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4. Cashing In on Clout

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Ballad of the Bullet
This chapter is in the book Ballad of the Bullet
■ ■ ■ 4Cashing In on CloutSpirits were high as AJ, Zebo, and I sped down the expressway, headed to a Walmart supercenter. Against my useless pleas, they maxed out the vol-ume on my car stereo, singing along to AJ’s newest song. The modulated snare drums and hi- hats drifted out through the open sunroof. AJ beamed with excitement.Today was payday.When we arrived at our destination, AJ and Zebo jumped out of my car and rushed inside, straight to the MoneyGram counter. AJ was there to pick up a wire transfer from an aspiring driller from Atlanta, who had solicited him to make a guest appearance, or “feature,” in a new song. At the MoneyGram counter, AJ and Zebo giggled in excitement. They nudged each other as the impatient employee counted out five hundred dollars in twenties. AJ picked up the stack and fanned his face with the bills.“We just got paid, boy!”AJ and Zebo practically skipped through the parking lot back to my car. Walking behind them, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. The two looked more like third graders at recess than the hardened street thugs they portray online. Back on the road, AJ started making plans for his newfound income.It wasn’t the first time that I had accompanied drillers to one of these money wire- transfer counters. It wouldn’t be the last. Trips like these were routine whenever eager collaborators and adoring fans hoped to tap into drillers’ popularity— what Chicago teens fittingly refer to as “clout.” In these gleeful moments, I began to see why drillers are willing to go to such lengths to manufacture reputations as au then tic gangbangers.Every year, more “everyday people” are turning to the online attention economy in search of fame and fortune. Aspiring micro- celebrities— from Instagram fashionistas to Twitter muckrakers and YouTube karaoke singers— hope to become rich by monetizing their personal websites, at-tracting sponsorships from major brands, or landing full- time dream jobs in the cultural industries. There still isn’t much systematic research on pre-cise success rates, but most case studies agree: Even for those with large
© 2020 Princeton University Press, Princeton

■ ■ ■ 4Cashing In on CloutSpirits were high as AJ, Zebo, and I sped down the expressway, headed to a Walmart supercenter. Against my useless pleas, they maxed out the vol-ume on my car stereo, singing along to AJ’s newest song. The modulated snare drums and hi- hats drifted out through the open sunroof. AJ beamed with excitement.Today was payday.When we arrived at our destination, AJ and Zebo jumped out of my car and rushed inside, straight to the MoneyGram counter. AJ was there to pick up a wire transfer from an aspiring driller from Atlanta, who had solicited him to make a guest appearance, or “feature,” in a new song. At the MoneyGram counter, AJ and Zebo giggled in excitement. They nudged each other as the impatient employee counted out five hundred dollars in twenties. AJ picked up the stack and fanned his face with the bills.“We just got paid, boy!”AJ and Zebo practically skipped through the parking lot back to my car. Walking behind them, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. The two looked more like third graders at recess than the hardened street thugs they portray online. Back on the road, AJ started making plans for his newfound income.It wasn’t the first time that I had accompanied drillers to one of these money wire- transfer counters. It wouldn’t be the last. Trips like these were routine whenever eager collaborators and adoring fans hoped to tap into drillers’ popularity— what Chicago teens fittingly refer to as “clout.” In these gleeful moments, I began to see why drillers are willing to go to such lengths to manufacture reputations as au then tic gangbangers.Every year, more “everyday people” are turning to the online attention economy in search of fame and fortune. Aspiring micro- celebrities— from Instagram fashionistas to Twitter muckrakers and YouTube karaoke singers— hope to become rich by monetizing their personal websites, at-tracting sponsorships from major brands, or landing full- time dream jobs in the cultural industries. There still isn’t much systematic research on pre-cise success rates, but most case studies agree: Even for those with large
© 2020 Princeton University Press, Princeton

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1. From the Drug Economy to the Attention Economy 16
  6. 2. Algorithms, Analytics, and AK-47s 44
  7. 3. Keepin’ It Real 76
  8. 4. Cashing In on Clout 102
  9. 5. When Keepin’ It Real Goes Wrong 125
  10. 6. Digital Slumming 153
  11. 7. Hometown Heroes or Local Menace? 178
  12. Conclusion 198
  13. Author’s Note 209
  14. Acknowledgments 219
  15. Notes 223
  16. References 245
  17. Index 261
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691200088-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1. From the Drug Economy to the Attention Economy 16
  6. 2. Algorithms, Analytics, and AK-47s 44
  7. 3. Keepin’ It Real 76
  8. 4. Cashing In on Clout 102
  9. 5. When Keepin’ It Real Goes Wrong 125
  10. 6. Digital Slumming 153
  11. 7. Hometown Heroes or Local Menace? 178
  12. Conclusion 198
  13. Author’s Note 209
  14. Acknowledgments 219
  15. Notes 223
  16. References 245
  17. Index 261
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