How American rap has changed with the advent of social media influence

The history of rap music first started a long time ago, in the 80's, with musical experimentation through the use of rhymes and rhythmic speeches. Rap was a departure from disco, and since then, it has changed a lot.

This post doesn't deal with the whole history of rap and its origins, but rather with how social media have made it possible to create young artists and make them "blow up" (slang for "become popular"), often without the help of a label.

The first step in this evolution is a precursor; someone who, for the first time, used social networks to his advantage.

In 2008, Soulja Boy became the first rapper to set a record for the number of digital downloads in the United States with "Crank That" selling over three million copies. Mainly because he created the concept of viral dance. He is the "original" social media influencer. "Crank That" and his subsequent work made hip hop evolve.

Soulja Boy quickly took advantage of the increase in page views to strengthen his presence on other platforms, including MySpace, where he opened an account with the help of his cousin. He also linked his MySpace, YouTube and SoundClick to maintain traffic and increase the number of clicks between his pages. In an interview with Vulture in 2008, he said, "Actually, all my MySpace views come from SoundClick and my YouTube views come from MySpace; they fed off each other. With the rise of the blogger and the influence of social media, such a small step is now considered intuitive, but at the time, he was one of the first to really understand this blueprint.

Initially more popular with independent artists, the rapper was able to translate the hype of the Internet into mainstream success, which opened the eyes not only of his fellow artists, but also of their record companies. Over time, social media became a prerequisite for artists seeking to survive in an industry that had moved from analog to digital.