Preston Perry

Introduction to Mass Communications

Professor Zimdars

September 24th, 2015

                                                           

     Blog Assignment #1

            It is a known fact that successful business owners will target the youth for a conservative approach when brainstorming advertisement. Today's youth is highly concerned with technology and social media. The so-called “beef” between rappers Drake and Meek Mill is very common to what goes on between adolescents all over the world. Social media is the root of a lot of drama between teens and young adults. Social media made it possible for youth to feel like they were a part of the controversy Drake and Meek Mill.

            This summer the rapper Meek Mill decided to drop his latest album called “Dreams Worth More Than Money.” I’m a big fan of the album I thought there is a good variety of music for his fans to listen to. Meek Mill is a very popular artist, and so is Drake. Drake is more popular than Meek Mill in a sense of fan base. Drake has music for boys and girls to listen to, while Meek Mill’s music is more just for guys. Meek Mill and Drake have worked together on several songs in the past. They have a song, and music video called “Amen.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr-Lj9TnJOE) This song has almost eighteen million views on YouTube.com. This song “Amen” came out in 2012 when both rappers were both fairly new to the music industry. The artists are very similar with each other’s work and familiar with working together as well.

            This summer, Meek Mill’s album featured Drake on a song called “Rico.” This song is very controversial and started one of the biggest rap beef’s of my generation. First of all the rapper Drake does not write all of his music. His last mix tape had songs that were not written by him as well. It just so happens that Drake did not write his verse on the song “Rico” on Meek Mill’s album. Then Drake made a statement that triggered Meek Mill’s anger. Meek Mill was mad because Drake said that his verse on the song “Rico” was the best song on Meek Mill’s latest album. The song “Rico” received over twenty six million views on YouTube.com. When Meek Mill heard Drake’s statement, he immediately resorted to twitter. People say this was the wrong decision to make, but he wanted it to be known that Drake wasn’t writing his own music. Meek Mill sent out about thirty tweets exposing Drake for having a Ghostwriter. A ghostwriter is when an artist sings songs written by other artists. Drake responded a few days later with a song called “Charged Up.” The song was retaliation to Meek Mill’s twitter rant. Drake’s response to the rant was not what people expected and it was pretty obvious. A few days after “Charged up” Drake released another response to Meek Mill called “Back To Back.” This song was number one on Boston’s number one radio station Jammin 94.5 for five weeks straight on every music countdown. The media turned a twitter rant on social media into a number record on radio stations across the country.

            Social media escalated a controversy between two popular artists within days. Hours after the first incident other social media sites like “instagram” were flooded with pictures of tension between the rappers. As I sit in class and relate the situation to mass communication I realize the power behind social media. Social media is the easiest way to target our generation. A topic on social media turned into a song on the radio that adults are listening to, while their kid is in the car reading tweets about Meek Mill and Drake. Most adults are not concerned about the two rappers, but adolescents are very intrigued. The fact that the youth is intrigued caused the radio to be stuck playing. When I use what I learned in reality, I understand that social media is an efficient way to market and pitch a product. Also in today’s world the chances are if it is popular with the youth on social media then it has potential to be popular and well known. Social media and the radio have a very strong connection. Popular artists on social media are the same artists we hear on the radio. As far as communication from a promotional standpoint, music, social media, and the radio are all intertwined.