Roadmaps
How they
actually did it
Every big career is a series of moves: deals signed and broken, reinventions, risks and falls. Roadmaps lay them out stop by stop, so you know the full story, not just the headlines.
Frank Ocean
Wrote songs for other people, got ignored by his label, then walked out of his deal and dropped Blonde on his own terms.
Ye
Producer to rapper to sneaker mogul to billionaire, then a public collapse that cost him his biggest deals and most of his fortune.
Rihanna
From Barbados to billionaire, mostly by not releasing music.
Jay-Z
Nobody would sign him, so he started his own label, then built hip-hop’s first billion-dollar fortune.
Taylor Swift
Lost the rights to her first six albums, re-recorded them, then bought the originals back.
Virgil Abloh
Architecture student to Kanye’s creative director to the top of Louis Vuitton.
Tyler, the Creator
Odd Future chaos to Grammy winner, festival founder and brand owner.
Bad Bunny
Bagged groceries in Puerto Rico, then became one of the most-streamed artists on the planet without switching to English.