Last week  I was able to catch a docu-series on Fuse Music Channel. The series,Popped, chronicles musical artists careers and their rise to fame and fortune through candid interviews with journalists, family members and other people they worked with professionally.

Interestingly enough, for this particular episode,they were discussing rap artist Lil' Wayne as the subject and the hour was spent talking about his rise to success. During the show it was said that basically Wayne's claim to fame was an unorthodox yet calculated formula : release a ton of mix tapes to gain a following, come out with an expensive high budget, highly produced track, and then do as many collaborations with other artists and get on as many songs as possible. 

As I began to think about this more in depth, I found that not only did Lil' Wayne follow this formula, but some of our favorites artists have as well. Including: Nicki Minaj, Drake, Rick Ross and even Kanye West.

So my question is, in order to gain notoriety in the hip-hop world, is there a formula that you need in order to be successful? And if you do need a formula per se, is this it? If you base the success of your career off this calculated plan, does it take away from the authenticity of making it in the rap world?

Tiffnista.