The signs of hip-hop鈥檚 influence are everywhere 鈥� from Pharrell Williams becoming to billion-dollar brands like Dr. Dre鈥檚 and retail mainstays like Diddy鈥檚 Sean John and Jay-Z鈥檚 Rocawear.
It didn鈥檛 start out that way.
The music genre germinated 50 years ago as an escape from the poverty and violence of New York City鈥檚 most distressed borough, the Bronx, where few wanted to invest in its businesses or its people. Out of that adversity blossomed an authentic style of expression, one that connected with the city鈥檚 underserved Black and Latino teens and young adults, and filtered through to graffiti, dance and fashion.
As hip-hop spread throughout New York, so did a culture.
鈥淗ip-hop goes beyond the music,鈥� said C. Keith Harrison, a professor and founding director for the University of Central Florida鈥檚 Business of Hip-Hop Innovation & Creative Industries certificate program. 鈥淗ip-hop always knew, as Nipsey Hussle would say, how to get it out of the trunk, and so they鈥檝e always had to have innovative business models.鈥�
That spirit of innovation has helped push hip-hop past big business鈥� initial resistance to align with the genre to become the most popular music form in the United States since 2017. Hip-hop鈥檚 impact on the $16 billion music industry and beyond is now so widespread, experts say it becomes difficult to quantify.
Author Zack O鈥橫alley Greenberg estimates that hip-hop鈥檚 were worth nearly $4 billion in 2022 by themselves.
Hip-hop artists have achieved that level of success because they are much more than their music. They are tastemakers and trendsetters in lifestyle-defining products from fashion to high-end champagne.
鈥淗ip-hop knows how to put butts in seats, no matter what context you鈥檙e in, and that鈥檚 what businesses want,鈥� said Harrison, who is also a professor in the University of Central Florida鈥檚 DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program. 鈥淓motion, return on emotion 鈥� that鈥檚 what hip-hop does differently. They have another level of emotion.鈥�
Because rappers often tell stories fans relate to or aspire to, weaving brand shout-outs into their rhymes and product placements 鈥� sometimes paid for, sometimes not 鈥� into their videos becomes a powerful marketing tool.
In her forthcoming book 鈥淔ashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion,鈥� pop culture expert Sowmya Krishnamurthy addresses what people get out of 鈥減utting somebody else鈥檚 name or logo across your chest or across your back.鈥�
鈥淚n America, in a capitalist society, how else do you show you鈥檝e made it?鈥� Krishnamurthy said. 鈥淥ne thing I kind of joke about is: People can鈥檛 see your mortgage. But they can see a nice chain. They can see the clothes that you have on. That is an immediate signal.鈥�
In hip-hop, that pressure to fit in and show off is heightened.
鈥淵ou have a genre that historically has a lot of people who grew up with little to nothing,鈥� Krishnamurthy said. 鈥淭he aspiration is inherent.鈥�
And probably no product has been as successful at connecting with hip-hop as footwear. Consequently, rappers get their own sneaker lines without ever taking part in a sport, said Harlan Friedman, host and creator of the Sole Free podcast on sneakers and street culture.
鈥淎 seventh grader can鈥檛 afford a $20,000 rope chain and medallion, but maybe he could afford a pair of (Nike) Dunks or a pair of (Air) Jordans or a pair of Adidas,鈥� Friedman said. 鈥淭hat gives him that little bit of clout, that he鈥檚 like his favorite artist or athlete, and it kind of gives him that feeling like, 鈥極h, I鈥檓 like them.鈥欌��
Adidas was the first major company that saw rappers as potential business partners, Friedman said. But they had to be convinced.
Even though the company had seen an unusual spike in sales of its Superstar shoes in the Northeast in 1986, it wasn鈥檛 ready to attribute that to rap group Run-D.M.C. and their hit 鈥淢y Adidas.鈥�
When company execs saw the group ask fans to show off their Adidas and thousands removed their shoes and waved them in the air at a Madison Square Garden performance, they were sold. They signed Run-D.M.C. to a $1 million deal that resulted in their own shoe line in 1988.
Now that hip-hop is a multibillion dollar industry with widespread influence, it鈥檚 easy to forget it wasn鈥檛 always Courvoisier and Versace for its stars.
Even after Adidas鈥� success, companies still balked at partnering with hip-hop acts because they felt that 鈥渉aving young Black and brown people wearing their clothing simply wasn鈥檛 on brand and, in many ways, it was kind of denigrating their brand,鈥� said Krishnamurthy.
鈥淏ut when that kind of money is being spent and people really saw the power that rappers had to change what somebody might wear 鈥� they started taking notice,鈥� she said.
Companies of all sorts now court rappers and their audiences, hoping to join the ranks of Timberland 鈥� which at first resisted associating with the genre it saw as being counter to its working-class base 鈥� Hennessy cognac and anything Gucci as hip-hop approved brands.
Few events in hip-hop culture鈥檚 ongoing march into the mainstream can match McDonald鈥檚 introduction of Saweetie 鈥檔 Sour sauce for the fast food giant鈥檚 Chicken McNuggets in 2021.
At the time, the California rapper was far from a household name. But Jennifer Healan, McDonald鈥檚 USA鈥檚 vice president of brand, content, and culture, said Saweetie was a natural fit for the company鈥檚 鈥淔amous Orders鈥� campaign, which has also featured Travis Scott as well as one of hip-hop鈥檚 biggest celebrity couples, Cardi B and her husband, Offset, for Valentine鈥檚 Day.
鈥淪aweetie is a longtime McDonald鈥檚 fan, and she brought a unique twist to our campaign by mixing and matching her favorite menu items 鈥� which tapped into our fans鈥� passion for food hacks and new flavor combinations,鈥� Healan said.
The promotion worked well for both McDonald鈥檚, which Healan said saw a spike in sales for the Big Mac, and Saweetie, who soon had her own Netflix show and was a musical guest on 鈥淪aturday Night Live.鈥�
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