Radiohead is getting all the attention, but no mainstream artist did a better job of embracing the music industry’s changing dynamics in 2007 than Lil Wayne. The media-anointed Most Important Band Ever made headlines by giving away their album for free, but the self-proclaimed Best Rapper Alive gave away nearly everything he recorded—and he was damn prolific.
Even though he didn’t release a “real” album in 2007, he dropped gazillions of mix tapes, including The Drought Is Over 2 (The Carter 3 Sessions), The Drought Is Over 3 (Who Is The Predator) and Da Drought 3. (It’s safe to assume that the drought is really, really over.) The most revered of the bunch, Da Drought 3, is on plenty of critics’ year-end Top 10 lists, including mine. Not bad for an album that couldn’t be sold in stores if Wayne wanted it to be, since he’s rapping over other people’s beats.
Though called “mix tapes,” these albums were mainly distributed via Internet file-sharing programs, meaning that Wayne didn’t make any money off of them—directly. He recouped some cash through ringtones, but more importantly kept his name on the tips of everyone’s tongues ahead of his upcoming release, Tha Carter III. MTV even called him the “hottest MC in the game.”
Though he threatens to over-saturate the market by appearing on the CD of anyone who will have him—his croaking chorus on Jay-Z’s American Gangster was especially ill-conceived—Wayne is undoubtedly blazing a trail in the way musicians promote themselves. Who knows, Radiohead may even follow his lead.