Hip-Hop: Subculture or Super Brand?

How understanding hip-hop culture can inform

effective marketing communications

By Chris Arning and Ednyfed Tappy

of Flamingo International

We believe that a true understanding of the appeal of hip-hop can have valuable
implications for marketers seeking to connect with young people. Hip-hop
incorporates a number of key values which resonate powerfully with the youth
target. This paper seeks to describe and explore these values and how they
work, before articulating the interaction between hip-hop and the world of
brands an interaction which has rich potential if it can be properly harnessed.

Hythe House 3rd Floor , 200 Shepherd's Bush Road, London W6 7NL
Phone +44 (0) 207 348 4950 Fax +44 (0)207 348 4951
www.flamingo-international.com email info@flamingo-international.com

Introduction:

The supposition made in the title of this project is that hip-hop is two things
simultaneously: a pervasive and arguably hegemonic sub-culture and a
multifarious mainstream entertainment source with mass appeal.
We feel that hip-hop has, and continues to have, both directly and second hand,
a major enriching influence on popular culture. Though it started as a fringe
presence, it now has massive clout and influence. We suspect that this
influence, to their ultimate detriment, remains unacknowledged by many
marketers attempting to address the emerging hip-hop generation.
We also believe that brand stakeholders, amongst others, have often failed to
apprehend and acknowledge hip-hop in its own right as a cultural phenomenon.
This has led marketers to some wrong-headed assumptions about what hip-hop
means to young people. Hip-hop has often been ghettoised as esoterica or a
black thing. Although the establishment is belatedly showing more interest, we
feel that hip-hop still suffers ghettoisation as a self-contained entity existing at
the margins.
Consequently, it has historically been relegated to the periphery or
misunderstood and misrepresented, not least in its portrayal in the media. Media
channels have either regrettably fixated on the negative manifestations of hiphop culture: violence, misogyny and profanity or have sought to parody hip-hop
for comic effect. We would argue this presents a grossly distorted picture of hiphop and dismisses failing to account for hip-hops ubiquity, enduring
popularity and multi-facetedness. This can also lead to superficial treatments of
hip-hop in communication which fail to resonate with the consumer. Marketers
are now faced with a challenge - how to unlock the potential of hip-hop culture
to speak relevantly to young people.
How this paper can help
We aim to demonstrate that hip-hop has a number of facets with deep cultural
resonance. We follow with an expos of how understanding hip-hops values can
feed into meaningful brand communications activity.
We feel that there are three very compelling reasons to take a closer look at
hip-hop.
a) Its status as a global culture
Hip-hop culture, the powerful, expressive medium of Americas urban black
poor, has created a global youth movement of considerable significance
Paul Gilroy The Black Atlantic

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Over the past 3 decades and counting, hip-hop has evolved, proving its capacity
to perpetually adapt and re-invent itself so as to remain fresh and relevant as
times, contexts, locales, and indeed the hip-hop industry itself have moved on.
Into the 21st century hip-hop has diversified from being an urban sub-culture
particular to a specific place and group of people to a fully global culture both in
terms of audience and participants. Hip-hop slang and what we might call a hiphop aesthetic has been metabolised by millions of people. Beyond its
geographical reach hip-hop has infiltrated, and to a large extent defines a whole
generation of under 35s the hip-hop generation.
b) Its status as a global business
One stratum of hip-hop has peeled off and become a globalised, commercialised
and in some respects more homogeneous form of entertainment. Tellingly, this
monolithic stratum of hip-hop co-exists with what might be termed the
underground stratum which remains a fragmented, localised art form with its
own more parochial concerns. The more commercialised hip-hop music now
outsells country and rock in its biggest market, America, and has become the
biggest selling music genre there.
Although hip-hop remains firmly anchored in music, broader lifestyle and
consumer choices stem from it. Indeed, hip-hop is a massive revenue
generating entity. Since the early to mid-nineties hip-hop has really come into
its own as a vastly profitable business and continues its exponential growth.
Hip-hops revenue streams are multiple, and interlocking1: music, television,
cinema, clothing, fashion, sports apparel, drinks, console games and
miscellaneous other products. Some estimate that it now represents a 1 billion
$US industry in the US market alone.
c) Its status as a powerful motor of brand growth
Hip-hop has become a very potent vehicle for brands. Record mogul Russell
Simmons of Def Jam records has called hip-hop the most powerful brand
building community in the world. But what is unique about hip-hop, we would
argue, is that this relationship is not purely exploitative but symbiotic. Brands
have been quasi-endemic to hip-hop from its very beginnings, a time when the
corporate world was indifferent - if not openly dismissive towards what it saw
as a passing fad. To an unprecedented degree, hip-hop is a cultural movement
that has fruitfully assimilated brands and actively made them part of its
discourse - enabling reconciliation of its cultural and commercial facets without
overly compromising on currency and appeal. We return to this theme and
develop the hip-hop-brand parallel further by showing how hip-hop, in several
different guises, can be viewed as a metaphor for a brand.

Hip-hop artists are brand savvy and from the beginning have been skilled self-propagandists. Crosspromotional opportunities abound for the hip-hop entrepreneur such as P Diddy (formerly Puff Daddy)

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Whereas some strands of contemporary culture display growing antipathy to the

power of brands, hip-hop and brands enjoy an often mutually adoring
relationship. We believe this is germane to thinking on brand building and feeds
into ongoing debates about the future of marketing communications.
Before we move on to discussing these brand issues, we will anatomise hip-hop
as a culture, and illuminate what we have identified as its most important
dynamics. As qualitative researchers constantly working with youth brands, we
have deliberately sought to focus on the demand side of the equation. We have
concentrated on the consumers and practitioners rather than the producers of
hip-hop culture.

II

Methodologyi

Our research methodology was designed to investigate what hip-hop means to

those who feel themselves part of it or who buy into the culture at one level or
another. One of the principal findings of this research is not only the
pervasiveness of hip-hop but also its richness and multifariousness.
Its a sub-culture of mostly youth and its a way of dress, its a way of living, its
an attitude that you carry yourself living with, its not just music, it definitely
affects a whole group of people. Hip-Hop Periphery
The research employed a number of inter-related methodologies, and was
conducted over the course of a year, enabling us to reassess our findings on an
ongoing basis. The study ran from April 2002 to April 2003.
Firstly, we called upon internal expertise for initial ideas on how to approach the
project. This was followed by a round of desk research and review of the
existing literature on the subject.
Secondly, we conducted a combination of vox pops, expert interviews (DJs,
cultural historians, journalists), friendship triads and mini-groups. In terms of
our sample design, we deliberately spoke to people with differing levels of
engagement with hip-hop:
Core: We spoke to people who were very close to the culture, for whom hip-hop
is a constitutive part of their life. In hip-hop slang they would be termed: hiphop heads. We call them Hip-Hop Core.
Periphery: We also spoke to a more mainstream audience, people who
appreciate certain aspects of hip-hop but who do not necessarily define
themselves by it. We call them Hip-Hop Periphery.

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Mainstream: We also convened one mainstream group in the suburbs as a

benchmark control. We also conducted numerous vox pops interviews in and
around London in Chiswick, Hammersmith, Kensington, Brixton, Greenwich.
The fieldwork was confined to the UK, though from our studies and observations
there are similarities to be drawn in Europe, as well as the US and Asia.
Consumer Groups
Group
Age
1
16-18 Male

Typology
Hip-Hop Core

Location
Enfield

20-21 Male

Hip-Hop Periphery

Stoke Newington

20-21 Female

Hip-HopPeriphery

Stoke Newington

20-21 Male

Hip-Hop Core

Hounslow

25-30 Male

Hip-Hop Periphery

Covent Garden

20-21 Male

Hip-Hop Core

Camden Town

20-21 Mixed

Mainstream

Epsom

Vox Pops
Typology
Mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream
Mainstream

x
x
x
x
x
x

10
10
10
10
10
10

Experts
Name
DJ 279
Andy Cowan
Dan Greenpeace
Breakin Bread
Nathan Abrams

Location
Chiswick
Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Kensington
Kensington
Brixton

Occupation
DJ Choice FM 97.9 fm
Friday Night Flavas
Editor of Hip-Hop
Connection Magazine
DJ Xfm 104.9 fm
All City Show
Hip-Hop DJs and
Producers
Cultural Theorist with
Specialism in Hip-Hop

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III.

What is Hip-Hop?

Its just talking over a beat Hip Hop Core

Conventional Definition
Firstly, how does one define hip-hop? Conventionally hip-hop is understood to be
a predominantly musical movement emerging out of 1970s New York. Those
closest to the culture will cite what are known as the four elements: rapping, DJing, B-Boying and graffiti as the pillars of the hip-hop movement.2 In recent years
rap to talk rhythmically over a beat - has become synonymous with the word
hip-hop. The music - the beats and the rhymes - has always been the most
prominent and pivotal element. Indeed, our research confirmed that the music
remains the driving force behind hip-hop culture. However, hip-hop, and hip-hop
music, is not merely a commodity. Rather, it denotes something larger,
something intangible: a living and breathing creature - outside the control of the
commercial establishment at work in the minds of young people. In many
respects, hip-hop is a cultural phenomenon and experience that transcends its
physical manifestations.
Black Youth Culture
It is impossible to ignore the fact that hip-hop is still seen as a black or AfricanAmerican music form. Certainly, it was pioneered by black and Latino kids in
New York. At its genesis, hip-hop was a hybrid music form stemming from
Jamaican sound systems and incorporating elements of reggae, blues, disco and
Afro-Cuban percussion. It has thrived in parallel with the steady ascendancy of
black cultural forms that now are now such arbiters of what is considered cool.
Basketball in the USA has exploded in popularity in parallel with hip-hop and
arguably both feed off a generalised fascination with and deification of black
male virility. Many sociologists have even rooted cool itself in African American
culture. Certainly hip-hop manifests core elements of cool: for instance
narcissism and ironic detachment.
Putting hip-hop together with the new status of black sports starsCool has
suddenly started to look like a black thing all over again Cool Rules, Pountain
and Robins
Cross-Cultural Migration
Paul Gilroy situated hip-hop as a creation of the African diaspora he dubbed the
Black Atlantic. However, hip-hop is arguably in the midst of a paradigm shift.
The diaspora is increasingly global and multiracial. Eminem the famous white
rapper - is emblematic of the extent to which hip-hop is felt and lived by young
2

Hip-hop encompasses all the senses: auditory, visual, mental and kinaesthetic. As we go on to argue, it is
fundamentally an experience brand which goes some way to explain its motivational power.

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people of all hues. We would argue that these characteristics are better
described as hip-hop than black and that they transcend skin colour and class.
There are recurrent values that emerged from our research, that playing a more
significant role in explaining hip-hops popularity. Rather than attempt to
capture or define what is a wide ranging, and enigmatic phenomenon, we found
it more telling to ask a different question.

IV.

What does Hip-Hop mean to people?

It definitely has an attitude and a philosophy. Its a culture with a vast depth
and meaning for many people DJ Greenpeace
Hip-Hop Typologies and Values
Certainly hip-hop music is a wide-ranging genre with many sub-sets.3 These can
centre on provenance of the artist, subject matter, musical style etc. However,
we found that what chiefly determined how people viewed hip-hop was not how
it was ostensibly packaged, but what they, as people, got out of it. As the
project unfolded, a sense of hip-hop as an ethos, beyond just the music, was
vocally articulated. This ethos or attitude meant different things to different
people and defied any rigid definition.
Although intensely individual, we soon found recurring patterns in peoples
responses: certain clusters of values emerged as salient and became associated
with certain typologies. These were chiefly differentiated between those people
who were at the core those with a high involvement in hip-hop; and those
that were at the periphery those with a lesser involvement in hip-hop.
It is important to note, however, that the difference between core and periphery
is one of emphasis. This segmentation is not meant to be mutually exclusive.
There is certainly a measure of overlap between the typologies.
Hip-Hops Dual Character
As we mentioned earlier, as hip-hop has evolved and become a more global and
commercial entertainment phenomenon, it has simultaneously re-asserted itself
as a grass-roots cultural movement. We would hypothesise that it is hip-hops
dual character that allows it to offer a palette of experiences, allowing people to
access it at different levels.
Hip-hop is half image and other half is real reality as I say you can take from it
what you want...you do not have to be into all aspects of hip-hop can be into
certain aspects Hip-Hop Core

East Coast, West Coast, Dirty South, Conscious, Gangsta, Spoken Word are foremost amongst these.

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Creativity
Belonging

Voyeurism

Intelligence

Core

Entertainment

Periphery

Shared and Desired Values

Reflecting this duality, this papers suggests that hip-hop encompasses both
shared and desired values depending on the individuals level of engagement.
This is how hip-hop has managed to achieve mass appeal. For those at the
periphery, hip-hop develops rapport through offering a set of desired values.
These values are:
-

Voyeurism
Entertainment

However, hip-hop also retains momentum as a participatory medium beyond

just disposable/passive entertainment. For those at the core, hip-hop can
become part of constructing ones identity. Hardcore fans show fervent
adherence to hip-hop as a creative and cultural movement. To them hip-hop is a
source of experiences they live through as they grow up. They derive manifold
psychological benefits from hip-hop via a set of shared values.
I feel this with a passion, everything I love and hate about life is bound up with
this thing called hip-hop Hip Hop Core

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These values are:

-

Belonging
Creativity
Intelligence

Authenticity: Hip-hop is underpinned by a sense of authenticity for both the

core and the periphery. For the Core it is part of them and inherently authentic,
for the periphery hip-hop offers a second hand authenticity.

Hip-Hop Core - Shared Values:

Belonging
Those at the core viewed hip-hop as an imagined community - something to
belong to, contribute to and defend. We identified a participatory strand in hiphop. Indeed many of those we spoke to felt that they had a stake in hip-hop as
a shared venture. This has always been reflected in the identity-forming
capacity of hip-hop. Originally, disenfranchised populations were able to
articulate and voice their alienation and otherness in a way that was not
previously possible on their own terms, using their own medium and language,
and even via their adherence to certain dress codes.
Hip-hop privileges a kind of agency or activity rather than passivity; not being
passive consumers, but being part of it and being involved in it
Cultural Theorist
We would argue that this remains the case even today: hip-hop still affirms
identities by chronicling peoples lives and their individual experiences, however
commercial a form it has taken on. A crucial aspect of this identity-affirming
process resides in the importance of territoriality in hip-hop. Hip-hop has a
pronounced sense of place. Where youre from, and being a representative voice
from your hood is central. This strong sense of locality and place reflects and
simultaneously feeds into the audiences sense of community.4 Our research
showed that even where the subject matter did not allude to its audience a
sense of locality engenders a sense of closeness with the artist.
The friendship triads we spoke to revealed how hip-hop can bring people
together through a shared pursuit. Beyond privileging the local, hip-hop also
functions as a vast imagined community of devotees who share a love for the
game, drawing on a common heritage. This heritage consists of many possible
signifiers: using language of a certain coinage, knowledge of the hip-hop canon
and a healthy respect and sort of nostalgia for earlier eras of hip-hop.

Hip-hop has proven to be a versatile cultural vehicle for many ethnic groups in the US and elsewhere to
express themselves and assert their own minority voices versus the establishment. As Patrick Neate discusses
in Where Youre At: Notes from a Hip-Hop Planet. This shows how hip-hop cannot be reduced to a monolithic
noise and is rather a medium that caters for any number of messages.

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One of the reasons we became such good friends is because you are finding
other people into hip-hopso you hooked onto people who were into it
Hip-Hop Core
In sum, Hip-hop acts as a wide-ranging support network: first and foremost, it
acts as a common currency amongst people and their immediate circles, you
and your crew, as well as providing people with a broader frame of reference
you are part of a global movement. Uniquely then, the Hip-Hop Nation welds
together the local and global, consequently also accommodating the individual
and the collective.
Everyones from different places but you are putting your contribution into a
bigger formulaalmost like you are sharing the sound waves or something
Hip Hop Core

Creativity
That is probably the best way to describe ithip-hop is about being creative
and putting your input on the world.
Hip-Hop Core
The idea of creativity, and indeed its pursuit, have undergone redefinition over I
recent years. Creativity is no longer the preserve of artistic genius: a do it
yourself ethos prevails amongst todays youth. Hip-hop is very much in line with
this. Hip-hop art or graffiti uses the public landscape as its canvas. Hip-hop
dance started off being practised in the street or urban parks. Beat boxing
illustrates the talent for improvisation and ability to create unaided. Hip-hop is
not uniquely creative, but because little equipment and no qualifications are
needed it democratises creativity.
This results in considerable equality between practitioner and consumer: all, to a
certain degree, share and admire the same qualities. All can participate
creatively in a shared creative space. Because hip-hop derives inspiration from
its wider milieu, there is infinite uncharted white space to exploit.
It is the creativity that hip-hop gives as a cultureI am always looking for
someone to do something amazing in music a new style thats not been done
before Hip-Hop Core
Consequently, hip-hop advocates an informal type of creativity: it affirms that
the individuals contribution is valid without qualification or protocol. It validates
the importance of self-expression and thrives on experimentation. Graffiti
writers experiment with new styles, rappers make their name by establishing
new rhyme patterns and broaching new topics. DJs invent new scratch
techniques using musical notation. Hip-hop offers a platform and a medium but
does not circumscribe content unpredictability and spontaneity are cardinal

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virtues for hip-hop heads. This emphasis on creativity, outside of formal

structures, is a pivotal factor for many young people who in other ways feel that
their potential for self-expression is circumscribed by the world they live in.

Intelligence
I like hip-hop cause it makes me think. Hip Hop Core
Those most engaged in the culture identified an intelligent point of view as the
hallmark of the best hip-hop. Just like in creativity, hip-hop privileges an
informal, instinctive, unschooled brand of intelligence. Part of the fun of hip-hop
is in the decoding of the lyrics. Hip-hop tracks are usually laden with puns,
hidden meanings, riddles and outrageous metaphors and similes. Many of these
rely on either previous knowledge of the artists work, knowledge of the hip-hop
canon, or being au fait with an assortment of popular cultural references. There
is satisfaction in being able to interpret what may seem like unfathomable
gibberish to the uninitiated.
I suddenly realised that my writing style improved and my vocabulary has
increased and Im sure its because of hip-hop Hip-Hop Core5
Like I can hear a tune ten times and catch a lyric the first time but not figure it
out until the 10th time to appreciate it in its full depth.
Hip Hop Core
Furthermore, hip-hop also offers a form of wisdom in content. We refer later to
the power of the hip-hop spoken word. Many hip-hop artists deal with issues in a
down to earth way with which young people can engage. Much of hip-hop
touches on issues of pain, struggle and overcoming adversity. Hip-hop
addresses its audience on equal terms: it is a voice that speaks on their level
and flatters their intellect by broaching topics of gravity.
There is a lot of wisdom in hip-hop, the sort you can like listen to and maybe
integrate into your life to become a better person.
Hip-Hop Core
For many we spoke with, hip-hops emphasis on intelligence, introspection, and
even wisdom is very appealing against a backdrop of so much manufactured and
unreflective popular culture to be found elsewhere.

Hip-Hop Periphery Desired Values

5

We might even go so far as to say that hip-hop is giving educationally challenged young people permission to
be intelligent again mythologising the new. In New Marketing Manifesto, John Grant argues that the future
role of brands is precisely this as the new traditions new ideas to live by.

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Being into hip-hop can signify a lot about you: street credibility, being in tune
with the latest thing. For those peripherally involved in hip-hop it is something
to dip into and does not define them as people.
Everyone of our age is going to have some of the hip-hop attitude in
them.it is just being clued-up, streetwise and knowing what is going on
Hip-Hop Periphery

Authenticity
My life is a soundtrack I compose to the beat.
Dr. Dre, Still Dre (Dre 2001)
Hip-hop has a close relationship with truth and authenticity. On the supply side,
hip-hop artists can seem obsessed with a form of authenticity. Protestations of
truth6 seem to go hand in hand with lyrical prowess. Many artists indeed have
built careers on accusing others of fakery. Personal authenticity is being true to
oneself, not imitating others to ingratiate yourself. Hip-hop songs touch upon
intimate stories of wrongdoing, human failure or overcoming adversity. A central
watchword in hip-hop has passed into popular parlance: keep it real. But
keeping it real to what? In many ways this amorphous authenticity
representing your own personal truth - is the glue that binds the values of hiphop together.
If you want truth, you get it in hip-hop, you want falsehoods you get it in hiphop, but its all reality its just life Hip-Hop Core
Core
Those at the core take authenticity for granted it is experienced first hand.
Hip-hop is literally part of them a formative influence on their life and outlook.
What do you mean what does the culture mean to me? The culture is me, so
what does me mean to me? That is what you are saying Hip Hop Core
Periphery
To those at the periphery, more distant from the world of hip-hop, the
remoteness of the experiences alluded to in the texts of hip-hop mean the
authenticity is second hand. It is symbolic, but still feeds their appetite for the
real. Even when artists embellish the truth hip-hops values seem girded by a
deeper authenticity - if not of objective truth, then that of individual authorship
and expression.
6

This link between sincerity and hip-hop was picked up by Hollywood in the 1998 film Bulworth in which a
jaded US senator (played by Warren Beatty) has a crisis of conscience and adopts the trappings of hip-hop
culture. He chooses to tell the truth by delivering his speeches in rhyme.

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Most pop artists just talk about love, but hip-hop artists speak about real life
issues Mainstream
Within hip-hop, different performers freely play around with notions of truth and
falsehood. To the core sensitive to the nuances and irony in hip-hop they enjoy
interpreting this mix of artifice and genuineness. Playing around with notions of
truth seems very contemporary and seductive.
They could be rapping complete lies of coursebut all the same you are being
taken along for that ride Andy Cowan, Editor Hip-Hop Connection
Furthermore, our research picked up on the growing disillusionment with the
mainstream pop industry. Young people increasingly see through the trite
formulas and superficiality of much chart-topping music. There is palpable
dismay at artists being marketed as commodities rather than expressing what
they feel. Hip-hop is seen very much as an important counterpoint to this,
serving to fill the gap of this authenticity deficit.
Pop music has been dead since I have been born, it is shitit is just people
making money repeating themselves and going yeah baby.
Hip-Hop Core
With Gareth Gates and Popstars it is not what they want to sing, it is what they
get told to sing.it is mainly for young girlsEveryone is in it to make money
Mainstream
In both cases, authenticity as sincerity of intent is an extremely motivating
philosophy for the target we spoke to.

Voyeurism
I suppose there is a slightly voyeuristic peak into a life you never had in hiphopso it is sort of vicariously exciting I suppose
Editor Hip-Hop Connection
Very much in line with the need for authenticity and un-mediated experiences
which we refer to above, there seems to be a real hunger for getting beneath
the surface of things. We are all becoming increasingly voyeuristic in how we
satisfy this urge - the popularity of reality TV shows, tabloid journalism and
biography sales are all reflections of this. The same can be said about music.
Hip-hop has been dubbed the art form of the first person singular. Often raps
are based on an inner monologue or stream of consciousness. These give an
intimate emotional insight into another world, revealing the artists personality
and recorded life experiences. They often touch upon intimate stories of

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struggle, loss and redemption. This heightened level of disclosure allows a high
degree of identification between artist and listener. Enigmatic or dysfunctional
personalities such as Tupac Shakur and Eminem have had whole mythologies
built up around them.
For core hip-hop fans a strong rapport is established with the artist on the basis
of shared experiences and values.
They will say something and I will relate to ithe is going through the same
shit I am going through so it makes you feel better about yourself
Hip-Hop Core
However, for those at the periphery, it is the exoticism, danger, and in some
cases, glamour depicted that attracts. Sexual escapades, gunplay and criminal
activity hip-hop has always explored and documented such controversial
topics, where the listener is invited to live through these experiences. For those
further away from these experiences, this window into another world is thrilling
and captivating, where empathy towards the artist is based on perceptually
shared experiences and desired values.
Tupac - when I listen to his words there is always a lot of pain involved in a lot
of the songs that he has made and I am sure that is why people listen to him.
DJ 279
The way hip-hop music is constructed accentuates the voyeurism for the
listener. Listening to a hip-hop album is often an immersive experience involving
active listening. Hip-hop producers have a knack for vivid reconstruction of
everyday sounds (cicadas, traffic noise, sirens, screams, laughter etc). This
sonic layering imbues tracks with realism and adds an acute sense of place. This
makes for a broad band streaming of information - conjuring up a cascade of
mental pictures in the minds eye of the listener. As such hip-hop shares as
much with cinematic escapism as it does with music.
It is like video games and playing Gran Turismo 3, I play it, but I wouldnt
actually do it, hip-hop is about liking the crazy lyrics and thinking wow, without
doing it
Hip Hop Periphery

Entertainment
Hip-hop has been the most influential music of the last 20 years, its in the
charts, its the new rock and roll!
Hip-Hop Periphery
As we stressed briefly earlier on, entertainment is part of hip-hops DNA and a
whole industry of great breadth has spun off around hip-hop.

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Music
Firstly there is the music industry itself. Hip-hop has spawned massive pop stars
such as Jay Z, Jah Rule, Missy Elliott and Eminem. Hip-hop producers and
impresarios have also been the brains behind a slew of what so-called R and B
artists. The biggest names in music today have had flirtations with hip-hop:
Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey to name but a few. The
Neptunes Pharrell Williams has become one of popular musics hottest
properties with Brittany Spears and Justin Timberlake both soliciting him for
production credits.
Music Videos
Music videos (for instance MTV bass) primarily a selling tool, have endowed hiphop with a visual grammar to match its trademark sounds. An accompanying
video is now seen as standard for major label hip-hop releases. These videos
display a fetish for the excesses of a certain hip-hop lifestyle: conspicuous
consumption, sexual titillation. We would argue that these videos largely play to
the entertainment and voyeuristic values to which many young people are
susceptible.
Stories, sometimes animated by videoalways very engaging mini-dramas
about the street, love, politics, so they are mini-movies of a sort
DJ Greenpeace
Film
Hip-hop stars have also graced the world of Hollywood: Will Smith, Ice Cube,
Mos Def, Eminem and the late Tupac Shakur - to name but a few.
Will Smith is a great example as he can not only play the leading man but can
record the title track in an era of horizontal integration Cultural Theorist
Miscellaneous
Recently the makers of Barbie released a range of multi-cultural barbie dolls
called Flavas. A Mattel spokesperson stated that they recognised hip-hop had
gained sufficient ground in the mainstream to have its own toy line.7 Hip-Hop
has also moved into gaming consoles with ventures such as Def Jam vendetta.
Entertainment is part of hip-hops DNA and further to this, a whole
entertainment industry has now spun off around hip-hop music. Publications
such as The Source, XXL, Vibe devote their pages to covering the latest
happenings in the hip-hop nation.

The Flavas come in boxes splashed with black-and-white photos of urban scenes shot around Venice Beach.
When arranged together, the boxes create a "graffiti" mural that reads: "FA SIZZLE." It is a play on the hiphop expression "Fa' shizzle," which means "For sure." Marketing director Lisa Tauber explains that it is also an
acronym that stands for "Fashion, Attitude and Sizzlin' Style." The dolls, aimed at 9- to 11-year-olds, are "all
about fearless self-expression," she says.

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Hip-Hop, contemporary culture and brands

Hip-hop is not merely musicit is a cultural recycling centre.

Russell Potter, Spectacular Vernaculars
Having looked into the ways in which hip-hop functions as a culture, and
presenting the set of strong values that underpin its popularity, we want to now
turn to the world of hip-hop in relation to brands. In doing so, our thinking leads
us to look at the bigger picture what is the nature of the interaction between
hip-hop and broader contemporary culture, of which brands are an integral part?
This entailed looking at how hip-hop operates as a cultural phenomenon. We
identified an uncanny parallel between certain key features of hip-hop culture
and prevailing cultural norms. We would argue that hip-hops coincidence with
these norms has perhaps allowed it to flourish more readily. These norms could
be said to be post-modern.
I think hip-hop is the ultimate post modern art form.if you were going to write
a dictionary definition on hip-hop then you would put c.f. postmodernism
Cultural Theorist
There are two important facets which illustrate this: collage and
intertextuality. We would argue that these features, collage and
intertextuality, make hip-hop particularly fluid and open as a culture. This
means that there is a discursive relationship between hip-hop and broader
popular culture. This is what is meant by the aforementioned term recycling
centre: it is constantly fostering an inter-change of ideas and issues.
Collage
Hip-hop has a penchant for eclecticism, synthesis and collage. Hip-hop tracks
are notorious for drawing heavily on samples for their musical backbone. Hiphop not only resurrects old genres of music, but it reintroduces them in
unexpected new ways, reconciling the old and the new. This cut and paste
ethos, recycling past elements and fusing them with contemporary ones, is one
of the ways that hip-hop renews and updates itself.
Hip-hop will always be around because there will be something new to chat
aboutit is about current affairs. Hip-Hop Core
IntertextualityIntertextuality is the theory that all cultural life is a series of
intersecting texts and that nothing is absolutely autonomous. Intertextuality
operates within hip-hop on a number of different levels. On the one hand, hiphop draws on a vast variety of sources and references within its own cultural
heritage, and on the other hand it feeds from broader contemporary events and
tropes that lie outside its immediate remit.
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I dunno, the use of philosophical quotes, references to comic books, random

everyday things, comparing this to that
Hip-Hop Core
As such, there is constant interaction within and outside hip-hop. Inwardly, hiphop is cannibalistic and gains momentum through feeding off its own material.
Within hip-hop MCs sample each others music, name check one another and
make guest appearances on each others tracks. Debates and exchanges of
opinion take place on record, in several dedicated magazines and on a plethora
of websites. Hip-hop is outwardly interactive too, picking up on events in the
world. In sum, therefore, hip-hop can be seen as a series of dialogues.
I think it facilitates expression of ideasand forces a dialogue with the media,
with youth, with popular culture that is channelled to us through television, the
Internet, and popular culture. Hip-Hop Periphery
As such, hip-hop is one vast conversation, or rather a network of
interconnecting conversations constantly cross-referencing themselves and
endlessly leading to further conversations. A given artists album may contain a
number of texts articulating different and sometimes conflicting messages. Hiphop presupposes the subjectivity of the listener. This respects notions of the
primacy of the text, the death of the author and the notion of multiple truths
notions with which postmodernists are so enamoured.
What does this all amount to?
The fact that hip-hop displays collage and intertextuality as part of its nature
means that as a culture it is permeable and in touch with other cultural
influences. It is able to interact with other cultures, take on board, borrow and
integrate these elements without necessarily compromising its own integrity.
This has led to it constantly metamorphosing and adjusting to the dominant
cultural climate. Hip-hop made today is therefore unmistakably of its time whilst
as a medium transcending it. This is what has also led to it having an impact
and influence on a wide range of issues and areas in mainstream culture.
In prcis, hip-hop operates as an extremely fluid and constantly evolving
cultural phenomenon, taking mainstream influences on and in turn also
influencing mainstream culture. Another area where this dialectic works is in
relation to the world of brands, to which we now turn.

VI

The Hip-Hop / Brand Interface

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Brands (sometimes unwittingly) have been key interlocutors in hip-hops

dialectic with popular culture. As mental constructs and monikers they have
played an integral role in the evolution of hip-hop. We have identified 3 broad
trends to this development:
There have been three main ways in which brands interface with hip-hop:
-

brands that have been appropriated by hip-hop and become symbolic

of hip-hop
brands that have emerged out of hip-hop and can therefore be seen
as hip-hop brands
brands that are trying to capitalise on hip-hops success or turning to
it for inspiration

Hip-Hop Appropriating Brands

Ever since it first emerged, hip-hop has been bound up with certain appearances
and styles. Typically eccentric headgear, baggy jeans, hooded sweatshirts, gold
chains, fat shoe laces. In the beginning the appropriation of certain products and
brands by the hip-hop fraternity was part and parcel of the movement. Brands
enabled members of the hip-hop nation to express their unique individuality,
whilst creating a set of collective codes that signified a shared currency.
In the 21st century music has substantively outstripped the other original
elements of hip-hop. Brands in hip-hop are words to rhyme with as well as
physical artefacts.8 Automobiles, Beverages and Apparel are the most popularly
name dropped product categories. Some of the most commonly mentioned
names at time of writing are:
Mercedes, Bentley, Cristal, Bacardi, Lexus, Gucci, Timberland
Brand names often seem to be included almost incidentally (often abbreviated
and colloquialised i.e. Lexus = Lex, Cristal = Cris), and randomly as part of the
MCs verbiage. However, this does not mean brands dont play an instrumental
role in the hip-hop discourse. Brands when used as metaphors - are given
legitimacy in hip-hop as part of the furniture of our world not something to be
screened out but something to be invited in. Listeners engrossed in a song may
associate the brand (however tangentially) with a favourite artist. This debate
over deliberate product placement has been a hot topic in recent months which
we deal with more fully below in the Hip-Hop as Brand Medium section. Here
are the most obvious examples of hip-hop driven marketing:
8

Lucian James, a brand strategist based in San Francisco, has been monitoring the Billboard Top 20 for brand
name mentions and ranking them on his website. These are the most listened to songs in the USA, many of
them hip-hop.

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1986 Adidas: My Adidas by RUN DMC. This track was a eulogy to the
Adidas trainer and prompted crowds at a RUN DMC concert to remove their
shoes in tribute to the brand.
1992 Tommy Hilfiger: Grand Puba of Brand Nubian name checked Tommy
Hilfiger, thereby endorsing the brand and opening up the brand offering to a
previously untapped audience.
2002 Courvoisier: Busta Rhymes and Puff Daddy collaborated on an
infectious ode to the Cognac brand which caused a 20 per cent jump in sales.

Hip-Hop Brands
The nineties witnessed the emergence of hip-hop fashion brands: brands
conceived and aimed at hip-hop aficionados. Foremost amongst these would be
included Karl Kani, FUBU and Cross Colours.
Name-checking these brands in music tracks, adorning themselves in music
videos and photo shoots has proved to be a perfect promotional mix. It has
provided hip-hop brands unmediated access to their target. As hip-hop music
sales continued to rise, so did those of these brands, and the sheer number of
such brands now reflects this success: Mecca, Triple 5 Soul, Ecko, K-Swiss.
The hip-hop community is now savvy to the commercial potential of their
culture. The following artists have launched their own fashion brands:

Phat Farm (Russell Simmons)

RocaWear (Jay-Z)
Sean John (P Diddy)
Vokal (Nelly)
Wu Wear (Wu-Tang Clan)
Shady Clothing (Eminem)

Brands Appropriating Hip-Hop

One telling indicator of a shift in public perception towards hip-hop is the alacrity
with which brands now associate themselves with the subculture. Brands,
particularly in the USA, are realising that affiliating themselves with hip-hop
allows them to connect with a lucrative and growing franchise. The power of hiphop lies in that it acts as a lifestyle brand potentially encompassing all areas of
a consumers life.
Brands such as Sprite, GAP and Nike have famously used hip-hop imagery in
their advertising campaigns. Reebok recently reaped the rewards of using a cast

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of hip-hop artists in launching the RBK range. In addition to co-promoting hiphop talent spots with The Source magazine, Reebok has decided to launch a
signature footwear line under the name of Sean Carter Collection multiplatinum selling artist Jay-Z. Car manufacturers such as Ford are starting to
understand that urban marketing is the only way to stay in touch with their
consumers. Sean P Diddy Combs has been invited to brand a limited edition
Oldsmobile. Fashionistas Dolce and Gabbana drew on hip-hop for inspiration for
their latest track suit range.9 McDonalds latest global campaign Im Lovin It
turns to local hip-hop artists to provide a soundtrack and a slice of the hip-hop
lifestyle. (In the Appendix, we look at advertising for 3 brands, which have run
in the UK and which show varying degrees of success in leveraging the values of
hip-hop).
In the USA, a racially stratified nation, hip-hop fast becoming a modern
American vernacular - has mercurially crossed the boundaries. We believe that
hip-hop continues to perform an incredibly important role in bridging racial and
class divides all over the world. This means that markets can increasingly be
segmented psychographically rather than demographically. This enables what is
now dubbed: urban marketing targeting a massive cohort of young people
estimated to exceed 45 million in the US alone the hip-hop generation.

VII

Hip-Hops Brand Metaphors

The marketing discipline employs mental models to look at brands. We have

used various such models to illustrate how hip-hop might be compared to a
brand. Taken together, we feel they demonstrate that hip-hop is, as our title
suggests, a superbrand.

Hip-Hop as Superbrand?
Brand X?
What brand owner would not kill to have unassailable kudos amongst youth,
consistently high brand equity and an effortless ability to recruit fresh franchise?
To have a brand which appeals to a broad constituency of people, satisfying
several need states simultaneously, and acting as a focus for shared and desired
values? To have an experience10 brand that operates in sexy territory,
satisfying the highest order needs for identity construction and selfactualisation. What brand owner would not be green with envy at a brand that
now enjoys mass market status but retains its vanguardist credentials? Yet this
is what hip-hop has done for the last 20 years. Hip-hop launched as a niche
brand. It has since become a mass-market brand whilst retaining its original
momentum and freshness. Hip-hop provides clues to the conundrum: how do I
9

Some brands such as Motorola see co-branding as the most effective way to tap into the $6 million of urban
spending power. Motorola launched a mobile phone pager in conjunction with hip-hop fashion label Phat Farm
owned by Russell Simmons Def Jam.

10 John Grant in New Marketing Manifesto argues that the future of brands is not as necessarily a reflection of
consumer values but as a tool for creative possibility and source of experiences. Our research demonstrated how
hip-hop has become important as a key imaginative resource for young people and leads to rich experiences.

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pursue volume with fickle consumers whilst remaining authentic? Hip-hop has
squared the circle by making a form of authenticity part of its brand DNA.
Brand X-tension?
Extending the analogy, hip-hop has undergone what one might call a passive
brand extension. On what basis has it performed this extension? In a sense by
largely flouting all the rules of brand extension those that cite product
differentiation within the destination category as paramount. By leveraging the
brand elasticity of the hip-hop brand it has shown a knack for diversification.
As we have seen hip-hop incarnates values of creativity. It also brings an inbuilt authenticity to whatever it does. Hip-hops infiltration into the
mainstream has been as much through co-option by other genres/scenes as
through conscious strategic manoeuvring.

Hip-Hop: Big Fish or Challenger Brand?

There is always a sort of peer pressure to like certain things at certain times
and people liking hip-hop has gone against that. Cultural Theorist
Challenger Brand?
Hip-hop started off as the quintessential challenger brand. Most obviously, hiphop remains in part an underground movement with a die-hard franchise,
namely those at the core who revel in their separateness. Its success has been
predicated on being the alternative, never the orthodoxy. However, as we have
shown, hip-hop has also entered the mainstream: as it has evolved it has come
to represent a set of meaningful values to a broader audience, namely those
who are situated more at the periphery.
Adam Morgans book Eating the Big Fish advocated a rethink of how secondtier brands operate to gain advantage against predominant brand leaders. Hiphops development and growth over the past two decades has involved
rehearsing (whether inadvertently) challenger brand principles.
According to Morgans definition, hip-hop would be a challenger brand in terms
of: its state of market, state of mind and rate of success. Morgans book goes on
to enumerate a brand model of Eight Credos which he suggests spearhead
challenger success. Three of these credos are particularly instructive in dealing
with hip-hop.
Firstly, hip-hop built a lighthouse identity by being a consistently thrusting
and vibrant presence. It burst onto the scene almost as the unmusic;
distinctive, dissonant, almost antagonistic in composition and content to any
other pop music form. From the start, hip-hop has been seen as an alien,
brooding and sometimes unwelcome presence. It has, until recently, been
vilified as the predilection of a black/urban underclass. This has enabled hip-hop
to carve out a rebel position in counterpoint to the mainstream. Hip-hops

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strength consists of this luminosity - an ability to cut through at the expense of

less clearly defined brands.
Secondly, Morgan argues that the currency of Challenger momentum is a
constant stream of ideas - ideas that keep the brand high up on consumer
agendas. He argues that Challenger brands are innately Idea-Centred rather
than Consumer-Centred. Hip-hop is an extremely fast moving milieu pulsating
with fresh ideas. At times it seems locked in a cycle of perpetual idea
modification: ideas being challenged, critiqued, transcended or recycled. 11
Different versions, remixes, instrumentals, freestyles, acapellas multiply the
output of every artist. Dialogue and indeed competition between artists has
always been an imperative, the driving force behind the creativity. Much of the
spur to creativity comes from the urge to have the final word, supersede the last
release. In that sense, hip-hop is as much about artists communicating with
each other much of it can seem indifferent to popularity with a mass audience.
Consequently, the best hip-hop feels Ideas Centred, rather than being
transparently aimed at consumers and anticipating their expectations. In this
way, hip-hop manages to always be a step ahead of consumers, continuously
able to delight and surprise its audience.
Thirdly, hip-hop has arguably also assumed thought leadership in many areas
of popular culture. Hip-hop associated ventures now account for billions of
dollars. It is established as an important reference point to be emulated in the
music industry. From being an iconoclastic upstart to being a creative alloy to
be plundered for ideas. Hip-hop is increasingly credited as creative inspiration in
such areas as thematic structure, music production, choreography and
aesthetics. A further illustration of this leadership can be found in fashion: the
popularisation of casual leisure wear as fashion statement; the adoption of what
can be termed a hip-hop aesthetic by mainstream brands looser and baggier
cuts. More recent has been the vogue for what is termed ghetto fabulous:
where designer brands amalgamating their styles with hip-hop chic to capitalise
on the broad trends towards mass affluence.12
So is hip-hop now a Big Fish? Well, in terms of influence yes; in monetary terms
certainly. Has hip-hop managed to gain hegemonic status by sacrificing its core
values? We would argue that hip-hop remains vital and retains it authenticity
in the eyes of young people. It has done this by negotiating a midway position.
Hip-hop is neither exclusively niche or exclusively mass market it is both
simultaneously.

Hip-Hop Artists as Brand Archetypes

11

Hip-hop thrives on its very disposability of its products. The speed at which tracks are made, remixed, and
alacrity with which new styles, trends are taken up etc allows hip-hop to perpetually refresh itself. More so
than other music hip-hop endures almost by making obsolescence part of its modus operandi.
12
Allied Domecq have hired Russell Simmons advertising agency D-rush, to handle the cross media launch of
their new communication for their portfolio of cognacs under the umbrella name House of Courvoisier.

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Our research brought out a strong nexus between artist and fan built on the
charisma of the personalities in hip-hop. What is striking from our research was
how keen consumers are to puzzle out these complex characters. Most of these
figures are black males - hip-hop certainly represents a strident expression of
masculinity. But the masculinity at work in hip-hop is malleable and multifarious
- not simply a rigid monolithic machismo. Figures such as Tupac Shakur and
Eminem combine their outrageous boasts with a confessional tenderness. It is
this element of disclosure the sense of sharing themselves with the listener;
and the intimate way it is rendered that sets hip-hop artists apart.
Colourful and notorious personalities are hip-hops lifeblood. Hip-hop is more
than just a musical production line and recording industry. It is also a theatre
with characters acting out various roles. There is the jester, the thug, the
philosopher, the prophet, the political firebrand, the dandy, the regular guy, the
pimp, the lothario, the entrepreneur. They are all present in the hip-hop
pantheon and may be found in different hip-hop artists, or indeed in the same
artist playing different roles in different circumstances.
Carl Jung believed that human beings are in hock to recurring mental characters
and narrative patterns buried deep in our psyches:
We come into life instinctually resonating to these archetypal stories because of
the very ways in which our minds are configuredArchetypes are the software of
the soul13
Mark and Pearsons The Hero and the Outlaw, shows how shrewd brands
achieve resonance by aligning themselves with these archetypes. Indeed, on
one level, hip-hop is predicated upon the interplay of archetypal figures.
We would argue in this paper that the miscellaneous jumble of characters in hiphop are themselves underpinned by an overarching archetype (or a category
essence in Mark and Pearsons language).
We have noted elsewhere that hip-hop is the culture of the first person
singular. Unsurprisingly therefore, hip-hop is besotted and bound up with the
archetype of the Explorer. This is its fundamental category essence. It
therefore holds precious values of independence, endeavour and self-discovery.
Unsurprisingly, a wish for self-determination, a fear of being hemmed in and
continual self-discovery are common to youth everywhere. Hip-hop continually
echoes and plays to this need.
Hip-hop is about interesting icons, the comedians and the gangsters, people
that you want to read about
Hip-Hop Periphery

13

Carl Jung Man and his Symbols

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The Explorer platform supports subsidiary archetypes within it. We have

identified a few of the more obvious exemplars with examples of their subject
matter:
Sage = Nas (social commentary, chronicler, imparter of knowledge =
philosophical)
Jester = Eminem (scatological humour, satire, revenge fantasies = turmoil)
Outlaw = 50 Cent (thug life, criminal activity = defiance)
Ruler = Jay-Z (entrepreneurial success, business dominance = order)
These artists differ in their subject matter and emphasis but all incarnate the
fierce individualism and yearning of the Explorer. All are similarly on personal
odysseys (whether of self-aggrandisement or otherwise) but in subtly different
ways. We would argue that (inadvertently?) leveraging archetypal imagery is an
immense source of hip-hop strength. The stories these artists tell allow them to
act as recognisable brand archetypes without losing their humanity. Archetypes
give hip-hop an atavistic resonance semi-mythical figures in a world where
many celebrities seem to lack depth. As a category hip-hops Explorer
archetype essence gives it the credentials to innovate and extend its brand
outside music.

Brand as Medium
While hip-hops values are by and large fixedit is also an incredibly flexible
tool of communication, quite adaptable to any number of messages
Nelson, Hip-Hop America
Proprietary Media
Above and beyond hip-hop proving itself to be incredibly receptive to brands, it
displays yet another unique characteristic in that it also acts as its own media.
Most global brands use media instrumentally as a means to transmit a message.
It is rare for brands to have media organically linked to, or as an integral part
of, the brand itself. One of the perennial challenges for brand owners is how to
meaningfully align brand proposition with media placement. Younger audiences
are deserting traditional broadcast media formats. Brands are coming to terms
with an increasingly fragmented media landscape. Brands are struggling to eke
out the most comprehensive coverage from a given media spend. At the same
time marketers want to brand content working in synergy with the right media.
Chuck D called hip-hop the black CNN. In a sense, hip-hop communicates
through its own proprietary media. The musical medium uses technology
creatively in the service of the lyrical messages transmitted through it. Graffiti
works through the visual medium of public space. Arguably, the community of
hip-hop fans and brand evangelism is a further manifestation of hip-hop media
that of word of mouth. The hip-hop fraternity have always understood that
message is medium and medium is message.

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Product Placement
By acting as its own media, hip-hop is its own best promotional vehicle. It can
uniquely rely on itself to promote itself. To take the example of music again, the
number of brands that get name-checked in the US Billboard Top 20 in any
given week is astounding. Lucian James American Brandstand14 bears witness
to this. But what it illustrates is hip-hop acting as a potent advertising medium
a form of product placement which benefits from an already captive audience,
wherein brands benefit from a meaningful context and are imbued with hiphops values, not least authenticity. Brand owners are seriously considering
utilising the hip-hop paid for media format as a promotional vehicle. Hewlett
Packard was recently reported to be in talks with the Def Jam label to promote a
new line of personal computers via brand name dropping.
A Viral Medium?
Another interesting insight derived from the brand-as-medium analogy concerns
hip-hops mode of propagation how has it spread so far and fast? We would
argue that the dramatic spread of hip-hop has been an organic process
disproportionate to any quantification of conscious initiatives.
We have alluded to the stickiness (or catchiness) of hip-hop the beats, rhymes
and the cultural codes that go with them. Our focus on the grass roots reception
of hip-hop culture has revealed an important factor the outspoken agency of
the hip-hop head. Certainly, we would posit that the propagation process has
been viral spreading from person to person15 and that the hip-hop head is a
prime mode of propagation the vector if you like. By the way they talk, dress,
act and evangelise the genre.
The meme, unit of cultural replication, is a term coined by evolutionary
biologist Richard Dawkins to describe ideas and mental models that gain
currency and achieve longevity. They are passed down generations like genetic
codes. We think you could apply the meme concept to hip-hop. As a first order
meme hip-hop has spawned a world movement that has inspired millions. It has
replicated itself as a mental model through the minds of young people. As a
cluster of viral ideas it has not been imposed by top-down saturation of
broadcast media but through personal contact, individual endorsement and selfdiscovery. Arguably, the ordinary hip-hop fan is a special player in this process.

Brand as Conversation not Broadcast

Furthermore, above and beyond hip-hop acting as its own most potent media,
the nature of the way in which it delivers its messages or stories is noteworthy.
14

http://www.lucjam.com/brand.html

15

Underground hip-hop has a historical parallel in the Russian samizdat or self-published tracts and literary
works published and distributed outside the control of official channels during the years of authoritarianism in
the Soviet Union. Samizdat was also an underground medium transmitting non-establishment expression.

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People are suffering from communication saturation. There is a sense of being

engulfed with unsolicited e-mails and sms, junk mail. This is allied to a growing
distrust of big corporations. Part of the general disenchantment stems from a
fatigue with broadcast messages. Unvariegated messages beamed to a
homogenous audience.
Certainly, brands that talk in an arch, insensitive way to the consumer quickly
become unpopular. Empathy and honesty are two highly coveted values in the
brand world. Brands that tune themselves into the values of their audience tend
to win a willing audience. Brands are having to accustom themselves to a shift in
mindset from we want your money to we share your interests to we have
become part of your life. But how to consistently anticipate or intuit those
values?
Brands are increasingly finding the answer to this is to build a meaningful
dialogue with their consumers. As we have already noted, hip-hop is a series of
conversations, or rather a network of interconnecting conversations constantly
cross-referencing themselves and endlessly leading to further conversations.
Also, we highlighted that people are attracted to the culture because of its
authenticity. This authenticity consists of ordinary people telling stories,
admitting their failings, reflecting on life. Hip-hop often speaks with uncontrived
and unspun candour - it is telling it like it is. It establishes a conversation with
its audience. This is in marked contrast with the overwhelming communications
context.16

Conclusions
Hip-hop now has a huge influence on youth culture an influence it is now
impossible to ignore. It resonates with the value systems and aspirations of
young people in a number of important ways. Indeed, it offers a plurality of
brand experiences that shape young peoples lives and outlook. And it
demonstrates many of the attributes of a highly successful brand which draws
in fresh franchise without compromising its brand equities. Understanding hiphops appeal and how it works in the minds and lives of young people offers
potentially rich rewards for brands seeking to make deep connections with
consumers. Failing to understand hip-hop can lead at best to missed
opportunities, and at worst to damaged credibility and lack of relevance.
We hope that the insights and implications put forward in this paper will help all
those involved in the study or marketing of brands in contemporary culture have
a better understanding of these issues.

16

There are many parallels between hip-hop and the internet. Also a uncensored medium, through its fluid
infrastructure the internet hosts a seething network of conversations.

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Bibliography
Hip-Hop Culture
Will Eric Perkins Droppin Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip-Hop
Culture
Tricia Rose Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary
America
Russell A Potter Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of
Postmodernism
Nelson George Hip-Hop America
Paul Gilroy The Black Atlantic: African Diaspora and Double Consciousness
Patrick Neate Where Youre At: Notes from the Front Line of a Hip-Hop
Planet
Chuck D with Yusuf Jah Fight the Power: Rap, Race and Reality

Brands, Psychology and Marketing

Carl Jung Man and his Symbols
Margaret Mark & Carol Pearson The Hero and the Outlaw: Building
Extraordinary Brand through the Power of Archetypes
Levine, Locke, Searls, Weinberger The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of
Business as Usual
Giep Franzen & Margot Bouwman The Mental World of Brands
John Grant New Marketing Manifesto
John Grant After Image
Adam Morgan Eating the Big Fish

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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank David Burrows of Flamingo for his help and guidance in
the development of this paper.

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Appendix
Examples of brands seeking to use hip-hop
values
1.

Nike

In recent years Nike has been attempting to humanise itself by getting closer to
its consumer. From depictions of sporting excellence, Nike has shifted focus to
show players off duty fooling around and enjoying the fun of football. In this
freestyle spot Nike takes basketball and leverages hip-hop to create powerful
advertising.
The spot ostensibly recreates a version of the impromptu three-on-three
competitions happening in parks all over the world. However, on closer analysis,
the freestyle ad adds resonance by tapping into hip-hop values whilst nimbly
avoiding heavy-handed allusion to the genre. This deepens identification with
the target audience who buy trainers as much for fashion as sporting reasons.
It also sets up a powerful synergy between expressionism in music and sport.
To highlight the way in which the hi-hop values are represented:
For the periphery:
Entertainment: as a visual spectacle shows the breathtaking skills of the cream
of the NBA professionals to a hip-hop beat. The cocky, nonchalant air of the
performers is familiar to those watching hip-hop music videos.
Voyeurism: there is no attempt directly to play to the viewer, we are purely
spectators given a short window on the private world of great NBA players off
duty and performing the stunts that millions of young people want to emulate.
For those inside the culture, at the core, the ad is pure hip-hop. It also
references the values of:
Belonging: the rawness of the black backdrop, the outrageous displays of skill,
the jitterbugging and play faking are all signifiers of hip-hops emphasis on
performance and competition. They signify a hip-hop ethos and atmosphere.
Creativity: the ad implies an association between athletic prowess and verbal
dexterity. The ball is a metaphor for the microphone and each player takes his
turn to show his skills and show sporting creativity.
Intelligence: the ad shows intelligence in the creative device it employs. The
participants in the ad have turned the ball into beat box rather than a scoring

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implement. The scuff of the shoes becomes a scratch: subverting the original
task for which the ball and trainers were made. There is a cheek and freshness
to this very much in tune with hip-hops focus on unfussy intelligence.

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2.

Radio Five Live

This spot spoofs the closing battle scene of Eminems film Eight Mile. In the film
Eminem dismisses his rivals with a devastating display of honesty, wit and
outrageous verbal attacks. But the idea does not depend on having seen the
film, although identification is deepened. The main creative device centres upon
drawing parallels between the MCs power to move a crowd and the
commentators power to electrify football fans who hang on their every word.
Both are performers whose appeal is built on their verbal dexterity: not only
what they say but how they say it. Both rappers and commentators vocalise
what they see, both give their opinions and both are skilled at conjuring up
mental pictures in the minds eye of their listener. Their descriptive accounts are
conduits for the voyeurism of their audience.
Radio Five Live ultimately leverages the power of hip-hop to communicate, to
inform and to bring people together to dramatise the passion and emotional
hysteria of a football match. In doing so they shrewdly tap into a massive
audience of hip-hop fans who are also avid followers of the English Premiership.
This is a spot we believe that succeeds by referencing all the values of hip-hop.
-

Entertainment: a dramatic event with a lot of energy and excitement - a

battle between two well known commentators
Authenticity: the authenticity is in well known commentators taking their
art to the stage, in the passion of the delivery (and in the presence of the
two Arsenal players on the turntables!)
Voyeurism: shows these commentators doing what they do best in a
pressured surrounding
Belonging: emphasises the tribal nature of football by combining a
celebration of the euphoria of being a football fan with the fun and
excitement of the hip-hop concert this acknowledges that hip-hop is as big
a part of the lives of young people as football building complicity
Creative: the idea of merging football commentary with a hip-hop beat the
unlikely juxtaposition of balding 40 year olds and a bombastic hip-hop crowd
Intelligence: the fact that so much information is conveyed with such speed
and elegance of expression does justice to the hip-hop medium

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3.

Virgin Mobile

The following print advert is an example of how some marketers superficially

latch onto hip-hop as subject matter without grasping its deeper significance. It
is the result of badly misjudging the current climate of opinion towards hip-hop
and how it has developed. This spot plays to the residual values we would
argue have now been superseded by the periphery values we have spoken of
throughout the paper.

a confrontational attitude
conspicuous display: bling bling
crassness, vulgarity and misogyny

Rather than celebrating the positive values in hip-hop, it attempts to parody

elements of hip-hop: perverting the notion of respect. Fundamentally, it reduces
hip-hop culture to a one-dimensional caricature foregrounding its negative
values. Underlying this is an attack on the very authenticity of hip-hop culture.
Also, the preferred reading is that these white teenagers are wannabes and thus
inauthentic. This implies that hip-hop culture is still only for the elect, whereas
we have shown how powerfully it has percolated into young peoples lives. The
execution lacks intelligence by making an easy target of unaspirational looking
individuals. When we researched this ad, most recognised it as being a
caricature of the negative aspects of hip-hop culture.
This is the dumbest ad ever, taking the pissjust a stereotype
18, Hip-Hop Periphery
Only the least progressive elements of our mainstream saw it as an accurate
reflection of hip-hop. We would argue that there is increasingly less capital to be
derived from ridiculing hip-hop. There is far more mileage in harnessing its
positive values.

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