun. It seems like Thug really took his time crafting melodies, song structures, and even with his marketing plan. He even has some veteran help from J. Cole who knows a thing or two about taking his time in between projects. The results were outstanding as it became the highest-selling project in Young Thug’s career with over 130,000 in sales on the first week. On top of that, it became his first number-one album that also included his two most successful singles, ‘The London’ (peaked at #12) and ‘Hot’ (peaked at #26). And with that said, keep on the lookout for part two of this analysis that’ll include the opposite approach with artists who take their time dropping their albums whenever they want to.
Comments