That’s always been our goal: to be the bridge for artists who are just starting their careers, and helping them transition to the next phase. We still provide a ground level entry into this industry for new artists. How would you describe DatPiff’s niche in the music industry in 2019? Over the next 12 months, you’ll see a big change. It’s not necessarily a rebranding, but a modernization of DatPiff-not only the look, but the functionality. Over the next year, you’re going to see a big transition. We’ve had a new version ready to go, but we’ve just been making final tweaks and things like that. We’re going to be doing a big overhaul of the site in the next year or so. That’s one thing that we will always stay true to. We help them get their name out there and get recognized. Our mission remains the same, which is being a ground level platform and helping artists have a first step to becoming successful. I want people to know, first and foremost, that we're still here and stronger than ever. What’s the most important thing you want people to know about DatPiff in 2019? The interview, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, is below.
WIZ KHALIFA TAYLOR ALLDERDICE APPLE MUSIC ARCHIVE
DatPiff has found a way to live on without sacrificing its content or its values, allowing for the platform to find its niche.Īfter the end of the music blog era, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music are scrambling to add mixtapes to their platforms, leaving DatPiff as the only place to find many projects from the past 15 years. “Our archive will be here forever,” KP promises. “So long as I’m handling it, it will be one of the best catalogs of historic hip-hop music that exists for decades to come.”Ĭomplex caught up with KP to talk about the history of DatPiff, how the site is still breaking artists, and what’s next for music’s richest archive of mixtapes. But KP says the site is doing better now than ever. We hung all night, smoking, taking shots, and just talking music.”ĭespite its history of breaking artists and shifting the music industry, there has been a narrative floating around that DatPiff has fallen off in recent years. About two years after first talking online, Wiz had a show at Lehigh University. “After that, I reached out to KP on Twitter, started talking, and we kept in touch. “Wiz’s old production company uploaded the mixtape Flight School to DatPiff, and that was our first official release with them,” remembers Will Dzombak, president of Taylor Gang Entertainment and manager of Wiz Khalifa. One notable example is Wiz Khalifa, whose Kush & Orange Juice, Taylor Allderdice, and Cabin Fever projects earned the highest certifications on the site. KP prides himself on that, and credits the success and longevity of DatPiff to being hands-on with the artists and teams he works with. It became home.įrom the very beginning, the platform put a focus on developing close relationships with artists and assisting in career development. For rappers, producers, DJs, and hip-hop fans across the world, DatPiff developed into a favorite place to share music directly with fans. When the music distribution platform entered the industry in 2005, it became one of the go-to places to hear mixtapes. (It’s worth noting that some of his biggest tracks were produced by Stargate, benny blanco and the Bruno Mars team The Smeezingtons-pop producers, not rap ones.) After reaching a pop peak with his 2015 Charlie Puth collaboration, “See You Again”, Khalifa scaled things back, releasing a sequel to Rolling Papers and a breezy collaboration with New Orleans rapper Curren$y ( 2009), followed by The Saga of Wiz Khalifa in 2020.“I remember Diddy telling me years ago that DatPiff put out bigger projects in the last five years than all of the major labels combined,” says Kyle “KP” Reilly, vice president of DatPiff. From the beginning, Khalifa seemed indifferent to genre, mixing hip-hop with hints of club music and the anthemic quality of great pop-a flexibility that made him as likely to show up on a Maroon 5 track as a Chief Keef one. He started releasing mixtapes around 2005, racking up an increasingly high-profile set of features before breaking through with 2011’s Rolling Papers. Or, as he put it on “Black and Yellow”, “Get fly and take trips and that’s that-real rap.”Ī military kid, Khalifa (born Cameron Thomaz in 1987) spent most of his childhood bouncing around before settling in Pittsburgh.
From the beginning, there was something low-key and effortless about him, a joie de vivre that made his music-“No Sleep”, “Work Hard, Play Hard”, “Mezmorized”-feel like a party. Some rappers want to take over the world Wiz Khalifa just wants to meet girls, get money and smoke as much weed as his constitution will allow.
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