Freddie Scott
Assignment 1-4
Weekly Written Analysis 1
HUMN341-F1WW
Hip-Hop music was once considered a fad; a trend that would come and go similar to the disco era that lasted but a brief moment in musical history that many would rather forget than relish. Some thirty-one years later, hip-hop is responsible for generating revenue, marketing product with not direct association, and creating several multi-millionaires such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent.
My earliest memory of hip-hop crossing over was a Sprite commercial done by rapper Kurtis Blow who was huge at the time. The year was 1986 and I was a naïve nine year old enjoying a commercial from one of my favorite artist at the time. Little did I know that this idea by Sprite to use hip-hop as a selling point would open the flood gates to products such are cars, cereal, fast food, and clothes being sold using similar tactics. Today, hip-hop is to popular culture what rock and roll was for decades. Many companies who have denounced the culture have profited nicely from the hip-hop culture. It has long been rumored that companies such as Timberland, Tommy Hilfiger, and Cristal Champagne have spoken on their ill feelings towards the hip-hop community and its fans that endorsed these products and made them fashionable in the urban market.
Through it all, hip-hop has persevered and given many businessmen seed money to fund other business ventures. Jay-Z is a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, rapper Nelly is minority own of the Charlotte Bobcat basketball team, and 50 Cent had stake in Vitamin Water. Hip-hop is now commercial and by the looks of things, it is not going anywhere anytime soon.
