All eyes are on Drake today.
As you are well aware at this point, the Young Money-emcee released his debut album, Thank Me Later, today. To call Thank Me Later highly anticipated would be an understatement. No rap album has seen this much pre-release hype since Lil’ Wayne’s The Carter 3 (which sold 1.06 million copies in it’s first week). It seems doubtful that Drake will sell that much – no one sells that much nowadays – but he is expected to sell big numbers. Rap legend Bun B is quoted as saying “if he does less than 500,000 in the first week, someone dropped the ball at Universal.“ In a recent interview, T.I. also weighed in, predicting “at least 500,000” for Drizzy. In a recent call from jail, Lil’ Wayne said “I need him to do more than The Carter III… I need him to do 2 million in the first week, straight up.” While all signs point to the album being a success, the question remains – what happens if Drake flops? More specifically, what would Drake underperforming mean for the hip-hop game, and the music industry at large?
NEXT PAGE: WHAT DRAKE UNDERPERFORMING WOULD MEAN FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY…
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The music industry has a lot invested in Drake‘s success. The quick fire success of his So Far Gone mixtape inspired a bidding that was unprecedented, and landed Drake with what many call one of the best new-artist deals ever. Drake was toted as the arrival of a new paradigm for success and artist development in the waning music industry. He was the first artist to really come out of the internet underground and have genuine mainstream success. Generally, artists who have sizeable internet fanbases don’t tend to translate into sales and hit records (for example, M.I.A., Wale, Slaughterhouse, Janelle Monae, any number of “blog rap” artists who’ve had a buzz but whose albums bricked). With “Best I Ever Had” and So Far Gone Drake carved a new niche, which paved the way for the success of someone like B.O.B. If Thank Me Later fails to meet sales expectations then it raises the question – who can move records in today’s music landscape? If Drake has the Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z cosigns, the hit records, the female fan base, the star appeal, the internet fan base, and still doesn’t manage to sell then it’s safe to say the music industry is truly doomed.
NEXT PAGE: WHY DRAKE MAY HAVE LOST HIS HYPE…
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Drake would also have to take some of the blame if Thank Me Later underperforms. It’s understandable that he wanted to wait for the right label situation and create the perfect album, but he may have waited too long to capitalize on his hype. Good music isn’t enough to sell an album. In order to do big numbers, everything has to come together : the right i
