One thing about this battle is that it proves having a catalog is one of the most important things to have as an artist. Last night was a showcase of what it means to have music that caters to a demographic, building a brand and honing in on the two. Even though the focal point of the battle was the tension between the two artists the one thing that should be pulled from last night’s event is that you should focus on making great music and a lot of it.
If you’re from Atlanta, like most of the residents of the city, you agree that Gucci Mane won the battle last night. However, if you are from let’s say New York or Houston you’re probably agreeing with the other side that Jeezy won. The thing that should be recognized from this is that both parties built their legacies off of creating music that a certain demographic would enjoy. For instance, if you were at college parties, the club, or the strip club (particularly) back in the early and late 2000’s then you remember at least half of the records Gucci Mane played because your local DJ probably constantly played 2 or 3 of them every year. Gucci Mane‘s music is great for setting the tone for an atmosphere such as that so those songs are going to hit just a little bit different if you were in those environments. In Jeezy‘s case if you were listening to the radio a lot, into music videos, or just keeping up with what was happening in the industry then you would say he won the battle. Most of us were probably jamming Thug Motivation 101 or the The Recession imagining ourselves having the work ethic of a dope boy. The point I am trying to make here is that these artists did a great job in creating music for a group of people and constantly feeding them. Now you’re probably asking what does this have to do with anything? The answer is you, the reader who is probably an artist or a music producer looking to be around for the next 20 years.
While most would agree that getting in the studio every day is a key to success it is actually only about 25% of the puzzle. What you should also focus on is creating music that you know for sure that a demographic is going to like and here’s why. While most artists chase radio focusing on going wide instead narrow, which is totally fine, you can hone in on let’s say your first 100 fans. Think about it, just like this both Jeezy and Gucci Mane had their breakout records broken at Magic city which only has a capacity of 146 people. (More than likely it is filled way above that but we will assume the owners are being responsible) The impact of the records was so great that those 146 then went out and told other people who then told other people and etc. etc. They started out like any other local/Indie artists. They created music for people to enjoy and only focused on those that did and then of course spent tons of money on promotion but the foundation was great music for their audience. [Sidenote: by this time Jeezy was already in talks with LA Reid and Def Jam so he of course got a way bigger push with a bigger budget]But they didn’t stop there they kept feeding that audience with more music that was very similar and eventually grew to what you now see today. That is a very short version of their stories but the point here is that this is how most successful artists start.
The goal isn’t to put out a new project every three months, the goal is to test certain records and see which ones get the biggest reactions. Once you see your data, which is easy to see with any Spotify or Social media account, you can then go back in the studio and create music with those same elements.
Of course easier said than done, but you wanted to be great right?
