Monday, January 12, 2004

For those of you who want to brush up on your hip-hop marketing, don't bother with The Source or some other industry magazine. Instead, you can turn to your friends at the New York Times for a careful breakdown of new hip-hop PR. In an article entitled "Sweeten the Image, Hold the Bling-Bling" the Times' covers the change in marketing strategies of hip-hop stars. They survey such issues as the 50 Cent/Ja Rule feud, Diddy running the City, and of course the age-old classic of Dre, Snoop, and Death Row. See the following example of the Times discussing 50 Cent's multi-faceted persona:

"On the song '21 Questions' he even plays up his tender side. 'I love you like a fat kid loves cake,' he says to a paramour who stands by him while he is in prison."

While I am fairly sure that 50 does not know the meaning of paramour, it's a nice little article. And it's always fun when the Times gets down with the urban youth.
Fo' Shizzle.

Go Shorty, It's Your Birthday