The big payback: why are rappers suddenly OK with shilling for big brands?

The Guardian ^ | Wednesday 17 June 2015 09.02 EDT | Ben Westhoff

[a fool in paradise]

As we learned from Mad Men, the advertising industry is ever intent on harnessing trends that are bubbling up organically. Countercultural ideals (say, hippie-era peace and love) are wedded to a mainstream product (say, Coke) and blasted to the mainstream before anyone knows what’s hit them.

Which is why hip-hop and advertising go together so well. Firmly rooted in youth culture, hip-hop is edgy but accessible, a combination that companies adore.

It can be exciting to see your favorite rapper validated in big-name plugs, whether it’s Jay Z for Hewlett Packard or Eminem for Chrysler. But for every carefully considered, six-figure endorsement deal, there are cash-grab arrangements that seem exploitative. For a few dollars, rappers get their styles, images and fans co-opted without much consideration for the consequences (special mention goes to Memphis Bleek’s Garnier Fructis ad). Most controversial was malt liquor St Ides’ campaign with many rappers of the 90s – everyone from Ice Cube to Wu-Tang Clan – that was heavily criticized for hocking cheap alcohol to communities that were already suffering.

But that’s the old model, right? Today, it’s easy to imagine that rappers are more informed, forging savvy partnerships that promote their own brands, as much as that being hawked. Partnerships with Toyota minivans and shoe companies, say, are also a calculated way to replace dwindling revenue from music sales. Being a pitchman today seems simply part of the job of being a rapper...

...Sure, Rakim’s line “Self-esteem makes me super, superb, and supreme” (from Follow the Leader) – which presumably contained a nod to his Five-Percent Nation beliefs – feels out of place on a Sprite can...

[a fool in paradise]

I think this association is far more damaging to the reputations of the companies than it is to any "sell out" rappers.

[a fool in paradise]

Corporate America is chill with hate groups.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation

The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as NGE or NOGE, the Nation of Gods and Earths, or the Five Percenters is an American organization founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam named Clarence 13X...

Clarence 13X, a former student of Malcolm X, left the Nation of Islam after a theological dispute with the Nation's leaders over the nature and identity of God.[1] Specifically, Clarence 13X denied that the Nation's biracial founder W. Fard Muhammad was Allah and instead taught that the black man was himself God personified.[1] Members of the group call themselves Allah's Five Percenters, which reflects the concept that ten percent of the people in the world know the truth of existence, and those elites and agents opt to keep eighty-five percent of the world in ignorance and under their controlling thumb; the remaining five percent are those who know the truth and are determined to enlighten the rest.

Initially, the Nation of Gods and Earths, as it is known today, was viewed as little more than an off-shoot of the Nation of Islam (NOI). While the Nation of Gods and Earths has been characterized as an organization, an institution, a religion, or even a gang (by the F.B.I. under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover who launched many Counter-intelligence programs against black organizations) , representatives of the Nation teach that Islam is a natural or mathematical way of living. The New York City areas of Harlem (”Mecca”) and Brooklyn (”Medina”) are named after notable Islamic cities by members of the organization.[3][4] Other areas include Detroit (”D-Mecca”), New Jersey (”New Jerusalem”), Chicago (”C-Medina”), Queens (”the Desert”), Connecticut (”New Heaven”), St. Louis (”Saudi”), Seattle (”Morocco”), and Dallas (”the Sudan”).

The Nation of Gods and Earths teaches that black people are the original people of the planet Earth, and therefore they are the fathers (”Gods”) and mothers (”Earths”) of civilization.[1] The Nation teaches that Supreme Mathematics and Supreme Alphabet, a set of principles created by Clarence 13X, is the key to understanding humankind's relationship to the universe. The Nation does not believe in a mystery God but instead teaches that the Asiatic Blackman (sic) is God and his proper name is Allah, the Arabic word for God.

...Racist ideology

As Knight explained in an essay for Vice, “The first lesson I learned from the Five Percent was simple: F*** white people. Seriously, ‘White people are devils.’”[25] He was quoted in the post as saying, “Whiteness is weak and wicked and inferior — basically just an errant child who needs to be corrected.” [26] Five-percenters are purported to believe that Black men are physically and intellectually superior as the natural descendants of God, and black men as ‘Gods’ are the rightful rulers of the world and its people. Women are known as ‘Earths’, and assist them in its rule.[27] Five-Percenters are discouraged from marrying anyone of the white race as doing so would dilute the purity of their blood but the anti-white racism is primarily targeted at white men.[28][not in citation given] Like the Nation of Islam, the Five-Percenter ideology promulgates the theory that the white race was created by a black scientist named Yakub, who lived 6,600 years ago and was responsible for creating the white race to be a race of devils. He did this through a form of selective breeding referred to as grafting, while living on the island of Patmos.[29]

Michael Muhmmad Knight has stated, “The Post never balanced my ‘F*** white people’ line with my acknowledgment that there were/are actually white Five Percenters, a phenomenon that I had discussed with the writer.”

[Fungi]

The question is superfluous. The answer in one word: Money. Was that hard?

[a fool in paradise]

The Guardian is anti-Capitalism and thinks it is horrible to pimp alcoholic beverages to the black community. No criticism of the pimps up/hoes down message, or the gangsta lifetyle, or or or. Let alone the promotion of horrible Democrat politicians (first Obama and now Hillary).

Meanwhile black supremacists with racist iconography are acceptable to corporate America today.

And music sucks because it isn’t about music anymore, it’s about celebrity. The music streams for free and you make it up in the sponsorships and licensing for movies/tv.

The same has been the case for women’s fashion magazines. The photographer makes the big bucks (has to deliver) and the model gets far less for the cover. The exposure brings the big bucks in advertising and catwalks.

[867V309]

bling

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I won't consider buying anything associated with hip hop or rap.

It is just another form of porn.

[AZLiberty]

Money. Just like their Corporate Crony in Chief in the White House.

[Terry L Smith]

Uh, because their ‘music’ sucks?

[kearnyirish2]

Big companies are using them to hawk anything, because the target market is easily influenced and short-sighted (in terms of managing money). Many will commit felonies to obtain the money to buy a certain pair of sneakers or coat...

[Oztrich Boy]

Their real talent isn’t rap, it’s selling out.