Last year West cCoast rapper Nipsey Hussle made quite a stir when he revealed that he was selling his new album, Crenshaw, for $100 per copy.
While some balked at the bold move, others, such as Jay Z, were intrigued by the unique marketing idea and bought up the copies of the limited edition release. Hov himself bought 100 copies of the album just because he liked the savviness of Nipsey’s hustle.
Keeping in mind with the old saying: once is good but twice is better, Hussle is at it again.
In a recent interview with MTV News, the “Feelin’ Myself” rapper detailed plans for his newest album, Mailbox Money, which he plans to sell for a staggering $1,000 a pop.
“There will only be 100 hard copies and they are $1,000 each,” he tells MTV, also mentioning the album will be released for free via iTunes and the Proud 2 Pay platform built for the Crenshaw release. “The 100 people that buy the P2P version will be granted access to a private advance listening session of [upcoming 2015 album] Victory Lap at the secret Marathon Store we are going to open the day of the listening.”
Hussle goes to explain how the project will stand out from other releases by his contemporaries.
“It’s all original music. Being honest, these ain’t mixtapes, they’re albums,” he explains. “These original songs, concepts, the biggest producers, the biggest rappers in the game are a part of [it] and bringing creativity to [it]. I don’t want to devalue it by calling it a mixtape. It’s really just music — more conversations for my people.”
Depending on the success of this endeavor, the ramifications could be massive for the way music is delivered to the masses.
We will be sure to keep a close eye on this one.
