Trick or Treat: Album Leaks

Long before napster, decades before mp3 players, wireless internet / technology, walkmans, and file sharing lie a Vinyl, then an 8 Track which evolved into a cassette, and morphed into a plastic compact disk. This bearer of almighty information would forever shift the relationship between anxiety and hearing new music. Album Leak, [al-buhm] [leek] - the preliminary exposure of an artists' album per the predetermined release date, this can occur via the artist, anyone associated with the label, or an unsuspecting source. I got the idea for this post after seeing a crazy amount of tweets regarding the leak of Drake's sophomore album Take Care, which has been pushed back until a November 15 release. I think this was my last straw. A few weeks ago one of my followers on twitter and I got into a mini debate about album leaks. He compared an album leak to opening Christmas gifts early, I rebutted that I don't like opening my gifts early and compared an album leak to pre cum, its an early surprise too, but who wants that? I know why people like leaks, I mean you hear it before anyone else, you don't have to wait until the release date (which may have been pushed back countlessly *coughs, KRIT*), it's usually free, and the artist gets the "stamp of approval" of being big enough to even get their album leaked. I, on the other hand, have a nostalgia complex. I relish in the days of having to record songs off my karaoke machine, SONY Stereo, or dual tape deck/ alarm clock dock, that was the real mixtape. Remember in Juice when Q had to record his song mixes, thats what I can appreciate. I prepare myself for new music, albums specifically, I'm not too particular on singles UNLESS its from an upcoming album. I don't even like to hear more than one radio single from new albums that aren't released yet. When I bought Thank Me Later (as well as all others) I sat and listened to its entirety to analyze it. I think about the flow of songs, the track formation, the energy levels, the flow of subject matter, all that. I like to hear it all at one time and not risk hearing songs I thought were on the album and shit.. like hidden tracks? They're hidden for a reason! Remember how dope "Cant Take My Eyes Off You" and "Tell Him" were on Miseducation of Lauryn Hill? I could post multi-platnium album statistics from the last millennium and compare it to current album sales, but we all know how much better album sales were before the influx of pirating. I guess the risk of an album leak was lowered because music had to be flown, shipped, or transported some way that didn't use the internet, but that's what yall want right? That just validates how the ease of technology has facilitated so many processes while simultaneously removing the essence of hard work (but you can also thank YouTube and reality television for that). I'm not saying listening to a leak or enjoying leaks are wrong but that they remove precious elements that compose pop culture and the music industry. I guess I have an exception for critics and bloggers that have a workload and may need prior time to review but that's a long shot, WTT wasn't leaked and it had two release dates. Patience people, patience. -- De La.