This article is tagged as #School. It was previously published on a different website as a part of Stephanie Pichardo's Senior Comprehensive Assignment.
It’s true when they say anyone can be famous nowadays. It’s become even easier with how fast information spreads through social media.
The music industry has definitely seen a shift in the kind of artists that have begun charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
With free-to-use websites such as Soundcloud, it’s easy for artists of different genres to put out their craft online.
Sometimes, out of luck or talent, these artists breakthrough and become successful on the charts and in the music industry.
A few of the recognizable artists to crossover from being known as “Soundcloud rappers” to signed rappers in the industry are Lil Uzi Vert whose summer 2017 hit you may have heard of “XO Tour Llif3” and Lil Yachty.
Without any public relations team and major label helping them advertise their music, some of their songs reached over 70 million plays on their own.
BET calls this the “Millennial Rap Era” and these are the artists shaping the new rap wave. A lot of online users can strongly disagree with this considering the internet has made many rappers they coin “trash” famous.
In 2016, an episode of Dr. Phil aired an episode focusing on a disrespectful child and a mother who does not know what else to do with her.
During the episode after referring to the audience as “hoes,” Danielle Bregoli said a now-famous line of hers “Catch me outside, how ‘bout that?” Not long after, memes began circulating of the then 13-year-old Bregoli.
Soon enough, she found that her internet fame could lead to something bigger and quickly branded herself and created a youtube channel. She even moved to Hollywood to further her career.
In August 2017, she announced she would be releasing her first rap single “These Heaux” which debuted at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts.
Not long after that, in September of that same year, Atlantic Records signed a multi-million dollar contract, according to TMZ, and took on her stage name: Bhad Bhabie.
People just couldn’t believe how someone who went viral the way she did and have no musical background could get such a deal with a major record label.
Some showed love.
She isn’t the first viral rapper to have a successful career lined up.
Lil Pump is another viral star who started off the same social media platform big names like Lil Uzi Vert did.
Not even 18 years old, he holds 2 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song that started it all was “Gucci Gang” which peaked at #3 in December 2017. Much like Danielle Bregoli, he is a very entertaining person regardless of how good or bad his music is.
Gucci Gang consists of Pump repeatedly yelling “Gucci Gang” for the majority of the song and somehow it became a viral hit. It could be that the song is catchy and that is the reason why it became so popular.
Even if you liked it or not, at one point, you found yourself repeating the lyrics over and over again.
In an analysis: Internet memes as internet signs: A semiotic view of digital culture conducted at the University of Lincoln, author Sara Cannizzaro notes that asymmetry in communication is the answer as to why songs like Gucci Gang become such viral hits and memes.
If anyone remembers Rebecca Black’s 2012 viral hit “Friday,” it followed the same pattern “Gucci Gang” does. Her lyrics mostly consisted of her repeating the word “Friday” and just like “Gucci Gang” it got stuck in our heads.
Cannizzaro states “Asymmetry can be a useful analytical term for understanding the transformation of internet memes because it arises from the difference in ‘semiotic structures’ proposed by the remixing web user.“ In simpler terms, these songs are translated into memes and passed along in different forms such as images and audios.
Is the way these internet stars get their break into the mainstream music media justify their reputation as an artist?
Oz Nation Records recording artist David Huebert believes these Soundcloud rappers “do an injustice to an extent.” He continues, “You can tell the rappers who came to strictly entertain and those who actually have a story to tell. But just because you’re here to entertain doesn’t mean your music isn’t worth listening to.”
In this millennial rap era happening right now, it’s best to begin to accept the music change and allow for older more respected music to influence new artists like Lil Pump and Bhad Bhabie. Eventually, a new rap era will begin in the future, making this old news.