Three Top Tier Album Roll-Outs By UK Artists

Traditionally, a few weeks before an artist drops an album the artists goes through an album roll out. This is an extensive campaign that promotes the album via the use of themes, collaborations or freestyles to gain the fans attention for their upcoming album release. Recently, UK artists have decided to take their album roll out to the next level. 2021 has shown the creativity of artist’s promotion powers and it can be argued that this has contributed to their chart success within the first week of the album dropping. We are going to look at the top 3 album and mixtape roll outs that have caught our eye this year alone.

GHETTS

Ghetts' album titled “Conflict of Interest” charted at number 2 on the Official Charts in its first week of release, making this Ghetts best charting album to date. The album rollout was brilliant. A tribute to older grime heads with the nostalgic feeling caused by the "Evolution of Ghetts" series dropping on Youtube. The series showing clips of Ghetts career span starting from the beginning till now. Showing that he is an artist that has truly matured with his music.

The album roll out didn’t stop there as Ghetts was then seen in central London sitting on top of a customised tank which promoted his Conflict of Interest release. Fans were surprised by this method of promotion and some were even able to take snaps with the artist on the tank. Ghetts was also seen recording a music video for a surprise single titled “T[H]ANK GOD"

The campaign roll out took an even more surprising turn as Ghetts decided to bless us all with a “Fire in the Booth” freestyle which he dubbed a “Fire in the Desert.” This is because this freestyle took place in a desert in Dubai with Ghetts pulling up to the mic in a quad bike. This is something that has never been done before and it sent the UK rap scene into meltdown with the settings and bars. Clearly showing that his mentality is years ahead of his peers and is due to trendset this form of freestyle among other rappers. Watch this space.

Ghetts finished his campaign with a loaded set of interviews, notably with Amarundontv. Ghetts released his highly anticipated interview with Amarundontv on February 21st and it gave music fans the insight they needed into the man behind Ghetts, Ghetto and Justin Clarke. It is clear to see the wisdom Ghetts possesses as he reflects on his career, how his outlook on life changed and how he matured his sound over the years. A man who is not afraid to show his struggles along with his drive to succeed during his 16 year tenure.

A successful roll out campaign that the scene had not seen before. Setting the levels of how artists show promote their upcoming bodies of work. It is fair to say that this roll out also aided the rapper to achieve his chart success after the album was released.

AJ TRACEY

One thing we love about AJ Tracey is that he takes his craft seriously and he does numbers all while being independent! We all wanted to hear what AJ Tracey had to say on his new album and he delivered in true Ladbroke Grove fashion. Flu Game was released on April 16th and it debuted at number 2 in the Official Charts.

On March 22nd, AJ Tracey announced his upcoming album along with a press conference where it was confirmed that the rapper was signing to basketball team called Revenge Athletic. At the end of the video a link was made available to his fans: FLUGAME.AJTRACEY.CO.UK. On opening this link you were able to see the album artwork, basketball-themed background pictures and links to buy Revenge Athletic merchandise. This ranged from Flu Game t shirts, hoodies, track suits, and music bundles. A nice touch that shows how closely the rapper pays attention to detail to ensure that the album themes remains consistent throughout the campaign.

The basketball-themed album roll out was something new from a UK artist. The album name Flu Game is reference to the NBA finals match between Utah Jazz and Chicago Bulls in 1997 where Michael Jordan scored 38 points. The UK scene is stepping up their album roll outs and AJ Tracey leads the way with this promotion. He lined up an all-star basketball tournament, reigning in a lot of the famous faces from the UK scene. Ranging from Steff London, Ms Banks, Konan, Michael Dapaah and Elz The Witch.

The rapper also teamed up with Spotify to create a free downloadable app game called “The Game” where you get to shoot hoops with AJ Traceys voice guiding you in the background. A nice interactive touch to this basketball themed album which enabled fans to get involved with thier favourite rappers album promotion.

Everyone knows that AJ Tracey is a huge Tottenham fan and regularly attends games. He has even worked collaboratively with the football club in the past. It was no surprise to see that his album promotion would also involve the club in some capacity. This was seen with the album artwork plastered on the Tottenham stadium when the album dropped. This didn’t stop there, with more billboards promoting the rappers album seen in New York and other London landmarks along with further promotion by YouTube Music on their billboards across the city.

AJ Tracey announced via his Instagram on July 30th that the Revenge Athletic x New Era collaboration collection had dropped and was available to buy. This was exclusively made available on the New Era website with a wide range of collaborative caps and bucket hats.

AJ Tracey is independently killing the game and this album campaign is a huge example of showing how an independent artist can be as successful as other artists that have the labels backing.

CENTRAL CEE

Central Cee’s rise in 2021 has been monumental. This has been caused by the release of great singles and his mixtape titled “Wild West.” The long awaited mixtape dropped on March 12th and it propelled Central Cee into the midst of top names in the rap scene. The mixtape debuted at number 2 in the charts. The rapper matched the anticipation of this tape with a great roll-out, utilising his upcoming brand to collaborate with fashion designers during the promotion campaign.

Central Cee collaborated with the well-known high street fashion brand Trapstar for a #letsseeifyoureallytrap limited collection fashion haul. This ranged from hoodies, full tracksuits and hats.

The rapper didn’t stop there, with these collaborations as he also joined forces with CRTZ.RTW. He released a balaclava, socks and tees collection which he made available on his website www.centralcee.com. Shortly after its release the rapper confirmed that the items were almost sold out within hours.

He was also seen riding a horse in London with the mixtape title "Wild West" imprinted on the horses orange and black themed garment. Central Cee then followed this up with a customised Rolls Royce which had a jet black exterior and orange interior which matched the colour theme of his mixtape and clothing collaborations.

The rapper also modelled for US superstar Drake and his clothing collaboration with Nike called NOCTA. This was seen on Central Cee’s Instagram where he is seen in multiple shots modelling different sets of clothing from the NOCTA range. This included the iconic yellow gloves and black gilet. The significance of the rappers involvement with the NOCTA range highlighted the levels Central Cee has reached where a mega artist like Drake is recognising his emerging dominance within the UK scene.

The album campaigns by UK artists in 2021 have really set the scene for future artists when it’s time for their albums and mixtapes to be released. It is clear to see that a good campaign gathers more listeners who are eager to hear what these artists have to say on their tapes. This then leads to a higher chance of success within the charts. This can be seen with all three artists mentioned achieving their best chart positions to date. It will be interesting to see what other artists have planned for their upcoming tapes based off the back of the success of these three superstars roll-outs.