So when did we start using "dropped" to mean "was released"?

[conuly]

And why?

Comments

[batwrangler]

Total guess that it comes from "drop shipping" wherein the product goes straight from the manufacturer to the stores and by-passes the publisher to save on shipping for first runs?

[melannen]

Huh, I always assumed it had something to do with how vinyl records were pressed, but Google isn't giving me any results before the mid-90s, so I guess not.

and now the word "dropped" has no meaning anymore.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Huh, I had interpreted it in conjunction with needle dropped.

[siderea]

My observation is that I first observed it used in that sense for hiphop music, exclusively, and assumed it comes from hiphop culture; I would guess it descends from "dropping the mic", but a quick peruse of UrbanDictionary reminds me there are umpteen other senses of "drop" in hiphop and other related music scenes (to kill someone, to pay a lot of money for something, the two old senses about drugs, a technical term from music, a technical term from dance, etc).

ETA: ohohoh! I forgot, and this makes even more sense: the idiomatic "drop some rhymes", meaning to perform improv/freestyle rap, I think pre-dates the sense of drop for whole albums/media recordings. That would be a natural and smooth transition from one to the other.

[conuly]

That's starting to look like the best lead, but maybe it's the amount of work you put in :)

[jack]

My feeling was that that came first but I didn't do any of the research. Do you also drop a beat?

[goss]

I'm also thinking it might have hip hop origins - "drop it like it's hot" - a hot album dropped kinda thing.

[jesuswasbatman]

Agree that it started in hip-hop music, but I always thought it was inspired by "dropping" an old-fashioned record on a turntable.

[konsectatrix]

I was about to make this comment, essentially--"dropped" is a reference to an album dropping on a turntable or record player.

[chickenfeet]

My guess is it's a software development thing as in "code drop"

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

I think it comes from hip-hop.

[conuly]

That's by far the most popular consensus.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Who's 'we', and what's the context? I've never heard or read of anybody saying that.

[conuly]

That's because you don't watch much TV, maybe? Because it's all the time - "The new season of Stranger Things just dropped", "The new game drops on June 27th", "The cover for my book dropped today, what do you think?", "The trailer for The Incredibles dropped, this is what it shows" but mostly it's for tv and movies and games.