how do rappers build a local fanbase nowadays ?

[Unknown Poster]

it seems like cats don't grind anymore b, they just drop a song on the cloud, waiting for it to blow up.

This is the laziest way of doing it IMO. You can't just upload a track to soundcloud and expect it to blow up organically, you have to promote it heavily.

The dude who really laid down the blueprint was Soulja Boy.

he built up a following from youtube, facebook, twitter, instagram, myspace, tumblr, etc....he utilized all of the social media platforms to become a "thing".

The fact he's still mentioned now when many would of claimed him to be a one hit wonder is actually pretty damn remarkable and I can tell he still got Crank that money

 

[Raheem95]

Depends on where you at. There are artists here in NYC that do the local grind but still can't blow up and probably never will.

I think really sometimes some acts aren't content being local, I understand the frustration. Now with music equipment being so affordable and accesible everyone is doing their thing and priming for peak position. It's a battle to even escape the local market and become national let alone international.

This is the difference between ATL, Chicago, and let's just say smaller cities that got rappers like Detroit, Cleveland, Philly, Baltimore etc...that are hot on forums like this, but are still struggling to break the matrix between local and national.

In ATL, it seems that support system is too deep. Every other rapper from there it seems like is "up next"...chicago has alot of talent too but they don't seem to put each other on.

they killin' each other breh

 

[Unknown Poster]

Most people do local open mics shows at schools and small clubs and bars.
I would say outside a few cites most local acts have no real buzz

I agree with the bolded.

There are so many acts in a lot of cities that will never make it past the local stage simply because they don't have the market or the numbers to support it. They don't have the media presence or the connections to media and industry people. They may be hot in that city, but they wouldn't get the same love in any other. At that point, I'd say you're rapping as a hobby or for the love.

Like I'm from Pittsburgh born and raised but moved out to NYC back in 2012. I did it to pursue music here really. I hit the glass ceiling in Pittsburgh and when I got to the top I realized there was nothing more I could do there. I had already played every venue there was by the time I was 25. I had opened for people like Murs and Talib Kweli. I was DJing at clubs there. I had a resident gig every thurday and was djing at least 3 times a week, I had done two radio shows out on WPTS and WRCT. By the time I moved the live music scene changed and my own goals as an artist changed. Since I like a challenge I figure I would try the music game in NYC but still build on what I established online and in Pittsburgh.

If you're in a small town or city with no real scene or market like that you have really no choice but to move to somewhere else and try to gain traction. I feel that the most for rappers. Unless you're in ATL, or LA, or NY, or Miami you really aren't gonna be making waves like that and you have to make the choice of being local and having a following or trying to go farther than that and possible failing.

 

[Unknown Poster]

Big sean or dej loaf didnt have a buzz in the city. Its so many rappers with a buzz here i still dont know how those 2 made it

BTW lowkey the Detroit hip-hop scene is the dopest in America. They seem to produce lyricists still.
Detroit doesn't get the props it deserves as a musical mecca.

Plus I've been there several times, it's funny how spread out it is, yet how small it seems. I was hearing locals stories about Eminem, Dilla, Slum Village, Platinum Pied Pipers, Kid Rock, Uncle Cracker, it was funny cause people in Detroit really do show alot of love to their artists and have pride in their city.

 

[Unknown Poster]

i forgot to mention Big Sean as well too. but then again Sean rapped for 'Ye and then he offered Sean a contract. that seems like a rapper sending his demo to a record label back in the '90s or '00s

A Kanye West co-sign is probably the biggest co-sign in the game you can get right now. Period. It's pretty much the golden ticket. I'd say a Kanye co-sign in 2016 is more valuable than a Kanye co-sign in 2008.

 

[L&HH]

With the internet you can bypass the local stage.

Mac Miller built himself off of facebook followers and next thing I know when Iw as living in Pittsburgh he was getting all of these placements in shows then he was eventually signed to Rostrum (responsible for Wiz Khalifa's success).

Mac millers real key to his success was gaming those YouTube views. No way he was really doing 30+ million views back then. There's also ppl who've come out and said he used to pay them for views.

 

[Jparker]

Depends on where you at. There are artists here in NYC that do the local grind but still can't blow up and probably never will.

I think really sometimes some acts aren't content being local, I understand the frustration. Now with music equipment being so affordable and accesible everyone is doing their thing and priming for peak position. It's a battle to even escape the local market and become national let alone international.

This is the difference between ATL, Chicago, and let's just say smaller cities that got rappers like Detroit, Cleveland, Philly, Baltimore etc...that are hot on forums like this, but are still struggling to break the matrix between local and national.

In ATL, it seems that support system is too deep. Every other rapper from there it seems like is "up next"...chicago has alot of talent too but they don't seem to put each other on.

Since im from NC I doubt we get anyone "major" besides Cole. There is this dude Harvey J from my city that kinda blew up though. He is known but not a major name I'll post some of his songs. I know he did some work with master p and skrillex

 

[Unknown Poster]

Asap Rocky was the blueprint. Why grind locally when you can blow up virally to a far bigger audience. Had Fetty Wap made connections with certain bloggers & websites he would have blown up way sooner but instead he went the Atlanta route (strip clubs)

A$AP Rocky and A$AP mob proved you could just blow up from tumblr.

I be telling peole that the best social media platform to blow up from is tumblr...seriously it's so easy to create a following there. Cause I feel the game is a bit more image oriented than it was in the past now and they catered to that. Same with odd future. They had the fashion, they were putting people onto things, they had an image that appealed, it's safe to say if you get love on tumblr the possibilities are endless.

This is why more artists need to be visual, and take pictures. Like I discovered ASAP rocky from tumblr pictures getting thousands of notes before even hearing one of his songs. That's how Ian Connor blew up...on tumblr.

robb bank$ and yung lean have their little tumblr following and more and more I see more people signing up for it and artists and big media giants are placing themselves on that site and making pages...

 

[CrimsonTider]

that's like in Atlanta. i think whenever a bytch posts a twerk video on IG or a strip club plays a song, then guys are going to like the song. then they google it and end up bumping it and requesting it in the club. i do know some people who watch a twerk video on IG, and in the comments they say ''what's the song called ?''

i think bytches and the youth dictate what's popping in rap

You think? How long have you been listening to rap?

Its been this way forever. Moreso the youth than women

 

[Jparker]

Mac millers real key to his success was gaming those YouTube views. No way he was really doing 30+ million views back then. There's also ppl who've come out and said he used to pay them for views.

I dunno was this before he put that tape k.I.d.s out? That tape knocked and I can see that amountt of views happening

 

[Unknown Poster]

Mac millers real key to his success was gaming those YouTube views. No way he was really doing 30+ million views back then. There's also ppl who've come out and said he used to pay them for views.

Alot of rappers have been juicing their views from wshh to youtube it's nothing new, but yeah he really did monetize his youtube output. I can't believe people are making millions off of youtube videos now.

I can definitely attest to him doing it local before anything though, I met him before he even got on. Smoked a jay with him outside of the shadow lounge when I was djing a reggae night at ava as I went for a cig break. LOL. Cool dude btw. I met Wiz Khalifa before he got famous too. He was Pittsburgh's favorite rapper then and still is now. Like he was getting love everywhere, he was and still is our city's biggest rapper. He was opening up for Mr. Complex in 2005, then opening up for Nas on the hip-hop is dead tour the next year, then headlining his own shows after that. But he had a team behind him from the beginning, he was pretty much groomed to be the next rap superstar in a way.

 

[Jparker]

@1984 that second video is my city song goes too

 

[L&HH]

A Kanye West co-sign is probably the biggest co-sign in the game you can get right now. Period. It's pretty much the golden ticket. I'd say a Kanye co-sign in 2016 is more valuable than a Kanye co-sign in 2008.

This is so true. It's more effective now because he has the Kardashian fans behind him as well. Ppl talk about the drake stimulus package but that's only good for a hot song. It won't really get you a fan base, well unless your music is good and warrants that.

I dunno was this before he put that tape k.I.d.s out? That tape knocked and I can see that amountt of views happening

idk when exactly but there's articles about it. He or his team used to go on blackhat forums searching for ppl to game the views. Initially he was paying one guy ridiculous money like a couple thousand for a few million views then he found someone else who could do it for much cheaper.

 

[Unknown Poster]

@1984 that second video is my city song goes too

This is pretty damn good. Feeling that pancakes and hennessey joint.

 

[Unknown Poster]

This is so true. It's more effective now because he has the Kardashian fans behind him as well. Ppl talk about the drake stimulus package but that's only good for a hot song. It won't really get you a fan base, well unless your music is good and warrants that.

It's crazy now. Literally everything Kanye is associated with gets hyped up.

He wears a pair of Vans Half-Cabs: Hypebeast types up an article about a possible Kanye West collaboration with Vans
He co-signs an artist, they get hot by association.
His own sneakers and clothes sell out.
He has fans, stans, and obssessed haters that still check out his albums, go to his concerts, buy his clothes etc...I'd say he is a very successful symbol of being everywhere and in every market without trying to be.

And yeah, they got the kardashian brand behind them. I've honestly been talking to alot of people in real life about marketing and promotion. I think it would be cool if the coli had it's own marketing/promotion/music thread based on our input and others that aspiring rappers, producers, etc can take part in and get a better idea about how to move and maximize the most in today's media climate.