10 Exclusive Retail Deals For Rap’s New Generation
Well, it’s official: Prince is a genius. After the Eagles and AC/DC posted huge numbers last year releasing albums exclusively through a Walmart, Prince signed on to release a three-album set for sale only at Target. Mark our words: he’ll be platinum by June.
The trend got us thinking that some of these struggling rookie rappers could benefit from the strategy. Granted, big dog retailers like Best Buy and Target probably won’t cut exclusive deals with newcomers like Kid Cudi and Asher Roth, but we thought of some less obvious stores that might jump at the chance. Read on to see marketing plans for ten of our favorite up-and-coming MCs…
BLU
Album Sold Exclusively At: Whole Foods
Sales Promotion: Get the album for 20% more than it would cost anywhere else! What?! It was recorded organically. Be cool, man.
KID CUDI
Album Sold Exclusively At: 7-11
Sales Promotion: The Lonely Stoner Special: Buy the album and get half off a footlong/Big Gulp combo. Don’t worry–we’re open day and night!
DRAKE
Album Sold Exclusively At: International Male
Sales Promotion: Type in promo code PIERCINGGREENEYES at checkout and get a free sample of Drake’s new cologne, Eau D’Grassi.
JAY ELECTRONICA
Album Sold Exclusively At: The Apple Store
Sales Promotion: Goes great with every other cool-but-overhyped piece of electronica. Baby Mama Drama Lightning Deal: Trade in any common Zune and get an autographed picture of Erykah and Jay’s baby!
CHARLES HAMILTON
Album Sold Exclusively At: Gamestop
Sales Promotion: Walk out of the store now and preserve the chances of losing your virginity!
Click NEXT to see our suggestions for Nipsey Hussle, OJ Da Juiceman, Asher Roth, Tyga and Wale.
Universal Indie Records March 3, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Pretty funny…
sergoeh March 3, 2009 at 11:31 pm
this is some funny shit.
Huh? March 4, 2009 at 12:38 am
Aww man…
ramrod March 4, 2009 at 7:32 pm
IS THAT BARGNANI IN THE CHARLES PIC!???!?
Ame March 4, 2009 at 10:42 pm
This is good stuff! The Wale one is so true
Beat Auction March 5, 2009 at 4:09 am
Why the fuck was Andrea Bargnani in the Charles Hamilton pic???
Reppin DC March 5, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Tyga is not up and coming. And you spelled Claire’s wrong even though it is right in front of you!?! Not really funny. Complex should just stop trying.
H March 6, 2009 at 9:56 am
Sofa king retarded.
Becky Billions March 6, 2009 at 1:48 pm
lame…im disappointed
ny.done.right March 6, 2009 at 7:52 pm
this is a terrible article, i don’t understand what complex is trying to accomplish with this, are you trying to put these guys down or trying to be funny? these guys are the future!! get your shit together
cam March 7, 2009 at 12:47 am
wow that shit isnt even funny i guess complex wants 2 live in a world of 50’s and and other rappers who rap about all tha money they got and how many women they crushin and the new bently they have real sweet complex A+++ fuck complex MAG never buying a Copy agian
cydela March 7, 2009 at 9:54 am
funny is funny…thats the prob wit this hipster crap. EGOS got everybody afraid to laugh at themselves…trust me, all these so-called HipHop Saviors are fallible, no matter how much brain these hipsters give em…and yeah, they’re not in the 50 category but the 2nd-hand store crap-rap is getting PLAYED OUT…how about some solutions to the worlds problems, genuises?? since its SO Kool 2 worship hedonism of college gurls & video game characters…roflmbao at this Complex article! 2 Thumbs UP!
“The moment where bullies find God
Dumb-ass, he been on the scene all along”
-Mos Def “Napoleon Dynamite”
leo March 7, 2009 at 11:43 am
http://www.kidcudi.com/news/?p=564
smh at complex, have some respect. You put Cudi on the home page and have some two-cent writer cook something so… untasteful, for lack of a better word. Cudi, Wale, and the rest of these cats are the future. Your precious little 50 Cent ain’t got nothing on these guys, and believe that.
Ame March 8, 2009 at 3:31 pm
^ WOW! Talk about a Super Stan!
Wow March 8, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Ya’ll groupies need to lighten up a bit. I recall Complex featuring all these artists at one point or another. So they ain’t hating any of these guys on a personal level.
Shit is all for fun and laughs. Ya’ll groupie ass tricks.
PS. I’m a huge fan of Blu myself. But I guess the fans of Wale, and Charles Hamilton are so full of themselves like the artists.
shane March 8, 2009 at 7:13 pm
this shit aint funny. most of these artist have been workin in the whole rap game for a long ass time. kid cudi’s 25 wale’s been around new york forever. just cuz everyone is tryin to discover the next lil wayne or kanye west. so every rapper thats gettin discovered is thrown in with a group of people all trying to fill the shoes of the ones mentioned above.
IN ALL ACTUALLY IF YOU LIKE THE MUSIC AND IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD, LISTEN TO IT! WHO CARES WHAT MAKES US MOVE OR FEEL GOOD.
TO EACH HIS OWN
NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO SAY WHAT IS GOOD MUSIC AND WHAT IS BAD MUSIC. ITS A INDIVIDUAL THING ITS THAT PLAIN AND A SIMPLE
TeTe March 8, 2009 at 7:32 pm
this is so lame.
wow March 10, 2009 at 3:06 am
LLL aaaaa mmmm EEEEE as fuck mah dude!
this is the wackest shit i have read in a while…
complex aint shit!
L.SS March 10, 2009 at 1:48 pm
its you so called criticts and journalists of music that piss me off man. So fukin one dimensional and ignorant. All thes rappers givin there all to the game and bring there unique flow which aint nothin to critisise and rip on. Cudi for example, I find it lame that you base your whole opinion of him over 1 of his many amazing songs, and yh it may ave been his breakout song, so to speak, but there no doubt that hes definately one of the realist in a list that these days doesnt include many names. Keep your misplaced opinions to yourself in future, theres no need to post shit like this
trudy March 11, 2009 at 11:59 pm
yaah not funny.
Bed-stuy Queen March 12, 2009 at 10:43 pm
I can’t believe Complex would publish something so degrading and nullify the new hip hop movement. You see WE are the Voice of the generation and how dare you a LOW-budget magazine have any right to humiliate Charles or Cudder!!
King Julian March 12, 2009 at 10:57 pm
This is your beloved King Julian I see we have a problem with complex magazine.I have solution to your complex rap problems buddy. I King Julian will offer a hip hop sacrifice to my friends the complex gods. (MMM..)Thank you for the hip hop sacrifice..”Have another hip hop sacrifice.” No No thats enough for today.. “Please I’ll be verrryyy offended if you don’t have another hip hop sacrifice..” No, I told you I don’t want anymore hip hop… “Come on you look very skinny…” I said I don’t want anymore HIP HOP ARE WE CLEAR!!…..”Then your hip hop problems will be solved buddy.
suckitmarshall March 13, 2009 at 4:03 pm
^^^^
You dickriders are hilarious. This wasn’t even a dis. How could Cudi be mad? They took part of his song and made a benign little joke. They didn’t say he was wack, or dis the song. You people are so fucking retarded. Can you read?
I mean, maybe Wale could feel some kind of way about how they slayed him, but maybe he shouldn’t have waited TWO FUCKING YEARS to put out a Nike Boots video. The joke was totally appropriate. By the time that video came out even his fans were over the song. That’s not a dis, it’s a fact.
Roland Hyde March 14, 2009 at 4:26 pm
This is some STR8 bullsh*t….It woulda been iight if it was comedically funny but whoever wrote it is just corny.
Jedi March 14, 2009 at 11:19 pm
wow really i agree complex needs to throw in the towel with this crapy blog entry and Drake needs no help with pushing an album.
O Easy March 15, 2009 at 4:03 pm
^^^^^^
If I was Wale I’d be pissed. First for a new rapper or a rapper that hasn’t had a album out yet. How would you expect him to just put out official Video’s. You know how old Day N Night is?? His video is just in sucker free rotation now. thats how it has been since the beginning of time. New rappers aint really new, when they plan on goin nation wide they gotta go backwards before they go forwards. Cause all the hype from the previous music hasn’t been heard by the masses. Wale has been doing big things locally and in the underground or should I say internet circuit. But he wanted the masses to hear Nike Boots cause its a tribute to his city. Soo i dont care if it would have taken ten years. He still needed that track to let niggas know he aint no hipster nigga. and Niggas in DC go hard and started that Nike Boots shit that has been circulating now. The track was hot and is hot. Complex should get shitted on for this. period. If i was wale i wouldnt do shit wit them again
andanotherone March 15, 2009 at 4:37 pm
^^^
I don’t know which is funnier, the article or the illiterate Stans it brought outta the woodwork. I hope all internet stalkers actually buy these dudes albums, ’cause I’m a fan of ‘em, but I don’t think they’re too holy for some stupid jokes at their expense…Wale ain’t muthafuckin’ Mother Theresa. The dude made a dope song, and a decent mixtape. Whatevs…
Drake's Weed Carrier March 15, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I fucks with Drake heavy, dude’s sick with it, but goddamned that pic of him for International Male is fucking funny… If that shit didn’t make him laugh he needs to check himself, funny is funny…
Roly Jimenez March 16, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Missed the humor in this… were u trying too hard or did I have to enjoy Soul Plane to crack a smile while reading this
sam March 17, 2009 at 1:39 am
shit is weak i fuck with kid cudi. he is the truth and most real rapper in the game. this shit aint funny its fucking lame. shit is real weak stop hating u just another sorry motherfucka that aint doin shit with your life
Andanotherone March 17, 2009 at 9:59 am
^^^
*Goes to OTB and wagers life savings that whoever wrote this article is doing way more with his life than this illiterate fuck**
Kenny March 17, 2009 at 1:05 pm
This article is pathetic. Sorry Complex, always been a fan, but this story crosses the line.
Let me get this straight. You do a feature on CuDi, yet go on to slam him in this? Was this written by some broke ass “I only listen to underground shit” intern who doesn’t know how to work photoshop?
Regardless, this is tasteless writing, and tasteless humor. Grow up, and embrace artists breaking into the mainstream as opposed to hating on them.
Didn’t your momma ever teach you? If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
kenny
http://www.theurbanian.com
Yeaimjustahater March 17, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Complex crossed the line, and seems to get lamer and lamer. How are you disrespecting the people that were featured in the magazine. Smh calling Tyga a female, then if someone was to approach someone it would be “Hip-Hop is full of savages”, when really its a few clowns who think being disrespectful is funny.
Yeaimjustahater March 17, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Wow then you called Asher Roth a molester. smh
andy March 19, 2009 at 9:47 pm
oh hell no…you put kid cudi on blast and dont expect ish.? complex.. u WERE the ish but now i just lost respect.. Have respect for upcoming artists…so what if he has a song called day and nite…I DONT C U MAKING N E SONGS….so jus leave him alone..
whocareswhatmynameis. March 20, 2009 at 4:33 am
this was EXTREMELY like ‘cringe-in-your-seat’ type corny.
come better.
Jamie March 22, 2009 at 9:31 pm
It was a JOKE…seriously relax, and lighten up. You guys are really sounding ignorant, open your minds a little, it’s obviously supposed to be a satire.
billybass@ymail.com March 24, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Whats cudi crying about. That shit was mad funny. Boo hoo cudi. And all you jock riders need to lighten up. Yall just upset cause cudi said it. Bunch of Robots. Think for yourself.
Kuahmel April 5, 2009 at 5:25 pm
While the article was of questionable humor and spirit, the way some of the fanboys and fangirls above melted down about it is also telling.
These guys are public figures. Not everyone is gonna handle a public figure (let alone one you like) in a pure-praise, play-it-straight manner. If that was the rule, TMZ and the tabloids wouldn’t exist. And I’m sure all the above guys understand that going in or else they’d take up jobs slicing meat.
Camy April 19, 2009 at 5:16 pm
that was dumb, why would you play people like that?
Capricorn12 May 10, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I’m a big Cudi fan and I thought this shit was hilarious. Lighten up, people.
*Tey May 24, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Pure bumbaklat foolishness. Complex=never cared for ya..never the fuck will.
Lets hype up bubblegum rappers and stomp down on the ones doin real shit. I’m just glad some of the other great striving artists weren’t dragged down in this shithole toilet of a post.
Joke (If it was a good one we’d be able to tell) or not. That’s some straight assness.
Absolutely lovely.
Fuck outta here.
WAAACCKK.
Brooklyn June 25, 2009 at 2:05 am
This shiit is WACK!!
There is not much more to it!
you think that this is funney you have thee worst sence of humor ever no doubt!
You dont know what is funney and
thats not aprishiated by no one!
Kid Cudi Lover August 22, 2009 at 11:36 pm
This isn’t funny,
Kid Cudi is AMAZING,
So i think you should just stfu.
i Lovee Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi . August 30, 2009 at 6:31 pm
wow , ii didnt laugh ONE bit at the Kid Cudi one -; im a huge fan of him .
this is sooo lame . .. smh