The big question now for Blueface is how he can make it all last. During his meeting at the agency, the people sitting around him at the table throw the word “crossover” around quite a few times. In this context, they’re referring to demographics: Blueface is already a fixture in the “urban,” black markets in various parts of the country, and they’re looking to expand to whiter, more suburban audiences. His reach in L.A. is already impressive. He sold out his first hometown headlining show at The Novo in January. French Montana was in attendance; Seal brought his kids.
When I ask Blueface if he thinks he’ll have to expand his set-claiming, turf-centric sound to appeal to a wider audience, he shrugs. “I could change it up,” he says, citing his recent single “Studio.” Released in December 2018, the song follows a common come-up narrative, and finds Blueface leaning into more melodic territory as he croons, “You wasn’t there from the start, you can’t get nothing from Finish Line.”
But if the success of “Thotiana” is any indication, Blueface may not need to shift his approach to reach the ears and eyes of mainstream America; for rap fans living far outside the areas where the music is made, the novelty of the song’s regional sound may be the very thing that drives its crossover. At the end of January, a video of a group of teenagers from Oklahoma dancing goofily to the song went viral on Twitter. The resounding sentiment was “‘Thotiana’ is cancelled,” as fans mourned the inevitability of white people ruining the song. The next week, “Thotiana” moved up 38 positions on the Hot 100.
“Studio” was Blueface’s first release under Cash Money Records, who announced that the rapper had signed to their Cash Money West division last November. Cash Money West is a joint venture between Wack and Cash Money co-founder Bryan “Birdman” Williams. Cash Money is distributed by Republic Records and falls under the umbrella of Universal Music Group. To make matters even more complicated, Blueface’s Famous Cryp project — which features a significant amount of his catalog up until this point, including “Thotiana” — was released through 5th Amendment Entertainment/eOne in a one-album deal, a representative from eOne confirmed.
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In other words, eOne owns the majority of Blueface’s music right now, while Cash Money controls a few singles and everything else to come. Having a handful of labels all pushing his songs at the same time might pay dividends in the short-term, as they each compete to make their slice of the pie worth the most money, but it could also raise long-term issues about the size of Blueface’s slice when it’s all said and done.
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