Why Nipsey Hussle was a tactician in spreading his ideas
What exactly did Nipsey learn from Contagious? The book about the $100 cheesesteak...
In this article, I share some of the lessons Nipsey Hussle seem to have clocked about how to build word of mouth in the digital age. Sometime after releasing his debut album ‘Marathon’, Nipsey Hussle read the book Contagious and he sold Mailbox Money, the album for $1000.
I first heard about this book when I was reading Breakfast Club interviews where Nipsey and the rest were talking about a $100 cheeseburger.
If you’ve read the book you would know. It sets out a playbook with six principles, or STEPPS, to drive things that catch on.
5 Principles
1. Social currency - We share things that make us look good
2. Triggers - Top of mind, tip of tongue
3. Emotion - When we care, we share
4. Public - Built to show, built to grow
5. Practical Value - News you can use
6. Stories - Information travels under the guise of idle chatter
Social Currency
Make the people who talk about your product, seem more remarkable. We all want to be liked
From Marathon Continues to Crenshaw; Nipsey wasn’t afraid to use shock-factor to get people talking about it. He even made his album cover all red when everyone knew he was a Rollin 60's Crip.
People have this innate desire to share their thoughts, opinions, and experiences with others - from a marketing perspective, having something that could make the people who talk about it seem more remarkable is perfect 👌.
When notable people from “the other side” collaborate or put their differences aside, it gets people talking. Its the same thing that made us talk in the UK when Brixton/Peckham collaborations were happening or when Rick Ross and Young Jeezy made music - we as fans definitely talked it.
To take it a step further, only true Hussle fans who paid the $100 for the album, got exclusive tickets to the concert - he made people feel like insiders from early.
He wanted to step his game up for Mailbox Money. During the album’s gestation, he met Ryan Leslie, where he was able to implement a direct consumer enhancement tool that allowed for Hussle to own the data that was being captured.
Any forward-thinking music manager with a marketing brain can see that he was trying to understand more about his audience so that he could engage with them more.
Emotion
People share things that give them a sense of awe - a sense of wonder and amazement. A sense of surprise, unexpectedness or mystery.
The sickest thing about Nipsey is that even when he wasn’t promoting an album, people were moved by what he did in his community and that’s the biggest reason I believe he touched so many people.
One of the recent stories I became aware of, is the fact that he employed a neighbourhood tramp aka Slauson Bruce. Stories like this definitely get out, especially, when it’s authentic.
As Nipsey fans, we knew he had that quality about him, and that’s why when we hear these stories we can’t help but feel moved, and we are more likely to share them with others.
Public
It is much more likely that your neighbours purchasing data can influence yours
For a long time, artists have done things in public that show the pull of their fanbase
One example of this was Nipsey and All Money In Team bringing the Brink Truck with him 🏁
It looked like a scene in Money Heist, except Nipsey and the crew were the safehouse
It kind of reminded me of when Nines shut down JD in the UK
Things like police towing your car away just give it extra sauce and street cred.
Here is Hussle’s telling TMZ that the Cops Have it Out for Him after they towed his Armored Truck Towed:
What better way to get people talking.
😂who remembers when the feds were locking off Giggs shows and he came out with this cheeky apology
Stories
Make sure the information you want people to remember and transmit is critical to your narrative. If people don’t connect the content back to you, it’s not going to help you very much
Nipsey wanted people to remember that “its not a sprint, its a marathon” and it became a movement.
Even in his death, it also gave us something to keep us going and this emoji 👉🏁started to mean something more
This is why even when Nipsey is no longer with us, his story still does.
The marathon continues 🏁
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Well put together and explained. The deep analysis of the great works of Nipsey Hussle and his All Money In team, presented well in each point. Will be interesting to see if others after follow or if these same tactics become obsolete.