Earl Sweatshirt On Going Viral: “The Rapid Ascent Is Answered With A Violent Nosedive”

In today’s music industry, an artist can earn a huge following and even a multi-million dollar record deal with the right viral marketing strategy. However, not everyone thinks turning yourself into a meme is the best way to approach a career in music. On Twitter today, Earl Sweatshirt advised artists to resist the easy success of virality, noting that a quick rise to fame is often accompanied by a rapid backlash:

The industry is rife with examples of viral success quickly petering out. In 2018, Doja Cat became an internet sensation with her song “Mooo!,” to the tune of nearly 40 million YouTube views. Within a few weeks, however, she became the target of criticism after fans unearthed her history of homophobic tweets. This is a common occurrence after someone goes viral, often referred to as a “milkshake duck.” She hasn’t released a song since then, and it’s unclear if the viral track will help her career in the long run.

In a more extreme case, Brooklyn rapper 6ix9ine used his garish appearance and penchant for inciting social media beef as an incredibly effective marketing tool. He rose to fame with his 2017 track, “GUMMO,” and managed to earn six Gold or Platinum plaques and over half-a-dozen Hot 100 hits in just over a year. This gangster image used to market his music, however, ultimately became his downfall.

As Rolling Stone reported, the rapper first fell in with members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods during the “GUMMO” music video shoot, and subsequently documented many of their activities on social media in a bid for online attention. He’s now facing the possibility of life in prison on charges of racketeering and armed robbery.

Still, labels are increasingly looking to viral marketing strategies as a way to break new artists. Last year, Vulture reported on something called “The Pump Plan,” which Inzei Records pitches to new artists after previous success with Florida rapper Lil Pump. Vulture’s Lauren Levy explained the process:

It includes tactics like: social-media influencer campaigns, meme-ing the artist, Musical.ly placements, World Star promotions, and something called ‘controversy projects,’ which seems to mean planting feuds between artists and igniting drama to stoke controversy and online attention.

There are certainly examples of these strategies working in an artist’s favor. Cardi B was a popular figure on social media well before she became a successful rapper, and she’s continued to use her outsized personality to market her music. Atlantic Records also turned a foul-mouthed teen with a viral Dr. Phil appearance into Bhad Bhabie, a rapper with multiple Gold plaques and Hot 100 hits.

It’s also worth noting that Earl Sweatshirt used some of these same tactics to achieve early success alongside his Odd Future cohorts. His debut mixtape, Earl, was filled with violent raps about rape and murder, and the video for its title track depicted the rapper and his friends ingesting a random cocktail of drugs:

The MC has since distanced himself from the group’s early output, and instead focused on releasing experimental music like his 2018 album, Some Rap Songs.

Catch up on all the lyrics to Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs on Genius now.