The Art of the Album Rollout

CAMPBELL HARVEY
         
Album’s aren’t what they used to be. We used to wake up Friday morning and listen to the whole project on the bus, or if you were lucky enough to stay up till midnight on Thursday listen through your skullcandy headphones in bed. The rollout of an album was often simple, catered to the talk shows, the radio, or television. One thing has remained true throughout the years of changing genres, platforms, and social media and that is: An artist will always find a way to sprinkle their brand into their music.

Branded imagery has been present in music since the start, which we see in the works of icons like The Beatles, Prince, and Diddy. Setting the tone for your music is essential in building a brand as an artist, especially if your project will be marketed for tours, festival appearances, or merch. Going through my years of consuming music, I have found a few people who mastered the Art of the Album Rollout to perfection.

Now the official parameters of the art are limitless, bringing original ideas to how you express your work and creating timeless “events” in pop culture is important. Everyone knows where they were at when Soulja Boy rose to stardom, or going to Friday night skate and hearing all the hits of the late 2000’s, but as consumers of music we weren’t necessarily forced to witness these “events” outside of the music.

In this list, I decided to highlight significant movements of artists who captured the true image of their album in the rollout process. Whether it was sex themed magazines, buying and hosting a black owned social media platform, or becoming a Afro-Surrealist director for a summer, the artists on this list promoted their albums excellently. Check out the list below and let me know who I missed:

Rob Apollo - Whore

Starting this list off with one of the most explicit projects I have ever witnessed, Michigan’s Rob Apollo debuted this project in the fall of 2019, and its brilliance could not be forgotten. Whore, a 9-track album recorded during his time at Washington University in St. Louis, was Rob’s sexual expression piece filled with raunchy lyrics, love songs, and lots of pussy (sorry mom). The brand of this album is nasty and Rob embodies being a whore not only in the lyrics but visuals, teasers, and the release of it.

One of the first introductions I had of Rob was a basement show in Central West End and I think listening to “6102” live was a good introduction but definitely not the whole picture. Watching performances and pictures on social media, I saw no occasion that Rob should be screaming and moshing in the crowd, until he announced the album. The months leading up Whore were filled with so much anticipation. This may not be true but I remember vividly hearing Rob had taken out a whole nude spread in a school magazine or like was a nude model on campus for the art classes, don’t quote me and no don’t ask me for the proof.

Rob defined his identity in this project, taking his place in a creative scene that was ready for change. St. Louis Arts needs expression, and the entirety of Whore’s existence was catered to fans of sexual expression.

Rob’s official rollout featured a sex themed cover art, skits with Kayano, and pussy tweets, lots of fucking tweets about pussy. Rob was a known sex icon I feel, if there was an award for Horniest in the City, it was him. The days leading up to the album release party, Rob teased his merch and released his album cover, a mattress floating on pink clouds with multiple partners in bed with him. Rob curated a release party with some of the school's best artists, featuring a mattress with a used condom on it, a cantaloupe with a mold of a pussy in it, and a Whore themed merch stand.

Rob branded this album to perfection, no matter how explicit it was. Whore will sit in time as a moment you couldn’t miss, you couldn’t take your eyes off of it, and will go down as the sexiest album of that year.