Thanks to the Internet and the “I believe everything you say” mentality that folks have towards celebrities, all it takes to make it in hip-hop these days is a well-respected cosign. That is, if you know how to use it to your advantage.

Now more than ever, due to the amount of access we have to new talent through social media, we’ve seen artists like Bobby Shmurda, Makonnen, Raury, Dej Loaf and several other local stars gain more recognition strictly off a cosign. Drake remixed Makonnen’s club banger “Tuesday” and now the ATL artists is going in an upward trajectory. Wiz took the reigns on Dej Loaf’s smooth tune “Try Me” and got plenty of hip-hop heads pining for her attention. And while Shmurda didn’t blow up off of the cosign originally, every damn remix and rendition of the Shmoney Dance put him and his viral tune “Hot N***a” on the map.

Whether you think it’s fair or not, these artists did something right along the way, which led to their life-changing cosign, and that’s something everyone has to deal with.

But the idea of a cosign is an insane concept if you really peel it back. There’s one or two established artists who somehow come across an upcomer’s music and decide to lace it with their stamp of approval, by hopping on the track or posting the lyrics to Instagram. This allows the artist to turn that cosign into a mixtape/album campaign, a series of shows and make hard left into the right direction. While that’s taking place, there are hundreds and hundreds of other aspiring artists out there sitting in the studio, or in their room, plotting and scheming on how they can break into the industry and doing literally everything they can think of to “make it.” And regardless of that, most never do. It’s neither fair nor unfair – the luck of the draw, really – but in a competitive industry, it’s worth analyzing.

So, why do certain artists get a cosign and the rest don’t?