Twitter leading up to the release of More Life seemed like one big social occasion. Before the “playlist” was released everyone was tweeting about their excitement, their expectations and their faithful fandom. I felt a little urge to drop everything and listen like some of my followers. But I didn’t. Instead I stayed off twitter for a few days because if I read anything else about Drake and his More Life playlist I would’ve unfollowed some people. I wasn’t even interested in listening to it anymore.
The hype of an album, especially from our favorite rapper or successful mainstream rappers can keep us on the edge waiting for the time when we first press play. I became a freak fan-girl once hearing of J.Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only, so I understand the excitement. But the hype today is starting to kill the anticipation.
Do you jump to listen to an album just because everyone and the media are hyping it up?
Social media has a lot to do with this. The build-up for an album is now spoiled with tweets and memes that it is so easy for us to be fooled or believe the buzz.
Before social media the album hype was generated by singles, magazine interviews, and appearances. Mostly every night I watched 106 & Park when I was a teenager. I know you did too! One of the most popular episodes was when 50 Cent and Kanye appeared to promote their albums that were coming out on the same day. The rappers were competing for the top spot of who was going to sell the most records. Their appearance on the talk show only heightened the anticipation for the albums’ releases. I wasn’t even a big fan of either rappers but the spectacle interested me enough to want to listen to both. Not because of the music but to stay involved in this event 50 and Kanye had created.
I miss this kind of hype in hip-hop. Where we just got excited from promotion or clever marketing and not what we read on our timeline. When you are as big a rapper as Drake people are going to talk about you and listen to your album. He doesn’t really need buzz as much as the underground rapper. He’s going to control the conversation on social media anyway. This talk can influence our listening behaviors and our opinions before the first play.
Artists know what they are doing. It’s all marketing. While they want us to buy and support their music, that isn’t the only aspect that is important. They want us to be talking about them- hyping them up. In a world full of instant gratification, constant content, and trending topics forgotten about the next day rappers are trying to maintain attention. Once they have got your attention they’ve got your sale, but they also have your devotion. I think sometimes this loyalty clouds our judgement so much so that because we expected an album to be great, we tweeted it would be, we don’t call it out if it falls short.
Fans are to blame for rappers being overhyped and also for them becoming overrated. The fandom and groupie love from men and women is prevalent. I know it because I live it sometimes. I’m not ashamed to admit that my judgment can be one-sided when I talk about my favorite rappers. I’ll expect for their albums to be stellar and say that is before I listen to it. I need to stop, so do you on twitter.
-C