Social Media Influences in Hip Hop

Hip Hop has been around since the 70's and has many various eras of change. In the digital age that we are currently in, social media now plays a major part in hip hop. Artists and other media outlets can use social channels as a way to gain a following and promote certain products.

More and more artist are opting to release their music independent and social media creates a way for these artists to share their music and become widespread without having to be signed to a major record label.

Record labels will also want their artists to have a good social media presence in order to better sell music. Some artists in my opinion are not even that talented but have ridiculous social media marketing that blows up which makes record labels excited because they can easily capitalize on them.

Examples of Good Social Media Marketing

KXNG Crooked

One of my personal favorite rappers, KXNG Crooked, is really good when it comes to playing the social media game. His twitter page gets really solid engagement because of the content he has to offer.

One of the best things that Crooked does on his twitter page is ask questions and be interactive with the hip hop community. He actively talks the lingo with his followers and has real discussions/debates about certain topics.

On This Date in Hip Hop Instagram Page

Another really good example is an instagram page titles “On This Date in Hip Hop.” This page relives classic and new important event in hip hop history. Anything from album releases, awards, etc. are posted almost daily.

This page also does community polled awards called “InstaGrammys”, around the same time as the real Grammys, in which the community will vote on who they believe should win. This really gets people involved because everyone wants to voice their opinion and this gives a way for their favorite artists to be recognized even if the music industry won’t acknowledge them.