Hussle poses with his first $100 album sold
Photo courtesy of Instagram niphussel
LEGENDARY SUPPORT: Jay Z spent $10,000 on 100 copies of the album and posted the picture to his website
Photo courtesy of lifeandtimes.com
Usually when people line up down a city block to drop $100, it’s for a new gadget and usually when rappers release mixtapes, they are priced somewhere between free and “five-dollar donation suggested.” But those two normalities were tossed out the window Tuesday, October 8 when established underground artist Nipsey Hussle released his eighth official mixtape entitled “Crenshaw” with the whopping price tag of $100.
Though it may sound ridiculous, the strategy behind the MSRP was actually, carefully planned out and skillfully executed.
Hussle, an artist known for his despise of the music industry, devised the $100 mixtape concept in rebellion of the traditional avenues in releasing an album. Hussle’s point was to cut out the “middle-man” in delivering his product to fans.
Hussle cleverly crafted the “Proud 2 Pay” campaign, getting fans to rally around his idea of consumers paying artists directly for the value of their work. “All money in No money Out,” reads the banner atop the payment page of the Proud 2 Pay website where fans who weren’t lined up along North Fairfax Avenue Tuesday, could purchase the album.
Hussle also released “Crenshaw” online, making the electronic version of the album available for free download. But that minor detail did not detract legions of fans in the least bit who were literally proud to pay for a hard copy of the prized rappers cd. One such fan was local rap enthusiast, Rondell Johnson, who stood in line Tuesday for his autograph copy and a chance to shake hands with the rapper.
“People have asked me if I really paid $100 for a mixtape.” Johnson admitted on his Instagram page beneath a video he posted of himself locking hands with Hussle, saluting the rapper moments before receiving his signed copy. “It’s beyond the aspect of a feasible mixtape,” the caption went on, “It’s the message. The movement. The genius. The boldness. That is what I invested my money into. The bigger picture.” He concluded with the hash tag “History in the Making.”
Johnson was exactly right about Hussle’s bold move making history. The rapper is making national headlines and has even garnered support from superstar rapper, Jay Z, who purchased 100 copies of the album, writing Hussle a check for $10,000. Hussle told MTV news that “Jay made it clear that he respects the movement and everything. I was humbled by it. I felt like it was a good risk, and it ended up working out.”
The risk worked out indeed. Hussle, who only minted 1000 copies of his “Crenshaw” mixtape sold all of them in under 24 hours, pulling in $100K.
Receipts from hard copy purchases of Hussle’s album doubled as concert tickets to a secret performance for the fans Hussle has yet to release the details of.
A Los Angeles native, Hussle grew up near the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Slauson Avenue. The rapper frequently talks about his home town in albums. His fan base, which is now worldwide, began in the streets of Los Angeles.
“I have over 400k followers on twitter, 140k on Instagram and 400k on Facebook but what good are they if they don’t mobilize around my releases?” The rapper said in a statement to RapRadar. “If only 1000 of those people are engaged to the point of brand loyalty then that’s who I’m focused on.”
ALBUM ART: The cover of local rapper Nipsey Hussle’s sold out $100 Album
Photo courtesy of iamproud2pay.com
