Lil’ Mama: "Label Didn’t Promote My Album Properly"

Published: Monday 23rd Jun 2008 by Sam
Lil' Mama: In a recent interview with our friends over at Rap-Up.com, Lil’ Mama expressed her disappointment with her label’s handling of her debut album ‘VYP: Voice Of The Young People’, which debut at #25 with just 19, 000 units sold. Here’s what the teen star had to say:

“I’m very disappointed in my label, Jive Records, for not promoting my record properly. I’m not a rapper first and foremost. I’m the birth of hip-pop. I’m an innovator and everything that I do is fresh. When you have something so new and fresh in your hands, you’re supposed to know what to do with it. By signing with a label, I signed knowing that everyone was on the same page as me and understanding what was going on. But that wasn’t what I thought it was.”

Ouch…

Whatever happens, I’m hoping we see a lot more from this talented young lady.

Your thoughts?

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  1. ND June 23, 2008

    OMG I just spent two mins writing about her album and her talents underneath her video when I could have posted it here…

    Should I re-post.. Nah cant be bothered!!

    Lil’Mama is under-rated period.

    I bought her album and did not want a refund like I did with Tiffany Evans…

    I hope this next single does well to ensure she has a bright future within the music career…

  2. ND June 23, 2008

    Artists who need to pick up there promotion game (obviously with their record labels support!) and recognise that without that promo it’s not worth releasing that CD….

    Ashanti (8/10) Sick songwriter…
    Kelly Rowland (8/10) (Original not re-release)
    Tiffany Evans (6/10) sorry..
    Janet Jackson (7/10) beats & concept r heavy but vocals
    Keyshia Cole (9/10) album was sick!!
    The Dream (9/10) Amazing and under-rated
    J.Holiday (8/10) I dont understand why I aint seen another single!
    Lil’ Mama’s (7/10) worth the buy, deep lyrics and sick beats with a youthful twist.

  3. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    She truly is underrated and underappreciated. And I’m in my mid twenties. Not only is she good for the youth but she’s what hiphop is supposed to be all about : innovation, diversity, being fresh. Lil Mama brings it.

  4. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    unlike all the artist ND listed, lil mama has about 5-6 singles released. this is more than most artist and especially since the highest selling female on her label (ciara) doesn’t evne get that many releases.

    i say all this to say there was no market. noone is interested. it’s not always the labels fault. if you are that could you will build up the sucess it doesn’t have to be on the first album.

  5. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    what u mean didnt promote she was danm wear every were i mean she a talented girl and all but really who want s to spent 10 buks or her record eveny tho the singes are coo i wouldnt jsut not for me

  6. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    I like her lyrics and I agree that the label should not have picked lip gloss as a 1st single. However, the label waited for that track to die down and released the album with a different 1st single 6 months later. Lil’ Mama needs to realize that sometimes when you are a little different than mainstream it takes the consumers time to actually want to buy your album…better luck with her next CD.

  7. Soufian June 23, 2008

    i love her, she got full support from
    europe..i would buy it if it released here..

  8. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    I like her.. She is positive and a good role model for teens.. She is very underrated!! I wish her success..

  9. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    THERE WAS A MARKET. She’s totally right, they released the album like 6 months after her first single, that’s an album s******. The marketing strategy was horrible and all over the place, and the label is to blame. Everything in this industry is about RIGHT TIMING, you can have all the talent in the world, the best album in music history, if your ish isn’t released at the right time it has terrible consequences.

  10. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    I think Jive did a good job of MARKETING her because everyone knows who she is. However, they did massively drop the ball in PROMOTING her. Waiting an entire year to drop an album is beyond ridiculous but i dont doubt that this next album will be a success because she is an extremely talented artist

  11. Dave June 23, 2008

    always loved this b**** straight outta the gate, but then i was very disappointed with all the rest of the singles.. lip gloss was poppin. until it popped.

    she needs new material. nothing worth buying an album for, the single for sure.. but i’m poor and rarly buy cds except for astists who i love the whole album.. like m.i.a… only album i’ve purchased in a long time.

  12. KC June 23, 2008

    Geez, only 19,000? lol

    She shouldn’t be that mad though

    She’s obviously one of the most talented female rappers ever

    So her 1st cd didn’t go freakin’ Platinum SO WHAT

    So she didn’t sign with the best label SO WHAT

    She calls herself an innovator and I know FOR A FACT she will change Hip-Hop.

    Well, either her or Soulja Boy. lol (I agree with Kanye.)

  13. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    I totally agree with Lil’ Mama. She isn’t the only one. There are plenty of amazing artists with great albums out there who never get as much success as they deserve, all because the label doesn’t work hard to put it out there. Label’s just don’t want to put in the effort anymore…it’s sad really.

  14. magnificentmeka June 23, 2008

    She release 5 singles and she still sold only 19,000 units. She can’t put all blame on the label because the label paid for her videos to be made. After her single “My Lipgloss is Poppin” she should have literally begged for her album to be released.

    I know first time artist don’t really get a say in what goes on with their album but her manager should of stepped up.

    Lil’ Mama also need to realize that people aren’t buying albums like that anymore and the main people who would buy her album are under the age of 21 and people around that age don’t buy they “steal”. With things like Limewire who would buy an album when they already heard half of it on the radio and in videos.

    More then the record company is the blame.

  15. UltraHater June 23, 2008

    WOW!!!19,000 people actually spent money on that album???
    that is truly amazing. so she’s playing the blame game….funny, foxxy brown just did the same thing. could it be that LIL MAMA AND FOXXY ARE JUST WACK?? YEA I’M GONNA GO WITH THAT AND SINCE THIS PARTICULAR THREAD IS JUST ABOUT LIL MAMA, I WILL ADDRESS HER INDIVIDUALLY- LIL MAMA, NO DISRESPECT HUN, BUT YOUR MUSIC IS NOT THAT GREAT. I GIVE YOU PROPS FOR ATTEMPTING SOMETHING POSITIVE BUT MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE THESE POOR SALES AS A HINT THAT BEING A PERFORMER IS NOT FOR YOU. CAUSE ACCORDING TO THAT PATHETIC NUMBER— IT’S REALLY NOT

  16. Anonymous June 23, 2008

    whoever up there said that Ciara was the highest selling female on that label forgot to mention that Britney Spears is signed to Jive. Even her flop album album went Gold and multi Platinum worldwide

  17. bajan_princess June 24, 2008

    The albums really deserved to be huge! I think the album should have been released straight after Lip Gloss!

    BTW Sam are you still getting that interview with Lil’ Mama? I’m really waiting for that one!

  18. BUTLER_84 June 24, 2008

    I THINK SHE’S OK
    I DIDNT LIKE HER TO BEGIN WITH
    BUT HER MUSIC HAS GROWN ON ME
    BUT I DONT THINK I’D EVER BUY HER ALBUM

  19. Anonymous June 24, 2008

    I’m not a real big fan of Lil Mama either… But i got 2 say the blame is on the label… When her album came out i only saw one commercial promoting it. Come 2 think of it all the albums that came out this year, have had bad publicity to me all except for the Tha Carter III & Janet’s ‘Discipline’… I saw at least 7 commercials each promoting their albums… So maybe the label should’ve pushed harder to promote her.

  20. Anonymous June 24, 2008

    thats not the labels fault at all, she was everywhere…her audience aint interested. I’m a “youth”…& i wouldnt even think about buying her album. Hell…whenever shes on TV, i grab that remote to see what else is on. I think she gives herself too much credit. If you were that “fresh” & really “the voice of the youth”…woudnt the youth support you?

  21. tia June 24, 2008

    shes right, 100% right….thats why before i have been researching this business before i get into it,i wanna come in it a bulldog (like keisha cole,she dont play about her business)knowing exactly what to expect because n***** will only tell you what you want to hear

    lastly yeah she was everywhere but that was something that her and her mangager do…bookings and whatnot…..the album promotion IS the labels fault…period point blank

  22. Anonymous June 25, 2008

    @ 12:37 pm and magnificentmeka:

    I completely agree. 5 singles is more than enough to promote her album and she had all the interveiws she needed. I will say it was kinda the label’s fault, just becuase I feel that there was something missing from her, but she also needs to realize people don’t buy albums as much as they use to.

    Besides, it’s only her first album. It’s expected. Now all she needs to do is jump on a lot of people’s songs and do 2 to 3 mixtapes between albums, and her next album should get decent sells. Look at Lil’ Wayne, he did it. Although he delivers better with lyrics and make remixes hot. Lil Mama lacks in that category still to me. GIVE US A REASONE TO BUY AN ALBUM LIKE WAYNE DID!

  23. Anonymous July 10, 2008

    i listened to ure music,very unoriginal and very average and i suppose ure modesty is pretty ugly 2,they couldnt sell it coz it didnt stand out.go get a daytime job honey.

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