5 Tips for the Emerging Hip Hop Artist

As editor in chief of HipHopAtLunch.com, I’m constantly listening to music and making quick judgments on emerging artists.

This position has also given me a unique view at the various methods hip hop artists use to market themselves.  I’ve seen a few of these artists execute great strategies to gain exposure and plenty more fail horribly.

Here are five quick tips that all hip hop artists should be aware of, if they’re serious about getting recognition for their work!

1. Put a Twist on What Everyone Else is Doing

Along with many other emcees, Saint Louis rapper, Bryant Stewart, felt that he should have been included in this year’s XXL Magazine Freshmen Class.  However, instead of complaining to deaf ears on Twitter or dissing this year’s chosen ten in a song, Bryant used his absence as motivation and created the following viral video:

This may seem like a simple freestyle to the untrained eye, but hip hop enthusiasts will recognize that its genius lies in how similar the visuals are to the videos that were released by the actual chosen ten.  Bryant simply added a clever title, “XXL Freshmen 2011: Registration,” explained himself in a freestyle, and watched the buzz grow!

2. Find Clever Ways to Interact with Fans While Attracting New Ones!

Travis Porter is a group of 19-year-olds from Atlanta who are quickly becoming the hottest independent rap group in the country.  Their latest hit, “Go Shorty Go,” is climbing up the billboard charts and received over 6 million views on OnSmash.com alone.  Outside of their extremely catchy music and high energy live shows, this rapid rise in popularity can largely be attributed to their impressive use of social media.

One of the group’s standout Twitter campaigns utilized a well designed landing page asking fans to “tweet to watch” their new video (seen below).  After fans shared the following tweet with their friends, they were able to enjoy an early viewing of the video as it appeared on the landing page.

This viral tweet campaign encouraged Travis Porter’s fans to help spread the word about the group’s music while giving them something in return (the video).  Also, I noticed that a lot of Twitter users who didn’t know any better, were under the impression that Travis Porter and Twitter had worked together on this, creating some extra buzz around the group possibly getting another major co-sign.

3. Mixtape Artwork Needs to be Inviting

With the amount of mixtapes dropping every day, it’s only natural that some quality tapes will go unnoticed.   One of the major deciding factors when choosing to listen to one tape over another, especially among two unknown artists, is the tape’s appearance.  A clean looking mixtape often speaks to the artist’s dedication, the number of co-signs they have, and how good the music itself will be.

A great example of this can be found in Nero‘s Alive & Vibrant mixtape, which due to it’s bleak appearance wasn’t receiving the response he had set out to achieve.

Disappointed, the Harlem rapper added a few new tracks and a fresh design to the project, and saw a significant increase in downloads upon its re-release.  Personally, I downloaded this mixtape solely based off it’s clean cover, ha!

Alive & Vibrant: Relive The Moment:

4. Keep Songs Personal and Use Concepts

If your talent is creating clever wordplays, use them to describe your struggle and personal goals rather than speaking about women, money, clothes, or other typical topics as they won’t help you stand out.  Far too many new artists waste a good flow on lines about nothing.

J.Cole is a great example of an artist who uses his rhymes to paint a picture of who he is, his goals and how he’s progressing on the path to achieving them.  As a result, J.Cole performed at a sold out show last night, in front of fans who support him and his story more than any one song in particular.

With his music, J.Cole brought us to his hometown of Fayetteville, NC, then up to New York with him for college, and around the country while on tour Jay-z.  Knowing J.Cole’s music is equivalent to knowing part of his life story.

5. Quality over Quantity

Gorilla Zoe released two solid albums in Welcome to the Zoo and Don’t Feed da Animals, and he’s also had a number of standout mixtapes, with my favorite being I Am Atlanta. During the month of February, however, the Atlanta emcee made the horrible decision to embark on a campaign that would make him the only artist to ever drop 28 mixtapes in 28 days.

The failure here concerns that most of Gorilla Zoe’s fans could not possibly have had enough time to really listen to all 28 tapes.  Even a mixtape that featured only the best track off of each tape would run a little longer than ideal!

Having said that, one artist who really understands the value of presenting music in an easy-to-consume manner is Alabama’s Yelawolf.  The emerging emcee released one of 2010′s best projects in his Trunk Muzik mixtape, hosted by DJ Burn One, and only runs 12 songs deep.

This short project jump-started the artist’s career, as he recently signed with Interscope Records, is getting coverage in major newspaper publications, and is making fans nationwide while touring alongside XXL freshman, Wiz Khalifa.