WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.500 So imagine trying to bottle up the sheer just 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:07.900 chaotic anxiety of a massive presidential election. 00:00:08.019 --> 00:00:10.619 Oh, man. That sounds incredibly stressful. Right. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.000 But instead of reading, you know, some stuffy 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.599 academic op -ed or filming a traditional documentary, 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:18.239 you decide to capture all that cultural tension 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:21.800 using heavy club beats. Heavy club beat. Yeah. 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:24.140 Heavy club beats, a high profile feature from 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:27.199 the rapper future and, oh, a music video starring 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:30.879 a sexy robot. I mean, it sounds completely counterintuitive 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:33.020 when you frame it that way. It really does. You 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:36.479 wouldn't typically associate the neon lit escapism 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:39.960 of a commercial hip hop release with the heavy, 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:43.200 often grim reality of a national political cycle. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:45.659 Which is exactly why today's deep dive is so 00:00:45.659 --> 00:00:47.420 compelling. For you listening right now, our 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:49.619 mission today is to explore how artists can capture 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:52.579 a highly specific, volatile moment in time. Right. 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:55.420 We are unpacking Tidal Assign's 2016 commercial 00:00:55.420 --> 00:00:58.060 mixtape campaign. And just listening to this 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:00.340 project, it instantly puts you into the theater 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:02.920 of the mind. It really does. Right now, my visual 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:06.680 backdrop here is set to a moody, dimly lit recording 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.159 studio. Oh, I can picture that. Yeah. And the 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:11.719 walls are just completely plastered with 2016 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:14.939 calendar pages and faded political campaign flyers. 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:17.700 That is the exact vibe. That aesthetic perfectly 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:20.359 captures where Ty Dolla Sign was situated creatively. 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:24.280 released in September 2016 via Atlantic Records. 00:01:24.659 --> 00:01:27.359 This 16 -track project operates as a fascinating 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.000 audio time capsule. It really is the time capsule. 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:31.799 Chronologically, it sits right in the middle 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:34.859 of an incredibly prolific era for him, acting 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:38.239 as the bridge between his acclaimed 2015 studio 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:41.959 album, Free TC, and his subsequent 2017 album, 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.379 Beach House 3. Okay, let's unpack this because 00:01:44.379 --> 00:01:46.579 to understand campaign, you have to really understand 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:48.780 the pressure cooker that was the autumn of 2016. 00:01:48.819 --> 00:01:52.010 Oh, absolutely. structural theme of this entire 00:01:52.010 --> 00:01:55.250 mixtape is the 2016 presidential election. The 00:01:55.250 --> 00:01:58.069 music serves as a recurring sonic diary expressing 00:01:58.069 --> 00:02:00.189 the real -time views and conversations of Ty 00:02:00.189 --> 00:02:02.969 Dolla Sign alongside his friends and his family. 00:02:03.409 --> 00:02:05.150 Right, specifically regarding the campaigns of 00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.409 Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Exactly. And 00:02:08.409 --> 00:02:11.689 just to be completely clear for everyone listening, 00:02:12.389 --> 00:02:15.330 our goal today isn't to take a side, validate 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:18.750 or debate the politics of either candidate or 00:02:18.750 --> 00:02:20.650 the viewpoints represented by the artist. Yeah, 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:23.150 I want to echo that completely. We are strictly 00:02:23.150 --> 00:02:26.009 reporting. on the themes present in the source 00:02:26.009 --> 00:02:29.490 material without endorsing or taking sides on 00:02:29.490 --> 00:02:31.370 any of the political viewpoints represented. 00:02:31.669 --> 00:02:34.009 Beautifully said. We are purely looking at this 00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:36.590 as an architectural blueprint. Right. Examining 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:39.909 how a musician takes an intense, polarizing political 00:02:39.909 --> 00:02:43.050 climate and uses it as the raw material to build 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:45.479 a commercial music project. You'd think building 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:47.740 a mixtape around an election would run the risk 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:50.180 of sounding like, I don't know, a boring cable 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:52.319 news broadcast. Yeah, a lot of political music 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.379 falls into that trap. But he avoids that trap 00:02:54.379 --> 00:02:56.479 completely, which I suspect has a lot to do with 00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.300 the actual release strategy. It's almost like 00:02:58.300 --> 00:03:01.400 a sonic documentary capturing the anxieties and 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.020 conversations of a specific group of people during 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:06.639 a very volatile time. A sonic documentary is 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:08.870 a great way to put it. So, what does this all 00:03:08.870 --> 00:03:11.110 mean for the actual structure of the music? How 00:03:11.110 --> 00:03:14.669 do you build a commercial mixtape around an election? 00:03:14.990 --> 00:03:17.009 Well, what's fascinating here is the mechanism 00:03:17.009 --> 00:03:20.150 driving that strategy. Yeah. It's the sheer brilliance 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:22.689 of the timeline. The timeline, right? Consider 00:03:22.689 --> 00:03:27.330 the release date. September 23, 2016. He didn't 00:03:27.330 --> 00:03:30.389 wait for the election to end to offer retrospective, 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:32.770 neatly packaged commentary. No, he dropped it 00:03:32.770 --> 00:03:35.360 right in the middle of the chaos. Exactly. He 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:37.400 dropped this project right in the thick of the 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:39.960 actual election season. The national debates 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:42.080 were happening, the news cycle was operating 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.060 in an absolute fever pitch, and the anxiety of 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:47.979 the unknown was just palpable. You could feel 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:50.680 it everywhere. By placing the release date squarely 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.699 in that window, he transforms a standard commercial 00:03:53.699 --> 00:03:57.319 release into a living breathing, cultural commentary. 00:03:57.460 --> 00:03:59.400 It functions less like a history book and much 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.020 more like a live, unfiltered diary entry. Yes. 00:04:02.199 --> 00:04:04.599 And that strategy of real -time commentary flows 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:07.620 so naturally into how he actually executed this 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:10.460 theme through the project's lead single. Oh, 00:04:10.539 --> 00:04:12.460 the rollout for the singles was brilliant. It 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:14.419 really was. This wasn't a surprise drop where 00:04:14.419 --> 00:04:16.600 everything hit the internet at midnight out of 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:19.339 nowhere. Right. It was a highly calculated promotional 00:04:19.339 --> 00:04:22.180 rollout designed to shadow the actual political 00:04:22.180 --> 00:04:25.000 calendar. The breadcrumb trail leading up to 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.740 November was incredibly deliberate. Let's track 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:30.160 that trail because it's wild. The title track, 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.240 Campaign, which features a massive guest appearance 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:37.600 from Future, dropped first in July 2016. But 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.480 here is the structural genius. They shot the 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.100 music video for it but held onto it for months. 00:04:44.019 --> 00:04:46.430 Until when? They premiered it strategically on 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:49.050 November 7. The exact night before Election Day. 00:04:49.410 --> 00:04:52.009 The exact night before. Then, interwoven in that 00:04:52.009 --> 00:04:54.670 timeline, late August sees the release of the 00:04:54.670 --> 00:04:57.970 third single, Zaddy. Oh, yes. And the music video 00:04:57.970 --> 00:05:00.209 for that one drops a few days later, featuring 00:05:00.209 --> 00:05:03.269 this surreal narrative with a sexy robot. Like 00:05:03.269 --> 00:05:05.189 you do. Right. So you have these high energy 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:08.009 club anthems and slightly bizarre futuristic 00:05:08.009 --> 00:05:10.290 escapism. But the architecture of the project 00:05:10.290 --> 00:05:12.829 relies on the listener experiencing a sudden 00:05:12.829 --> 00:05:16.589 jarring... Tonal whiplash. Yeah, whiplash is 00:05:16.589 --> 00:05:18.850 the right word. That whiplash arrives with the 00:05:18.850 --> 00:05:22.189 second single, No Justice. Here's where it gets 00:05:22.189 --> 00:05:25.910 really interesting. You have this stark contrast 00:05:25.910 --> 00:05:29.389 between a song with a sexy robot, or a massive 00:05:29.389 --> 00:05:33.629 hedonistic club anthem with Future, and the absolute 00:05:33.629 --> 00:05:36.870 gravity of No Justice. The contrast is insane. 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.769 The reason that contrast is so arresting is because 00:05:39.769 --> 00:05:42.670 No Justice features a guest appearance by Big 00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:45.410 TC. Right. And for those who don't know, Big 00:05:45.410 --> 00:05:48.410 TC is Ty Dolla Sign's younger brother, who is 00:05:48.410 --> 00:05:50.410 incarcerated in prison during the recording of 00:05:50.410 --> 00:05:52.910 this. project. The inclusion of Big TC explains 00:05:52.910 --> 00:05:55.569 exactly how you build a commercial project around 00:05:55.569 --> 00:05:58.089 an election without losing the human element. 00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:00.589 Because politics can feel so disconnected sometimes. 00:06:00.870 --> 00:06:03.689 Exactly. Think about the abstract nature of a 00:06:03.689 --> 00:06:06.649 presidential campaign. Politicians in suits standing 00:06:06.649 --> 00:06:09.350 behind podiums, debating complex theoretical 00:06:09.350 --> 00:06:11.910 policies. Very lofty. By featuring an incarcerated 00:06:11.910 --> 00:06:14.310 family member, the project violently grounds 00:06:14.310 --> 00:06:17.589 those lofty political themes into a harsh, raw 00:06:17.589 --> 00:06:20.129 reality. It pulls the political discourse out 00:06:20.129 --> 00:06:22.329 of the television screen and forces it into the 00:06:22.329 --> 00:06:24.910 visitation room. Furthermore, it highlights why 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:27.189 these political conversations matter on a deeply 00:06:27.189 --> 00:06:29.629 personal, human level. Yeah, it's not just debate 00:06:29.629 --> 00:06:32.259 prep for him. For Ty Dolla Sign, the policies 00:06:32.259 --> 00:06:35.920 being debated in the 2016 election weren't just 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:37.879 hypothetical talking points about the future 00:06:37.879 --> 00:06:41.720 of the country. They had direct, immediate implications 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:44.259 for the justice system that was currently holding 00:06:44.259 --> 00:06:47.579 his younger brother. That is so heavy. And structurally, 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:50.620 by sandwiching a heavy track like no justice 00:06:50.620 --> 00:06:55.139 right between upbeat club tracks, he is mechanically 00:06:55.139 --> 00:06:58.529 mirroring the actual psychological experience 00:06:58.529 --> 00:07:01.490 of living through 2016. That dynamic is fascinating. 00:07:01.649 --> 00:07:03.930 It's the constant tension between escapism and 00:07:03.930 --> 00:07:05.550 reality. You're trying to just live your life. 00:07:05.649 --> 00:07:07.910 Right. You're in the club, the 808 base is shaking 00:07:07.910 --> 00:07:10.089 the walls, you're trying to escape into music 00:07:10.089 --> 00:07:13.129 or technology like the literal robot in Zaddy. 00:07:13.269 --> 00:07:16.170 But the heavy, inestable reality of the justice 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:18.529 system and the political climate is always right 00:07:18.529 --> 00:07:20.589 there. Pulling you back to earth the minute you 00:07:20.589 --> 00:07:23.730 check your phone. Exactly. But to pull off a 00:07:23.730 --> 00:07:27.170 project with this kind of massive thematic range 00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:31.230 jumping seamlessly from neon club escapism to 00:07:31.230 --> 00:07:34.610 the concrete walls of a prison, you need serious 00:07:34.610 --> 00:07:37.129 collaborators. You really do. You can't execute 00:07:37.129 --> 00:07:39.629 that kind of sonic diversity in a vacuum. No. 00:07:39.810 --> 00:07:42.490 The sheer scope of the project requires a sprawling 00:07:42.490 --> 00:07:44.990 roster of talent, which brings us to the personnel 00:07:44.990 --> 00:07:47.329 involved. He didn't just get vocal features. 00:07:47.449 --> 00:07:49.810 I mean, he essentially built a political cabinet. 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:52.139 A cabinet? I like that. It's like he assembled 00:07:52.139 --> 00:07:54.540 the Avengers of hip hop and R .O .D. for this 00:07:54.540 --> 00:07:57.319 campaign gathering high profile endorsements 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.259 just like a politician. That is the perfect analogy. 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:02.779 Right. You have Migos jumping on a track called 00:08:02.779 --> 00:08:05.339 Mitt. Huge endorsement. You have Travis Scott 00:08:05.339 --> 00:08:07.879 lending his signature atmospheric sound to the 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.079 first promotional single, Three Ways. You've 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:13.579 got Wiz Khalifa and Trey Songz teaming up on 00:08:13.579 --> 00:08:16.579 a track called Poo and Meek Mill bringing his 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:19.579 usual high -octane energy to watching. The vocalists 00:08:19.579 --> 00:08:22.519 guarantee the commercial appeal for sure, but 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:24.720 the production muscle behind this project is 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.279 what truly dictates the emotional weight. The 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.100 producers really are the unsung heroes here. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:32.279 Actually, let me just change my visual backdrop 00:08:32.279 --> 00:08:35.320 here to a massive mixing board. Because if we 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:38.820 connect this to the bigger picture, the producers 00:08:38.820 --> 00:08:41.799 involved are some of those elite architects in 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:44.340 modern music. We're talking heavy hitters. Hitboy, 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:47.919 Mike Dean, DJ Mustard, Frank Dukes, alongside 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:50.590 Ty Dolla Sign himself. And the specific sonic 00:08:50.590 --> 00:08:53.490 textures those producers bring are crucial to 00:08:53.490 --> 00:08:56.250 making this concept work. Like DJ Mustard brings 00:08:56.250 --> 00:08:59.250 that undeniable bouncy west coast rhythm that 00:08:59.250 --> 00:09:01.830 guarantees the music works in a club setting. 00:09:02.009 --> 00:09:04.610 While Mike Dean operates on the complete opposite 00:09:04.610 --> 00:09:07.149 end of the spectrum. Oh, totally. Mike Dean is 00:09:07.149 --> 00:09:10.379 famous for these thick distorted, stadium -filling 00:09:10.379 --> 00:09:13.059 synthesizer arrangements. Those synths are legendary. 00:09:13.299 --> 00:09:15.759 When you pair Mike Dean's apocalyptic synth bass 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:18.759 with Hitboy's intricate, hard -hitting drum programming, 00:09:19.179 --> 00:09:21.639 it completely elevates the sonic quality of the 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:23.419 mix tape. It really does. It gives the weight 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:25.820 of the political theme the cinematic, high -budget 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:27.539 soundscape that needs to be taken seriously. 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:30.419 Without that level of production, a project trying 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:33.519 to tackle the 2016 election could easily sound 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:35.730 cheap or gimmicky. Yeah, it could have been a 00:09:35.730 --> 00:09:38.690 disaster. But the sonic landscape here is incredibly 00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:41.230 polished. Very polished. But this high level 00:09:41.230 --> 00:09:44.129 of production value, having global superstars 00:09:44.129 --> 00:09:47.129 on the mic, having DJ Mustard and Frank Dukes 00:09:47.129 --> 00:09:49.970 behind the boards, and having a major label like 00:09:49.970 --> 00:09:52.789 Atlantic Records footing the bill, it directly 00:09:52.789 --> 00:09:55.769 caused a massive identity crisis. Oh, a huge 00:09:55.769 --> 00:09:57.789 crisis for the industry. Right. When it came 00:09:57.789 --> 00:10:00.009 to how the music industry, the critics and the 00:10:00.009 --> 00:10:03.049 charts actually categorized campaign. The terminology 00:10:03.049 --> 00:10:05.220 became a significant to get appointed contention 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:07.720 because it defied the traditional definitions 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:09.990 the industry was relying on. Let's break down 00:10:09.990 --> 00:10:12.370 the commercial reality of this release. Campaign 00:10:12.370 --> 00:10:15.509 debuted at number 28 on the U .S. Billboard 200 00:10:15.509 --> 00:10:19.049 chart. Not bad at all. Not bad. It moved 14 ,000 00:10:19.049 --> 00:10:21.470 album equivalent units. Which is an interesting 00:10:21.470 --> 00:10:24.149 metric for 2016. Yeah. If you remember how the 00:10:24.149 --> 00:10:26.870 music industry was shifting in 2016's streaming 00:10:26.870 --> 00:10:29.649 dominated world, that means they were bundling 00:10:29.649 --> 00:10:32.850 together actual digital album sales, individual 00:10:32.850 --> 00:10:35.830 track downloads, and millions of individual Spotify 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:38.590 and Apple music streams just to measure its true. 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:40.580 footprint. Right the landscape was changing so 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:43.340 fast. It also peaked at number seven on the top 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:46.799 R &B hip -hop albums chart. So by all metrics 00:10:46.799 --> 00:10:50.080 it is putting up real commercial album numbers. 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.899 Yet critically the reception revealed a deep 00:10:52.899 --> 00:10:55.399 friction regarding what this project was actually 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:57.559 supposed to be. Yeah the critics were confused. 00:10:57.700 --> 00:11:00.580 It scored a 71 out of 100 on Metacritic which 00:11:00.580 --> 00:11:02.980 aggregates professional reviews. And a 71 is 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:05.740 generally pretty favorable. The 71 indicates 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:08.340 a generally favorable reception, yes, but the 00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:10.519 individual reviews really highlight the confusion 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:13.580 over its format. You have XXL Magazine giving 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:16.899 it a very strong four out of five, explicitly 00:11:16.899 --> 00:11:19.360 calling it a close runner up to the brilliance 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.519 of his actual official studio album, Free TC. 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:25.519 That's high praise. It is. You have Spin pointing 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:27.899 out its richness of sound, which points directly 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:30.039 back to those high -end producers like Mike Dean 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:32.460 and Hitboy that we just discussed. Even Pitchfork 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:35.000 noted that it outpaced his recent efforts, though 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:37.259 they argued it mostly just preserved his musical 00:11:37.259 --> 00:11:39.759 bottom line rather than pushing boundaries. But 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.480 the detractors, they focused heavily on the format 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:46.279 itself to justify their criticism. Exactly. And 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:48.820 this is where I want to push back on the industry's 00:11:48.820 --> 00:11:51.039 categorization. You have outlets like pretty 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.659 much amazing giving the project a C minus. A 00:11:53.659 --> 00:11:56.779 C minus, ouch. Yeah. Their primary reasoning 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:59.519 was that it sounded derivative and lacked musical 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:03.019 experimentation. But they explicitly wrote, as 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.960 a mixtape, I understand why campaign sounds so 00:12:05.960 --> 00:12:07.980 derivative. That's such a telling quote. Right. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:10.500 Why are we calling this a mixtape when it's released 00:12:10.500 --> 00:12:13.980 on Atlantic Records, generating 14 ,000 album 00:12:13.980 --> 00:12:16.799 equivalent units, and featuring global superstars? 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:19.600 Is there even a difference anymore? This raises 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.840 an important question. about how campaign represents 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.820 a pivotal era in music. The short answer is no, 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:27.700 there isn't really a difference anymore. No. 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:30.440 But the long answer is that in 2016, the lines 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.159 between commercial albums and mixtapes blurred 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:35.600 completely. They were blurred beyond recognition. 00:12:35.779 --> 00:12:38.279 They really were. Historically, a mixtape was 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.139 a rough, often unauthorized collection of tracks. 00:12:41.529 --> 00:12:44.549 An artist might rap over someone else's copyrighted 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:46.990 beats and they'd hand physical CDs out on the 00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:49.110 street or release them for free on blog sites 00:12:49.110 --> 00:12:51.870 just to build grassroots buzz. It was very DIY. 00:12:52.210 --> 00:12:55.429 An album, conversely, was the polished, label 00:12:55.429 --> 00:12:58.549 -funded retail product. But the streaming era 00:12:58.549 --> 00:13:01.370 completely dismantled that binary system. Precisely. 00:13:01.710 --> 00:13:04.769 By 2016, an artist could release a project via 00:13:04.769 --> 00:13:07.750 Atlantic Records, monetize every single stream, 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.919 chart in the top 30 of the Billboard 200, but 00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:14.500 still firmly label it a mixtape. It's wild. That 00:13:14.500 --> 00:13:16.879 quote from Spin magazine captures this exact 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:19.960 tension. They wrote the campaign is a mixtape 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:22.899 in name that feels not quite like a mixtape, 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.320 but not exactly like an album either. It feels 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:27.440 like a brilliant loophole, honestly. Calling 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:29.919 it a commercial mixtape is almost an aesthetic 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:32.379 choice rather than a literal format description. 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.480 Yes, an aesthetic choice. By utilizing that term, 00:13:35.659 --> 00:13:38.059 an artist effectively lowers the critical stakes. 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:40.360 It sends a message to the audience and the critics. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:49.220 This is a raw transmission of my It buys the 00:13:49.220 --> 00:13:51.340 artist an excuse to be a little looser, a little 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:53.700 more reactive, and yes, maybe a little more derivative 00:13:53.700 --> 00:13:55.840 of current club trends, as that negative review 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:58.879 pointed out. And that strategy is a double -edged 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.440 sword. As we see with the XXL review comparing 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:05.519 it favorably to his studio work, the high production 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.159 value confused critics who didn't know whether 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:11.679 to judge it as a rough reactive draft, or a finalized, 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:14.860 polished product. But honestly, that messy in 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:17.220 -between identity fits the overarching theme 00:14:17.220 --> 00:14:19.559 of this project perfectly. Well, without a doubt. 00:14:19.799 --> 00:14:22.539 A political campaign is inherently messy. It's 00:14:22.539 --> 00:14:25.179 reactive, it's fast -paced, and it requires you 00:14:25.179 --> 00:14:28.139 to respond to the news cycle in real time. You 00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:30.830 can't overthink it. Exactly. If Ty Dolla Sign 00:14:30.830 --> 00:14:33.210 had taken two full years to polish this music 00:14:33.210 --> 00:14:35.610 into a traditional, highly conceptual album with 00:14:35.610 --> 00:14:37.450 a capital A, the election would have been long 00:14:37.450 --> 00:14:40.470 over. The cultural moment, the specific anxiety 00:14:40.470 --> 00:14:42.970 of September 2016 would have completely passed 00:14:42.970 --> 00:14:45.129 him by. The urgency of the political climate 00:14:45.129 --> 00:14:47.190 demanded the speed and the lowered stakes of 00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:50.129 the mixtape format, even if the musical execution 00:14:50.129 --> 00:14:53.049 ultimately demanded top tier album level production 00:14:53.049 --> 00:14:55.490 to make it resonate. Which brings us back to 00:14:55.490 --> 00:14:58.049 the core of what we've unpacked today. We've 00:14:58.049 --> 00:15:01.029 explored how a fascinating 16 -track time capsule 00:15:01.029 --> 00:15:05.029 from 2016 managed to balance star -studded, futuristic 00:15:05.029 --> 00:15:08.350 club anthems with deeply personal, harsh realities 00:15:08.350 --> 00:15:10.970 regarding the justice system. It's an incredible 00:15:10.970 --> 00:15:13.210 balancing act. For you listening, this deep dive 00:15:13.210 --> 00:15:15.870 proves why it's so vital to look at the exact 00:15:15.870 --> 00:15:18.149 context of when a piece of music is released. 00:15:18.830 --> 00:15:20.830 Music isn't just background noise for a party. 00:15:21.049 --> 00:15:23.480 No. Not at all. It functions as a real -time 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:26.360 historical record. It shows us exactly how artists, 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:29.379 and by extension their listeners, process the 00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:31.860 chaotic politics of the world around them while 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.740 that chaos is actively unfolding. And witnessing 00:15:34.740 --> 00:15:37.940 that real -time processing leaves us with a compelling, 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.279 lingering question to consider. How late on me. 00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:42.299 We've talked extensively about how the structural 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:44.970 brilliance of campaign was its timing. the calculated 00:15:44.970 --> 00:15:47.309 move of releasing a music video the exact night 00:15:47.309 --> 00:15:50.269 before the 2016 election to capitalize on a very 00:15:50.269 --> 00:15:52.629 specific cultural energy. But consider the long 00:15:52.629 --> 00:15:55.909 -term impact of that strategy. If a musical project 00:15:55.909 --> 00:15:59.149 is explicitly tied to a passing, highly specific 00:15:59.149 --> 00:16:01.909 political event, does that hyper -specific time 00:16:01.909 --> 00:16:04.629 stamp give the art permanent historical value, 00:16:05.110 --> 00:16:07.450 preserving the music like an audio museum exhibit 00:16:07.450 --> 00:16:10.029 of 2016? Wow, that is a great way to look at 00:16:10.029 --> 00:16:13.490 it. Or does tying the art so closely to a single 00:16:13.490 --> 00:16:16.409 passing election cycle risk giving the music 00:16:16.409 --> 00:16:19.490 an expiration date, making it feel obsolete the 00:16:19.490 --> 00:16:21.740 moment the new cycle inevitably moves on? That 00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:23.879 is definitely a structural question to mull over 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:25.820 the next time you notice the specific release 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:27.740 date on your favorite artist's latest project. 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:29.779 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:32.399 dive. We'll be back next time to unpack another 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:34.539 stack of sources and find the history hiding 00:16:34.539 --> 00:16:35.220 in plain sight.