Up-and-coming artists are being given all kinds of new and exciting opportunities to get noticed — in this current chapter of music history, social media has become a more powerful tool than ever to leverage your art to create a stable following. Artists have shifted to mediums like TikTok and Instagram to build independent fanbases, allowing them to show different sides of their personalities before becoming globally recognized superstars.
Artists like Saweetie and Latto have strived during this era, taking smart approaches to their releases and getting creative with new methods of marketing music and themselves. Saweetie is one of the most popular celebrities on social media. Though she’s still in the beginning stages of her music career, the 28-year-old has become a superstar with how she’s used TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram to build her brand, promoting her music by coupling her drops with clever content online. Latto has started a few trends, most recently blanking out her features on her album Queen Of Da Souf and replacing their names with emojis, having fans play a guessing game, and boosting her engagement by thousands. Of course, she’s almost always trending on socials too, becoming a major force in the rap game for years to come.
After launching the Thirst For Yours campaign with HotNewHipHop a few years ago, Sprite is expanding its support of the hip-hop community and culture by introducing the Live From The Label concert series this summer, giving undiscovered artists an opportunity to learn from some of the hottest talents in the game right now, including Saweetie and Latto.
Discussing the upcoming event at a virtual green room last week, moderator Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins spoke with DJ Drama, Nyla Simone, and Sprite executive Aaliyah Shafiq to explain the importance of the concert series and how it expands on Sprite’s larger initiative to remain fresh and continue finding untapped corners of the hip-hop world to amplify to the masses. That continues with Live From The Label.
LVTL will consist of three live-streamed concerts, starting on July 29 with Latto, followed by Saweetie on August 12, as well as a special headlining act later this summer from an artist that will be announced soon. The headliners will be accompanied by opening acts selected by Sprite Way, a community of passionate music fans that chose which emerging stars to pair with each artist.
“Live From The Label is new for this summer but not a new behavior,” says Aaliyah Shafiq about Sprite’s latest initiative. It’s all about taking artists that have established themselves over the years who started as opening acts, like Latto and Saweetie, and making sure that they’re available as mentors to emerging artists, offering them a larger platform and giving them tips and guidelines to succeed in this cut-throat industry. Saweetie has been paired with Summer Valentine, a Philadelphia-based urban pop singer, and Latto will be working with Chlothegod, a new-age femme recording artist that was recently featured at the Dreamville Camp with J. Cole.
“We’ve had such a dominance of female rappers that has never been seen in the history of hip hop and that’s here to stay,” said DJ Drama about the event, which places female performers at the forefront. “We need to celebrate.”
As a company, Sprite believes that it has a responsibility to continue to uplift the hip-hop community. Aaliyah Shafiq explains that Sprite has “to listen to what people are actually saying,” noting that hip-hop is about more than just music. Sprite wants to be a good partner to the hip-hop community by listening and being willing to evolve as the culture evolves — and we all know that evolution happens quickly in our world.
To catch any of the upcoming live performances, all you need to do is pick up a Live From The Label Sprite bottle and scan the QR code to unlock your ticket to one of the shows. Scan a Stage 1 bottle to watch Latto perform, a Stage 2 bottle for Saweetie’s performance, and a Stage 3 bottle for the final show that has yet to be announced.
Learn more about the Live From The Label concert series here.