Branding In Hip-Hop
I have created this blog as a way to show the relationship between branding and hip-hop. Branding is more than just a name and logo. A brand has a culture and a background. They symbolize an idea. Rappers, using heavy metaphors, use brands as a way to creatively express their ideas and overall messages.
I've been obsessed with hip-hop since I was 6. Figured I would create something related to it while utilizing my media/advertising background. So enjoy the product placement!
*I do not own any of these images
Pusha T - So Appalled
Success is what you make it, take it how it come/ a half a mill in twenties is like a billion where I’m from/ an arrogant drug dealer, the legend I’ve become/ CNN said I’d be dead by 21
Pusha is well known for his vivid lyrics on hustling drugs as a means to make money and support himself. The definition of success is relative to everyone, and in Pusha’s case success is to return to his hometown with stacks full of twenty dollar bills (equaling $500,000) from his drug sales. He is so good in his drug dealing ways that he feels the success and arrogance that money brings. CNN, periodically creating articles and blog posts about the life of minorities in lower-income neighborhoods, is mentioned as a way to reinforce the success he has attained. When statistics and new reports say that drug dealers from lower-class neighborhoods will be dead by 21, Pusha can’t help but feel some sense of immortality. Especially now that he is a successful rapper on one of the best labels out right now.
CNN, though with its share of critics, has been a formidable news source for decades. Their reports are often respected by most. However, news articles can’t always be right, and stats can’t speak for all individuals. There is the chance that someone can escape the dark lives they come from and attain success. However, it is up to the individual on whether the pursuit of that success is legitimate (rapper) or illegal (drug-dealer).
