The hip-hop industry is one of the most saturated markets in the entertainment industry and with so many releases happening each day, it is essential that artists utilize social media marketing. If you venture to websites like hotnewhiphop.com you will notice that each day numerous mix-tapes are released and music is consistently being pirated onto the site. With competition so cut throat and the pirating of music so prevalent, it is shocking that artists even sell CDs anymore. Nevertheless, the album “Self-Made”, a record label collaboration album, from Rick Ross’s Maybach Music label was released on May 23, 2011 and has sold 90,000 copies in the US. This number is very high for a new group of individuals coming together for the first time to make an album. So the question to ask is how did this group achieve such high numbers? The answer is what we call “hype” in the hip hop industry but what is technically considered exposure, which today can be majorly attributed to social media and digital marketing. If you are a long time follower of my blog you will remember my former post about Kanye West's social media marketing strategy, interestingly enough Maybach Music followed the same strategy.

When visiting websites like hotnewhiphip.com, djbooth.net and worldstarhiphop.com before the release of this album you would notice “Self-Made” banner ads all over the place. This is the first and most obvious form of marketing and I must say they did it very well. They targeted key demographics and made everyone aware of their CD. Another form of social media marketing is the release of promotional videos that gain viral attention and are re-posted on numerous social media sites. Maybach Music’s Wale released a series of videos on hotnewhiphop.com called his “No Days Off Vlog”.

Here you can see one video, and you will notice that in each video he continuously shouts out “When I say self you say made….” This chant went viral and even when attending Rick Ross’ concert the fans went crazy shouting the name and date. The date of May 23^rd was ingrained in every fans head and if you didn’t know the date by the end of the concert, something was seriously wrong with you.

Ads like this were placed all over the Internet, it just says the title of the album and fans instantly realized that was Maybach Music’s new album. At the same time leading up to their album release, the rappers delivered a non-stop flow of music. This music kept fans interested and wanting more, so by the time the album dropped, it was an obvious buy. When artists release songs, videos and pictures to the public then those fans usually post this content to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. When fans post and repost this media then they are actually helping out Maybach Music because they are doing the marketing for them! Click the link below to support Maybach Music and enjoy the song of the week “600 Benz”. Stay Fresh My Friends: DJ Dolph

If you are from the UK you have heard of the stateside newcomer Tinie Tempah. Tinie has been on the scene in the UK since 2006 with the release of the semi popular jam “Tears”, which received a great deal of airplay on Channel U. In 2009 as Tini was performing at the Wireless Festival, an A&R scout from Parlophone Records fell in love with his style. A few weeks later president Miles Leonard inked a deal with Tinie and set him on track to release his first studio album Disc-Covery. Tinie is known for him quick tempo British flow that does not mask his accent.

In early 2010 Tinie released his debut single “Pass Out” with Parlophone records, which entered the UK Single Chart at number 1. “Pass Out” remained number one on the charts for two weeks and sold over 92,000 copies. Recently Tinie has been touring the UK with pop superstar Rihanna and has pushed back the release of his second studio album to early 2012. More recently Tinie Tempah has released his second single off Disc-Covery titled “Till I’m Gone” and features none other than emerging powerhouse Wiz Khalifa. The track truly shows off Tinie’s quick rapping ability and leaves no room for guessing that Tinie is a full-blooded bloody Brit. Wiz handles the entire chorus, flowing melodically over a quick catchy beat made by none other than “Black and Yellow” creator Stargate. The transition from UK rap star to US rap star has been a challenge for many foreign rappers but with tracks like these it seems evident that Tinie is about to take the US by storm. For those of you who take a liking to this British rapper, on May 17^th Disc-Covery was re-released and features several new songs, so cop that! In honor of this drop this week’s song of the week is “Till I’m Gone” featuring Wiz Khalifa, as always stay fresh my friends: DJ Dolph

Any of you who have been following Big Sean for the last 5 years all know of the 23 year olds' insane story from nothing to stardom. In 2005 Kanye West was doing a radio interview at 102.7 and Sean Michael Anderson aka Big Sean decided to show up. Sean followed the rapper into the building spitting 16 bars to Kanye, as he was in mid stride. Kanye stopped bobbed his head took the mix tape and signed the rapper in 2007. Later that year, on Septeber 31st, 2006 Big Sean released Finally Famous: The Mix Tape and his single “Get’cha Some” attained quite a bit of digital attention. The series continued with UNKNOWN BIG SEAN dropping in April of 2009 and Finally Famous Vol 3: BIG dropping in August of 2010.

If you listen to Big Sean then you know he has a very smooth flow similar to Kanye’s, very witty and on point style, yet with a fresh young vibe. It took Sean four years of solid grinding to produce a truly mainstream popular single but on March 1^st, 2011 Big Sean released his monster single “My Last” featuring the current king of pop Chris Brown. The single is sitting at position 54 on the US Billboard Hot 100 list and 5 on the US Billboard Rap Songs chart. To make the situation even better, G.O.O.D. Music has finally chiseled in a date and it has been declared that Big Sean’s debut album Finally Famous will finally drop on June 21^st, 2011. The excitement is brewing and to add to the hype Big Sean has released his second single “I Do It”. The track is produced by the legendary beat team No I.D. and the Legendary Traxster, featuring numerous synth hits and quick tempo snare hits. Sean kills verse after verse and shows that he is ready to drop a big album. So keep your eyes out for Finally Famous and as always keep it fresh my friends: DJ Dolph.