Mar
27
2008
Hip Hop // Marketing // Music // News

Forbes List of “The Year’s Hottest New Music Stars”

Author An article by CHICAGORilla    Comments 489 Comments

musicstars_1.jpg

No. 1: Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em Could there be any doubt that this kid would top our list? After generating some underground buzz by posting his music on MySpace and YouTube, the Atlanta teenager saw his fledging rap career explode last year with his monster hit “Crank That (Soulja Boy).” In a sign of the times, “Crank That” was a multi-platform phenomenon. Heavy radio play propelled the single to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The YouTube video generated millions of clicks and spawned a dance craze. And the single’s success helped Soulja Boy sell more than 3.4 million downloads and more than 2.6 million ringtones.

musicstars_2.jpg

No. 2: Sean Kingston The 18-year-old Miami native, born Kisean Anderson, spent his formative years in Jamaica, which explains his stage name and the reggae lilt that graces the vocals on his self-titled debut album for Sony/BMG’s Epic Records. His biggest hit was “Beautiful Girls,” a breezy, doo-wop flavored number that was possibly the only hit single of 2007 that appealed to both kids and their grandparents. That song and a couple of other singles have sold more than 2.5 million downloads and more than 1.6 million ringtones.

musicstars_4.jpg

No. 4: J. Holiday Styles come and go, but R&B ballads of romantic seduction never seem to lose their appeal with the music-buying public. And so it was in 2007, with J. Holiday’s hit single, “Bed,” which sold more than 448,000 song downloads last year and helped his debut album Back Of My Lac go gold.

musicstars_5.jpg

No. 5: Flo Rida Good guess–yes, this rapper hails from the Sunshine State, more specifically, Miami-Dade County. Flo Rida made his mark with his No. 1 single “Low,” which featured T-Pain. The song has sold more than 3.1 million downloads and more than 1.3 million ringtones.

musicstars_6.jpg

No. 6: Plies It was clearly a good year for Florida hip-hop debuts. Plies hails from the somewhat unlikely rap center of Fort Myers, from where he launched a career that has already yielded two hit singles, “Shawty” and “Hypnotized,” which featured appearances by T-Pain (the man gets around) and Akon, respectively. In addition to selling a boatload of song downloads and ringtones, Plies’ debut album The Real Testament sold 457,583 units in the U.S. through the end of February 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the best performance of any rapper on our list after Soulja Boy.

musicstars_8.jpg

No. 8: Huey The St. Louis rapper scored big with his hit “Pop, Lock & Drop It,” from his debut album Notebook Paper on Sony BMG’s Jive Records label. The album failed to finish the year among the year’s top 200 best-selling albums, but the single went on to sell more than 932,000 downloads and more than 1.4 million ringtones in 2007.

musicstars_9.jpg

No. 9: Hurricane Chris This Shreveport, La., native caught the attention of hip-hop producer Michael “Mr. Collipark” Crooms, who helped get him signed to Sony BMG’s J Records. Hurricane Chris hit pay dirt last year with rap hit “A Bay Bay,” which sold more than 1.4 million ringtones and more than 890,000 ringtones in 2007. 

Some recording artists toil for years without ever scoring a big hit. Then there’s the fortunate few who skip all the dues-paying hardships and skyrocket straight to stardom.

For this new generation, getting established is as much about nurturing an Internet audience as playing gigs and knocking on the doors of hot record producers and promoters. Posting music and videos online and interacting with fans who can help get the word out about upcoming concerts and TV appearances through their personal blogs and Web sites are crucial pieces of the puzzle.

“Nowadays, a marketing plan always has a significant element that is based around the Web,” says Lee Trink, president of EMI Group’s Capitol Records, home of new R&B hitmaker J. Holiday. “Radio is shrinking; video channels don’t play as many videos. But the good news is, there are so many different ways to get to people [online] and to get to people in very niche ways.”

Still, while the radio dial doesn’t command the same audience it once did, radio exposure remains crucial to generating blockbuster hits, Trink acknowledges.

“All of those have massive radio,” he says. “The way things sell big numbers is still the old-fashioned way.” Source

(Without a balance we are in trouble)

About the Author: D Woods

An absolute monster in these streets! Online and offline this dude does not know the meaning of easy. He goes hard in the paint all day.

489 Comments + Add Comment

Leave a comment

The Most Interesting MC in The World

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Brick Mixtape

Swagger Is Nothing, Talent Is Everything

Text Link Ads

Friends

Archives