Drake and Gucci Mane are both rising rap stars with obsessive Web followings, but they have little in common. Yet how each arrived at VIP status online may reveal the formula for success in an increasingly digital music industry. [rssbreak]
To juxtapose: in 2008, Gucci Mane stood handcuffed in front of a judge in Atlanta, pleading for leniency in sentencing for a parole violation.
“I promise I’ll never do it again. I promise I’ll never be in your courtroom again,” said Gucci, who admitted to smoking marijuana and doing ecstasy. He was jailed for a year.
Around the same time, Toronto rapper Drake saw the airing of his made-for-TV Degrassi Spring Break Movie. It was shot not far from where he grew up, in wealthy Forest Hill.
The night Gucci Mane was released from prison, he performed in a packed Atlanta club and leaked a brilliant freestyle to his rabid Internet audience.
Around that same time, celebrity gossip blogs reported that Drake went bowling with Rihanna.
Drake is currently the toast of the industry, with two charting singles and a multi-million-dollar record deal this month alone.
He is also, by all accounts, an overnight sensation. His near-mythical rise is credited to digitally released mixtapes and singles. (And a cover story written about him in this newspaper.)
But looking at some of his influential backers, it’s difficult to believe he is where he is based solely on his Internet game.
His first single featured Trey Songz, a Virginia singer popular since 2005. His first big concert in his hometown was with Lil Wayne, the biggest rapper in the world at the time. He’s since had his debut music video directed by Kanye West. His family (his uncle is Teenie Hodges, who co-wrote Al Green’s Take Me To The River) is musically connected as well.
Gucci has been comparatively grassroots. He gives away a slew of music online, including mixtapes with DJ Drama, and guest-appears on virtually anything he can.
Drake is beginning to face a backlash campaign: parodies of his freestyles are appearing on video sites, exposés of his Degrassi past (embarrassing by rap standards) are popping up, and resentment that first began in comment sections on blogs is growing.
In that same fickle environment, Gucci Mane is still beloved, and is beginning to look like the rightful heir to Lil Wayne’s mixtape throne.
In other words, Drake’s old-school social climbing strategy is only short-term. Audiences want a rapper to root for, to follow, and Gucci’s hard work ethos will endear him in the long run.
But comparisons between online strategies are only a prelude. The more meaningful comparison will come in the next few months, as both rappers release albums.
joshuae@nowtoronto.com
