it didnt have anything to do w/ every ny publication following RNT's tumblr feed
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:19 (twelve years ago) link
when there's a bottleneck like that i have a lot of trouble seeing it as 'grassroots' bro sorry
no, its about observing the privilege of the tastemakers & people who decide what the stories are going to be for the next XYZ months, how these things are DECIDED UPON by a small group rather than coming from the ground up, the small networking game that makes it possible that we even hear about these artists
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 1:12 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark
and tell me again about what this has to do with the readers of ELLIOT WILSON's blog
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
no it has everything to with that. the media is on tumblr. when they notice a - FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD - meme spreading throughout they start paying attention to it. eventually it gets too big too ignore so they start covering it, then he got a deal
you think he got a deal because he has no fans? just ink?
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:23 (twelve years ago) link
interesting discussion, I ain't gonna argue w/ppl but there's interesting stuff in it - deej seems to be saying that grassroots can't make for actual popularity, which seems like a weird thing to say...but then I think people have a very romantic idea of 1) there being stuff that isn't from its inception self-aware & tied into publicity and 2) their own ability to tell grassroots from "hype"
― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
the gatekeepers simply saw it coming and co-opted it in each instance
again, the culture has moved on. this is where "grassroots" comes from now
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, November 1, 2011 1:16 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark
i think this is pretty much otm
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
RNT did a brilliant job of branding this . he spoke the language of the people that spread shit. same way OF did.
it's not a conspiracy. it's arithmetic
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:25 (twelve years ago) link
drake is doing the same thing now. WTT did it 3 months ago.
and around we go
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
I think people have a very romantic idea of 1) there being stuff that isn't from its inception self-aware & tied into publicity and 2) their own ability to tell grassroots from "hype"
ikr
as long as it's not as egregious as beginning to hype an act the moment the press release lands in your inbox i don't care, but what i find vaguely confusing is that asap rocky...like, can't rap. not at all. "purple swag" is just a nothing of a track.
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, November 1, 2011 12:23 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
you're so caught up in the vortex of marketing that you cease to see music outside of it as worthwhile
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
2 Chainz is a joke because he doesnt know how to market himself to the right people on tumblr!!
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:31 (twelve years ago) link
deej tbf no one is really bringing quality of music into this taxonomical argument, except you
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
so what is your point, that the reason ASAP is popular w/ certain people is good marketing? OK
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:53 (twelve years ago) link
can i ask what statement of mine youre disgreeing with?
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 1:31 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark
that surfboard dudes totally would hold this opinion
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
he said almost exactly that -- 'a joke' was a quote btw
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 17:57 (twelve years ago) link
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 1:53 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark
lol... didn't this whole conversation start last night because you were asking why people give a shit about asap rocky
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:00 (twelve years ago) link
its crazy how much more hype he has than any of these other artists right now
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Monday, October 31, 2011 8:15 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
how does that work, seriously
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Monday, October 31, 2011 8:15 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:02 (twelve years ago) link
yeah but telling me the answer is 'marketing' is meaningless, and telling me that 'tumblr is the grassroots now' is bullshit
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:06 (twelve years ago) link
tumblr might be the way to get a mag editors attention quickly
i mean, i know a lot of people like to credit blog with making already-rich-famous-and-connected Drake a star, but I've yet to see any evidence that working purely off of this kind of blog & tumblr marketing hype has broken a big artist anywhere except with media
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:07 (twelve years ago) link
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 2:06 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
i don't know man... what do you want to hear? and honestly "marketing" is a pretty general term to describe the various points that i made all through last night
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:13 (twelve years ago) link
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 2:07 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
right, i'm not gonna sit here & say that ASAP rocky is a "big artist" or that he's going to be a "big artist" or whatever. but you asked "how does this hype work?" and i (and surfboards or w/e) tried to answer that. i'm talking about asap rocky's popularity strictly on your terms.
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:15 (twelve years ago) link
and telling me that 'tumblr is the grassroots now' is bullshit
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 2:06 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, November 1, 2011 2:06 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
right, "grassroots" is a weird term. i do think that ASAP has been given a big shortcut to fame... he has the ear of the industry and that can still be a powerful thing. personally i don't know if he's talented enough or if his music is focused enough on being 'pop' for him to be a star etc etc
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
i am more interested in whether or not rap hype is going to start mirroring indie rock hype -- we'll see tho
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:23 (twelve years ago) link
is asap rocky some sort of reference aesop rock and/or has anyone already pointed this out?
― google sluething so hard right now (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:23 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i don't know... i mean it almost has to be?
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:24 (twelve years ago) link
His name is Rakim, his crew is ASAP. It's a coincidence
― Number None, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:28 (twelve years ago) link
i don't know... there's no way that yams has never heard of aesop rock
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
chances are he had the name before they hooked up though.
― Number None, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:33 (twelve years ago) link
The 2 Chainz tape has a Kreayshawn feature. Gotta get that blog hype
― Number None, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
oh fuck
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
btw guys, not to be all WHEN U R OLD U WILL GET IT but after you've seen the hype machine roll over the NEW HOT SHINY and dispose of your favorites as if they were bodies not even worth burying for the twentieth cycle, you'll either be cynical and sad enough not to care enough to do the strawman 90 post argument or you'll be completely insane. so better days ahead in any case.
― google sluething so hard right now (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:12 (twelve years ago) link
2 chainz is funny because his name is Tity Boi.
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
also because he's pissing on his mixtape cover.
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
hes pissing while using his smartphoneits a good cover i think we can all agree. v identifiable
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
forks so OTM it's not even funny
― clear as mud (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
yeah obviously
true religion is also funny
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:21 (twelve years ago) link
yeah obviously = good cover
why do lex luger and southside need to produce the same song? seems to be working really really well the way it's going individually
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
come one man. this guy is lol (my exact word, not joke) because h has songs called "Viagra" with the hook "i be goin hard - viagra"
― surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:25 (twelve years ago) link
xpforks i dont think asap rocky is anyone here's favourite, reactions to the mixtape were pretty tame. otoh the self-admitted dearth of quality in legit alternatives w/ any national presence proposed by deej and retreat into regional obscurities like max b & king louie, caring about 'grassroots,' suddenly caring about whether or not an artist is from the projects, makes it a bit easier to get excited about asap
― flopson, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:27 (twelve years ago) link
i dont understand that post. regional obscurities like max b?
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
"suddenly caring about whether or not an artist is from the projects"
this is a total misunderstanding of what i posted. tons of random rappers are from the projects. i thought i made it clear after -- this was w/ a debate where surfboards was like 'theres no narrative to LEP' & i was grounding his story in a specific place, and the story isnt that count was from the ickes but that he was running them, and they have a large place in chicago history much the way queensbridge might in nyc
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
and king louie is a brand new artist, of course hes 'obscure' -- much as asap rocky is obscure to anyone not on tumblr or in our internet rap music nerd world
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
in fact, the entire premise of that post is bogus. Max B would have made a much better 'national rapper' prospect than asap, as im sure even ASAP himself would admit, until he took himself out of the equation by getting arrested. id argue on purely musical terms that i think king louie is a much more promising talent than asap, although obviously with the hierarchies the way they are i might just be shouting into the wind
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
i just mean it's not like there are many convincing alternative as to who else deserves this slice of hype, even the rappers you rep for nowadays are either more low-key & have little or no national exposure, or halfheartedly stanning for meek mill because no one else raps
― flopson, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
i dont see whats unconvincing about any of the rappers i rep for, and my enthusiasm for meek mill isn't really halfhearted; i like dreamchasers more than this tape too
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
i mean isnt the slice of hype much more about NY's ego than it is about our psychic need for more national rappers anyway
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:39 (twelve years ago) link
the fact is that caramanica's thesis about ASAP being the epitome of New York as universal recipient rather than universal donor was as true / moreso with max b, and that's kind of the angle everyone's taken to with ASAP right?
i imagine part of the hype w/ ASAP is they dont think hes as likely to end up in prison
― The boyboy young jess (D-40), Tuesday, 1 November 2011 19:40 (twelve years ago) link