Tripp at Knight: Inclusion of pop culture makes good marketing
Trippie Redd uses an art style common to the Pokemon games series for his new song with Drake titled “Betrayal” in order to attract more views.
Ohio trap rapper Trippie Redd takes influence from numerous musical areas and fuses them together to create an intriguing and thrilling sound on his latest studio album Tripp at Knight.
“Tripp at Knight tops Apple Music’s weekly Pre-Add Chart, seeing more pre-add than any other album in the week leading up to its release,” said RollingStone Director, Emily Blake, about Trippie’s long awaited hyper-trap project. Unlike the rest of his discography, Tripp at Knight is a hyperpop and trap fusion project that uses popular references, metaphors, and visualizers to keep his listeners excited and refreshed.
Rap has many styles and often collaborates with other genres most popularly seen through artists like jazz rapper Earl Sweatshirt, trap metal artist Zillakami, and pop rapper Lil Nas X. While artists such as Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert are most notable for popularizing the “hypertrap” sound, Trippie Redd should not be overlooked as someone who creatively adapts the sound that his trap predecessors established.
Lyrics and drum patterns play a key role in allowing a track to be recognized as “hip-hop.” Trippie takes the distortion and buoyancy of hyperpops chord progressions and throws it on top of the boastful lyrics and head-bobbing drum lines familiar to rap in order to create an addictive experience. Songs like Danny Phantom, featuring Florida rapper XXXTENTACION, contain fast and hyper melodies on top of high pitched vocals to create a rap song with heavy pop influence.
Due to the undying success of the hypertrap single he put out in May 2021 titled, “Miss the Rage,,” featuring Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti, Trippie created his entire album based on the synth-heavy instrumental. Deep within the roots of Trippie’s sound on Tripp at Knight you can tell that he took lots of influence from Playboi Cartis long-awaited, yet controversial, 2021 album release Whole Lotta Red. Some of the exact same chord progressions and heavy hitting 808s from Whole Lotta Red can be heard on Tripp at Knight.
Many were not fans of the repetition or constant use of the same sound on each track. While it’s true that every song sounded very similar, I disagree with those who think it negatively impacts the album. Each track is unique and worth a second listen. The whole sound of Tripp at Knight is so creative compared to its competitors which makes the album so addictive and easy to keep on repeat.
The most magnetic part of the album is Trippie’s double-edged marketing strategy. He used the slow process of releasing aesthetically pleasing and reference-filled music videos to give his fans something new to connect to. He knows that giving the listener something to relate to and keep their eyes on allows for more streams and lingering popularity. Throughout the first week of the album’s release, animated visualizers and music videos filled up almost every Trippie Redd fan’s YouTube recommended page.
He released many videos over multiple days so that fans of his would consume more Trippie related material. This fed information to the YouTube algorithm allowing for more Trippie-related videos to show up on peoples screens.
This marketing strategy is the key to keeping Tripp at Knight relevant for a longer amount of time.
The second reason why many fans continue to stream Tripp at Knight is because it’s filled with relatable references. For example, track 5 titled “Super Cell”, is filled from beginning to end with references to the popular anime Dragon Ball Z.
Trippie released over 10 music videos and visualizers for his album, all containing an art style or lyrical reference to a video game or show. These types of videos collect more streams and views than others because people notice the references to things that they like and are more inclined to click on the video. When a person hears something relatable in a song, they are filled with the emotion tied to how they relate to the song. Many people might feel nostalgia when listening to a modern artist like Trippie Redd reference shows and games common to people’s childhood.
Everyone can agree that the pandemic has been out of control. Our daily lives have been altered so drastically that we forget what life used to be like. Being reminded of memories from our childhood allows a bit of light to shine in this dark time we live in.
Rating
-Delivery / Atmosphere / Perception = 95
-Originality / Influence / Uniqueness = 82
-Flow / Mixing / Concept = 87
Overall Rating = 88
Top Tracks
MP5 (feat. SoFaygo)
Molly Hearts
Danny Phantom
Super Cell
Miss the Rage
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Jayme Silvestri • Oct 2, 2021 at 3:33 am
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Jayme Silvestri