you gotta just do this s*** cause you love it.

if you're in it to become a superstar and "get big"

Find and/or build a niche scene. Instagram/soundcloud are still good places to network.

Create an identity that matches your talent. Are you a visuals guy? A beats guy? Singing nigga? Rappity rap rapper? That’s the person you’ll ALWAYS be. No matter what Jay z’s current brand is he’s a street rapper.

Create controversy while also demonstrating talent/identity (Think about songs/mvs like Earl, French, Goblin)

Once you have eyes on you give people something to hold onto. The goal is to give people something GOOD/SOMETHING THEY LIKE once you have their attention.

Once you have attention build a brand. A lot of people build the brand first, but you’re new. If you’re brand is punk rock but a rap song got you attention now your brand can’t provide what the people want. Get the attention and then build a brand.

Once you have a brand you need to get outside, people need to see you and feel like they’re a part of your rise. Pop up shows, small venue shows, merch, etc.

Once you got some buzz keep building your brand, honestly this is the slowest phase. You need to maintain your buzz until you’re popular.

Once your popular that’s when you change up and go mainstream

What underground are you referring too?

yeah im not seeing it anymore either

any given stratum of the undeground. however you wanna interpret it

i mean i know that bro lol i just wanted to see what people here had to say about it

to be clear by dead i mean it's not a viable way forward for artists looking to advance their careers in any real way, which i don't think it is. i know good s*** gets posted on there every day still of course

1) Have a great pen game

2) Have an interesting story to tell

3) Developer or ride a new but familiar sound

4) Pay for some features from established Underground artists

5) Reach out to Underground producers and start building

6) Drop that you x solid Underground producer tape

7) Bonus if you can get a S/O from Earl Sweatshirt or Alchemist

Drop singles, get a buzz, work with larger artists, get signed

a hit, or a really dedicated core fanbase

Idk it still seems like a priority for rising artists

Assuming the music is already quality.

Consistency is probably the most important thing. Can't take longs breaks in between projects or songs. Just the way the algorithm works, but even that aside there's so much music that's dropping. Not many underground acts (that want recognition), can just take those type of breaks.

Visual identity. Doesn't even have to be something super out there, just a clean aesthetic used for cover arts, vids, etc will increase the likelihood of people checking it out. I'm more likely to check out an album from a new artist if the cover art is fire.

Finding your audience, depending on your niche, perform at events related to that niche can help build ur fanbase from the ground up.

Find a collective. Being in sometype of group or scene helps build visibility just off the shared presence of the entire group. If someone is a fan of another artist in your collective, they'll likely check you out by proximity. Slums and Griselda, the most notable example of such.

Cosign, practically extinct atp but all it takes is for one mainstream artist to give u that look. Immediately boost. Like what Drake just did with Pim or Kendrick with AZ

Twitter, ig, and tiktok promo pages. Those type of pages that are based around promoting lesser known artists can also help. But there has to be some level of authenticity to the creator of the page or people will just brush u off as a plant. These pages are pretty much the new era Blogs

its always and will always be who you know. it was like that before technology and like that now. even the ones going viral are only able to “get on” once they connected with the right people

All that being said tho. It's a rutt out here for new artists. Before artists blowing up in early 20s was common but now it's more like blowing up in ur late 20s or 30s.

My apologies for coming off hostile

definitely seems like it

noticing this too. on one hand it's nice to see ageism kind of dying, on the other i wish artists could get what they deserve sooner.

tbh i know and have seen/heard mfs that are 1of1 talented and that’s definitely not enough anymore either. you can have that talent and skill but the noise is the noise, it’s simply not enough i think. some of the most amazing musicians i’ve ever seen are mfs with few ass subscribers on yt or whatever

Sellout and make some TikTok bullshit

The lines have been blurred.

Madvillainy just got a Billion streams and it never had a single Billboard hit.

Yeat went from being niche and blowing up on Tik Tok to being featured on a Drake hit and getting a number 1 album.

Griselda had a lot of clout too for a long time and mainstream rappers used to excited about working with them.

These days, it's less about mainstream vs underground and more about how strong your fanbase is. Ice Spice was/is mainstream and had major features and still flopped because her core fanbase was basically non-existent.

get those cheeks spreading

Even if you do all of this for a few years you might end up with like 30k monthly listeners

Either you’re a great artist or you aren’t. That’s what it’s about first and foremost