AP Dhillon, Stormzy Problems over Peace (2024)
In 1966, Richard M. Schulze and a business partner opened Sound of Music, an electronics store specializing in high-fidelity stereos, in St. Paul, Minnesota. By 1978, Sound of Music had grown into nine stores across the "Land of 10,000 Lakes".
In 1981, a tornado struck the Roseville location, the largest and most profitable Sound of Music store at the time. The tornado tore off the roof and destroyed the showroom, but the storeroom remained intact. Schulze responded by organizing a "Tornado Sale" of damaged and excess stock in the store's parking lot.
He invested the rest of his marketing budget into advertising the sale, promising "best buys" on everything. The four-day event generated more revenue than the store usually made in a month. The meteoric success of Schulze's crisis management had significant consequences: Shortly afterward, Sound of Music was renamed Best Buy and restructured into a high-volume, low-price business model.
Today, Best Buy is the largest specialty retailer in the North American consumer electronics retail industry and employs over 90,000 people. One of these employees was, for a short time, the Canadian-Indian artist AP Dhillon. However, he swiftly heeded the call of his passion and fully committed himself to music. His bold decision paid off—he has become a prominent figure among the Indian diaspora in Canada, New Zealand and the UK, garnering recognition in India as well.
His latest track "Problems over Peace", featuring a collaboration with English rap star Stormzy and characterized by the signature wobbly UK drill bass and an Ed Sheeran-style plucked guitar, appears to be a strategic move to solidify his presence in the English urban music scene. In our opinion, it's a solid move.
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