You may follow all their social media pages, have their top songs on your playlists, or even attend a show every now and then, but what is really the best way to support your favorite music artist?
In a phone interview with rapper Black Cobain, he shared with REVOLT TV his story about how he has been able to keep his music career moving based on the success of his $uckafree merchandise.
The DMV artist first explained how he came up with the brand name.
“A few years ago when I was on tour, the only merch that I had, had my name on it,” he said. “That kind of threw people off because some of my homies don’t want to be walking around with a ‘Black Cobain’ logo on their chest all the time. And at that time I was going through a lot of turmoil with my label and who was around and ‘suckafree’ just stood out to me.”
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For Black Cobain, creating his $uckafree brand was about more than just having merchandise to sell.
He told REVOLT TV, “I just really wanted to build it from the ground so that all my fans who been rocking with me all this time, they can have something to [be] attached to, have a brand to stand behind, opposed to just Black Cobain.”
He also shared that he had no idea his $uckafree movement would be as successful as it was.
“I didn’t think it could really take off and really get to a point where it was funding how I was making music and that’s basically where we got to. We found a way to make money in the realm of making music without actually making music… I was able to keep funding my career, I was able to move to California, I was able to pay rent.”
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Black Cobain first began to gain recognition back in 2009 when he dropped the song “4 a.m.” with Wale. Since then he has released six mixtapes, including Cheers, his most notable. However, when differences with his management caused a halt on his rising career, the support from his fans was enough to keep him moving.
“I was lost,” Cobain said. “I was trying to figure out what was going to be my next move and people seeing the response of people wearing my hats, and me making jackets and little t-shirts, it’s like, ‘Oh Black [is] still moving’…It just opened my eyes to the impact of the fans I had and the type of money and potential you have to make.”
The Virginia native credits where he is now to the support of his fans and says that now he can focus on making the best music he needs to make.
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He told REVOLT TV that his next project is a three-part installment titled Whole Time Vol. 1 which will be released on every streaming platform in April 2017. He goes on to add what people can expect from it.
“It’s basically about my transition and where I’m at now,“ he said. “No cut cards or no punches to the situation that was going on [referring to his career]…. it’s just the truth of what really happened whether people like it or not. I’m picking up where I left off.”
So if you’ve ever questioned the importance of buying your favorite artists’ merchandise or purchasing items from their pop-up shops, think again. You may be supporting them in a bigger way than you can imagine.
Check out Black Cobain’s video for “Suckafree” below.