In a fit of alliterative inspiration, Rick Ross and company have dubbed May as the official Maybach Music Month. Rap lately has been all about the label clique and compilation album -- just see the recent blockbuster success of Diddy's Dirty Money record, and Lil Wayne's Young Money posse cuts.
Now Ross' own stable enters the fray with Self Made Vol. 1, a 15-track effort due out May 23 and featuring Maybach Music Group artists Masspike Miles, Triple C's, Wale, Meek Mill, Pill, Teedra Moses, and Stalley. Other guest appearances, meanwhile, come from friends and extended family members like Jeremih, Jadakiss, and Curren$y.
Everything Ross does has to be big, though, so the days leading up to, and just after, the album's release are a veritable blitz of promotion. It's wise, too, consdiering that MMG has some serious heat on which to capitalize. The single "Tupac Back" is burning up airwaves, last week becoming the number one most-added song on national urban radio playlists.
A sampling of what's in the works: MMG's teamed with Mixie bikes to release ten customized mini fixed-gear rides through Complex magazine's Complex.com. Wale, meanwhile, is promoting a Faceboook event promotion contest for college students. Fans on campus who organize a promotional event and score the most responses on the Facebook event page win an official MMG listening party hosted by one of the artists. Then, along with the "selfmade" theme, Ross and the non-profit 100 Urban Entrepeneurs are also giving away $10,000 grants to help minorities start small businesses.
What's immediately most important to the short attention-spanned blog reader, though, is a series of new track and video releases promised. So far, though, that's just meant the April-released videos for "Pandemonium," and "Play Your Part," though semi-sanctioned versions of "100 Hunnit" and "600 Benz" as well as "Tupac Back," can also be heard on YouTube. Check them out below, and visit mmgselfmade.com to pre-order the disc, which will also get you a limited-edition Self-Made T-shirt.