Pandora Trendsetters: Vic Mensa And $ki Mask The Slump God Debut
We wrote a while back about how hip-hop tends to set the trends on the Pandora Trendsetters Chart, which tracks the 20 up-and-coming artists with the highest number of weekly artist station adds on the platform. And that’s still holding true, with over half of this week’s chart consisting of rising rappers. There are a few MCs who’ve been her for a minute — including chart leader Nav, of Toronto — but there are also a couple new faces debuting. Read on for an introduction, and more highlights from this week’s chart.
Vic Mensa Introduces Himself With ‘The Autobiography’
You probably recognize Vic Mensa from his collaborations with high-profile rappers like Kanye West and Chance the rapper. While The Chicago MC has released several mixtapes and EPs, it wasn’t until July 28 that he released his first full-length album, The Autobiography, which features collaborations with Chief Keef, Pharrell and Pusha T.
Judging by the dramatic social and streaming growth that Vic Mensa has seen since the album’s release, The Autobiography is apparently a page-turner. Over the past month, he’s seen the most dramatic growth on Pandora, with a 185% month-on-month increase in artist station adds, allowing for an impressive debut this week in the top 10 on the Trendsetters chart. On social media, he’s seen a 90% lift in Facebook page likes and a 100% increase in Twitter followers and Wikipedia page views week-on-week.
$ki Mask The Slump God Shows His Face
$ki Mask The Slump God is just one of many promising rappers coming up out of South Florida. But he made it clear in a interview with XXL that he’s not trying to be the next Nas. “Now my goal in hip-hop is to have fun,” he said. “Not everybody has to be a lyricist, not everybody has to be the best, like J. Cole or some sh**.”
Despite the fact that he’s not taking it too seriously, his latest single, “Catch Me Outside,” still managed to win the approval of hip-hop icon Missy Elliott. (“Catch Me Outside” samples Elliott’s 1999 single “She’s a Bi***.”) $ki Mask debuts this week at #19 after the Broward Country native saw over 2,300 artist station adds in one week.
Yung Bleu Hits It With ‘Miss It’
After debuting last month at #20, Mobile, Alabama, rapper Yung Bleu jumps up four spots this week following the success of “Miss It,” a collaboration with Baton Rouge MC Boosie Badazz. In addition to seeing over 450,000 spins on Pandora, Yung Bleu — who recently signed to Columbia Records — also has gained over 6,500 fans on Facebook and seeded over 10,000 artist station adds over the past month.
Overall, Yung Bleu sees his highest engagement on Facebook, where over over the past 30 days he’s seen nearly 6,000 “talking about this” per day, which is 42 times what we’d expect from an artist with his following on the platform. (Facebook defines “talking about this” as the number of people who are engaged or interacting with an artist’s Facebook page.)
See the full list of Pandora Trendsetters here.
