Lloyd Banks is taking a page out of Nipsey Hussle‘s playbook for his new mixtape Cold Corner 3.
While interacting with fans on X on Wednesday (November 1), the former G-Unit soldier revealed that he plans to charge fans $100 to listen to his upcoming project.
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In response to a follower who commented on Banks dropping two projects in one year — April’s The Course of the Inevitable III: Pieces of My Pain and Halloween Havoc IV, which dropped earlier this week — he replied: “It’s all good..CC3 won’t be on streaming sites..only available thru me for $100 then we’ll see if they back the talking up.”
When one fan pushed back against the “crazy high” price tag and pointed out that they’ve been “waiting on that shit for a decade,” the Queens, New York native jokingly countered: “10 dollars per year..that’s not bad [crying face emoji].”
The $100 mixtape fee was famously pioneered a decade ago by Nipsey Hussle, who charged fans that amount for his Crenshaw project. (It was also made available to download for free online.)
It was a lucrative move as the late rapper generated $100,000 after selling all 1,000 physical copies in less than 24 hours at a pop-up store in his hometown of L.A. JAY-Z — Hip Hop’s ultimate hustler — was impressed, and purchased 100 copies himself.
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“One of my mentors suggested I read a book called Contagious,” Nip explained to Forbes at the time. “In the second chapter, a restaurant owner created the first $100 Philly cheese steak and got ridiculed, but got a ton of prominent people interested.”
He added: “It’s time we acknowledge what we all know: the music is free. We shouldn’t force people to buy it; what we should do is create different methods to monetize the connection.”
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Crenshaw marked the beginning of Nipsey’s Proud2Pay campaign, which rewarded his most committed supporters with concerts, priority access to new material and one-of-a-kind gifts like an old rap notebook or signed photo.
He took things up a notch two years later by selling 100 copies of his 2015 mixtape Mailbox Money for $1,000 each. He announced shortly after its release that he had shifted 60 units — amounting to almost $60,000.
While it remains to be seen whether Lloyd Banks will see similar success, he’ll be hoping to capitalize on a dedicated fanbase whose patience and loyalty have been rewarded in recent years.
After more than a decade-long wait between studio albums, the self-proclaimed Punchline King returned in 2021 with the critically acclaimed The Course of the Inevitable. Two sequels have since been released, along with the aforementioned Halloween Havoc IV — his first in the series since 2016.
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A release date for Cold Corner 3 has yet to be announced, but Banks has been teasing the mixtape since as far back as 2013. Most recently, some of the producers who worked on COTI 3 hinted that the project is “coming” soon.
