S. Samuel
Young Money's Drake may not be in the same tax bracket as rap gods Jay-Z and Kanye West yet, however, new reports claim his social media buzz is bodying The Throne.
According to reports, Drizzy is toppling artists like Rick Ross and 2 Chainz in the world of social media.
The loud buzz around new albums by Kanye West and Jay-Z suggests the two titans are duking it out for rap’s throne. But in a 12-month analysis of social conversations, the real king of hip-hop is Drake. According to Networked Insights’ look at rappers with the largest number of social conversations across Twitter, Facebook, blogs and forums over the past year, Drake ranks first with 46.2 million, nearly double the total of runner-up West. The six rappers dominating social media: 1. Drake – 46,212,641 2. Kanye West – 25,418,362 3. Lil Wayne – 22,052,209 4. Rick Ross – 16,113,915 5. Jay-Z – 16,022,820 6. 2Chainz – 13,628,752 (USA Today)
Coincidentally, Drizzy recently hooking up with Jay actually helped spark his popularity.
Drake showed the most consistency across time, but most saw dramatic spikes when their careers took newsworthy turns. Drake’s engagement peaked when he was in the studio with Jay-Z. Interest in West skyrocketed with the release of Yeezus and birth of daughter North. Lil Wayne drew the loudest cyber chatter when he was hospitalized for seizures. And Jay-Z climbed the social-media ladder when the Samsung app for his Magna Carta Holy Grail was released. Networked Insights also analyzed more than 50 million social media conversations pertaining to the release of Magna Carta and Yeezus. (USA Today)
Recently, Drake talked about his love and hate relationship with Twitter.
“I’ll tell you, my biggest thing was, I remember, it was on Twitter. I remember the day my mom was getting surgery and someone came on Twitter and they were like, ‘Yo, Drake, I hope your mom dies.’ You don’t really mean that. Like, you know you’re going to see something bad. Out of 1000 compliments, it’s so crazy. It’s basically, like, when you used to sit there as a kid, and want to know what everyone is thinking. That’s your superpower. [Twitter is] knowing what everyone is thinking.” (The Source)
The rap star discussed how much of an impact social media has on an artist’s career last year.
Staring into the fire, he tells me he’s part of a new generation of rappers, one that is less defined by aggression and street credibility. “Rap now is just being young and fly and having your sh*t together,” he says. “The mood of rap has changed.” So has the way you get huge as a rapper. Drake launched his career via a blog and Myspace; now he’s one of the biggest artists in the world. He’s keenly aware of the power–and the panoptic demands–of the social networks that made him. “Some of my favorite rappers, some of my heroes”–DJ Screw, Aaliyah–“there might be like 200 pictures of them because there was no Internet,” he says. “Whereas with us, it’s like every moment is documented.” (GQ)
