It almost never pays to be first. Anyone who’s been a true pioneer or innovator usually gets their respect—sometimes years after making their mark—but it’s almost always those who follow in their footsteps that truly reaps the benefits. While this happens in most professions and art forms, it’s especially prevalent in the modern world of music, where new styles emerge in the darkest corners of the web only to eventually be refined and dumbed down for the masses.
One of the defining examples of this has been Charles Hamilton, who had the Internet on smash back in 2008 with The Hamiltonization Process, a web-focused strategy that found the New York rapper dropping eight mixtapes in the span of a few months. At the time, Charles told Okayplayer that he didn’t see anyone doing what he was doing; while he was speaking more about his freedom to do whatever he felt like doing musically, a big part of it was the ability to get people talking about your music without relying on traditional major label support, radio spins, or a properly buzzing single.
Any of your favorite rappers who blew up over the last few years–Danny Brown, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Young Thug, and others–capitalized on the internet buzz they got from mixtapes. It’s not far off from what 50 Cent and G-Unit did before Eminem got wind of their movement, or what any ’90s rapper did on a local level, but the internet gave Charles an edge that earlier rappers didn’t have.
Charles Hamilton connected with his fans in a more personal, direct way than those coming up before him. While rap artists always played up the notion of keeping it real and staying connected to the streets, a megastar walking through a club is still a megastar walking through the club. Charles Hamilton was running his own blog, chatting with fans online, inviting website visitors to join Twitter, responding to emails, and establishing a connection that no amount of radio promo or buzzing street singles could provide. Today, it may seem obvious, but that widespread social media savvy wasn’t in existence six or seven years ago. Charles was at the forefront.
Back then, technology didn’t make it easy for artists. SoundCloud and Bandcamp were just getting started. There was MySpace, but it wasn’t the tool that a Twitter or Facebook is today. We’re talking .zip files and zSHARE links being distributed to a constantly changing rotation of hip-hop blogs.
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