None is more cringe-worthy than the curious case of Meek Mill. As a matter of fact, in my humble opinion, it’s starting to get embarrassing now.
We are all familiar by now with the sad and tragic tale of how Drake washed Meek in a beef that was as devastating as it was brief. Ok maybe I embellish a little as Meek probably didn’t lose the loyalty of his fans over the tumultuous spat out with the Toronto native 6 god but it definitely was not a good look by any means.
Things didn’t take a turn for the better for Meek when he decided to spit a few bars about the man, who is nowadays more known for his business acumen than his rapping, 50 Cent. You can read all about the turn of events on Slikouronlife (http://www.slikouronlife.co.za/the-meek-mill-50-cents-beef-gets-heated-peep-their-social-media-posts/) but what I want to focus on is the importance of strategic impetus when rappers make moves these days.
Its common knowledge and something that I have discussed at length that even though we appreciate the talent of our artists, it takes much more than that to garner the success that most of these rappers dream about. Enter the PR Agent/ Agency.
The role of PR is to ensure that the messaging and image that emanates from the artist, is positive and consistent with the values associated with the artist as a brand. Meek has been nothing short of a loose cannon when it comes to his social media interaction which has identified itself as a liability. There are too many incidents to mention but the Drake and now recently the 50 Cent debacles have been brazenly clear failures by Meek’s team to properly consult him or at the very least, plan a few moves ahead after he let’s off on a rant that will surely get some people upset. This 50 beef looks to me like a botched attempt to gaining attention for the release of his 4 track EP and then ultimately his new album. Surely there has to be better ways of generating buzz!
On paper, Meek has a lot going for him. His album “Dreams Worth More Than Money” sold more than 200K copies in its first week in a market that does not support album sales. He recently featured on the soundtrack of a big Hollywood movie “Creed” and let’s not forget that he still has the baddest lady in the game in his corner. But at no point have we seen Meek play to his strengths or at the very least show us that there is a bigger plan at hand.
These are just my observations but this has to be a learning for cats who intend to make it in this game that you have to move with some strategic impetus or else you’ll stay in the prime position to collect L’s daily.
Moz
