GOOD READ WHY ASAP ROCKY BLOW UP SO FAST:
Mostly because of A$AP Yams and his blog realniggatumblr, as most people have pointed out. I had the chance to look through the entire blog before he deleted it, so I got to see how he laid the foundation for Rocky’s success. Here goes:
Yams had Rocky try different sounds (without success: Get High, Been Around the World, Uptown, rest of the tape here ), until Purple Swag stuck. Purple Swag worked because of the NY/southern rap hybrid, the weed rap and because of the music video (see this thumbnail? Wouldn’t you click it if it appeared on your facebook feed?).
Between the time he released Purple Swag/Peso and the day he released his mixtape, three months had passed. He kept his hype alive by claiming that he had gotten a 3 million dollar dealwith Sony, which wasn’t true, but it got people talking, especially since Drake got signed 2 years before for 1 million. This made a lot of people check out his tape, on some ”let’s see if this dude is worth three milli” shit.
Also, Odd Future and A$AP both utilized tumblr right before it REALLY blew the fuck up, which is why their stans seem to be all over Tumblr. Look at at this tumblr search on ASAP, and this tumblr search on OFWGKTA. More importantly, look at the nature of the results. Compare it to the results when you search Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole Notice something?
A memorable image. Cole and k.dot’s images are mostly built around the quality of their music. Their images are only there to complement their music, while rappers Like Odd Future and A$AP have the opposite situation. Their main appeal lies in their personalities, and their music is only one of the many ways the profit off of their image. That’s why their solo records can’t even go gold. They make their money off touring (again, mostly to literally see them) and off of merch.
Image is paramount. A memorable image is what it takes to come up in the game these days, except for Kendrick, but he’s from Compton and had plenty of connections, like Game, that led him to Dre, so his situation is different. Watch the Peso music video again, but this time, keep in mind that at that point, ASAP didn’t have a deal, a fanbase, or ANYTHING, really. He was just like you and me. See the expensive clothes? What about the lyrics? ”These bitches get impressed when ,you pull up in that seven”Groupies rush, hold their boobies up in my direction”
Keep in mind he had never been on tour at this point. Does this sound like a guy who was virtually homeless for a while? Does he LOOK or DRESS like he did in that stupid Get High song he released 9 months before that? Or was he simply embracing an image he knew sell, thus making his rhymes self-fulfilling?Remember, Peso and Yonkers would’ve NEVER blown up without their music videos, because both artists needed the image to sell the song. The pretty motherfucker and the menacing satanist (that’s how people perceived Tyler in the beginning, remember?) IF you’re asking this because you want to blow up too, my best tip would be to invest in a creative music video, an accessible song, and most importantly, utilizing a booming platform, my suggestion is to figure out a way utilize Twitter’s new music platform the second it launches. Even if it doesn’t blow up, you want to be on top of that shit when people inevitably check it out.

2 FaaaaanGaaaas

Kendrick Lamar – Bitch,Don’t Kill My Vibe