WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.960 I want you to just imagine for a second that 00:00:03.960 --> 00:00:07.259 it is November 7th, 2016. Oh, man, the night 00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:09.060 before the election. Exactly. It's the night 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:13.580 before one of the most polarizing and just anxiety 00:00:13.580 --> 00:00:16.000 inducing elections in modern American history. 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:18.579 Everyone's nerves are completely fried. Totally. 00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:20.579 Their entire country is basically glued to their 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:23.160 screens. The news cycle is at an absolute boiling 00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:25.940 point. And the tension in the air is just palpable. 00:00:26.059 --> 00:00:28.329 Yeah, you could cut it with a knife. Right. And 00:00:28.329 --> 00:00:31.370 into this exact, highly charged moment, a major 00:00:31.370 --> 00:00:34.369 R &B artist drops a music video. And it's simply 00:00:34.369 --> 00:00:36.909 titled, Campaign. Which is just, I mean, what 00:00:36.909 --> 00:00:40.270 a move. It's wild. And you are here because you 00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:42.310 want to get past the surface level of cultural 00:00:42.310 --> 00:00:44.409 moments exactly like that one. Right. You want 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:46.109 to see how the pieces actually fit together. 00:00:46.270 --> 00:00:48.450 Yeah, without having to spend hours drowning 00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:50.990 in endless browser tabs and weird industry jargon. 00:00:51.570 --> 00:00:54.149 OK, let's unpack this. We are opening up a literal 00:00:54.149 --> 00:00:56.759 sonic time capsule today. You really are. The 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.159 source material we're looking at is the Wikipedia 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:02.700 page for Tidal Assign's 2016 project campaign. 00:01:02.979 --> 00:01:05.790 Which is such a specific snapshot in time. It 00:01:05.790 --> 00:01:08.629 is, but we aren't just like reading off a track 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:11.790 list here. We are using this specific 56 minute 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:15.150 collection of R &B and hip hop to really understand 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:18.810 how artists process national chaos in real time. 00:01:18.870 --> 00:01:21.329 And maybe more importantly, how they manipulate 00:01:21.329 --> 00:01:24.010 the massive slow moving bureaucracy of the music 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:26.989 industry to actually get that art to your ears 00:01:26.989 --> 00:01:30.290 before the moment passes. Yes, exactly. Because 00:01:30.290 --> 00:01:32.510 reading through this Wikipedia page really is 00:01:32.510 --> 00:01:35.819 like unearthing a sealed box. that somebody buried 00:01:35.819 --> 00:01:38.159 in the ground during the fall of 2016. When you 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.219 pull the lid off, you aren't just finding songs. 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:43.159 You're finding the raw atmosphere of a very, 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.900 very specific season. Yeah, let's look at the 00:01:45.900 --> 00:01:48.299 timeline. The release date for the full project 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:51.439 was September 23rd, 2016. Put out by Atlantic 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.359 Records. Right, a major label. And the title, 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:55.920 Campaign, it isn't some vague artsy metaphor. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:58.120 No, not at all. The source material explicitly 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:00.180 states that this project features a recurring 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:02.900 theme. It expresses the views of Ty Dolla Sign, 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.819 his friends, and his family. on the actual presidential 00:02:05.819 --> 00:02:08.379 campaigns. Specifically Donald Trump and Hillary 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:12.759 Clinton. Exactly, and just to be completely clear 00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:15.500 for you listening right now, our goal today is 00:02:15.500 --> 00:02:18.360 not to validate or litigate the left -wing or 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:20.300 right -wing politics of these tracks. Right, 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:22.819 we are definitely not taking sides or endorsing 00:02:22.819 --> 00:02:25.219 anything. No, we are looking at this strictly 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:28.659 as historians. We're observing how an artist 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:32.939 on a major label utilized a commercial release 00:02:32.939 --> 00:02:35.590 to... document the immediate anxieties of their 00:02:35.590 --> 00:02:38.250 specific community. Yeah, we are analyzing the 00:02:38.250 --> 00:02:41.389 mirror being held up to society rather than, 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:43.909 you know, debating the reflection itself. That's 00:02:43.909 --> 00:02:45.750 a great way to put it. What's fascinating here 00:02:45.750 --> 00:02:47.930 is how commercial art is often utilized as a 00:02:47.930 --> 00:02:50.729 real -time documentary. It functions almost entirely 00:02:50.729 --> 00:02:53.050 like a musical op -ed. An op -ed, right. Think 00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:55.370 about how an op -ed in a newspaper works. It 00:02:55.370 --> 00:02:57.990 doesn't just, like, report the raw facts of the 00:02:57.990 --> 00:03:00.629 news. It takes the emotional and intellectual 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:03.409 temperature of a community a major event. Yeah, 00:03:03.409 --> 00:03:05.750 it gives it a voice. And campaign is doing the 00:03:05.750 --> 00:03:07.870 exact same thing. But instead of some political 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.349 pundit sitting at a typewriter, it's being delivered 00:03:10.349 --> 00:03:12.349 through, you know, high -end production, heavy 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.330 bass lines, and melodic hooks. And an op -ed 00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:18.530 format forces abstract political discourse into 00:03:18.530 --> 00:03:21.569 a grounded reality. It has to have concrete examples. 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:25.629 Exactly. An op -ed is only as persuasive as the 00:03:25.629 --> 00:03:27.889 specific examples it brings to the table. So 00:03:27.889 --> 00:03:30.409 when you look at the track list for this project... 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:32.819 Which is packed, by the way. But look at the 00:03:32.819 --> 00:03:35.659 second single they released it dropped well before 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:39.939 the full tape on July 21st 2016 it's a track 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:42.560 called no justice Yeah, and the featured artist 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.020 on no justice is Big TC right and for context 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:49.139 if you don't know Big TC is Ty Dolla Signs younger 00:03:49.139 --> 00:03:51.240 brother But the crucial detail here the thing 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:53.539 from the source that completely shifts the gravity 00:03:53.539 --> 00:03:56.960 of this track is that Big TC is incarcerated 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:00.550 He's in prison. Yeah Think about the mechanics 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:02.770 of recording that. It's crazy to even logistically 00:04:02.770 --> 00:04:05.569 imagine. Right. You have this massive commercial 00:04:05.569 --> 00:04:08.389 project backed by Atlantic Records. It's addressing 00:04:08.389 --> 00:04:11.030 national campaigns, systemic justice, the whole 00:04:11.030 --> 00:04:13.409 future of the country. Heavy stuff. And instead 00:04:13.409 --> 00:04:15.370 of just theorizing about the criminal justice 00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:17.810 system from some cushy recording booth in Los 00:04:17.810 --> 00:04:21.290 Angeles, the artist includes a literal voice 00:04:21.290 --> 00:04:24.589 broadcasting from inside the prison system. The 00:04:24.589 --> 00:04:26.670 logistics alone of getting a vocal take from 00:04:26.670 --> 00:04:30.110 an incarcerated person. over a compressed, static 00:04:30.110 --> 00:04:33.069 -filled prison phone line, usually. Yeah. It 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:37.259 creates this stark... sonic contrast to the polished 00:04:37.259 --> 00:04:40.279 studio sound of the rest of the track. It completely 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:42.500 anchors the political themes of the project in 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:45.800 an incredibly personal, unavoidable reality. 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:47.779 It's no longer just a talking point on a cable 00:04:47.779 --> 00:04:49.439 news panel at that point. No, it's real life. 00:04:49.620 --> 00:04:51.879 It takes the macro, like the national election, 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:54.139 and makes it hyper micro. It's a family member 00:04:54.139 --> 00:04:56.579 behind bars. Exactly. But then on the complete 00:04:56.579 --> 00:04:58.779 opposite end of the spectrum from that deeply 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:01.720 personal, raw track, you have the lead single. 00:05:01.870 --> 00:05:04.569 The title track. Right. Campaign. And this one 00:05:04.569 --> 00:05:07.610 features Future. Who was and honestly still is 00:05:07.610 --> 00:05:10.089 an absolute titan in the industry. Oh, a massive 00:05:10.089 --> 00:05:13.410 star. And the Wikipedia page notes that the music 00:05:13.410 --> 00:05:15.490 video for this title track premiered on November 00:05:15.490 --> 00:05:18.810 7th, 2016. The literal night before Election 00:05:18.810 --> 00:05:21.209 Day. The timing is just impossible to ignore. 00:05:21.649 --> 00:05:23.730 Totally deliberate. But OK, I have to push back 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:25.649 a little bit on the purity of the artistic intent 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:28.709 here. Let's hear it. Was dropping a music video 00:05:28.709 --> 00:05:31.870 called Campaign the night before a presidential 00:05:31.870 --> 00:05:36.470 election a profound, calculated political statement 00:05:36.470 --> 00:05:40.009 about the state of the country? Or was it just 00:05:40.009 --> 00:05:43.610 incredibly savvy, borderline, cynical marketing, 00:05:43.949 --> 00:05:47.069 just capitalizing on the biggest news cycle in 00:05:47.069 --> 00:05:49.350 the world? Well, the most honest answer is that 00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:52.170 it's a masterclass in both. Both. Which is the 00:05:52.170 --> 00:05:54.980 tension that makes the music business so endlessly 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:57.740 interesting to study. You cannot separate the 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:00.639 art from the commerce. Especially when the project 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:03.060 is backed by a corporate entity like Atlantic. 00:06:03.420 --> 00:06:06.680 Exactly. Think about 2016. The algorithms running 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:09.240 platforms like YouTube and Twitter were heavily 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.629 prioritizing trending keywords. Oh, right. Everyone 00:06:12.629 --> 00:06:14.870 is searching for the election. Everyone. So by 00:06:14.870 --> 00:06:16.850 dropping a video titled Campaign on November 00:06:16.850 --> 00:06:19.550 7th, you are essentially hijacking the algorithm. 00:06:19.910 --> 00:06:21.629 That's brilliant, actually. Every single person 00:06:21.629 --> 00:06:24.430 in the country is furiously typing the word campaign 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:27.509 into search bars. So the project is just sweeping 00:06:27.509 --> 00:06:31.790 up millions of eyeballs simply by existing adjacent 00:06:31.790 --> 00:06:34.110 to the news. Exactly. It's algorithm hacking 00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:37.009 at its finest. But at the same time, because 00:06:37.009 --> 00:06:39.389 the song actually is about the political climate, 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:43.160 The marketing trick kind of reinforces the thematic 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:45.259 weight of the art. Right, it's not a bait and 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.500 switch. No, it's using a commercial mechanism 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:50.060 to force a cultural statement right into your 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:52.939 feed. And that blend of high -level digital marketing 00:06:52.939 --> 00:06:56.500 and weighty conceptual themes brings up a massive 00:06:56.500 --> 00:06:59.019 structural dilemma for the music industry. Oh, 00:06:59.019 --> 00:07:02.089 so. Well, how exactly are record labels, streaming 00:07:02.089 --> 00:07:05.230 services, and fans supposed to categorize a project 00:07:05.230 --> 00:07:07.490 like this? Right. What do we even call it? The 00:07:07.490 --> 00:07:09.449 source material repeatedly refers to campaign 00:07:09.449 --> 00:07:12.290 as a commercial mixtape. A commercial mixtape. 00:07:12.610 --> 00:07:15.209 Which feels like a massive contradiction in terms 00:07:15.209 --> 00:07:17.209 when you actually look at the track list. Right. 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:19.569 A mixtape is supposed to be scrappy. Exactly. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.160 Historically, a mixtape was decidedly non -commercial. 00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:25.519 Yeah, if we go back to the 2000s, the mixtape 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:28.220 era was defined by artists downloading other 00:07:28.220 --> 00:07:30.500 people's instrumentals, right? Right, recording 00:07:30.500 --> 00:07:32.480 rough vocals over them in a basement somewhere. 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:35.139 Handing out physical CDs out of the trunks of 00:07:35.139 --> 00:07:37.420 their cars. Or uploading them to websites like 00:07:37.420 --> 00:07:40.550 DatPiff. Yeah, DatPiff was huge. And they were 00:07:40.550 --> 00:07:42.970 legally gray because they used uncleared samples. 00:07:43.250 --> 00:07:45.910 Totally low stakes, off the cuff, and completely 00:07:45.910 --> 00:07:48.449 outside the major label ecosystem. But look at 00:07:48.449 --> 00:07:51.250 the heavyweight roster on campaign. It's insane. 00:07:51.370 --> 00:07:54.230 There is absolutely nothing scrappy or underground 00:07:54.230 --> 00:07:57.350 about this lineup. No. The featured artists include 00:07:57.350 --> 00:08:02.449 Migos, Trey Songz, Wiz Khalifa, Meek Mill. And 00:08:02.449 --> 00:08:05.089 Travis Scott is on the promo single, Three Ways. 00:08:05.149 --> 00:08:08.089 Three Ways, right. That is an unbelievable amount 00:08:08.089 --> 00:08:10.709 of A -list talent for a mixtape. And the production 00:08:10.709 --> 00:08:13.569 roster is even more staggering. You've got Hitboy, 00:08:13.870 --> 00:08:16.930 Mike Dean, DJ Mustard, Frank Dukes, Zaytoven, 00:08:17.050 --> 00:08:19.310 and Tidal assigned himself handling the boards. 00:08:19.509 --> 00:08:21.310 That's a billion dollars worth of production 00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:23.449 talent right there. If we connect this to the 00:08:23.449 --> 00:08:26.089 bigger picture, you start to see why the terminology 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:28.410 is completely breaking down. Yeah, the label 00:08:28.410 --> 00:08:30.750 mixtape doesn't fit anymore. Hiring producers 00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:33.690 like Mike Dean or Hitboy is not a basement operation. 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:35.820 Not at all. These are some of the most sought 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:38.539 -after musical architects in the world. Their 00:08:38.539 --> 00:08:41.539 beats cost tens of thousands of dollars. Right. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:44.379 They require massive legal contracts, sample 00:08:44.379 --> 00:08:47.639 clearances, and major label budgets to secure. 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:50.120 You don't just call up Frank Dukes and ask for 00:08:50.120 --> 00:08:51.980 a free beat for your underground street tape. 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:54.600 No, you definitely don't. The source material 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:57.500 actually includes a quote from Jordan Sargent, 00:08:57.879 --> 00:09:00.620 writing for Spin magazine, that perfectly captures 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:03.320 this identity crisis. Oh, what did he say? Sargent 00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:06.799 noted that campaign is, quote, a mixtape in name. 00:09:06.889 --> 00:09:09.649 that feels not quite like a mixed tape, but not 00:09:09.649 --> 00:09:12.110 exactly like an album either. That hits the nail 00:09:12.110 --> 00:09:14.370 on the head. It really does. Calling this a mixed 00:09:14.370 --> 00:09:17.190 tape is like, it's like a Michelin star chef 00:09:17.190 --> 00:09:19.809 opening up a casual pop -up food stand in an 00:09:19.809 --> 00:09:21.769 alley. Okay, I like this analogy. Right, like 00:09:21.769 --> 00:09:24.129 on the surface, the signage claims to be low 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:25.830 pressure. It says, hey, we're just having fun 00:09:25.830 --> 00:09:27.789 here, grab a quick bite. Very casual. But then 00:09:27.789 --> 00:09:29.710 you take a bite and you realize the ingredients 00:09:29.710 --> 00:09:32.309 are globally imported, the execution is flawless, 00:09:32.570 --> 00:09:35.350 and the chef brought their entire elite kitchen 00:09:35.350 --> 00:09:37.850 staff to cook it. It's a full -blown production 00:09:37.850 --> 00:09:40.809 disguised as a pop -up. Exactly. Campaign is 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:43.990 a 16 -track project. The runtime is 56 minutes 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:47.169 and 47 seconds. And it has the full backing of 00:09:47.169 --> 00:09:49.809 Atlantic Records. The label of mixtape in this 00:09:49.809 --> 00:09:52.970 context is functioning almost entirely as a psychological 00:09:52.970 --> 00:09:55.330 shield. A shield, how do you mean? By calling 00:09:55.330 --> 00:09:57.909 it a mixtape, the artist actively lowers the 00:09:57.909 --> 00:10:00.169 traditional expectations of a rigidly structured, 00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:03.419 highly scrutinized studio album. Ah, okay. That 00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:05.259 makes a lot of sense. It gives them the freedom 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:08.179 to be looser, to drop tracks that maybe aren't 00:10:08.179 --> 00:10:11.240 perfectly polished radio hits. Right. And to 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.440 react to current events without the pressure 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.620 of delivering like a career defining masterpiece. 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:19.299 But functionally, commercially and sonically, 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.059 it is operating with the full weight of a studio 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:24.679 album. Absolutely. Which creates a really fascinating 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:27.639 problem when release day actually arrives. Because 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:31.120 this project sits in this undefined middle ground, 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:34.659 the Michelin star pop -up How did the consumers 00:10:34.659 --> 00:10:36.980 and the professional critics actually judge it? 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:39.139 Well, the commercial metrics are very telling. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.220 What's the other numbers? The source notes that 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:43.899 campaign debuted at number 28 on the U .S. Billboard 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:48.059 200 chart. Okay, top 30. Yeah, it moved 14 ,000 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:50.580 album equivalent units in its first week. And 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:53.419 it hit number 7 on the top R &B hip -hop albums 00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:55.679 chart. We should probably quickly define what 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:57.720 an album equivalent unit means here. Big call. 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:00.519 Because 2016 was right in the middle of this 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:03.379 massive shift in how we actually consumed music. 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:06.019 It is the crucial metric of the streaming era 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:08.039 because, you know, fans weren't driving to the 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:11.240 store to buy 14 ,000 physical CDs of this project. 00:11:11.379 --> 00:11:14.080 Right. The CD era was basically over. So Billboard 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.580 had to figure out how to translate Spotify and 00:11:16.580 --> 00:11:19.240 Apple Music streams into traditional sales. Make 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:22.340 it equal. Exactly. So an album equivalent unit 00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:25.000 combines physical sales, digital track downloads, 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:27.559 and on -demand streams. Okay. It essentially 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:29.860 means that thousands and thousands of people 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:33.000 were streaming this 16 -track project top to 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.899 bottom. Wow. So for a project built as a casual 00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:39.000 mixtape to debut in the top 30 of the Billboard 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:41.679 200. It means the fan base was highly engaged. 00:11:41.899 --> 00:11:44.240 They were treating it like a major marquee release. 00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:47.080 Exactly. The fans accepted the meal regardless 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:48.820 of what the restaurant called it. I love that. 00:11:48.889 --> 00:11:51.450 But what about the professional critics? That's 00:11:51.450 --> 00:11:53.929 where it gets messy. Right, because if you hand 00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:58.049 a music journalist at Pitchfork or XXL a 16 -track 00:11:58.049 --> 00:12:00.409 project featuring Mike Dean production and Travis 00:12:00.409 --> 00:12:03.509 Scott vocals, are they going to grade it? on 00:12:03.509 --> 00:12:06.950 a forgiving mixtape curve. Or judge it as a full 00:12:06.950 --> 00:12:09.629 -fledged album. Exactly. The critical reception 00:12:09.629 --> 00:12:11.850 highlights that exact friction. What do they 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:14.710 say? Well, on Metacritic, which aggregates reviews 00:12:14.710 --> 00:12:17.169 from all the major publications' campaign, earned 00:12:17.169 --> 00:12:20.710 a 71 out of 100 based on four reviews. OK, 71, 00:12:20.830 --> 00:12:23.340 so... generally positive. Yeah, it was generally 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:26.320 viewed as a strong effort. Scott Glacier over 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.559 at XXL Magazine was highly complimentary. He 00:12:29.559 --> 00:12:32.100 called it a close runner up to Ty Dolla Sign's 00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:36.259 actual official studio album, Free TC, and Winston 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:39.159 Cook Wilson at Pitchfork gave it a 6 .9 out of 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.279 10. He specifically noted that it outpaced Ty's 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:44.899 previous mixtape efforts, like nine language 00:12:44.899 --> 00:12:47.519 and airplane mode. So XXL and Pitchfork seemed 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.769 to be playing along with the premise. They're 00:12:49.769 --> 00:12:52.490 accepting the project on its own terms, comparing 00:12:52.490 --> 00:12:54.990 it to his past mixtapes and acknowledging the 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:57.250 evolution. They are. But then you look at Mick 00:12:57.250 --> 00:12:59.990 Jacobs writing for Pretty Much Amazing. OK. What 00:12:59.990 --> 00:13:02.769 did he think? He gave the project a C minus. 00:13:03.389 --> 00:13:06.470 Oof. That's harsh. Jacobs wrote, quote, as a 00:13:06.470 --> 00:13:08.610 mixtape, I understand why campaign sounds so 00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:11.409 derivative, but still I wish Griffin had pushed 00:13:11.409 --> 00:13:14.009 a bit further in terms of musical experimentation. 00:13:14.230 --> 00:13:16.190 OK, wait. I have to jump in here and really question 00:13:16.190 --> 00:13:18.450 the fairness of that specific critical approach. 00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:21.620 Oh, for it. If an artist explicitly waves a flag 00:13:21.620 --> 00:13:24.679 and tells the audience, hey, this is a mixtape. 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:28.519 This is not my grand experimental studio opus. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:32.320 This is a collection of vibes and thoughts documenting 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.659 this specific political moment. Is it fair for 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:38.279 a critic to penalize them for a lack of profound 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:40.940 musical experimentation? Like, are we judging 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:43.360 the art for the function it was designed to serve, 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:45.779 or are we judging it for what we selfishly want 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:47.960 it to be? It is the eternal struggle of music 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:50.639 criticism in the modern era. This is so frustrating. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.840 Frustrating. Yeah. Because the boundaries between 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.600 formats have completely dissolved. Well, the 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:58.779 critic at Pretty Much Amazing is essentially 00:13:58.779 --> 00:14:02.080 arguing that a label is just a label. OK. They're 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:04.120 saying, I don't care if you call it a mixtape. 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:07.559 When I see Zaytovin... DJ Mustard, and Future 00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:10.580 on the track list, the sheer density of talent 00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:12.980 should yield something boundary pushing. So they're 00:14:12.980 --> 00:14:15.139 looking at those premium pop -up ingredients 00:14:15.139 --> 00:14:17.419 and demanding a revolutionary meal. Exactly. 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:20.950 But the artist stated his intention. The intent 00:14:20.950 --> 00:14:24.330 was to capture a moment in time. Yes. It was 00:14:24.330 --> 00:14:27.289 to speak on the anxiety of the 2016 campaign, 00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:30.809 to feature his incarcerated brother, and to drop 00:14:30.809 --> 00:14:34.149 a soundtrack for that specific autumn. Not to 00:14:34.149 --> 00:14:36.690 reinvent the wheel sonically. Exactly. It was 00:14:36.690 --> 00:14:39.059 designed to hold up a mirror. This raises an 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:40.940 important question, and it is really the central 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:43.539 thesis of why this Wikipedia page matters so 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:46.360 much today. We do. Why go through the trouble 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.039 of calling it a mixtape at all if you are going 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:51.519 to put major label money behind it? Campaign 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.059 serves as a perfect case study of how artists 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:57.539 use these flexible, ill -defined formats to bypass 00:14:57.539 --> 00:15:00.019 the staggering bureaucracy of the traditional 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:02.179 music industry. This is the hidden mechanism 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:04.779 of the whole story, isn't it? It really is. Think 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:07.019 about the timeline of a traditional studio album 00:15:07.019 --> 00:15:11.059 in 2016. It takes forever. Right. If Ty Dolla 00:15:11.059 --> 00:15:13.720 Sign wanted to release this as his official sophomore 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:17.379 album, the label requires a massive runway. Months 00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:19.759 and months. You need months to clear every single 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:23.019 sample legally. You need months to schedule the 00:15:23.019 --> 00:15:25.139 pressing of physical vinyl records. Oh yeah, 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:28.000 vinyl delays are notorious. And you need a 12 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.320 -week marketing rollout with magazine covers, 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:32.480 talk show appearances, the whole nine yards. 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:34.519 And if you adhere to that bureaucratic timeline, 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:37.179 you miss the moment entirely. Completely. If 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:39.379 he started that formal album process in the summer 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:42.000 of 2016, a studio album wouldn't have actually 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.440 hit the shelves until the spring of 2017. Exactly. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.179 And by the spring of 2017, the election is over. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:51.139 The moment has passed. The raw palpable anxiety 00:15:51.139 --> 00:15:54.320 of November 7th is gone. The cultural conversation 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:57.360 has completely moved on. So the commercial mixtape 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:01.039 format is a loophole. It's a hack. Yeah. It allows 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:04.120 an artist backed by millions of dollars to maintain 00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:06.659 the agility of an underground rapper. That's 00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:09.139 fascinating. It lets them bypass the vinyl pressing 00:16:09.139 --> 00:16:11.980 plants and the rigid marketing schedules, just 00:16:11.980 --> 00:16:14.279 upload the tracks to streaming services. and 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:17.320 speak directly to the anxieties of that exact 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:19.860 month. So what does this all mean for you listening? 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.320 It means that understanding the mechanics of 00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:26.179 the music industry like actually knowing the 00:16:26.179 --> 00:16:28.519 difference between an album rollout and a mixtape 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:31.860 drop is the key to understanding how modern history 00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:34.220 is documented. It really is. These pop culture 00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:37.110 artifacts aren't just trivia. When we look back 00:16:37.110 --> 00:16:39.309 at Campaign, we aren't just looking at a collection 00:16:39.309 --> 00:16:41.509 of songs that charted on billboards. No, we're 00:16:41.509 --> 00:16:44.289 looking at a real -time sonic photograph. A photograph 00:16:44.289 --> 00:16:47.529 of a very tense American autumn. It shows us 00:16:47.529 --> 00:16:49.990 how artists were scrambling to process the chaos 00:16:49.990 --> 00:16:52.350 in the moment, using every algorithmic trick 00:16:52.350 --> 00:16:54.629 and industry loophole at their disposal to make 00:16:54.629 --> 00:16:56.450 sure their voices were heard before the polls 00:16:56.450 --> 00:16:59.539 opened. It proves that the most accurate historical 00:16:59.539 --> 00:17:02.399 documents aren't always found in textbooks or 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.859 news archives. Right. Sometimes they are buried 00:17:04.859 --> 00:17:08.000 in the track list of a 56 -minute R &B project. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.180 Which leaves you with something pretty fascinating 00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:12.519 to chew on as you go about the rest of your day. 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:15.059 Think back to that time capsule metaphor we started 00:17:15.059 --> 00:17:17.740 with. Yeah. Take a look at the media you're consuming 00:17:17.740 --> 00:17:20.339 today. Right now. Look at the casual stuff on 00:17:20.339 --> 00:17:22.500 your phone. The stuff you don't even think twice 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:26.220 about. Exactly. Decades from now, what— Seemingly 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:29.519 disposable piece of pop culture, a loosely defined 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:33.559 mixtape, a viral video, or even a highly specific 00:17:33.559 --> 00:17:36.880 meme format will future historians dig up and 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:39.920 use to decode the political and social anxieties 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:42.259 of our current year. It's a wild thought. It 00:17:42.259 --> 00:17:44.039 makes you look at your own playlists and your 00:17:44.039 --> 00:17:46.079 own timelines a whole lot differently.