big b's with a few c's.

word of mouth, radio/music videos on mtv, street teams, vibe/xxl reviews, etc

this too. labels prolly did way more for their artists back in the day.

I’ve been handed a few mixtapes in my life lol the hustle 😤💪

by making good albums 😌

Get hot in your city and the word of mouth gets out. Selling shows a big part too

This

Suge Knight, P Diddy, and Dr. Dre.

classic avy, Bobby V boii where u at

Sit down take a chair lil jit

I got a story to tell you....

If anything the Internet made regional scenes more irrelevant. You could have an entire career within a state back in the day

Mixtapes

music journalists

i give this thread 4.5 mics

By having actual d*ck sucking talent

-Handing out demos outside of record companies

-Selling tapes out of their trunk

-Having family in the music/entertainment business

becoming a product like Eminem

No probably, they did lol

the stuff you see artists do now on their own, esp indie acts, like the social media promo stuff, the contacts, all of that would be part of artist development. (Which is why that's not a thing anymore, because artist who sign to a label already have all of that most times)