Slow leaks can be a dangerous thing.
If you’re driving and you run over a rusty nail and catch a flat, it sucks. Period. But, at least you know right away that you have a problem that requires your immediate attention. If you’re lucky, you can change the tire (or call AAA), get the whip to a shop that same day and be driving on a brand new tire just a few hours later. But a slow leak? See, that always seems to get you when you’re running late and you have someplace to be, but as soon as you get out to the car, you have a disaster on your hands.
This could be premature, but Maybach Music Group may be in the midst of a slow leak.
Sure, the era of the rap clique isn’t what it used to be, and when measured by that scale, MMG has been nothing short of wildly successful the last several years. Rick Ross has managed to assemble quite a crew of talented musicians since he birthed MMG in 2009, but the label appears to be slowly losing its stronghold over the industry.
Don’t be fooled by Ross dropping a number one album this past spring, or by the fact that he’s dropping a second album this year in a couple of weeks. Hood Billionaire’s release could easily be as much a desperation play as it is a lucrative form of creative expression. If his new song with Jay Z is any indication, this album might not be as lucrative as Rozay thinks.
(In other words, this song is weak.)
Sidebar: Mastermind did good numbers — 179,000 its first week in the U.S. — but given its big-budget promotion and the underwhelming performances of this album’s three official singles, it’s safe to assume this LP underperformed at the cash register. One more thing, see if you can name Mastermind’s three singles… you can’t do it, can you?
Sidebar II: In fairness, this track off Hood Billionaire is pretty hot.
The label’s missteps go far beyond the singular performance of its captain. Meek Mill had a highly anticipated release coming this year, but these days the only highly anticipated release of Meek’s is his release from incarceration after he was locked back in the cage for violating his parole. Meek has gone on record saying he’s suing the city of Philadelphia over the matter, but whatever the circumstances, right now he’s not in the booth, he’s not doing a press junket and he’s not on tour. Perhaps the most memorable thing Meek did this year was engage in a social media war of words with his label-mate Wale.
Speaking of, Folarin has noticeably been doing “nothing” in recent months, having not dropped anything since summer 2013. We know he’s working because he did put out a trailer for The Album About Nothing (it was pretty dope), which could come before the conclusion of this year. It should be noted that this project doesn’t have official release date. Neither does Gunplay, whose been on MMG since July 2012 (although he did just drop a mixtape— but who’s kidding who? Gunplay didn’t get on Maybach Music to put out mixtapes). And Midwest rhymer Stalley dropped his debut album Ohio just three weeks ago, however it sold somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 copies in its first week.
Ten thousand copies?! Paltry, even by 2014 standards.
That’s all on Ross and MMG/Def Jam management. It certainly appeared as though Stalley had little to no promotion, his beats were all made by relatively unknown producers and his features (Rick Ross, August Alsina, Nipsey Hussle, Ty Dollar Sign, De La Soul and Rashad) are not bad on paper, but didn’t really fit on this project. Ross himself only gave him one verse and no other MMG artists were to be found.
I know he’s healthier, but I prefer Rawse to be fat as all get out! Who is this guy? #RossFit
You call that support? Real support goes way beyond an occasional retweet from somebody of Rozay’s stature. Ross has done an ungodly amount of features on so many other rapper’s projects. He’s worked with everyone from Usher to Yo Gotti— he’s connected to Birdman, Jay Z & DJ Khaled (who are pretty much connected to everybody) and he couldn’t call in a favor or two to really get his artist some shine? And do you know what’s funny? Ohio is actually pretty good! But it never stood a chance on the charts, which makes you wonder about Stalley’s future on a major label affiliate.
Sidebar: There are also rumblings of a Self Made 4 album being released sooner rather than later. The music is there, but where’s the direction at MMG?
Ricky compounded the situation by not allowing Stalley’s album to breathe. It wasn’t two weeks after Ohio’s release that Ross was promoting, tweeting and IG’ing about his own new project. This could be due to the fact that Mastermind was pushed back, and Ross — not wanting to deal with the potential public ridicule that accompanies a push back — was determined to get his second LP out in 2014 as promised.
Call me crazy, but this feels like leakage. It feels like MMG is surviving more than thriving. Still, this is all correctable— a couple projects here or there that really resonate with the streets and this powerhouse should stem the slippage. It’s times like these where teams look to their leaders for a jump start. Hood Billionaire had better be a smash, or else the whole label’s future may be riding on Maybach O’s performance on Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood.
Yeah, this is way deeper than rap.