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Hip-Hop Cash Kings
Hip-Hop Cash Kings
From: www.forbes.com
While most of us look forward to retirement, Shawn Carter, better known to the planet as master rapper Jay-Z, couldn’t stand the view from the sidelines following his 2003 farewell The Black Album. Despite a frenetic schedule as president of Def Jam Recordings and co-founder of its ultra-successful Roc-A-Fella Records imprint, Jay-Z managed to squeeze in a comeback last year with Kingdom Come, his 11th studio album, which debuted at the top of the pop and rap music charts, selling some 2 million copies.
But those weren’t the only paycheques coming in. Jay-Z also owns the 40/40 Club sports bar franchise, with locations in New York and Atlanta, and a small stake in the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. (He’s often photographed in courtside seats alongside his girlfriend, pop superstar Beyoncé.) Plus the native New Yorker (from Brooklyn’s hardscrabble Marcy Projects) collects income from blue-chip endorsement deals with Budweiser, Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ), and General Motors (nyse: GM). All told, Jay-Z banked an estimated US$34 million in 2006, earning him the top spot on Forbes’ first-ever list of hip-hop Cash Kings.
Unlike traditional music genres like pop, rock and country, whose artists generally make the bulk of their money selling albums and touring, hip-hop has spawned an impressive cadre of musicians-cum-entrepreneurs who have parlayed their fame into lucrative entertainment empires. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, who nabbed the No. 2 spot on the list, presides over G-Unit, a diverse portfolio of businesses that includes apparel, ringtones, video games and even a line of fiction. All told, “Fiddy” as he is known to fans, made an estimated US$32 million last year. “I’m creating a foundation that will be around for a long time, because fame can come and go or get lost in the lifestyle and the splurging,” he told Forbes last year. “I never got into it for the music. I got into it for the business.”
At No. 3 is impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs, formerly known as “Puff Daddy,” who lords over Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group. That enterprise is responsible for TV series like MTV’s Making the Band franchise, the Sean John clothing line, the bestselling Unforgivable cologne and a pair of restaurants called Justin’s, named after one of his sons. The Bad Boy Records label, backed by Warner Music Group (nyse: WMG), released albums last year by Danity Kane, Cassie and Yung Joc. Last year, Diddy himself released his first album in four years; Press Play debuted at the top of the U.S. pop and rap charts. All told, Combs made an estimated US$28 million last year. (Representatives for Diddy, ever the showman, insist that figure is much higher.)
Generally, the most successful “hip-hopreneurs” run their own labels, taking a cut from the artists they sign. Both Eminem (US$18 million) and Dr. Dre (US$20 million) boast Interscope-backed imprints; both helped produce and release 50 Cent’s last two albums, which have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Fifty owns his own G-Unit label which produces artists like Young Buck and Lloyd Banks, among others.
Other lucrative businesses: producing tracks and beats for other artists. Listers like Timbaland (US$21 million), Scott Storch (US$17 million) and Pharrell Williams (US$17 million) are among the most sought after–and pricey– producers on the planet. Rappers like Snoop Dogg (US$17 million) collect massive fees for cameos on other artists’ tracks. Last year, in addition to releasing Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, his eighth studio album, Snoop Dogg (US$17 million) made guest appearances on hit singles by Akon, Mariah Carey and the Pussycat Dolls.
While endorsement deals with top-shelf brands used to be the exclusive domain of pop’s biggest acts–Michael Jackson and Madonna, among them–hip-hop artists now routinely land such gigs. This year Chamillionaire (US$11 million) inked a deal with Energizer; The Game (US$11 million) peddles Skechers sneakers. And in an irrefutable sign of just how corporate hip-hop has become: Last October Anheuser Busch named Jay-Z “co-brand director” for Budweiser Select.
Our estimates are based solely on 2006 income. In March, Jay-Z sold his Rocawear apparel label to Iconix (nasdaq: ICON) for US$204 million. Forbes estimates he pocketed about a quarter of that, after taxes and other payable commitments. And in May, Coca Cola (nyse: KO) announced it would buy Glaceau, maker of VitaminWater, for US$4.2 billion in cash. Once the deal is consummated, 50 Cent, who agreed to endorse the brand in 2004 in exchange for a small stake, should walk away with some US$100 million. Best efforts were made to contact every member of the list for comment.
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DotCity Project
Dot City
Check out some fire lyrics from DotCityProject. Let me know what y’all think. Peace
Stay Fly Baby
Stay Fly
Virtues: Responsibility, Life, Logic
A quick and interesting story about the current state of life.
To paraphrase, basically, a 22 young black woman decided to have a baby shower. Her first one, the ‘baby daddy’ is out of the picture. Now, from what I know, when you have a baby shower, you ask for necessity items: diapers, clothing, food, wipes, and things of that nature. And you usually create a registry, so that people are not buying duplicate items. However, this young scholar did not have a registry, but requested her friends to buy everything from Rocawear sheets, a pair of Jordan’s, Sean John pyjamas, jewelery, and other foolery items – in all, she only received one package of diapers for her newborn. And this already single mother believed that she had a good shower, because her baby will look ‘fly’ – and I guess, you can’t really dispute that. But, the baby has no necessities coming into the world. To me, if I was about to have a baby, I would put items that the baby needs, in abundance, on the registry: diapers, wipes, baby food, clothing (regular). I would make sure that I have like 20 boxes of diapers; I would desire for that more than making sure my baby is iced-out. And the people who came bearing gifts, they did not think that maybe they should by necessities – but instead, they brought name brand clothes and jewellery. I strongly hope that this is an isolated incidence, and this is not the norm amongst our people.
Share your stories if you can relate.
Peace.
Chicken Noodle Soup … a sad state of affairs
Some random thoughts on the current state of Hip-Hop ….
Seems like the current state of Hip-Hop is bleek – I’m sorry to say. I honestly thought that maybe Hip-Hop was making a move towards a positive direction; led by Chicago’s Lupe Fiasco, who brought actual lyrical content to his songs — in comparison to the current shit on the airwaves.
However, despite the solid album and maybe a combination of the album being leaked on the Internet several months earlier, only 80,000 people have purchased the album.
Thus, the ‘movement’ I had wished is dormant – absent of a solid, legitimate figurhead — beaten for the public’s desire for ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’, and songs of that nature.
Where to begin, if ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’ is New York’s attempt to try & regain the crown in hip-hop, then the 5 borough’s are in some serious trouble. No one likes a biter — East, West, South Coast it doesn’t matter. Emulating what is popular WILL not restore the East back to prominence. The South has brought the ‘fun’ back to hip-hop with basically, creating songs about dances. The East doesn’t or shouldn’t mimic the same formula. The ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’ song/dance just looks like NYC’s desperate appeal for attention, but it is catchy though ….. and let it rain
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P.S. I anticipate some ‘hate’ but come with some legitimate arguments please.
Stymie180 Archive – 2002: Bring in the Homies
Stymie180.com 2002: This is from an article that I wrote in 2002; its a bit out of date, but the context is still relevant, check it out and see if it makes sense to you:
Lately its struck me just how low people will sink for cash. At a time when Hiphop is at the peak of its popularity, when you can’t switch on the TV without hearing a rapper trying to sell you a shirt / a watch / a drink, when you can’t walk down the street without passing someone who’s followed their advice and is now driving that car, whilst drinking that drink, and rocking that shirt and shoes, its become plain how much Hiphop is being prostituted.
Stating the obvious? Maybe. But something has to be said. When LL Cool J would rather spend more time shooting FUBU ads that proclaim him as the G.O.A.T. and less time working on an album that proves it, something’s wrong. When Busta Rhymes would rather throw a Mountain Dew at you, than a dope track, something’s wrong.
Don’t get me wrong – I understand they’re taking advantage of their popularity to strike out and get that dollar while its good for getting. I also understand that this is not the first, and certainly won’t be the last time that Hiphop goes through a cycle of unbelievable popularity with the youth (hands up who has an MC Hammer doll?)
But first and foremost these people have risen to popularity through the hard work of the people who bought their music. What do I mean? Let me break it down for you… where were corporate America and the rest of the world, when LL was “saying the kind of rhymes that make emcees wish that I’d die”? Where were they when Busta and the Leaders were telling us of their “Case Of The PTA”? They weren’t around then, simply because Hiphop wasn’t popular… there was no money to be made… and therefore in those early years, it was me and the millions of other “REAL” Hiphop fans who put a roof over the heads of LL’s kids, who bought that one raggedy piece of gold around Busta’s neck.
Where am I going with this? I’ll tell ya… I’m pissed off with being taken for granted by artists who owe their success to their REAL fans, yet desert them at the drop of a dime. I’m tired of being told that this latest piece of shit that they’ve decided to throw onto wax is the best record they’ve ever done, when in fact it’s little more than a studio out-take.
I’m pissed off with an artist blowing up, and before you even have time to cop an album, he’s talking about bringing through his homies and THEIR album, despite the fact that it often sounds that they’ve just walked in off the street, and never even LOOKED at a microphone before. Some might say, this is admirable – one blows up, and then brings his team through to share his success. Bullshit. Check out Ja-Rule as the newest example of this trend – he’s about to bring through his crew, who will sell simply on the back of his name. Now are you telling me that he’s isn’t gonna make a load of cash on the publishing of his crew’s record? Shit, if I stood beside Ja-Rule for long enough, I could get a fucking deal too. There’s no love here at all, its all about getting that cash while your name’s in the frame…
But that’s POP music, you might say. That’s what commercial Hiphop has become, you might say. I totally agree. But even when Hiphop was selling commercially before, it was always different from the run-of-the-mill pop music that normally infested the charts. Now, its EMBRACING it. The major players in Hiphop are selling it’s soul to line their own pockets, and its a fucking disgrace. But there IS something we can do… you can rest assured that Hiphop will fall out of favour with the mainstream sooner or later. And when it does, and when all these fakes come running back, telling you to cop their new “grimey” album, that takes it back to the streets, and is the best thing they’ve ever done…
Don’t be a sucka – vote with your wallet… vote Hiphop.
PEACE
No, I don’t Have any weed
Has this ever happened to you
Several times while I was at University, in the mall, walking down the street, minding my own god damn business – people would approach me to ask if I got that ‘sticky-icky’. You know, that chronic, cheeba, herb, dro, hi-grade, gunja, and whatever other terminology is out there for weed.
I guess my attire labels me as a certain type: you know, that young black hip-hop male who probably has no education or job, so naturally he must be involved in ‘pushing’ some kind of illegal drugs (of course, to afford his flossed-out name brand attire). So I guess I just fit a stereotype, thus I should accept all of its parameters …. I think not. One should only change behaviour or style because of their own intuition – not society.
So in the future if I am asked for any ‘hi-grade’, depending on the race of the questioner (even if black), I will respond with an equal or greater level of ignorance.
Yes, I know ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, but if someone slaps me, and I turn around and stomp them f— out, then they are less likely (deterred) to ask that type of question to a dude like me.
Get High Mofo’s….
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DesieB
BET on Mute
Random thoughts:
at the gym the other day, trying to get my work-out on. So, I am on the exercise machine and I am watching various mute channels on the multiple TV’s that are overhead of these machines. On one TV, a rerun of CSI Miami was intriguing, another TV had CNN with the daily fear-fuelled news, but what caught my eyes was the TV showing some hip-hop music video on BET. No all of these TV’s were muted; no sound emitting – which is an important fact in all of this. The particular music video on BET was your derivative content for the average hip-hop song; ice-flashing, booty shaking, hood themed, and of course the new crave — the obligatory regional dance. This one in particular was the ‘snap dance’.
What was shocking was that with no sound emitting from the tube, to attempt to correlate meaning to the visual mess in the music video, the music video seemed almost comical — even amusing. Without sound, the people gyrating, and jumping around looked so funny, and even asinine. I guess sound, at least attempts to give the viewer a sense of meaning to what is going on in the video — and even in the presence of sound, most music videos on BET look ridiculous. So imagine, how when other cultures view BET who do not understand the language or culture …. they must be laughing and having a good time watching the perception of black culture.
Thus, try watching BET with no sound … get the popcorn out.
Can we really be mad at BET for this? I don’t know …..
Peace,
DesieB
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