As I write this on Saturday, September 25th at approximately 4:26pm, the song that’s blaring right now is an “Ill Street Blues” freestyle from up-and-comer (and homie) STS. There isn’t any particular reason that I’m playing this song aside from the fact that I spent the last 9 hours listening to another one on repeat; if you’re on my wavelength (and if you’re reading this, I’m assuming you are), it’s “I’m Appalled”, this week’s installment of his “G.O.O.D. Fridays” series.

We all know that since the jump, creativity- and spontaneity, for that matter- have been paramount for Mr. West; his success is largely a function of his willingness to create the transformative, the weird, the beautiful, and the triumphant. (and remember, he called it six years ago on “Last Call” rapping, I’m the gap like Banana Republic and Old Navy). That said, his willingness to employ Twitter as not only a channel for communication (he really doesn’t follow anyone, nor @replies many people) isn’t surprising, but the extent to which he’s carved out and effectively embraced a bespoke content-centric marketing strategy, is. “G.O.O.D. Fridays” have not only become a key promotional vehicle for Kanye, they’ve become somewhat of an artisitc institution in its young existence due to the sheer personal authenticity in its execution.

In the recent past, we’ve witnessed the admirable-yet-irrelevant attempts of hip-hop artists to rally Internet audiences through branded series’ of rapidly-released music. The fundamental problem with those promotional tactics, I feel, was two-fold: to begin with, there wasn’t an existent demand for this new content to satisfy, making the sensationalized deployments confusing. Secondly, there lacked a clear sense of purpose as to why those distinct methods (timing, audience) were chosen: because the non-existent barriers to entry allowed them? Because it was in the realm of possibility that they’d be received as innovative by the blogosphere? Not sure. My personal feeling is that songs/promotions that are meant to be remembered should be cooked with mystique as its key ingredient- otherwise, the time-full approach is no more engaging than a display banner, a digital throwaway flyer that Lord knows nobody keeps.

“G.O.O.D. Fridays”, on the other hand, is bereft of the impersonal, mechanic “GO COP THIS ON iTUNES! NOW!”, rhetoric that hip-hop fans have come to grow familiar with, and delivers at the core of every fan’s desire: high-profile, FREE hip-hop music. These aren’t throwaway tracks, nor there are no hit-counters or numerical benchmarks each week being shouted at consumers to encourage downloads. What does exist is an intelligent-yet-emotive ripple that originates as a link on a Friday evening and manifests itself as word-of-mouth (and earned media/buzz/fodder… whatever you want to call it) ensued throughout the subsequent six days. Also noteworthy is the artistic consistency: black-and-red-with-opaque-image-of-woman art direction which represents a quiet noise that, for Kanye, is fitting. Plus, you know you’ve struck a chord when the community embraces it and playfully imitates… below are the current meme-ish Twitter avatars for digital media captains LowKey and Semtex:

I think it’s safe to say, if Kanye decided to release all the G.O.O.D. Friday songs as a single “mixtape” (the quotation marks are deliberate because I loathe the incorrectness and primitive nature of that term), its value proposition, its story, and its musical expiration date all shift, and fall into the abyss of convention. By leveraging the temporal engagement that is a unique factor of Twitter’s culture, he’s essentially created what can only be described as digital “events” that, for the listener, conjure both a sense inclusion and social currency.

When he released the above Tweet this afternoon, my first thought was, “of course he can say that”, but I immediately retracted and thought, “he’s straight ‘incepting’ all these people by scoffing at the system.” And why not? We all know that the music industry model is evolving, and as its acting change agent, Kanye’s role should discernibly be to remove that veil, and embrace the road ahead.

Creativity has become the ultimate business weapon. The same creativity that’s been used to change culture through advertising can also be applied to distribution, packaging, and even-you guessed it- the product itself.

-Alex Bogusky, “Baked In”

For us culture vultures and marketing folk, this represents an interesting case study to eventually analyze whether this activity moved the needle for Kanye (and Def Jam’s) bottom line- the register. Sure, the resulting groundswell and it’s analog popularity is remarkable, and yeah, they performed a two-week old song, born-of-social-media in front of 60,000+ who knew it word-for-word, but what most want to know is whether you can authentically promote a $9.99 a physical (or ethereal) product when gratis has been the strategy up until this point. My prediction? The community will indeed respond not only because they’re invested emotionally, but because the music, in their eyes, has largely been perceived as cultural contribution, and for them to embrace the attached for-profit enterprise is their vocalized support materialized. (It’s a little funny thinking of Kanye as an operating enterprise similar to that of PBS, but hey, this is MY BLOG.)

In the end this campaign has enough potential to be celebrated with the likes of , well, “Big Mack.”