Uzi and Snippets

I used to love leaks. Whether it's a small 30 second snippet off of Instagram, or a fully mixed and mastered song that was previously unreleased, the idea of getting new music always makes me giddy. It's been about a year since Playboi Carti has officially released any new music, and even longer for Lil Uzi Vert (nearly two years). Although they are my personal favorites, I don’t think I’m biased in saying that their names within the trap rap community still hold prominence, whereas many of their contemporaries have faded away from the spotlight. They’ve contributed to a new wave of modern rap that has shifted away from lyricism to a more dynamic form. I mean, what person in their 20s doesn’t know XO Tour Llif3?

Or Playboi Carti’s Magnolia?

Now, as much as I love new songs from Uzi and Carti, the idea of leaks brought some things into perspective. The role of leaks in maintaining relevance is something that really interested me. A “steady diet” of snippets have kept both myself and many others satiated for a while. As it turns out though, these leaks are horrible for the artists, and the creative process as a whole. On one hand, there's the financial aspect of it; these artists don’t get paid for the work that they’re creating, which mitigates that form of extrinsic motivation that their art would have provided. They’re being denied some compensation for the time and money that they have already sunk into producing the song. However, it even goes beyond the financial aspect, as it ruins potential collaborations out of fear of losing music or money.

On the other hand, there’s a more intimate, intrinsic aspect to it. Jai Paul is another artist who has received his fair share of losses due to hackers and leaks. In 2013, his laptop was stolen and his entire unfinished album was released for the world to hear. After disappearing for 6 years, he officially released the leaks, with a letter that gave us insight to how he felt about his work getting leaked. He said:

"I understand that it might have seemed like a positive thing to a lot of people – the music they had been waiting to hear was finally out there – but for me, it was very difficult to deal with. As things unfolded I went through a number of phases, but the immediate, overriding feeling was one of complete shock. I felt numb, I couldn’t take it all in at first. I felt pretty alone with everything, like no-one else seemed to view the situation in the same way I did: as a catastrophe. There was a lot going through my mind, but the hardest thing to grasp was that I’d been denied the opportunity to finish my work and share it in its best possible form. I believe it’s important for artists as creators to have some control over the way in which their work is presented, at a time that they consider it complete and ready.

I was also frustrated by how all this was being framed online, leading to the widespread belief that I had decided to leak my own music, despite my record label and I saying otherwise. It didn’t fit at all with anything I had done previously in style or attitude, and especially not in presentation. To make matters worse I was advised at the time to keep quiet and leave things ambiguous, but this didn’t really fit with my vibe and there was disagreement among us. I soon felt unable to engage with it at all."

The loss of freedom takes away the joy from creating the work itself, which can inhibit the creativity of the artist, and potentially hurt their future discography. The idea of harmonious passion can be defined as “‘the autonomous internalization of an activity, making it part of one’s identity and thus create a sense of personal enjoyment and free choice about pursuing the activity’” (Amabile 9). Harmonious identity is a facet of intrinsic motivation, which is this idea of doing something for the sake of enjoying it. When the artist loses that free choice due to leakers or labels, they not only feel as though they are losing control of their identity, but they are also robbed of the joy of finishing and tinkering with that art. In essence, a large part of the creative process for that artist is impacted.

Uzi is a good example of an artist that exemplifies the “three components needed for creativity” (Amabile 333). He started his career making music for his close friends and family. He was able to utilize his “domain-relevant skills” of singing and production in order to get noticed. Once he gained his following, he exhibited some “creativity-relevant processes”, such as his hard work ethic that commanded his releases, making sure that he was producing things that he felt were worth listening to. This initially gave him his “intrinsic task motivation”, as he enjoyed the process of making music. However, as this idea of motivation “can be influenced significantly by the social environment” or in this case, leaks, we begin to see how Uzi has changed significantly (Amabile 333).

Nowadays, Uzi has begun to distance himself from his status as a rapper, and has instead found a new creative outlet: fashion. He has used the success of his career to attempt to make a name for himself as a stylist, with his outfits garnering millions of likes on the popular photo-sharing platform Instagram. His upcoming album, however, keeps getting pushed back further and further. I believe that this is the effect of the social environment that Uzi finds himself in. Whether it is his recent tweets about his grandmother’s declining state of health, outfit pictures, or even appearances at Rolling Loud, a music festival, he cannot escape the influx of people begging him to drop his next album. The freedom that he lost due to the release of his snippets have shut him off creatively within the realm of music, and effectively pushed him toward fashion.

Works Cited:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_Paul
https://uproxx.com/music/jai-paul-new-music/
https://genius.com/a/how-artists-like-playboi-carti-lil-uzi-vert-have-been-affected-by-leaks
https://twitter.com/liluzivert?lang=en
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w0rpzaihkd2f67l/AABJui89d8JKbWdz0waGxjV0a/aWeek%206%20-%20Motivation/amabile_AmerPsyc_Irving_REQUIRED.pdf?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w0rpzaihkd2f67l/AABCjYOr_y5Fb2ImZRXA7km2a/aWeek%206%20-%20Motivation?dl=0&preview=amabile_pillemer_JCB_2012_+REQUIRED_(Pages7-9).pdf&subfolder_nav_tracking=1