The age of constant connection to smartphones has made self-promotion a 24-hour task for celebrities, but Grammy-award winning rapper Drake uses technology as an aid to his success.

Look no further than the new search engine, Let Me Drake That For You, that retrieves stories featuring both the rapper and the specified keyword. The Drake search engine follows the recent launch of an app, Drizzy, which allows users to pick the perfect Drake lyric to share with a friend via text message. And don’t forget the Drake-themed iPhone game Runnin Through the 6, which lets the Toronto-born musician literally run and jump around his hometown. Drake-enthusiasts can even check the daily forecast on Drakeweather.com. Although these creations were not made by Drake or his team, they demonstrate his influence over the Internet.

Justin Bieber may have been the first musician to strike gold off of his presence online, but Drake uses the World Wide Web to fuel his own popularity like no one before. Thanks to tech-savvy and tactical marketing moves, the child-actor turned hip-hop-icon has dodged the pitfalls that most artists succumb to in this new era of media immediacy.

“Champagnepapi” is the 37th most followed person in the world on Instagram and ranks second among all rappers behind Nicki Minaj, according to Social Blade. Whether it’s a candid photo of him with his mother or a video of him shooting hoops with his friends, Aubrey Graham isn’t afraid to show his audience the real him via social apps. There is even an app, “Drake Shake,” dedicated to adding Drake into your own photos. Rather than responding in rage to these Photoshopped pictures and memes, he embraces them and even posts them on his own accounts sometimes. His lyrics are also fan favorites for Instagram photo captions because of his widespread appeal.

“His lyrics are relatable to both men and women,” said Billboard Senior Editor Erika Ramirez in a March 13 New York Daily News article. “Whether he’s referring to an ex-lover, a nemesis or even his mother, he takes his personal life and makes it universal.”

He most notably embraced technology on Feb.13, when Drake used Twitter to drop a surprise album “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” tweeting a link to the album on iTunes. The former “Degrassi” star has sold over 774,000 copies of that album and briefly held the record for most single-day Spotify streams at 6.8 million, according to a April 13 Billboard article.

Last summer, Drake dove even deeper into the tech world when he introduced an interactive app for his “Drake vs. Lil Wayne” tour. The arcade-inspired mobile app let’s users rapidly tap the screen in order to “power-up” either Lil Wayne or Drake and determine which artist will open the night’s performance.

Drake separates himself from the competition by creating a unique and personal experience for his supporters, a methodology used by many tech companies today. Instead of sticking to old marketing habits, Drake embraces the new platforms available to artists to grow their influence. His talent is unquestioned but, let’s face it, Drake’s ascent to stardom wouldn’t have been as rapid if the music was all he had.

A tweet from his counterpart Kendrick Lamar is rare. Hip-hop star J. Cole chooses not to document his life on Instagram. But Drake doesn’t hesitate to use social media and technology the same way his fans do every day.

Behind all of his musical gifts there is a marketing mastermind. In his song “6PM in New York” Drake says, “If me and Future hadn’t made it rapping, we’d probably be out in Silicon (Valley) trying to get our billions on.” His track record proves he isn’t bluffing.

Aarick Knighton is a junior information management and technology major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at adknight@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @aarickurban.

Published on April 21, 2015 at 11:40 pm