How Lil Wayne Became The Best Rapper Alive: A Marketer's Guide
Lil Wayne is one of the greatest rappers of all time. Top 5 on any list that you have.
To this very day, he’s still killing features and preparing to release another album, The Carter VI, soon.
Although Tunechi has been active in the rap game since he was just 11 years old, there was a magical period in his career when everyone understood that he was…
The Best Rapper Alive.
From about 2006 to 2009, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing a Lil Wayne song, feature, or even a hook on the radio.
He scorched everything he touched, and that run alone shifted the entire conversation of “Who’s The GOAT” for decades to come.
As usual — there’s a ton of learnings that we can gather from Lil Wayne, and with his birthday being the other day, the timing couldn’t be more perfect to highlight them.
That said, let’s talk about Wayne’s career, and how he became the best rapper alive from a marketing perspective.
I. A Renewed Brand Positioning & Tone of Voice
Brand positioning is key for any product in any industry and the same goes for rap.
Before 2005, Wayne’s brand was in an interesting place.
His solo album Tha Carter I showed promise, but many weren’t necessarily sold on him as a solo artist yet.
He hadn’t shed the image of a former Hot Boy, and instead, he was known as the only artist to stay with Cash Money after the group broke up.
He was the label’s last hope, but as for being the GOAT? That was hardly the topic of conversation.
IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT THOSE PERCEPTIONS CHANGED FAST.
When Wayne began his ascent in 2006, he had just released Tha Carter II a year prior. It was on that album that he he began to make a bold proclamation:
“I Am The Best Rapper Alive”
This was a tipping point in his career because the rap game always respected Wayne, yet no one ever had the gall to call themselves the best (except for maybe Jay Z).
But a rapper from The South claiming to be the best? It caught everyone’s attention.
In time Wayne proved that statement to be true.
He had fans saying “the best rapper alive/since the best rapper retired” — a reference to Jay Z, who announced his retirement in 2003 after releasing The Black Album.
Wayne even developed a new Tone of Voice (literally and figuratively)
Tha Carter II showed a level of maturity to Wayne’s sound that was leaps and bounds above Tha Carter I.
He displayed a level of confidence and self-assuredness vocally that fans hadn’t seen from him.
his style started to morph from tank tops and jeans to streetwear brands like BAPE, and his overall presence as an emcee was in line with the brand positioning that he was proclaiming.
His brand became so strong that fans & artists began to say…
If Wayne gets on your song, it’s not your song anymore.
People knew that once they heard the flick of his lighter they were in for a treat.
With over 100+ features in 2007, and Grammy soon after, he announced what his brand was and what it stood for.
Needless to say, he backed it up.
II. A Solid Channel strategy
A huge part of Wayne’s ascent culturally was his unique distribution strategy.
Remember, this was around 2006/2007, which means that the internet was essentially the dominant force in music consumption.
Fans would still buy CDs for big releases, but iTunes and mixtape websites were now becoming the preferred way to consume music.
Anyone hoping to make a mark back then had to have solid channel strategy that would have them win in two lanes:
The Internet
Big box stores/Retail
To win in each environment requires a different approach. Wayne’s channel strategy was simple & very effective.
A. He Flooded The Online Mixtape Market:
Mixtapes are loved because of they display the most unfiltered version of the artist. While Tha Carter II let fans know that a new Weezy was in town, more work had to be done to effectively take the crown of “Best Rapper Alive”
Wayne’s mixtape run is what solidified his argument.
In 2006, Wayne began to flood the market with a series of mixtapes and it all came to a head when he released…
Da Drought 3
This is perhaps the most important mixtape of all time, and the greatest one in Lil Wayne’s catalog.
On that tape, core fans heard Wayne introduce new flows and witty bars in a format that allowed him to rap over other people’s beats.
The tape was so good and such a step up from what fans heard on Tha Carter II that it became clear that something magical was happening. A new driving force in Hip-hop was appearing before their very eyes.
‘Da Drought 3’ generated word of mouth — so much so, that the lore of Lil Wayne as a solo artist began to pick up even more steam.
B. Then There Were The Leaks…
One of the most prolific, and accidental pieces of Lil Wayne’s brand were the prolific amount of leaks that happened in between his studio albums Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III.
Tha Carter III sessions consisted of literally 100s of unreleased Lil Wayne songs and they appeared everywhere. Literally.
Because a record label wasn’t allowed to play the middle man, songs that would’ve never seen the light of day fell right into the hands of his most avid consumers.
The unintended effect helped his career in a major way.
Because of the leaks, Wayne’s presence became as evergreen as the social content we consume daily.
C. He Crafted Albums for Mass Market/CD Buyers
Lastly, Wayne saved his major label efforts for hitting a mass audience.
These were the fans who still went to stores to buy CDs, the ones who primarily let what’s on the radio determine their purchase decisions (i.e. the casual fans).
The first single off of his highly anticipated album “Tha Carter III” wasn’t a gangsta rap song — it was an infectious pop-rap song called “Lollipop” that dominated the charts for weeks.
On the flipside, when you bought the album you saw that the substance was there — all of the bars and concepts that core fans and super fans hoped for was right there waiting for them.
It was the perfect mix for all fans whether you were a mixtape fan, occasional listener, or general audience.
A great channel strategy indeed.
III. He had an “Always On” Approach
Remember the Drake piece we had from a while back? If not, It referenced one of Byron Sharp’s laws about always being “on” in some capacity when trying to build a presence in the market.
Perhaps the most key part of Wayne’s ascent during the 06-09 era was that he adhered to Sharp’s law.
He didn’t go silent, and that was because the distribution of his music was so far and wide that you couldn’t help but to hear him in some capacity.
He was on the radio
He was on Limewire
He was on Rap City
He was everywhere.
Odds are that you would stumble onto a Wayne song without even trying and if you didn’t like one record, he had at least 5 ready to go for you to check out.
WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY?
Wayne worked so hard to establish himself in that 3 year window that almost two decades later fans still remember the products & brand positioning that he put forth in that era.
Maybe the biggest takeaway here for brands is that no matter what you’re selling, if you know that your offering is the best (or believe it to be) then you should proclaim it and make no qualms about it.
BUT… WITH THAT SAID…
Don’t be the guy who talks a lot of sh*t and when they finally get into fight they get hands put to em.
If you’re going to say that you’re the best, then you need to back it up with whatever product you’re promoting.
And hey, if you’re right, then maybe you’ll have a run like Wayne did in 2006.
You won’t be the best rapper alive because… Well, that’s him.
But you’ll be the best “something” and that still counts, right?
Peace.