Hip Hop Phenom Drake, Signals a New Day in Music

Hip Hop Phenom Drake, Signals a New Day in Music

Usher, Jermaine Dupri, Kenny Burns and Teyanna Taylor are among the industry movers and shakers who came to see rap’s latest “it” boy, Drake, perform on May 2 at the Loft in Atlanta. But the stars took second place to Drake’s charismatic performance. The show, which sold out in only five hours and was put on by Shameless Plug, was packed full of the Internet phenom’s faithful following — mostly legions of screaming college girls. Here are three reasons you should’ve been there to witness the phenomenon.

Drake performs with Trey Songs
1. The exclusivity. The show sold out in five hours and was no doubt the talk of not only the town, but also the rap community. Several major Web sites broadcasted live feeds, as everyone was itching to see what Drake had to offer. And the former “Degrassi” star definitely delivered.

2. The hoards of screaming women. Drake definitely had the ladies in the audience eating out the palm of his hand, particularly when he ran through the more popular songs from his mixtape, So Far Gone, including “You’re the Best” and “Successful” featuring Lil Wayne and Trey Songz.


Trey Songs and Jermain Dupri
3. Speaking of Trey Songz, he hopped on stage to help his buddy out on “Successful,” much to the delight of the crowd. Other stars, including Jermaine Dupri and Usher showed up to cheer Drake on — a move not to be taken lightly, especially since Drake has yet to release a major label album.

All in all, the impact of this show goes far beyond Drake himself, and demonstrates the overall direction that the industry is moving in. It’s a new age — one where digital beats analog, you don’t need the radio to gain legions of fans, and record labels play second fiddle to digital distributors and bloggers. Welcome to 2009.  –jh


 

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