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Hey. Still can't believe we lost Michael K. Williams. So sad. You never know what someone is going through. I can only imagine how his family and loved ones feel.

Last week, my wife and I had just started rewatching The Wire season 2. People love to hate on that season, but we wanted to give it another try. So far, I appreciate it more this time around. It also has the best courtroom scene with Omar himself. RIP Michael K. Williams.

Today's Trapital Memo covers a follow-up on last week's essay The OutKast Edge, the marketing for Drake's Certified Lover Boy, Jay Z's bid for a Fanatics sportsbook in New York, and a brief reflection on Trapital.

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The OutKast Edge: follow-up + suggestions!

First, thanks to everyone who read, shared, or reached out about The OutKast Edge. The response has been great. The latest Trapital Podcast is an audio version of the essay, and a breakdown on several reader suggestions on who else they think should be considered.

Since then, I've received a TON more suggestions from people on who else they think got it like that. Here are a few suggestions sent in:

There's a few that 100% have it, like Curren$y. There's a few names I gotta think more about. But please keep the suggestions coming! I'll revisit this in a few months.

If you haven't yet read my essay on The OutKast Edge, read or listen here.

On the Trapital Podcast, hip-hop's heavy hitters explore their ideas that helped them level up their game. Learn more here.​

Drake + ESPN Partner for Certified Lover Boy

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Drake's latest album, Certified Lover Boy, dropped on Friday. It's a great opportunity to break down Drake's promotional tactics (specifically with ESPN), Drake's memes, and the streaming records that keep getting broken.

Certified SportsCenter Boy. ESPN went deep with CLB coverage:

• Aug 27: cryptic announcement for CLB on SportsCenter​
• Sep 2: ESPN article on how NBA players are waiting for CLB
• Sep 3: ESPN article on how athletes are excited for CLB​
• ​@ESPN: 4 posts
• ​@SportsCenter: 2 posts

The Worldwide Leader in Sports is sharing tweets from DJ Akademiks and creating graphics of Drake as Thanos from The Avengers movies! Drake got ESPN out here like an Instagram hip-hop account.

Today, ESPN announced that Drake will take over music duties for Monday Night Football. Drake will feature his own music and select music from other artists.

It's another example of major artists partnering with major corporations to distribute their albums. I would love to see the promotional agreement between ESPN and OVO Sound.

The meme-ification of Aubrey Graham. For years, Drake has leaned into his ability to create memes. The "Hotline Bling" music video and Views album cover were made to be turned into spoofs.

Drake did the same thing with the CLB album cover and its 16 pregnant emojis. The same is true for the "Way 2 Sexy" video featuring Future, Young Thug, and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard in a Backstreet Boys-esque music video. The Kawhi feature was guaranteed to drive traffic with the sports sites and blogs.

Every media impression is an opportunity for an "Oh wow, did you see this?" buzz-worthy and sharable moment made to generate earned media and more hype for the album

The cryptic ESPN announcement drove even more coverage about the album, especially given the speculation that ESPN was "hacked" (it wasn't, but the fact that some people think he did helped its case!).

The CLB billboards released in each city did the same. In Houston, the CLB billboard said "HEY HOUSTON, THE HOMETOWN HERO IS ON CLB." As @ DragonFlyJonez called out, it's like 15 ppl this could be. The speculation drove more interest. (The hometown hero ended up being Travis Scott.)

Drake's tactics make an older music video like "Pop That" feel like an old relic. The 2012 video is a posse cut with four rappers, including Drake, living large at a pool party. It's well-made, but there are no memes or buzzworthy moments from "Pop That." Rappers have done music videos like that for years. They don't register in an era where artists fight for attention from TikTok, YouTube, Fortnite, and countless other attention-grabbing platforms.

Streaming records broken. The 21-track album has already broken streaming records on Spotify and Apple Music, and will likely break more in the next few weeks. But that says more about Spotify's growth than it does about Drake. The same thing happened for Scorpion (2018), Views (2016), and other projects Drake has released in the streaming era.

The default comparison has been the Billboard charts, but even that has comparison challenges given the changes with album bundling and other tactics.

In an era with more data than ever, it's harder to quantify the impact. Even if CLB has more streams or more Billboard "album-equivalent units" than Views and Scorpion, it doesn't tell the full story of its magnitude. But maybe it's an opportunity for more subjective debates. "Which album is a classic?" Who is in your Top 5? And which album is bigger than the other?" Hip-hop ain't hip-hop without the debates, right?

For more on this listen to the HipHopRaisedMe podcast with DJ Semtex where we talked about CLB, Donda, Kendrick Lamar's upcoming album, and more.

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Jay Z and Fanatics Bet on Sports Gaming

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Three weeks ago, Jay Z made a bid for a sports betting license in New York with Fanatics. The news comes after the sports apparel company raised $325 million and is now valued at $18 billion.

An untapped opportunity. The rise of sports gambling in media has been dominated by companies like FanDuel, DraftKings, and Barstool Sportsbook. They succeed because they leaned into that male fraternity culture. "Saturdays are for the boys," and those boys like to gamble on sports.

But that's not the only audience that loves to bet on sports! Jay and Fanatics Betting and Gaming can reach the gamblers who:

• are Tidal subscribers
• bought a Roc Nation paper plane hat
• still argue about why they would rather have dinner with Jay Z than $50,000

That's a few to name off the top, but there's more.

Diving deeper. Fanatics Sports Book has a lot going for it, but it should lean into two things.

First, it should have a media partnership to boost engagement. For instance, Cash App leveraged hip-hop stars as social media influencers for free cash giveaways, and it also did a long-term sponsorship with The Joe Budden Podcast. Fanatics has the hip-hop influencer options already since CEO Michael Rubin has close ties to both Jay and Meek Mill. But it would benefit from having a hip-hop media personality as a longtime sponsor too.

Second, and relatedly, Fanatics can't rely on Jay Z's brand solely. Jay is well-respected in Black culture, but his lifestyle isn't as relatable to the average sports gambler. He's out here taking photos next to never-before-seen Basquiat paintings! He doesn't give off the impression of someone who would say, "Shit. Just lost $500 on the Cowboys vs Buccaneers opening night game but it's a long season! We'll bounce back."

The Fanatics sports book needs that person to push the brand as well. That's what the other gaming-media brands and partnerships have done well.

Those voices are out there, especially in Black culture. It doesn't have to be an internal move either. It could be a partnership like DraftKings has with sports journalist Dan Le Batard. It's still early, but let's see which strategy the Fanatics Sports Book will take.

A Trapital reflection

Last week, ConvertKit wrote a story about my journey growing Trapital. It was humbling to read that story. After that, I re-read the post I wrote in July 2020 when I ended my paid membership. A lot has changed since then!

Earlier this year, Trapital's monthly revenue surpassed my previous job's salary, which paid me a post-MBA paycheck. The milestone is more symbolic than anything business-related for Trapital, but it's an important one to highlight—especially for the people building things as writers, podcasters, and all sorts of creators.

I have a lot planned for this coming fall and winter which I'm excited to share. Trapital's mission from day one has been to elevate hip-hop for the people taking it to that next level. I'm grateful to be in this position. Thanks again for reading and being part of this journey!

P.S. - on that note, Trapital is gearing up for Q4 sponsorship and partnership opportunities for both the newsletter and podcast.

If you're interested, learn more here.​

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Coming soon from Trapital

I'll give you a hint, CLB style...

THE BIGGEST BOSS IS COMING ON THE TRAPITAL PODCAST ON FRIDAY 9/10

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