The Business Of Hip Hop Presented By @Ally

Summary

The video script delves into the evolution of hip hop from a cultural movement to a lucrative business. It discusses the early days of DJing, breakdancing, and MCing, leading to the incorporation of fashion and the realization of hip hop's commercial potential. The narrative highlights the industry's shift from cultural preservation to business, with corporations often controlling the business side, leaving artists to negotiate for fair compensation. It also touches on the importance of hip hop artists understanding their economic influence and the need for collective action to protect and profit from their contributions to the genre.

Takeaways

• 🎵 The script uses the analogy of the human body to describe the evolution of hip hop, starting with DJs (arms), break dancers (legs), MCs (voice), and eventually incorporating fashion as 'clothing'.
• 👕 It highlights the transition of hip hop from a cultural expression to a business, noting the importance of recognizing its commercial potential early on.
• 💼 The speaker expresses a sentiment that the business side of hip hop has been 'hijacked', with corporations having more control than the artists and creators who originated the culture.
• 🤝 There's a call for the hip hop generation to rectify the lack of ownership and control in the business of hip hop, suggesting that artists could have collectively invested to create their own infrastructure.
• 📉 The script discusses the impact of streaming on the devaluation of music and the resulting dissatisfaction among artists who do not feel they are being adequately compensated for their work.
• 👟 It mentions early examples of hip hop's intersection with business, such as Run-DMC's 'My Adidas' song, which may have been one of the first instances of product placement in hip hop.
• 🔄 The speaker reflects on missed opportunities for hip hop artists to establish a more significant presence in the business world, potentially through partnerships or collective bargaining.
• 🎤 The importance of hip hop artists understanding their role in the economics of the industry is emphasized, suggesting that they should be more proactive in profit participation.
• 🎬 The script touches on various successful business ventures by hip hop artists, such as Dr. Dre with Beats, 50 Cent with VitaminWater, and Jay-Z with various brands, showcasing the genre's influence on business.
• 👑 It points out that some of the most significant moves in hip hop business have come from artists who have leveraged their cultural influence to create or invest in successful brands.
• 🌐 The script concludes by acknowledging the power and influence of hip hop in the global business landscape, while also urging artists to consider the broader implications of their business decisions on the culture.

Q & A

How is hip hop culture described in the script?

The script describes hip hop culture as a body, with the DJ as the arms playing music, break dancers as the legs, MCs as the voice, and fashion as the clothing that came later.

What does the script suggest about the early perception of hip hop as a business?

The script suggests that in the beginning, hip hop was not seen as a business but more as a culture. It was about preserving the culture, and the business aspect became more prominent in the mid-90s.

What is the script's view on the ownership of the hip hop business?

The script implies that the ownership of the hip hop business does not belong to the artists or the culture itself but to corporations, which have hijacked the business and left the original creators behind.

How does the script discuss the potential for hip hop artists to have more control over their business?

The script discusses a hypothetical scenario where top hip hop artists could have pooled resources to create their own distribution pipeline, ensuring proper payment and more control over their business.

What is the script's stance on the negotiation of deals in the hip hop industry?

The script criticizes the negotiation process, stating that artists often get the short end of the stick due to the power imbalance with record labels, which can lead to unfavorable deals.

How does the script address the issue of streaming and its impact on music valuation?

The script expresses dissatisfaction with the devaluation of music due to streaming, suggesting that it does not sit well with the hip hop community.

What is the earliest memory of hip hop and business mentioned in the script?

The earliest memory mentioned is Run-DMC's song 'My Adidas,' which was an early example of hip hop intersecting with business, although it's unclear if they were financially compensated.

What partnerships are highlighted in the script as significant for hip hop and business?

The script highlights partnerships such as Foxy Brown with Calvin Klein, Salt-N-Pepa with Dolce & Gabbana, and various artists with beverage brands like St. Ides and Sprite, as significant for hip hop's business impact.

What is the script's opinion on the Beats by Dre partnership?

The script views the Beats by Dre partnership as a brilliant brand extension, but also expresses concern about the ultimate control and benefit of the deal, suggesting that Apple may have overshadowed the brand.

How does the script discuss the role of hip hop artists in business deals?

The script emphasizes the importance of hip hop artists considering the cultural impact of their business deals, suggesting that decisions should be made not just for personal gain but for the betterment of the culture.

What examples of successful hip hop business ventures are given in the script?

Examples include 50 Cent's deal with VitaminWater, Diddy's involvement with Ciroc, Jay-Z's ventures including Tidal and D'ussé, and Nas's investments in companies like the Ring camera.

How does the script reflect on the early days of hip hop artists collaborating with brands?

The script reflects positively on early collaborations, such as the commercial with Allen Iverson and Reebok, which showed the power of hip hop merged with business and led to further collaborations between hip hop artists and brands.

What is the script's perspective on the current state of hip hop and business?

The script acknowledges the progress and success of hip hop in business, with artists and entrepreneurs becoming billionaires, but also emphasizes the need for continued awareness and responsibility in business decisions.

Outlines

00:00

🎤 The Evolution and Business of Hip Hop Culture

This paragraph discusses the evolution of hip hop as a cultural phenomenon, likening it to the development of a human body with DJs as the arms, break dancers as the legs, and MCs as the voice. It highlights the emergence of hip hop fashion and the realization of its business potential in the late 70s and early 80s. The speaker reflects on the transition of hip hop from a pure cultural expression to a business in the mid-90s, expressing regret that the community did not maintain control over the business aspects, leading to a sense of being 'hijacked' by corporations. The paragraph emphasizes the need for a more significant role in the economic benefits of hip hop and the importance of negotiating fair deals for artists.

05:01

🏆 Hip Hop's Impact on Business and Advertising

The second paragraph delves into the influence of hip hop on business and advertising, starting with Run-DMC's 'My Adidas' as an early example of product endorsement. It discusses the importance of partnerships and brand extensions, such as Dr. Dre's Beats by Dre, which was a significant move in the industry. The paragraph also touches on the role of hip hop in product marketing and the challenges faced by artists in negotiating deals within a business landscape that often favors corporations. It calls for a more conscious approach to business decisions, considering the impact on the broader hip hop community rather than just individual gains.

10:02

💼 The Entrepreneurial Spirit of Hip Hop Artists

This paragraph celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of hip hop artists, showcasing examples of successful business ventures and partnerships that have transcended music to impact various industries. It mentions 50 Cent's deal with VitaminWater, Jay-Z's involvement with Tidal and D'ussé, and Nas's investments, among others. The paragraph also reflects on the early days of hip hop endorsements, such as the collaboration between Allen Iverson and Reebok, which paved the way for further integration of hip hop culture with commercial brands. The speaker emphasizes the power of hip hop to influence consumer behavior and the importance of leveraging this influence for the benefit of the culture.

Keywords

💡Hip Hop

Hip Hop is a cultural movement that originated in the African American and Latino communities during the 1970s. It encompasses various elements including rap music, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti art. In the video script, Hip Hop is likened to a growing body, with its various components such as DJing, dancing, and rapping representing different parts of the body. The script discusses the evolution of Hip Hop from a cultural expression to a business, emphasizing its impact on fashion, business, and society.

💡Culture

Culture, in this context, refers to the shared values, customs, and practices of a group of people. The script discusses how Hip Hop started as a culture, focusing on its artistic and communal aspects before it became a business. The preservation and business aspects of Hip Hop culture are highlighted, showing the transition from a grassroots movement to a global phenomenon with commercial interests.

💡Business

Business, in the script, refers to the commercial and economic aspects of Hip Hop. It discusses the transformation of Hip Hop from a purely cultural movement to one that is deeply intertwined with business interests. The script mentions how Hip Hop artists and corporations have interacted within the business realm, with some artists losing out due to unfavorable deals and others leveraging their influence for economic gain.

💡Fashion

Fashion is highlighted in the script as an integral part of Hip Hop's evolution. It is described as the 'clothing' that came to cover the 'naked' body of Hip Hop culture. The script mentions how fashion started to play a significant role once the basic elements of Hip Hop were established, reflecting the movement's influence on and from mainstream fashion trends.

💡MCs

MCs, or Master of Ceremonies, are individuals who perform spoken word over musical accompaniment, typically in Hip Hop music. In the script, MCs are likened to the 'voice' of the Hip Hop body, emphasizing their role in articulating the movement's messages and energy. The script also touches on the business side of being an MC, discussing the economic implications of their craft.

💡Breakdancing

Breakdancing is a style of street dance that originated as part of Hip Hop culture. The script uses the term to represent the 'legs' of the Hip Hop body, indicating the physical and dynamic aspect of the culture. Breakdancing is portrayed as a key element in the early formation of Hip Hop, showcasing its artistic expression through movement.

💡DJing

DJing, or disc jockeying, is the practice of playing recorded music for an audience. In the context of the script, DJing is the 'arms' of the Hip Hop body, suggesting its foundational role in the movement. The script notes the importance of DJs in setting the stage for the development of Hip Hop, both culturally and as a business.

💡Streaming

Streaming refers to the delivery of music and other media content over the internet in a continuous flow. The script discusses the impact of streaming on the value of music, suggesting that it has devalued the art form. This reflects on the changing landscape of the music industry and the challenges faced by Hip Hop artists in the digital age.

💡Product Endorsement

Product Endorsement is when a celebrity or public figure promotes a product or service, often in exchange for payment or other benefits. The script provides examples of Hip Hop artists endorsing products, such as Run-DMC with Adidas and Salt-N-Pepa with Dolce & Gabbana, illustrating the intersection of Hip Hop culture and business.

💡Brand Extension

Brand Extension is a business strategy where a company introduces a new product or service under its existing brand name. The script mentions Dr. Dre's Beats by Dre as a prime example of successful brand extension within Hip Hop, showing how an artist can leverage their personal brand to enter new markets.

💡Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching, and running a new business. The script highlights the entrepreneurial spirit within Hip Hop, with artists like 50 Cent and Jay-Z using their influence to create businesses outside of music. This reflects the evolution of Hip Hop artists from performers to business leaders.

Highlights

Hip hop culture is likened to a body, with the DJ as arms, break dancers as legs, MCs as the voice, and fashion as clothing.

In the 70s and 80s, hip hop was seen as a culture rather than a business.

The mid-90s marked the transition of hip hop into a business, but with control often in the hands of corporations.

The potential for hip hop artists to have owned their distribution pipeline if they had invested together is highlighted.

The music industry is described as 'shady' with artists often at a disadvantage when negotiating deals.

The importance of hip hop artists having a more dominant role in the economics of hip hop is emphasized.

Streaming has devalued music, which is a concern for those who value hip hop culture.

Hip hop was the first tech, a universal language that scaled worldwide.

The partnership between Run-DMC and Adidas demonstrated hip hop's potential for business.

Foxy Brown's partnership with Calvin Klein and Salt-N-Pepa with Dolce & Gabbana showed hip hop's influence on fashion.

Diddy's deal with Arista and the impact of St. Ides commercials are noted as significant business moves in hip hop.

The 90s were a trial run for the business of hip hop, with the 2000s seeing advertising companies profiting from artist endorsements.

Dr. Dre's Beats partnership is considered a brilliant brand extension born out of a producer's influence.

The discussion questions the impact of Apple's acquisition of Beats on the hip hop community.

50 Cent's VitaminWater deal and the entrepreneurial spirit it inspired among hip hop artists are highlighted.

Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, and others are recognized for changing the course of hip hop by prioritizing business.

Nas' investments, such as in the Ring camera, demonstrate the diversification of hip hop artists into various business ventures.

The collaboration between hip hop artists and shoe brands, initiated by early commercials, is noted as a significant trend.

Pharrell's partnership with Louis Vuitton shows the ongoing influence and business potential of hip hop.

The normalization of hearing about hip hop artists and entrepreneurs becoming billionaires reflects the genre's financial impact.

Transcripts

(upbeat hip hop music)

- When it comes to hip hop and it comes to the culture,

a lotta times I like to explain it in the form of a body.

In the beginning we had the arms.

The DJ is just out there playin' the music.

Then we had the legs,

where the break dancers showed up and started dancin'.

Then we had the voice where the MCs were like, "All right,

let me get on here," ya know?

But then the kinda body started comin' together

and we're out here naked.

We need clothing, right?

So then the fashion started to make its way

and I feel like as soon as hip hop kind of formed

as a person,

that's when we started realizing we have a responsibility

to be a business and, over time,

whether it was in the late 70s with Sugar Hill or some

of the other independent things that popped up,

in the early 80s

when we started seeing examples of how it could be done.

- People didn't look at hiphop as a business.

It was more of a culture.

It was about preserving the culture but it became a business

in the mid 90s.

(upbeat hip hop music)

- When I hear the business of hip hop,

what comes to mind for me is that it's not our business.

We don't own it.

We own the culture of hip hop, but not the business.

- Hip hop got hijacked by the business of hip hop

in very many ways and it left a lot behind in its midst.

We don't have the controlling interests in it.

Corporations do and I think that our generation,

this was a generation to rectify that and get it right

and we didn't.

You know, there was a time where you could have taken

the top five hip hop artists of the 90s and 2000s

that could have put up 10 million a piece

and we woulda had our own distribution pipeline

and then we coulda also made sure people got paid properly.

- And they say, "You get what you negotiated,

not what you deserve."

The business is shady and because a lot of times

that these labels have the upper hand when you're trying

to get into the game and you have nothing,

just the clothes on your back but you tryin'

to get everything and sometimes you take a deal

with the hopes of maybe it turned out better after you

take this deal.

But I've seen a lotta artists lose their socks

and the coats off they by these deals.

- A lot of hip hop artists were really happy performing

their craft because we were really focused

on the creativity, on the swagger, on the movement of it,

until it started

to really become a lucrative revenue-generating genre

that I started to awaken my clients to looking at the fact

that we needed to have a more dominant,

prominent role in the economics of hip hop, right?

Into how they would profit-participate from their craft

and from their artistry.

- But we're here now, right,

where people are still not getting what they should

and streaming as a construct has actually devalued music

so much and that sits not well with me.

Hip Hop was the first tech. It was a universal language.

It went worldwide. It had urgency.

It scaled in ways we didn't even think it could.

Even once we saw what it was capable of doing,

we didn't band enough together to make sure we were able

to protect it.

- "My Adidas" has to be the earliest memory that I have

of hip hop and business.

- Run-DMC and they made a song, "My Adidas,"

which made me want to wear Adidas.

I don't know if they were financially taken care of.

- I don't know if that was birthed from a partnership

but I think there was a long gap between people really

realizing that hip hop was good for business,

that hip hop really would move the needle

and create a significant return on investment.

I don't know that one partnership did

that but what I do know is that that partnership showed

that hip hop is good for business.

With Foxy Brown, we did a partnership with Calvin Klein.

She was on a billboard and that was a major partnership.

For me, working with Salt-N-Pepa,

the first time a couture fashion house really designed

and allowed a rapper and I'll say allow because a lot

of it was us going to these brands

and these brands not necessarily welcoming us with open arms

but Dolce & Gabbana allowed Salt-N-Pepa

to be the first hip hop rap artist who they would sponsor

and provide clothing for Salt-N-Pepa's tour

and that really was telling because it allowed them

to really be partners with Dolce & Gabbana, if you will,

and have them support instead of us just going

in and shopping off the rack.

- I think, for me,

one of the most impressive moves was the move that Diddy did

in that Arista deal, at least from my time period.

You know, that really impressed me.

- What stood out big to me was the St. Ides when Tupac

and Biggie and Snoop and all

of 'em was doing them St. Ides commercials.

That was very big for hip hop.

All the Sprite commercials that you see,

hip hop has invaded all advertisement.

We're the number one money making genre in this business.

I mean, it was nothing that we don't do.

- I think the 90s was like this trial run for the business

of hip hop, and then you hit 2000 and it's like,

"Aha, hold on.

Who has the money? The advertising companies."

And they started to bridge the artists with these products

and you got into the product marketing.

- All hip hop deals helped to open up the door

for more hip hop deals,

but they also opened up the door

for more people gettin' (censored), right?

It goes both ways.

There've been some great moves within the culture.

- The most era-defining and also the most distinct

and made the most impact in hip hop.

So I think about Dr. Dre and Beats.

That was really the most brilliant brand extension

and partnership because it was born out

of someone who we had known as a producer,

someone who was the architect of sound,

partnering with a brand to deliver headphones to us, right?

- I don't agree

because I think all we did is give a lotta power to Apple.

Apple just whitewashed the entire brand. Now where is it?

But when Beats by Dre was at his height,

they had just launched their music app.

Dre had the ability to have an entire building in Watts

or wherever through LA filled with 90% people

of color movin' this thing forward and I think

that's what we have to really look at sometime.

Am I makin' this decision for me or am I doing it

for the culture?

So it's important that we look at these deals

and we understand, like, "Why are we doing these deals?"

I don't think we're allowed

to just make individual business moves and it's a hard thing

to say because every move, every business move I make,

is gonna affect y'all.

So I gotta really think,

"Is this just a payoff or is this really a move for us?"

And we gotta make more moves for us.

- So you have the 50 Cent and the VitaminWater deal.

- His inner entrepreneur certainly was birthed

by the brilliance that he and the late Chris Lighty,

their ability to do that deal really showed us the strength

of hip hop and it showed us how deep

and how far hip hop could go because now hip hop is

an ambassador for water, something we do every day,

and so when you really look

at how those deals really ignited

and birthed the next generation to really think

about their art more differently,

to be more aware of how the business of hip hop needed

to live outside of the music.

- When you say the business of hiphop, it's like Puff Daddy,

Jay-Z, because they really changed the course of hiphop

by putting business in front of just an art form.

It's like, "No, no, this is our culture, this is our art.

We've gotta control the business behind it."

- You got Diddy with what he did with Ciroc.

You got Jay-Z from everything he's done from Tidal to D'ussé

to Ace of Spades to everything that he's created.

You even have Nas to what Nas has done as far as investin'

in all the things that he's invested in,

the Ring camera and all those other things.

He had the mind to do

that and those are all big, major moves.

- For me, it's my commercial with Allen Iverson.

When they call me the do a ad spot for him

with his Reebok commercial and me doin' some raps,

it got received very well.

It got made into mix tapes. They was playin' it in the club.

So that showed me that the power

of hip hop merged with business.

This shoe brand turned into a whole thing and then,

not to pat myself on the back,

you see the G-Units came after that, Air Star Carters,

a whole buncha hip hop artists

and shoe brands start doin' deals.

- That was big back then

because rappers didn't have their own sneakers.

Basketball players had their own sneakers, but not rappers.

But at that point we started to see the collaboration

and the power that we had within the hip hop community.

- I just felt good to be early in the game

and have the commercial with AI that solidified the part

in history for rappers and hip hop and brands collaboratin'

and doin' big things.

- There's been so many artists that done so many big things

in this industry.

Look at Pharrell.

Pharrell is now doing the LV thing. That's major.

- But now we're

at a point where so many mega deals have happened

that I think we've moved into a position where we're used

to hearing about this rapper becoming a billionaire

or this hiphop entrepreneur becoming a billionaire

and it's a beautiful space to be in.

(upbeat hip hop music)