LET’S DECODE THIS

In the months after George Floyd was murdered, while the country marched for Black lives, I was pitching a series to a major network. At the time, the industry was suddenly eager to expand the types of Black stories it was willing to tell, and one executive told me something I have never forgotten: “Messaging matters, but you have to hide the broccoli.” People don’t sit down to be taught. They sit down to be entertained, and your job is to entertain them while teaching them something they don’t know.

I understood what that executive meant, and I’ve thought about it ever since. Even when people say they want the truth, they still have to be willing to hear it.

This week, The Drop: A Snowfall Saga aired its season finale on FX. John Wright made the case at SNOBHOP that the show is bringing back the hip hop soundtrack as a real moment of music discovery. He’s right. The music is a big part of why people showed up every Tuesday. But underneath the soundtrack and the shootouts, the series has been telling another story, one about who profits from the music, who controls it, and who pays the price.

For thirty years, we’ve argued about gangsta rap in the same circle. Did the music shape the culture, or was it a reflection of the world built for the people who made it? The Drop explores that question through the people who created the music and the people who stood to profit from it.

WHERE I SAT

I spent years inside the music business. I produced music videos for artists like Nas, Naughty by Nature, Montell Jordan, Three 6 Mafia and many others, and I worked directly for the late Rico Wade of Organized Noize, the man behind the development of OutKast and Goodie Mob and the Dungeon Family sound that emerged from a studio in his mother’s basement. I was in the studios, on the sets, and in the rooms where the images got made.

But I never saw the side of the business The Drop puts on screen, and I was blessed not to. I never had to sit in the room where someone decided which version of a young person’s pain would sell. That’s why this show matters to me.

Even people who worked in the music industry often saw only part of the business. We saw the artists, the records, the videos, and the success. The Drop takes us behind that image and asks us to look at the people and decisions that helped build it. It also brings the consequences into focus. The young people making the music were not the only ones affected by the world they were describing. Their families, their friends, and their communities were living with those consequences, too.

THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

What makes The Drop compelling is how it reveals the different roles people play in the music business, from the artists and producers creating the work to the executives and operators who see its commercial value. Each character has something at stake, but not everyone has the same power to determine what happens next.

Lamar builds the tracks, and Artillery’s voice gives them an identity. Together, they create a sound everyone in the building wants to own. But Artillery isn’t as committed to the street life as the people around him. When Dara asks him to stand with the crew and retaliate for the friend they’ve buried, he doesn’t go. Later, when Wanda moves to take the masters, he hesitates. He wants to live, and that distinction matters. The label can market an image, but the person behind it has to live with the consequences. The audience may believe in the character on the record without ever knowing the person who created it.

Lamar and Artillery also signed contracts they didn’t fully understand. That’s why Leon offers to review DG’s paperwork in the first place. The music came from their experiences, but the agreements determined who would control the recordings and how the money would flow. This is where the show gets particularly interesting to me as a producer. Creating something and owning it are two different things. You can be responsible for the work and still have limited control over what happens to it once someone else has the rights.

The people around them pay a price, too. Keith told his crew he was leaving the streets after two more jobs, but he never got the chance. Dara had been with Artillery from the beginning and believed she had earned her share. After the crew was shot at, she went to DG’s office demanding an advance. What she received was a monthly stipend against future earnings. An advance is generally recouped from specified future earnings, so receiving money up front doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve been paid what you’ve earned. The terms determine how much you ultimately receive and when you begin collecting additional income. DG compares the arrangement to pimping, and he’s the person who structured the deal.

Lamar’s situation shows another side of the business. His work gets rearranged by people with more power than him. Another artist is placed on his songs, and his album is relabeled as a compilation so it can be rushed to market. These decisions affect more than the sound of the record. Lamar created the work, but he didn’t control how it was being packaged or sold. What he did control was his decision to go home. He apologizes to his family and tries to make things right. It’s a reminder that the music business often turns real people into a product.

Now, Jenny Favarella runs the label and wants to prove herself in her father’s house. She wants the music and the masters, but she wants no part of the violence. When DG brings that violence into her conference room, she cuts him off. Her position reveals an important contradiction: the label can profit from music that depicts a violent world while maintaining its distance from the consequences. Jenny draws a line when those consequences reach her, even though the business she runs continues to benefit from the music that petulates it.

Leon, our new hero, is trying to move in a different direction. He runs a free legal clinic and attempts to protect the people he loves with what he knows instead of what he carries. By the finale, protecting them pulls him back toward the world he has been trying to leave.

Wanda survived crack, the same epidemic that helped shape the world around her, and emerged with an understanding of the business that others seem to lack. She recognizes that control of the masters is leverage. She takes them, uses DG’s own violence to push him out of the deal, and leaves the label without a straightforward way to sell the album without her. Wanda understands something the others are still learning: talent and access don’t necessarily translate into power. Ownership changes that equation, but taking control of the masters doesn’t resolve everything. She has made a decisive business move, yet she is left isolated from her people. The show leaves us to consider what gaining control might ultimately cost her.

Look at who pays the price throughout this story: the artist whose public image doesn’t reflect who he is, the friend who wanted out, the woman who believed she had earned a share, the producer whose work was repackaged by someone else, and the man who tried to leave and couldn’t. Their circumstances are different, but the power imbalance is familiar. The people creating the work don’t necessarily control the business built around it.

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ART IMITATES LIFE

The Drop is fiction, but it draws on real patterns in the music business.

Start with the label. Macroscope Records invites comparison with Interscope, the label Ted Field and Jimmy Iovine founded in 1990, the same year the series begins. Interscope distributed Death Row and helped bring West Coast gangsta rap to a much wider audience.

Death Row’s history also illustrates the complicated relationship between music, money, and power. Michael “Harry O” Harris, a South Central businessman who was serving a prison sentence, invested in the label’s early development. His wife, Lydia Harris, later pursued legal action over her role and financial interests in the business. Her story is relevant here because the people who help build a company are not always the people who receive the recognition or control its assets. Wanda’s determination to secure the masters brings that question into The Drop. Both stories raise questions about who contributes to a business, who has leverage, and who ultimately controls the value being created.

The industry’s response to controversy is another familiar theme. When Macroscope pulls Artillery’s single over his legal trouble, it brings to mind the pressure surrounding Interscope in the mid-1990s. Time Warner sold its stake in the label in 1995 amid public controversy surrounding gangsta rap and activism by figures including C. Delores Tucker. These situations are not identical, but they illustrate a recurring tension: a company may benefit from controversial content until the public or commercial consequences become too costly. The artists and the music don’t necessarily change. The business arrangements do.

REFLECTION OR INFLUENCE

So is the music an influence or a reflection?

I believe it was a reflection first. Young people in South Central, Staten Island, and Harlem were making music about the circumstances around them. For some, music also offered a possible route to a different life. But that music doesn’t reach a national audience on its own. Someone has to finance it, distribute it, market it, and decide which songs receive the most attention. Those decisions shape what audiences hear, which artists get opportunities, and which versions of a community become most visible.

The artists create the music, but the business determines much of how it reaches the world. That’s the part of the conversation I think we have often overlooked. We’ve spent decades debating what gangsta rap said about young Black men without always examining the commercial system that helped determine which stories were amplified and how they were presented. The question isn’t simply whether music influences culture. It’s also who has the power to shape the music that influences culture.

WHY THESE SHOWS NEED TO EXIST

I appreciate The Drop because it refuses to make its characters simple. Artillery is an artist whose public image doesn’t reflect the life he wants. Lamar is a producer whose work is controlled by people with more power. Leon is trying to protect the people he loves while escaping a dangerous environment. Jenny wants to run a successful label without accepting responsibility for everything that comes with it. Wanda understands that owning the asset can give her leverage, even if it doesn’t resolve every problem around her. These characters are not simply gangsters or victims. They’re people making decisions within a system that rewards some choices and punishes others. That’s part of what makes the series important. It gives us a way to examine the relationship between culture and commerce without reducing the story to a debate about whether the music was good or bad.

The music of the nineties shaped how many people understood young Black men, and the business decisions behind that music helped determine which images reached the public. The people creating the work and the people controlling its distribution were not always the same. That distinction matters because the person with the most creative input doesn’t necessarily have the most power over the final product.

That’s what The Drop brings into focus. Young creatives turn their experiences into art, but contracts and business arrangements determine who controls that work. The people financing and distributing it can influence how it is presented and how the money is divided. The system depends on creative talent. The question is whether the people supplying that talent have enough information, ownership, and negotiating power to benefit from what they create. The opening story about hiding the broccoli comes back to mind here. A show can entertain its audience while introducing questions the audience might not otherwise consider. But for creators working in this business, there’s another question worth asking: Who controls your work once it leaves your hands? Understanding the answer is part of understanding the business.

Snowfall showed us what the drug game turned Franklin into. The Drop leaves us asking what type of person will the rap game turn Wanda into.

ABOUT TVDECODED

TVDecoded is a weekly newsletter decoding entertainment industry deal structures, ownership dynamics, and negotiation leverage for underrepresented creators.

WHAT I’M WATCHING

Now that the season finale has aired, I’m watching to see whether The Drop: A Snowfall Saga gets renewed, and how quickly FX makes that decision. A Different World Season 2 and Forever were both renewed immediately, so it’ll be interesting to see whether The Drop gets the same kind of vote of confidence. The audience may be ready for another season, but now it’s up to the network to decide.

IF THIS WAS VALUABLE

“The young artists and producers in The Drop held up the mirror to their world but in the music business the executives decide which reflection the whole world gets to see.” — Tracey Baker-Simmons

Share this with a creator who is about to sign something, and subscribe to TVDecoded for free. Then read John Wright’s piece on The Drop at SNOBHOP. His take on the soundtrack adds another perspective to this conversation.

Tell me in the comments: Which character have you been in your own career? The puppet, the puppeteer, or Wanda, trying to understand the game and gain control of her own future?

Soccer is one of the world's biggest sports.

For context, around 125 million people in the U.S. watched the Super Bowl last year. It’s by far America’s biggest sports event, and the halftime show is often the year's biggest cultural moment.

But do you know how many people watch the World Cup finals? In 2022, it was around…

1.5 billion.

And some estimates say this year's World Cup reached 1.8 billion across platforms

Hip-hop has a similar global reach and influence.

For years, it’s been consistently ranked as one of the most-listened-to genres, and trends that start with Hip-hop cross continents, generations, and even cultural barriers.

The world dresses like Hip-hop, adopts its slang, and moves to its beat.

So it makes sense that Soccer would turn to Hip-hop to gain traction with youth culture, and we saw that with this year’s World Cup. Future, for instance, recorded an anthem with Tyla for the games and performed at fan events in Atlanta that became cultural melting pots. Rappers also appeared at the games and partnered with FIFA on merch.

Globally, brands have begun to embrace Hip-hop, and more specifically, FC Barcelona has done so through a series of custom jerseys rolled out in partnership with Spotify.

Past jersey drops included Drake & Travis Scott, but the ninth, and most recent drop might be the biggest yet, and it’s with none other than Tyler, The Creator.

Since the early days of the Blog Era, when he and Odd Future took the game by storm, Tyler has been setting trends and has since become a Gen Z icon.

His crew is a major reason Millennials rock Supreme. They also helped bridge the gap between skate culture and Hip-hop (granted, the threads existed, but casual listeners didn’t see it as much).

Over the years, Tyler has applied his creativity to everything from home decor to apparel.

Now he’s doing it with soccer, and it just so happens I had a front-row seat to the entire campaign when Spotify invited me to Spain to check it out. Let’s talk about it.

I. WHAT BARCA REPRESENTS

FC Barcelona is one of the oldest Football clubs out there (to my UK folks, calm down — I know y’all are older).

But their founding story is deep, steeped in a heritage that could make even the most casual, non-soccer-watching person take a second look at the sport and the team.

In the late 1800s, Barcelona was at the center of Catalonia, Spain's industrial powerhouse, while Madrid was (and remains) the center of Spain’s political power today. Barcelona is also the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous community within Spain that has its own identity & culture. However, for decades, the Spanish government suppressed expressions of Catalan identity.

Catalonia has since regained its right to self-governance & expression; That longstanding tension fuels the rivalry between the two football clubs, which began in 1902, when they first met for what is now dubbed El Clásico: any match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, including two La Liga matches every season.

For those who don’t watch the sport, at the very least you might’ve heard you’ve ever heard of the debate around Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo; it’s as fierce as Kobe vs LeBron; perhaps even more fierce, as fans can and will come to blows at El Clásico depending on the energy in the building. (For even more context, Messi played for FCB for 17 seasons, and Ronaldo played for Real Madrid for 9).

That’s the legacy each FCB player wears, and it’s the world Tyler built around it for his co-branded collection.

II. WHAT GOLF REPRESENTS

When Odd Future first hit the scene, their energy was entirely new for the genre, and their presence expanded beyond the music to Loiter Squad on Adult Swim (another staple that helped Hip-hop reach new generations), and so much more.

Tyler launched GOLF WANG (a play on the Wolf Gang portion of OFWGKTA) in 2011 as the design extension of that creativity. Just a few years later, GOLF WANG was on the runway and has since done collections with Vans and Levi’s.

I had a chance to speak with Odd Future member and the group’s longtime DJ, Yung Taco (aka Travis Bennett), during the weekend’s festivities, and he talked about how monumental this moment was: seeing the name affiliated with their crew on the biggest Fútbol jersey in the world. It felt surreal.

It was equally surreal seeing how excited fans were as Travis hit the stage for his first DJ set in years. As he walked up the steps towards the DJ deck, a fan directly behind me said with awe, “It’s Taco! It’s Taco!” — true to the fact that the top 1% of Tyler fans were in the building.

Another fan in the lobby, after a brief chat about my camera’s power bank, told me how long he’d been following Odd Future; he’d been a fan since the days of ‘Bastard’ & ‘Goblin’ and was just as excited about seeing the two worlds come together.

Events like this one felt like a homecoming celebration.

III. HOW THE TWO WORLDS COLLIDED

For this go-around, Spotify did what we mentioned brands should do in our essay about ‘The Creative-Led Brand’ and let Tyler create a world around the product.

The collection included a short film he directed, featuring players from both Barca’s men's and Femeni squads, including Lamine Yamal and Sydney Joy Schertenleib.

Tyler didn’t stick to one jersey like the prior collections; he dug in the crates and used tones and patterns that haven’t appeared on a Barcelona jersey in years. That includes a vintage track jacket with its own design language and colors, and a teal jersey with “GOLF” across the front, inspired by FCB’s 1995-1997 away kit.

The collection also drew on brown tones from other FCB kits, and the leopard print GOLF WANG is known for. Beyond the regular jersey, where ‘GOLF’ replaces the Spotify logo, Nike also created a collection of match-quality jerseys limited to 1,899 pieces (nodding to FCB’s founding year).

IV. WHAT IT MEANT FOR THE FANS

Tyler’s worldbuilding has extended beyond film, and this was no different. Along with Nike, another FCB sponsor, they opened a physical location in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter called “(The) Creator’s Agora,” curated by local Catalan artist Daniel 2000.

Moreover, artists usually perform when they do a collab with FCB and Spotify, but true to Hip-hop being about the youth, pushing culture forward, and Tyler’s belief in sharing the spotlight, a handful of Catalan musicians were able to perform at a Saturday event entitled “Copa De Golf” — a pop-up for the top 1% of Tyler’s fans on Spotify, which sold merch and included a headlining set from Yung Taco aka Travis Bennett.

EPILOGUE

The energy inside each event, especially El Clásico, is crazy. Barcelona showed up, many wearing the new GOLF jersey, and the crowd was on 10 the entire time. Flags waved, drinks flew, and if there were any empty seats in the 60,000-person Spotify Camp Nou stadium, they were in Madrid’s visitor section.

Going into the match, the two rivals were tied at 106 wins apiece, but after Sunday, Madrid is up by one. Mbappé put on a show and scored two goals.

The energy leaving the arena was a bit down, but true to Catalan roots, I’m sure they’ll be back in the stands next go-around, cheering harder than ever and waiting to even the score.

Because, like Hip-hop, FCB is poised to continue reaching new heights and expanding into new territories. Personally, I’m glad I get to be a part of it.

One.

SZA is the definition of an anomaly.

Her 2022 album SOS has been on the Billboard 200 charts for 200 weeks as of October 17th and has the longest run in the top 10 by a Black artist, surpassing Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

SOS is 9x platinum, meaning she’ll soon be one of the few R&B artists with a diamond album. Plus, 3 songs from that album, including Snooze, Kill Bill, and Good Days, are already diamond-certified. If that weren’t enough, the Grand National Tour, which she co-headlined with Kendrick Lamar in 2025, is officially the highest-grossing tour in Hip-hop history.

That’s the resume of an icon.

And when you think about SZA, her music, and the visuals that accompany it, you realize a major component of her success is how she deploys her creativity overall.

Whether it’s the visuals that support the song or a campaign with a Fortune 500 company, SZA shows this ability to push boundaries and get the audience to think differently. With brands, she has a unique ability to push them out of the box—she gets them out of their comfort zone and helps them live up to the ideals they set out to uphold, which, for many, means helping people and making innovative products.

It all culminates in a unique world only she’s qualified to build, and it's why fans line the streets and keep her albums on the charts longer than anyone else.

Let’s break it down.

I. SZA’S UNIQUE VISUAL LANGUAGE

From the early days of CTRL to now, SZA has shown a distinct POV she wants to share with her fans. Peers like her longtime art director & design lead, Jas Bell, have helped her bring these themes to life seamlessly since early in her career. With Jas, we often see SZA’s distinct voice come through her imagery, music videos, and brand work.

Moreover, in an era when artists (and their labels, by proxy) de-emphasize these mediums, keep it simple, or push artists toward short-form content, SZA has stayed steadfast in using visual storytelling in ways her contemporaries often don't.

And rather than using her videos to show run-of-the-mill concepts around her work, she takes it to the next level, turning music videos into short films, enlisting other celeb talent like Ben Stiller & LaKeith Stanfield as co-stars, and giving songs backstories and context that help expand their meaning.

You also see a few recurring themes that are central to her identity as an artist:

I. Americana

One of SZA’s most unique attributes of SZA’s world is how expansive it makes R&B feel.

She blends the genre's most classic elements with visuals that can feel rustic and classic Americana. Songs like Broken Clocks from ‘CTRL’ show how potent that mix is: While the song sounds contemporary, the visuals evoke summer camp nostalgia, taking us to two rival factions at Camp CTRL & Camp Vanderwoffenberg; all of which is done while drawing on Spike Lee’s School Daze in the first few seconds of the video.

II. Nature

Since her first album, SZA has been surrounded by nature in all its forms, and those themes still appear in her work today. On Love Galore with Travis Scott, monarch butterflies surrounded her throughout the video, symbolizing transformation. She also wears butterfly wings during live shows, and even transforms during the performance of “Saturn” during the Grand National Tour.

Her stage designs and music videos also place her in forests, sometimes with shifting seasonal backdrops, showing how deeply woven these elements are into her art, even down to the ants SZA famously had on stage during her Glastonbury festival set.

The same nature themes appear in her work with brands like Mastercard. SZA debuted her song “Saturn” in their Grammy spot and performed it live at the Grammy House event, using the themes above to inform her stage design. She also helped promote Mastercard's ‘Priceless Planet Coalition ’—an ecological initiative that aims to restore over 100 million trees globally.

III. Fantasy

Another core theme of SZA’s visuals is her penchant for taking the ordinary and turning it into the whimsical, the most imaginary place you can dream of. Her diamond record ‘Good Days’ has fantasy elements, as do some of SZA’s other works, including dream sequences, dream-like states, and plotlines where the fantastical occurs.

Fantasy also shows you as the self you wish you could be; building on the earlier point about nature, SZA said during her 2024 Hot Ones episode, “I’m just tired of not being a bug.” To that end, she even wore metallic paint, bug eyes, and antennae for the cover of the SOS deluxe edition ‘Lana.’

Fans were also given the unreleased video for “Scorsese’s Baby Daddy,” where she wears the insect costume throughout. And on songs like ‘Good Days,’ the visuals find SZA completely immersed in nature as she eats some shrooms; she believes she is a mushroom growing in the forest.

II. SZA’S WORLDBUILDING CAPABILITIES

When brands partner with an artist and give them the title Artistic Director or Creative Director, it's usually a vanity title; the artist rarely attends meetings or knows about budgets, and what they do is often just another iteration of what the company has done.

But with Vans, we see the culmination of the visual language around SZA’s brand, and the personal connection she’s created with fans. Together they make for something truly out of the box.

So much so that Vans let her alter their classic silhouettes and even introduce a tabi-like shoe (something they’ve only recently experimented with Japanese denim label FDMTL).

For those familiar with shoe collabs, you know how rare it is for a brand to allow that kind of freedom. Usually, brands limit alterations to the color palette or the name on the tongue, but Vans let SZA turn their Knu Skool silhouette from the classic lace-up sneaker that we know and love into a mule. SZA drew inspiration from her mother, who used to tell her not to walk on the heels of her shoes, which led to the collapsible heel on her version.

III. WHY IT MAKES SENSE FOR BRANDS

What makes SZA’s brand dope is that she can take brands many would assume are “by the books” corporate brands and transport them into her world in a way that feels completely in line with the world she’s established for fans. She did so with Mastercard and is doing it again with Vans.

Speaking of which… Vans is in an interesting space right now.

On one hand, they’re a storied heritage brand with tons of equity in skateboarding and pop culture. Conversely, they’ve faced their fair share of business struggles and, as they figure out where to go, their recent statements suggest the Vans Knu Skool silhouette was already a growth driver, and their focus was recapturing youth & young women. SZA is the perfect ambassador.

Much like her music, the themes clearly continue the worlds she’s introduced fans to. For example, CTRL birthed the CTRL Fishing Company—the Vans collection features everything from fishing vests and Realtree Camo to Vans with fish artwork from her longtime Creative Director Sage Adams (the creative force behind CTRL’s imagery, and much of her other work)

On top of that, SZA already wore the Knu Skool Vans, so the brand alignment was clear from the jump. That’s why insane crowds show up at each pop-up event, from Paris to her home state of New Jersey.

EPILOGUE

In the past 10 years, SZA has dropped only two albums (3 if you count the deluxe Lana), with the occasional soundtrack song and loosie finding its way online.

Most artists would be 5 albums in after 10 years, but the question is how many of those projects would be memorable? Maybe 2, if that.

SZA takes her time to develop albums, write songs that matter, and, as noted earlier, build a visual world that supports them. This level of craft fuels the fandom we see take over social whenever she appears at shows or product drops.

All that said, I hope brands let SZA design more collabs — she does a great job taking the silhouettes and materials available to her and giving them a fresh twist.

The first shoes from the Vans collection dropped this week, and I’m personally on the lookout for the Tabi joints dropping in 2027.

In the meantime, add some SZA to ya playlists this week. Both of her albums are still in the top 200.

One.

This has been a peculiar year for Hip-hop.

On one hand, two of Hip-hop’s “Big 3” dropped albums this year, and Jay-Z celebrated 30 years in the game with sold-out stadium dates worldwide. The numbers suggest Hip-hop remains the dominant genre globally, though it’s dipping slightly.

On the other hand, labels have drastically reduced their investment in Black music. Outside of Drake, no rap song has hit the top 10 in months, leaving fans to wonder whether another star, let alone a superstar, will ever emerge.

Add to that the news that major-label shake-ups have pushed out another wave of Black music execs, and the dip in numbers makes more sense. And while the rest of the industry has taken similar blows, and even out of category, the Netflixes of the world are shedding their workforces, it appears Hip-hop will suffer the most.

So where do we go from here?

I think the answer is something that The Culture focused on a long time ago, before institutional investment, and before Hip-hop became a multi-billion dollar industry, the power was with

THE BOUTIQUE LABEL.

By boutique, I mean an independent label with a focused (i.e., small & intentional) roster that spends time cultivating a unique identity, with executives that are so close to the business that they understand each artist's vision and needs intimately.

Boutiques typically partner with a major, but generally it's to expand what they’ve already built without them.

Consider all of the greatest solo artists and groups in history. Many of them came from crews: Cash Money. Aftermath. Roc-A-fella. TDE. Dreamville. QC.

Behind each artist or crew was an independent label that eventually partnered with the majors. But the imprint and its executives found the talent, curated it, and made sure they were ready for the next level.

Moreover, the majors likely would’ve passed on the stars in each crew if given the chance. But because they were on an indie label, they had room to grow and eventually build buzz that attracted the majors.

Across every sector, from marketing to music, smaller, vision-oriented companies led by creatives are showing themselves to be the answer to America’s corporate woes. And when music was at its most innovative, it followed this blueprint.

Let’s break it down, though.

PART I: HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Recorded music generated over $31.7 billion in revenue last year, up 6.4% from the year before. And that doesn’t even include publishing revenue, which is also growing.

Despite that, record companies are consolidating; catalog acquisitions have become a primary revenue source, and investors in other industries are using them as an asset class.

Underneath all the restructures and departures of Black music execs are the institutional factors pushing the dominoes forward: systems and shareholders.

I. SYSTEMS THAT CRUSHED INNOVATION

Systems are key for running a business because they are repeatable and teachable. That makes them scalable.

Think about McDonald’s: Mickie D’s knows roughly how many burgers it sells per hour and how many more it needs to sell to grow revenue by just 1% that year. They know how much a franchise should generate and where to place it. They’re a billion-dollar entity because the process is repeatable and scalable.

But the irony of systems is that they aren’t built for anything custom, and creativity means every artist or product is different. Each one requires a different approach, different marketing & positioning, and everything else.

While some systems are essential for artists' success, like getting to radio, touring, etc. The assembly-line thinking around generating popularity for Hip-hop artists helps explain why things are the way they are.

Think about this year alone: How many artists have lazily sampled early 2000s records (often at the label's behest) as execs push them onto TikTok to create virality? It’s a “one-size-fits-all” mentality that clearly isn't working.

II. THE SHAREHOLDERS VS. CONSUMERS

Perhaps the greatest benefit of the Boutique approach is the flexibility it offers to succeed early on. That success largely comes from focusing squarely on the artist and how they connect with the consumer. Of course, the goal is to make money, but not at the expense of the art—the success is just a byproduct of it being good.

The opposite is true of most corporations. Once they become successful enough to go public and take outside investment, they have a fiduciary duty to do what’s best for shareholders. This often puts them directly at odds with what’s best for the consumer.

Cost-cutting now becomes the priority as the bottom line has to look good enough to keep the stock afloat

PART II: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Hip-hop has never been a 1:1 match for pop music.

It’s not the kind of genre you can package an artist, give them the words & the look, and present to the world. Even if it works for a little while, fans will always know that something’s a bit “off.”

With the landscape so fractured, we need to return to building recognizable crews and independent imprints that act as talent incubators, and then go upstream to major labels.

Because indie imprints have two skills that majors lack: focus and development

I. A FOCUSED & INTENTIONAL BRAND

Cole's quote highlights why he brought Dreamville over to Interscope, but it started with the intangibles the major could amplify.

That speaks to a larger point about what boutiques offer that you don’t always get while partnering with aa larger corporations: the brand platform.

A strong imprint is backed by a story that gives fans a reason to press play, and brands can stand out with distinct story hooks. It could be a distinct color or even a location.

Most creatively led labels outside the major system spend years figuring out why fans should press play, building a unique identity that eventually earns major support in radio, marketing, and distribution.

The Dreamville crew is a great example. The squad felt so cohesive that fans could tell every artist signing, video, and album was carefully handpicked in a way that reflects the original vision its founders set when they created the label.

That kind of brand alignment is essential for success, no matter the category.

II. BACK TO ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

For years, label staff, past and present, have taken to social media to say artist development is being cut from the major-label system, particularly in urban music, and it’s evident.

New generations of artists are gracing festival stages and large venues without doing the reps on smaller stages to develop their style or stage presence. The show looks lackluster, and the music (which these days blew up on social media) doesn’t translate well to the stage.

The Black execs who’ve helped give us the biggest artists of our time knew that an artist’s look, persona, and stage presence can take years to refine before they’re truly ready, and imprints like Top Dawg Entertainment show the merits of artist development.

TDE focused on Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick Lamar for almost a decade before fans saw any other artist added to the label, and it was clear how meticulous they were about who was added.

The Core 4 who established the label’s identity spent years traveling across the country, freestyling on buses and sharpening each other’s skills.

When their breakthroughs finally happened, each artist was ready for the spotlight, and their careers grew. That same approach to artist development powers the next generation of TDE artists today and keeps them flourishing.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

No one can say for sure how the recent restructurings will affect 2027, but if I were a betting man, I’d say Hip-hop’s chart numbers might decline as investment continues to shift toward Country and global music.

Even if that does happen, Hip-hop will be fine.

Moving away from commercialization might be the best thing for the genre & and the culture itself. Doing so could restore some balance to the game.

After all, culture is made by real people living lives that can’t be quantified or put into a sales deck.

The new class of stars is rising too; we just gotta let ‘em cook.

Let’s check back in ‘27.

One.

Hip-hop’s impact on luxury culture dates back to its early days, and while the most obvious connection is in apparel (e.g., Gucci and Louis Vuitton), home and decor have long flown under the radar.

MTV Cribs gave us glimpses of rappers’ affinity for the category; although the episodes were sometimes fabricated and meant to poke fun at Hip-hop’s perceived obsession with balling, at its best Cribs showed that rappers have an often-underutilized eye for design.

When you think about the greatest creatives Hip-hop has ever produced—the Virgil Abloh’s, the Pharrells, Tyler’s, and the A$AP’s—they're not only multi-faceted creatives bringing their POV to youth culture & streetwear, but they also have design backgrounds.

And that impact doesn’t stop with the mic; It includes appearances in prominent architectural trade pubs like Architectural Digest, and partnerships with global design firms and builders who partner with Hip-hop to ingratiate themselves in youth culture.

So, though these two worlds seem separate, they share a thread that connects the entire human experience: communication.

Design, whether graphic or architectural, is all about communication of messages, themes, inspiration, etc.

The average person rarely realizes it, but almost everything we interact with, from the door handles of our homes to the light fixtures at our jobs, has a story; artisans designed them with the experience people would have in mind when they first see or use them. They obsessed over the color. They wanted to communicate themes like quality and trust.

In that respect, objects are far from inanimate. Rather, they’ve lived whole lives before we even became aware of them.

It’s the same with music.

Hip-hop's core is communicating different themes- hope, strife, empowerment, love, etc.- through stories over beats.

An artisan crafted every synthesizer and drum, spending years refining each sound, and a writer gave us every rhyme, spending months going back and forth on tone, rhythm, and word choice.

In short, life is design, so it makes sense that Hip-hop artists are finally making their presence known more prominently in the space. And it’s not just major artists. A few DIY creators are making fire decor we should also talk about.

I. ARTIST-OWNED & COLLABORATIONS

a. OFF-WHITE X IKEA

Virgil Abloh’s background in civil engineering, design, and architecture brought a much-needed POV to hip-hop, and in 2019 he partnered with IKEA on a home essentials collection called “MARKERAD,” applying that same POV to popular IKEA items. In essence, Virgil’s presence turned home goods into streetwear, a blend you’d never expect.

Social media instantly took to the collection, which included viral rugs featuring “KEEP OFF” or “WET GRASS” across the front. To date, people still knock off his collection on sites like Etsy as the originals go for thousands online.

b. PHARRELL x LOUIS VUITTON

In partnership with the Japanese creative firm ‘Not a Hotel ’, Pharrell unveiled a prefabricated home filled with items from his bespoke HOMEWORK collection (made specifically for the Louis Vuitton runway show).

The concept, entitled “Drophaus,” debuted as part of the Fall/Winter 2026 line and was featured prominently as models walked the runway to showcase the new menswear collection. The collection isn’t available for sale yet, but it’s still dope.

Pharrell is no stranger to home & decor, having previously designed chairs with studios like Domeau & Pérès. Moreover, he and his long-time friend and creative partner, Nigo, also became investors in Not a Hotel in 2025, underscoring their commitment to the home space.

c. A$AP ROCKY’S HOMMEMADE

Launched in Miami in 2022, Hommemade is A$AP Rocky’s take on modern furniture and home goods. The first piece to drop from the line was a Shroom CACTUS in partnership with Gufram (limited to 9 pieces), followed by pieces like the Hommemade Skyline carpet.

Fans might remember Hommemade’s most recent drop, a trashbag couch that made the rounds earlier this year; if so, that is the latest piece from Hommemade’s “Galaxy” line, made in partnership with Harry Nuriev Crosby Studios. Other items from the line include the CBNT.V1 recording-studio cabinet.

d. LARRY JUNE X PAULIN

The latest example of an artist using their talents to make homes look better than ever is Larry June. Larry’s brand is built on themes like health, wellness, and the pursuit of an overall good life, including working toward the finer things.

To that end, Paulin Paulin Paulin (by Pierre Paulin) caught Larry’s attention while he was visiting Paris, which led him to buy the Dune couch that ultimately inspired his song Imported Couches, pictured above.

After connecting with the brand, they created an official collaboration — an orange tongue chair, and only 75 were ever made.

The partnership is a part of Sounds Like Paulin’s “DroPPP” program, developed by Pierre Paulin’s son Benjamin, who also rapped in the French group “Puzzle.” To further promote the collaboration, Larry June prominently features the chair in the music video for “Keep Tryin’” posted on Sounds Like Paulin’s YouTube channel.

e. TYLER, THE CREATOR X PARACHUTE

We mentioned in the intro how Tyler applies his creativity across spaces, from apparel to music, and through Le FLEUR* he’s also applied that thinking to home goods.

One of the most prominent examples is a partnership with Parachute — the luxury bedding and bath giant. Using Le FLEUR*’s signature color palette that evokes the “Call Me If You Get Lost” days, the duo rolled out a line of linens, throw pillows, slippers, and more.

II. INDEPENDENT DESIGNERS

Beyond the major artists who create for the home, we can also find a variety of up-and-coming creators who’ve made home goods found in the homes of artists like Drake.

Before his rugs went viral, Sean Brown made waves as a creative director working with artists like Daniel Caesar, and in 2020, he took the internet by storm with his CD rugs, which use classic hip-hop and R&B albums as designs.

His brand, Curves, also sells other dope hip-hop-inspired home merch, including totes. Each item takes inspiration from his favorite albums and brings them to life in a way that’s affordable to the average music fan.

In 2024, Sculptor Rebecca Maria went viral when she unveiled her 1-of-1 3-foot sculpture of the Dipset crew. Drake commissioned the set, and he also had Rebecca create a 9-foot Sade statue for his home in the style of her legendary album “Love Deluxe.”

EPILOGUE

In many ways, this category is still whitespace, and even the reception to the Larry/Paulin collab shows there’s more to gain here for both artists and brands.

Moreover, artists like Sean and Rebecca speak to Gen Z and their interest in decorating their spaces with bespoke items, and that deserves attention. A quick search for Gen Z decor on TikTok reveals a ton of interesting Hip-hop-inspired home goods spanning the genre's generations.

That said, as Hip-hop evolves and expands, our definition of luxury, and Hip-hop’s proximity to it, must expand too.

After all, there’s a lot of dope merch out there, and it’s made by great artists hoping to communicate something greater.

Let’s tap in.

One.

The first time I heard the word “dapper” was when I was living in New York. During a conversation with someone from The Bronx, he introduced me to someone intrinsic to the culture of the city: Dapper Dan.

Currently a Gucci changemaker, he got his start as a pioneer of fashion who fused together streetwear with a luxurious style, right in Harlem. Since then, street style has become a completely different ballpark, ranging from those who pile on clothes adorned with brands that they deem “fly,” to those who drift in and out of thrift stores hoping to find things that would have been on the backs of their great-grandfathers.

But there is another genre of dress that has begun to pop up on social media and in real life. Those who are dressing to truly tell a story, one that stars the past and the present. They are weaving together two ends and two ends of a timeline. And it all starts at an HBCU.

With the rise of individuality in streetwear came a callback to the past. Brands such as Ralph Lauren, Wales Bonner, Gap, and other brands raced to colleges throughout the country. Importantly, Ralph Lauren made headlines as they partnered with HBCU’s Morehouse and Spelman College to create a line of collegiate apparel as a callback to the fashion that lined the shores of Martha’s Vineyard. Since then, brands and influencers have continued to push what I call “dapperism” onto the public. Dressing for the occasion is not a new concept; in fact, it has been traced back through the Black community.

In Jason Jules and Graham Marsh’s book Black Ivy: A Style in Revolt, they trace back the roots of Black menswear from its beginnings in neighborhoods in Harlem and DC to its decline after the death of Martin Luther King JR.

They explored the IVY style within inner-city history and up to our current world. Having an IVY style was not about assimilation or an eagerness to fit in with their white peers but a way to simply be prideful in the attire they wore. But this fashion was the blending of something brand new; they took influences from their current streetwear, mixed in Jazz, and brought style to a dress that had been built against them. In a way, that’s all that has been occurring in fashion since the early 2000s. As our culture as a country has changed, so has our need to “be elegant.”

In our present world, fashion is not a subjective form of art, and as the decade has pushed on, it has become increasingly evident that people are less likely to put their personal preferences for fashion over the status quo. There has been an almost constant call back to the past being brought back by the general public and the fashion houses themselves.

Streetwear, for example, has seen a major influx of customers; fashion giants such as Denim Tears have used the Ivy style, especially in their Fall line that has just been released, which includes a plain white cotton T-shirt, adorned with an image of Andre Leon Talley sporting his usual fur scarf layered on top of a Billionaire Boys Club sweater next to Lee Radziwill in 2010 during New York Fashion Week.

The shirt itself practically sold out, along with the rest of the Denim Tears collaboration with Talley’s estate. Ironically, this shirt is a callback to a connection that would come into frame at 2025’s Met Gala, which had Billionaire Boys co-owner Pharrell as a co-chair to Anna Wintour’s 2025 Met Gala.

The theme that year was a display of dandism, rooted in the work that Andre Leon Talley had devoted to his work at Vogue and throughout his lifetime.

These styles, meant to bridge together elegance, style, and grace, have been reinvented once again to tailor to our modern ways of dress. Brands are no longer trying to reinvent the wheel; they are simply retelling a story that has been told before.

Through their ancestors, figures such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and other figures that have long walked down the roads of stardom. People are simply dressing in what they used to know; they are pairing pieces that were a part of their childhood and from the history that was passed down.

One of the best shows on TV right now is Lanterns — the DC adaptation of John Stewart path to becoming Earth’s Green Lantern.

And maybe the best thing about Lanterns is how deep its cultural references are, especially the Hip-hop ones.

A few episodes throughout the series include distinct OutKast references; in fact, episode 3 is entitled “OutKast,” and it includes a scene where a young John Stewart raps the lyrics to ATLiens with his brothers in the car. That same episode ends with “Gasoline Dreams” from Stankonia.

But it doesn’t stop there.

The most recent episode features John Stewart singing “Spottieottiedopaliscious” from OutKast’s 3rd album, Aquemini, while trying to tune out Hal Jordan hologram.

To comic book purists, it may seem random, or as if the writers are infusing their own interests into the show, but scenes like the one above actually highlight how strong the relationship between Hip-hop and comic books is. To those unfamiliar, the two have a history that dates back decades.

Comic-book illustrators are behind some of Hip-hop’s most iconic album covers, and graffiti writers became creative directors who built the visual identities that defined an artist’s career.

But to truly understand the relationship, you need to know the in-house departments behind Hip-hop’s greatest cover art, and the collabs that have happened since. Each has a distinct style, and many of those players have gone on to work with Marvel & DC, or start their own comic book imprints.

I. THE ARTISTS WHO CONNECTED THE WORLDS

Past and present, visual artists started their careers in one of a few lanes: graffiti, design, or comics. And many of Hip-hop’s best album covers, past & present, were designed by visual artists with these passions.

a. DENYS COWAN

Cowan is widely known as a co-founder of Milestone Media (home of Static, whom many of you reading this know as Static Shock). But he’s also the illustrator behind one of Hip-hop’s greatest albums: Liquid Swords by GZA.

Wu-Tang members generally lean heavily into comic lore, and GZA grew up reading it. Because of that, he pulled heavily from comic book lore for his sophomore project, even including Denys Cowan’s sketchwork in the album’s liner notes.

b. Bill Sienkiewicz

Continuing on the Wu-Tang front, their affinity for comic books continued when RZA tapped artist Bill Sienkiewicz to handle his solo effort, “Bobby Digital in Stereo.” By then, he was already established, having drawn issues of Elektra, Batman, and The Hulk.

Since the 90s, he’s worked on both Marvel & DC comic series and has done a multitude of album covers, and in 2009, Kid Cudi even tapped him to illustrate his debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, further blending the two worlds of Hip-hop and comics.

II. THE ART DEPT.’S & IN-HOUSE STUDIOS

Many in-house crews also created their own design firms that helped establish the visual worlds of many of Hip-hop’s greatest acts. Often, when it was time to illustrate albums, they reached out to illustrators and designers working in comics to help bring the visions to life.

A. The Drawing Board

Cey Adams was Def Jam's first creative director and started The Drawing Board with Steve Carr. Cey’s artistic career began as a graffiti artist in New York as Hip-hop was coming into its own in the 70s, and he connected with Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, which launched his stint collaborating with rappers.

He eventually transferred those skills to Def Jam where he & Steve, through The Drawing Board, designed covers for artists like Biggie, DMX, Public Enemy, Jay-Z & Redman.

Cey notes in interviews that he always dreamed of becoming a comic-book illustrator, and perhaps the best example of comic books’ influence on their work comes from EPMD’s Def Jam debut “Business as usual” — while The Drawing Board oversaw the visual direction, they also brought in Bill Sienkiewicz, who created the original painting featured on the cover.

B. LaFace’s Creative Team

Perhaps the most direct connection to comic book culture from the labels themselves comes from LaFace’s internal creative department, spearheaded by D.L. Warfield.

D.L. is best known as the creative director behind ATLiens, with support from Nigel Sawyer and Vince Robinson. Acclaimed comic book artist Todd McFarlane (The Amazing Spider-Man) passed on the opportunity to do the cover, and instead it went to Frank Gomez, who was also at DC; Gomez worked on the core cover we know today in collaboration with LaFace’s creative department, using an earlier illustration provided by D.L.

In this context, it makes total sense that one of DC’s Blackest superheroes (Green Lantern) has a show riddled with references to hip-hop’s most mystical group, from albums designed by comic book artists.

C. ZombArt

In the late 80s & early 90s, Jive Recordings also had an internal department that became acclaimed, called ZombArt (a nod to Zomba Recordings, which housed several Hip-hop acts through Jive). The ZombArt team included Jean Kelly, Nick Gamma & Dave Scliken (Cey Adams’ protege).

ZombArt most notably handled the art direction for A Tribe Called Quest’s albums The Low End Theory, Midnight Marauders, and The Love Movement, with Nick Gamma also handling art direction & design for that project (Ron Croudy handled design). They also created the covers for Souls of Mischief’s ‘93 Til Infinity and Boogie Down Production.

III. HIP-HOP SUPERHERO CROSSOVERS

It’s always been said that rappers believe themselves to be superheroes, and for good reason. Some of the best emcees of our time adopted their names and personas from superheroes (and villains) that are staples in the Marvel/DC universes, infusing their own comic-book fandom into their careers.

A. THE PERSONAS

MF DOOM

DOOM is HIp-hop’s greatest villain, and his persona is inspired by Marvel’s Dr. Doom, even down to the metal mask that he wore throughout his career. Moreover, many of DOOM’s greatest albums were illustrated by renowned visual artists, including Jason Jägel and Jeff Jank.

The cover for MM… Food was created by the aforementioned artists, and according to Fakeshoredrive, DOOM actually paused an old VHS tape of Dr. Doom in Fantastic Four, traced the image, and used that for the Operation Doomsday cover. Both albums are standouts from his catalog, along with Madvillainy.

Moreover, the legendary graffiti artist KEO aka Lord Scotch 79 helped design many of MF DOOM’s physical masks, along with other cover art.

GHOSTFACE KILLAH

Wu Tang’s entire career is steeped in comic book lore along with Kung Fu. In fact, Method Man remains an avid comic collector with a large archive of over 30,000 comics.

One of the clearest examples of the comic connection comes not only from the artwork, but from Ghostface Killah’s alter ego: Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. Ghostface fans have known him to use the moniker throughout his career, and Ghost has talked at length in interviews about the connection he feels to Starks/Iron Man.

B. THE MARVEL VARIANTS

In 2015, Marvel created a series of Marvel Variant illustrations, inspired by classic Hip-hop projects and reimagined with Marvel characters. Lead artist Mike Del Mundo reimagined classics like ATCQ’s Midnight Marauders using Spider-Man, while artists like Juan Doe reimagined The Chronic with Dr. Strange.

Denys Cowan also returns for this project, reimagining his iconic Liquid Swords cover art with Iron Man.

Since the Marvel project, artists like Mike Del Mundo have also handled creative direction for rappers including Freddie Gibbs, working closely with him on the album art and supplementary materials for his Grammy-nominated project Alfredo.

IV. ARTISTS ENTERING THE COMIC SPACE

With so many artists and producers growing up on comics and superhero content, it only makes sense that they would create their own original series, and even embark on publishing ventures. To that end, there are quite a few Hip-hop greats in the comic book space in various ways, but these are a few standouts:

A. DMC

Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC started his own comic line, Darryl Makes Comics, in partnership with Riggs Morales and artist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez. The series reimagines DMC as a superhero in an alternate version of '80s New York, where he tells stories that weave graffiti and the city together, reaching youth in a new way.

B. Kid Cudi

Picking up where he left off with Man on the Moon, Cudi eventually created his own comic series, Moon Man, co-written with Kyle Higgins, with Marco Locati & Igor Monto on the illustration. Cudi’s series follows astronaut Ramon Townsend, whose only true wish is to live a quiet life in Cleveland. However, a space mission gone wrong gives him special abilities, changing his trajectory forever.

C. METRO BOOMIN’

In 2024, Metro created his own universe where he’s the protagonist in a comic book world called the “Metroverse.” The series was made in partnership with former Z2 Comics owner Joshua Frankel, with Vasilis Lolos handling the illustration.

EPILOGUE

The relationship between Hip-hop and comics runs so deep we could easily talk about it all day. These are truly just a handful of artists and connections, but one thing is abundantly clear: when the two are together, they share a special kind of magic.

Lanterns shows what happens when writers have the acumen to tap into that shared heritage, and it’s become a key part of the viewer experience.

There’s only one episode left before the season finale, and there’s no telling if we’ll get hip-hop references anymore, but if the first part of the season is evidence of what’s to come, I’m sure we can expect at least one more ‘Kast reference.

Maybe something from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below or Idlewild?

I guess we’ll see.

One.

There’s something special about that last week in September.

And it’s a cross-generational “thing” that, if you look across the decades, you start to see a pattern instrumental to music over the last century.

Do you remember the 21st night of September? Earth, Wind & Fire asked us in 1978.

What about September 23rd? John Coltrane & Ray Charles were born on the same day, 4 years apart (1926 & 1930). Coltrane transcended Jazz, while Ray Charles bridged Secular and Soul.

And on September 24th? A Tribe Called Quest gave us The Low End Theory, one of hip-hop’s most prominent fusions of Jazz and Rap to date. This was in 1991.

Four days later, Stevie Wonder gave us a masterpiece, ‘Songs in the Key of Life, ’ which turns 50 this year.

Then, there’s September 29th, 1998… That day is one of the most famous release days in Hip-hop history: Aquemini, Black Star, Brand Nubian, Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life.

Each of these events happens right at the start of Autumn in that final week of September. And, if we click down one more level, we see a more interesting truth: across Jazz, Soul, Funk & Hip-hop, these artists either changed their genre or gave us their greatest works.

These works were built around qualities they couldn’t necessarily measure or prove: intuition, freedom, self-actualization, and divine inspiration.

If nothing else, what we can say is that across 100 years, this particular week has some very important artistic milestones.

And there are lessons to be learned from them.

Many of you reading this are tasked with communicating ideas or creativity in your daily vocation. To that end, much of that work is dictated or guided by facts & figures, but it comes at the cost of instinct, gut feeling, and divine inspiration.

What if intuition & soul are the missing ingredients?

Whatever happened to feeling like you HAD to make something? That your work was actually a mission from something higher than yourself?

The thread that connects the artists above is that they trusted the unseen, and in some manner they arrived on the precipice of change. This week we’re looking into that.

I. SEPTEMBER 21ST: THE PRELUDE

When we think about the Autumn Equinox, it’s a season of transition.

The leaves look their most vibrant, and the harsh Summer heat gives way to a cool evening breeze. Even in business, Fall is when companies spend whatever budgets they have left and start planning for the next fiscal year.

Autumn Equinox reveals what we’ve been doing all year, and that last week in September reveals an esoteric throughline of Black music from Jazz to Soul & Hip-hop.

The prelude to that week is ushered in musically by the mystical Earth, Wind & Fire with their song ‘September’ (ironically, it was released in November).

EWF taught us to respect the elements and, more importantly, that creativity is more than a physical act; it’s a sacred practice that relies on inner work.

Maurice White's quote tells us that to do our best work, we have to be in tune (in whatever way that is for you). That means taking time in silence to recalibrate, recharging from burnout, recognizing that our ability to generate greatness is only as good as our ability to perceive what’s happening to and around us.

II. SEPTEMBER 23RD: DIVINE INSPIRATION

I. A Love Supreme

John Coltrane was born in 1926 and only spent a very short 40 years on this planet before passing from Liver cancer. In his lifetime, he, like many Jazz musicians, fell into a Heroin addiction that affected his career.

The habit eventually got him fired from Miles Davis’ band, and in 1957 he decided it was time to get clean. Coltrane went cold turkey and, during detox, had a spiritual awakening, which he credits with revitalizing his career.

7 years later, he crafted what is widely considered one of the best Jazz Albums of all time: A Love Supreme — which he notes is an attempt at giving a “Thank You” to the divine for getting him through the situation he was in.

Coltrane often talked about the metaphysics of his music, and believed something deeper lay within the notes. He was already a Jazz legend before A Love Supreme, but connecting to divine inspiration led him to work that became generational.

A Love Supreme tapped into something so otherworldly that it even inspired a couple to open a church in San Francisco where he’s the patron Saint: The Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church.

II. The Father of Soul

Ray Charles was another September 23rd birth, and his presence revolutionized music, bringing the sacred into the secular. He famously blended those worlds, and the result was Soul, which gave rise to some of his greatest hits.

Moreover, the DNA of his music is deeply woven into future generations, especially in Hip-hop. Ye famously sampled Ray Charles’ hit record “I Got a Woman,” a reworking of “It Must Be Jesus,” for his 2005 hit “Gold Digger,” and that same year, Ludacris sampled “Georgia on My Mind” for his version, “Georgia.”

Decades later, Ray’s music still bridges two different worlds and blends the sounds of the church with its Hip-hop descendant picking up the mantle.

III. SEPTEMBER 24TH: THE LINEAGE

I. A TRIBE CALLED QUEST

Tribe’s debut album was a breakthrough effort that featured samples from Jazz greats like Grover Washington and their Equinox brethren Earth, Wind & Fire, but they truly broke the mold with their sophomore effort “The Low End Theory.”

The Low End Theory helped a new hip-hop soundscape reach the mainstream. Like their debut, the music was heavily inspired by Jazz and, more specifically, legends like Ron Carter, an alum of the Miles Davis Quartet, who played live bass on songs like “Verses from the Abstract.”

And while Jazz samples were nothing new to rap (Gang Starr, for instance, dropped Talking All That Jazz & Jazz Thing in the 80s), The Low End Theory, coupled with Q-Tip’s production, Ron Carter’s double Bass, multiple Jazz Samples, Phife’s rhymes, and Bob Power’s mixes, ushered in a new era of rap.

IV. SEPTEMBER 28TH: INTUITION

Stevie Wonder trusted his gut like no other, and his catalog proves it. After a run of back-to-back classics that netted him two Album of the Year Grammys, he negotiated a blockbuster record deal ahead of Songs in the Key of Life (~$37 million, which was unheard of).

Reports say right after securing that deal, he took a year. If that wasn’t enough, the label also pressured him to finish the project and find them another “Superstition”.

But Stevie was patient.

He trusted that he’d know when the music was complete, no matter how long it took. In total, it took over 2 years of nonstop work to finish the album, and when it finally arrived, it was considered his magnum opus.

Because he trusted his intuition, ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ ranks as one of the greatest albums of all time on multiple lists and holds a spot in the National Recording Registry.

Stevie Wonder is also doing an 18-city tour this year to commemorate the album that has come to define his career.

V. SEPTEMBER 29TH: SELF ACTUALIZATION

When you ask any diehard Hip-hop fans about some of the best days in rap history, a few will come up: The ‘95 Source Awards, Nas vs. Jay-Z, and more recently the Drake & Kendrick battle.

But the 90s were Hip-hop’s true golden era, and at the tail end in 1998, Hip-hop had one of its biggest release weekends to date: Brand Nubian, Black Star, OutKast, Jay-Z, and A Tribe Called Quest (who dropped what was supposed to be their “final album”).

It’s a generation built on the divine inspiration, intuition, and artistic freedom of the generations before them, and their Equinox brethren. Those themes are on full display with many of the September ‘98 releases.

Brand Nubian’s Foundation is full of five-percenter lessons and lingo - the lead single “The Return” tells listeners to be “360 degrees on their square,” while Zig Zag Zig stands for the journey of Knowledge. Out of the September 29th release, they give us one of the most direct paths to self-actualization and realizing who you are.

‘Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star’ borrows from Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line shipping company and carries the vibes of hip-hop’s early 90s movement centered on sociopolitical awareness, Blackness, and knowledge of self.

Similarly, OutKast’s Aquemini was a mystical addition to their catalog. Even the name itself nods to the cosmic: “Because ‘Aquemini’ is Aquarius and the Gemini running shit.”

Aquemini gave listeners a taste of every genre of Black music, from funk and soul to Gospel. The intro song even draws from Earth, Wind & Fire with its use of the Kalimba, which Maurice White used prominently during EWF's run. The production was otherworldly, the features were iconic, ‘Kast themselves touched every part of the human experience.

Lastly, there’s Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life. Jay-Z recently said in an interview that this was the album where he felt he “figured it out”—the right mix of lyrics, catchy hooks, and beats. While Reasonable Doubt and Vol. 1 were both great albums, critics and fans alike generally agree that Vol. 2 is the standout album that took his career to the next level.

EPILOGUE

At the time of writing this, we’re officially in that last week of September — a creative miracle zone of sorts, it seems.

While these could all be the ramblings of a writer gone mad, the artists listed above are part of the vanguard of their respective generations, which means they were onto something in some way.

What that “something” is, I’ll leave for you to decide.

Personally?

I posit that from music to marketing, to everything in between, the key ingredient that we’re missing is soul. The part you can’t measure.

We gotta get back to that.

It’s getting cold outside.

One.

It only takes one song to change your life, and that’s true for both fans and artists.

For the artist, one song at the right moment can be the difference between being an underground legend or a superstar. For the fan, one song can become the cornerstone of their life’s greatest moments.

Think of your favorite song for a second.

I’m sure you’re instantly reminded of where you were when you first heard it, what the day was like, and who you were with. It’s ingrained in your memory.

It was your first late-night out with your friends, your first real heartbreak, or, for my Millennials and X’ers, your first time looking at the album booklet after ripping the CD out of the plastic.

But there’s also a bit of irony here because, for artists, you would think getting to that one song is the hardest part. But that’s the easy part — catch the right vibe with the right beat and BOOM. Magic.

The real challenge is curating the moments that turn listeners into fans. Marketers and business folks call these moments “occasions.”

And whether we’re talking about the 80s, 90s, or even the 2000s, one of the greatest occasion-builders capable of jump-starting or even revitalizing a career was…

THE SOUNDTRACK.

Not to be confused with a studio album on an EP, the soundtrack was reserved for blockbuster films & TV shows with the budget to bring artists together for a compilation in support of the visuals.

For a time, soundtracks were just as sought after as the movie itself, but as the media landscape shifted, they got lost in the shuffle, and their importance was minimized. However, in more recent years, they’ve become increasingly important avenues for creating moments for artists.

We saw it with Black Panther and West Coast acts like SOB X RBE's breakthrough, and even “King’s Dead” securing a Grammy for Best Rap Performance, making TDE’s Jay Rock a Grammy winner.

We saw it years later on Sinners, with Miles Caton’s vocal tone becoming a focal point of the movie; it also helped open up the runway for the next steps in his music journey.

Here’s the point.

This is a major shift when you consider the music industry of the past decade. Just a few years ago, the top vehicle for music discovery wasn’t TV; it was playlists. With that, the power to stamp artists moved to the DSPs, but early evidence suggests that’s changing with Snowfall’s new spinoff, ‘The Drop.’

West Coast artists many Hip-hop heads have known for years, like Buddy, Symba, Jason Martin (Problem), and G Malone, are getting a new boost from fans discovering their music on the show. Their catalogs will likely grow as time passes and fans connect the dots.

The track below is the first original song viewers heard from the soundtrack featuring Buddy (aka Artillery), and it was met with strong approval.

For the first time in what seems like years, you can see fans on social media rejoice at the “made for TV” music that they’re hearing courtesy of Rance & the 1500 or Nothin crew.

A lost art has returned in full swing, and it matters because TV/film soundtracks accomplish a few things that DSPs still struggle with:

I. SOUNDTRACKS AS DISCOVERY

We touched on this lightly, but let’s really break it down.

At their height, soundtracks weren’t just tacked onto the TV/film at the end; they were just as anticipated as the show or movie itself. They were huge moments for established artists, and the perfect avenue for indies and anyone looking to make the jump to the next level in their careers.

Eddie Murphy’s Boomerang, for example, featured Toni Braxton's breakout single. In fact, Toni’s “Love Shoulda Brought You Home” was inspired by one of Halle Berry’s best moments in the film (where she tells Marcus, “Love shoulda brought ya ass home last night”).

Above The Rim’s soundtrack helped break Nate Dogg & Warren G’s Regulate, and beyond the music itself, it showed Pac's range as an actor. R&B group Color Me Badd had their first single on the New Jack City soundtrack, and Christopher Williams scored his 1st number 1 record after appearing on that same soundtrack. The list goes on.

This same formula proved fruitful into the 2000s, even with firmly established stars. Movie soundtracks from Rush Hour 2 & 2 Fast 2 Furious helped propel artists like Ludacris to the next level, while 8 Mile helped turn Eminem's “Lose Yourself” into a cross-generational anthem, and “Wanksta” by 50 Cent into the single that set the stage for “In Da Club” & a monstrous debut album.

Today, with ‘The Drop,’ many of the West Coast's brightest young stars are getting prominent screen time and matching songs. This includes Buddy and Symba — both of whom have been steadily putting out music and growing their fanbases.

For many viewers, this may be the first time hearing their names, or hearing music produced by 1500 or Nothin’. These moments add up and eventually create momentum that lifts everyone involved.

II. SOUNDTRACKS AS CULTURAL MEMORY

The lore surrounding major cities and the eras that defined them is fairly stamped at this point.

John Singleton & The Hughes Brothers painted a picture of LA in the 90s that still gets referenced 30 years later; In fact, many of the archetypes shown in their film crossed over into culture.

The same goes for New York.

Barry Michael Cooper’s Harlem trilogy painted a New York that looked starkly different from what you saw on the West Coast. The images of the concrete jungle as most know it come from movies like New Jack City, Above the Rim, and Sugar Hill.

Movies like New Jack City also serve as cultural memory, or rather as a key reference point for the development of things we hold dear like “New Jack Swing.” The film's director coined the term before it eventually became its own genre.

To that end, executive producer of “The Drop” Malcolm Spellman says the show is a Love Letter to Los Angeles, and his perspective highlights a unique power that soundtracks possess that studio albums typically don’t unless the artist is intent on sharing an extremely specific point of view.

That power is specificity: Because soundtracks are often rooted in a specific region or era, when done well, they add texture to what you’re witnessing visually.

The sound of The Drop is distinctly West Coast, but it also pays homage to a specific era of West Coast music, with the first few songs fans have been given. The theme song features Nipsey Hussle over a laidback 1500 or Nothin’ production.

In 20 years, that’s going to act as a stamp for that generation of what mattered culturally in the 2020s.

EPILOGUE

Spin-offs are usually dicey to make. Fans often see them as brazen money grabs, and usually the story doesn’t pay off the source material in a way that feels authentic. Often the main characters don’t even (want to) return to the world itself, and fans are left feeling shortchanged.

But then there are the rare ones who get it right, and The Drop is one of those.

Only two episodes have dropped (ha!) so far, and they’ve featured a range of West Coast music from the 90s, plus current records that feel like they're from the West Coast’s golden era.

It’s still early to say, but with the momentum behind the show picking up, I’m willing to bet we’ll see another wave of West Coast artists have their true breakthrough moments, just like the 90s and the 2000s.

Let’s circle back when the season finale drops.

One.

Hip-hop and sports go together like no other duo.

Since its inception in the 70s, as Hip-hop culture grew, so did the culture around sports and the trajectory of several sports-adjacent brands.

In all honesty, it’s not a stretch to say that many of today’s greatest brands would be irrelevant without Hip-hop. Some are finding new ground because of it, and others lost their footing when they abandoned it.

And while basketball & football have been the main beneficiaries sports-wise, Hip-hop & Black culture have always connected with tennis in a way that flies under the radar.

Brands that we now consider everyday wear, like Adidas and FILA, were made for the court until Hip-hop made them fashion. Even brands like Diadora or Tretorn owe much of their success to the culture.

The connection between the two cultures is even stronger today.

Carlos Alcaraz, one of the highest-ranked male tennis players, has been wearing Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack sneakers religiously during his U.S. Open matches and recently appeared in a commercial with them & Nike.

Naomi Osaka, Taylor Townsend, Coco Gauff, and Tiafoe have been getting fits off all week — with Osaka especially turning heads with her outfit paying homage to Allen Iverson, whom many of you know is largely responsible for the NBA’s (reluctant) embrace of Hip-hop culture.

To that end, the relationship between Hip-hop and Tennis is decades deep and shows up in ways many wouldn’t suspect.

On the heels of the U.S. Open wrapping up, it’s only right that we talk about the history of the two.

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THE BACKGROUND

Historically, tennis apparel has roots stretching back to the 1890s, and it has shifted several times. Even back then, Wimbledon required its players to wear all-white, as sweat stains were considered unsightly and a sign of “low culture.”

The all-white standard continued into the 1900s and still exists in some form today (cream and off-white are still off limits). But the real shifts that turned tennis culture into pop culture happened in the late 70s and early 80s, with the rise of several prominent tennis players (now legends) and brands like Le Coq Sportif, Adidas, and FILA that they helped make famous.

In a way, what Hip-hop did for tennis is similar to the fashion movement Black Ivy — its reclamation of professional/preppy attire and putting a spin on it that’s uniquely Black; making your presence known in a space that tried to exclude you.

The only difference is that this fashion was imported from Europe.

I. The 70s Brands & Their Patrons

The 70s were essentially a golden era for tennis, giving us many stars still synonymous with the sport today. The brands they were associated with also gained popularity because of their presence.

Here are a few that stand out:

I. Stan Smith

Stan Smith was the No. 1-ranked player at the beginning of the decade, and if you haven’t guessed by his name, the “Stan Smith” Adidas is, in fact, his namesake. Ironically, the original sneaker was named after French tennis player Robert Haillett, but the brand renamed it after Smith in 1973.

Smith often jokes that the Adidas shoe is more famous than he is, and honestly, it might be. The Stan Smith became a staple of Hip-hop culture in the 80s and is still relevant today.

II. John McEnroe & Björn Borg

If you search for the greatest rivalries in tennis, a few will come up—Nadal & Federer being one —but in the 70s it was McEnroe & Borg. Each is connected to a different brand that eventually became a part of Hip-hop culture.

McEnroe is widely remembered for his Nike trainers (which recently made a comeback thanks to Travis Scott), but he also helped make Sergio Tacchini a household name in the sport.

Before their tracksuits caught on in Hip-hop culture, Tacchini’s polo shirts could routinely be seen on McEnroe during any given match, like the one pictured below with Björn Borg.

Conversely, Borg, aka “The Ice Man,” could routinely be seen in FILA.

Borg was a tennis phenom who won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, 6 French Opens, and 5 Wimbledons in just 4 years (from 1976-1980). During those Wimbledon wins, he frequently wore Diadora and Tretorn shoes (two brands Hip-hop later adopted), and Diadora even created a line for him.

Like the others on this list, Borg was ranked No. 1 for a time, ultimately shocking the tennis world when he retired at 26, citing burnout.

III. Arthur Ashe

Last but certainly not least, and perhaps the most important of all, is Arthur Ashe.

Ashe is the only Black man in tennis history to win the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open — in fact, when he won the U.S. Open, he was still considered an “amateur,” and the runner-up, Tom Okker, received his $14,000 prize money instead.

Ashe’s presence in tennis also helped more Black people get into the sport.

On the court, he was a force, and off the court he was a community pillar who founded the National Junior Tennis League to help disadvantaged youth get into tennis (which today is as expensive as ever). He even helped fund AIDS research in the later years of his life.

Ashe attracted several brand endorsements, including tennis shoes from Le Coq Sportif, and later Adidas paid homage to him in the 2000s for his historic Wimbledon win.

He remains a giant in the sport, and if you couldn’t tell, Ashe Stadium, where the U Open takes place, is named after him.

II. 80s & 90S Hip-hop Turns Tennis into Pop

Hip-hop’s ascent from underground hobby to commercial industry happened as Tennis fever was spreading across America. Like the other sports-adjacent brands mentioned earlier, brands with a lineage in Tennis were now being adopted by Hip-hop.

I. FILA

As Hip-hop culture grew in the 80s, the tracksuit became the de facto gear many youth gravitated toward, and Hip-hop’s biggest commercial star of the 80s, LL Cool J, often rocked FILA tracksuits.

He could be seen wearing them in photos, and even in the music video for his single “I’m Bad” — other rappers were also on the trend, and the brand was able to take this momentum and continue building in the 90s, eventually moving into other sports like basketball, which further boosted them in culture. But it all started in the 80s with Hip-hop.

II. Sergio Tacchini

Italian fashion had become high fashion in America by the mid-80s, and Hip-hop turned brands like Gucci & Louis Vuitton into household names amongst the youth.

In that same period, Sergio Tacchini tracksuits also rose to fame and became the uniform for emcees, b-boys, and dopeboys alike.

In the years since, the Tacchini brand has become more closely connected with its Hip-hop roots, partnering with rappers like A$AP Nast of A$AP Mob; however, it all started in the 80s.

III. Tennis Bracelets & Chains

Yes, you read that correctly — while the tennis bracelet is a popular style of jewelry, many don’t know it has roots, colloquially, in tennis.

Tennis star Chris Evert famously played a match in 1978 wearing a diamond bracelet when she asked the official to pause play because she lost it. There’s no greater flex than wearing diamonds while serving your opponent; Hip-hop seized it immediately, and the “tennis bracelet” became lingo.

III. 2000 & Beyond: The Williams Era

The 2000s gave us the rise of two of tennis’ greatest stars, Venus & Serena Williams, who picked up right where Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe left off.

The Williams sisters, much like the prior generation, faced a lot of scrutiny as they broke barriers within the sport. Despite that, their presence helped bring Hip-hop culture & Black Culture into the sport, and their impact off the court was evident in video appearances, name drops in lyrics, and more.

According to Genius, the Williams sisters have been name-dropped in almost 500 songs. If you add in the indie artists we don’t know about, it’s probably in the thousands. That’s cultural impact.

IV. Present Day

Today, Hip-hop’s impact on Tennis is still widely visible on both the personal and brand sides. Coco Gauff recently did an ad with Bose where she’s crate-digging & talking about her love of J. Cole. In 2018, Naomi Osaka said she listens to artists like Eminem and Nicki Minaj to get hype before matches, and Taylor Townsend rocks gold fangs & grills during her matches.

And on cultural equity, Hip-hop’s role in tennis has shifted from unofficial co-signer of the sport and its fashion to official collaborator, with some of the genre’s most prominent fashionistas partnering with legacy tennis brands.

I. Adidas Tennis by Pharrell Williams (2017)

After partnering with Adidas on the re-launch of the Stan Smiths, Pharrell was tapped by Adidas for a tennis-specific apparel collection right in time for the U.S. Open that year.

The collection was an ode to the golden era of tennis and featured two commercials with tennis stars Sascha Zverev and Garbiñe Muguruza and a range of colorful shoes; it was part of a larger Adidas campaign called “Don’t Be Quiet” that also included restoring a local tennis court and providing scholarships from Court16 & HORIZONS.

II. Off-White & Serena (2018)

With Serena being a Nike Athlete and Virgil Abloh having close ties to the company after releasing “The Ten” collection with them, it was only right that Off-White design a custom collection for Serena Williams. It was dubbed The Queen Collection and included Nike Flare 2s, Air Max 97s, and a custom Off-White tutu.

III. Lacoste & Tyler, The Creator (2019)

Tyler’s first-ever collaboration with Lacoste in 2019 was Golf Le Fleur for the French Open. Like the other collections mentioned, this one included apparel the brand says is flexible enough to work at both the “country club and skate park”.

The duo reunited in 2023 for another capsule collection building on what they established years prior.

IV. Cactus Jack x Carlos Alcaraz (2026)

Alcaraz said in several interviews that he was a huge fan of Travis Scott and the Cactus Jack brand, and during his most recent run at the US Open, the two formalized the budding friendship with a social video starring Alcaraz playing on a court as Travis Scott narrates.

EPILOGUE

The U.S. Open is wrapping up this weekend, and we might potentially see Ben Shelton pull off something that we haven’t seen since Arthur Ashe. It’s already been an electrifying year for the U.S. Open, especially as they attempted to embrace influencers — something I suspect they’ll limit next year.

If nothing else, it’s dope to see players like Naomi Osaka show up in all her dopeness. Tell the press to quit hating. Salute to Coco Gauff too.

The future of tennis looks bright, and with the new class of stars in the mix, that relationship between Hip-hop and Tennis is bound to grow even stronger.

And also… Special shoutout to Althea Gibson, the GOAT.

Do the knowledge!

One.

Culture, much like life, moves in cycles.

Roughly every decade, trends start and fade until the next generation finds them and they resurge.

Hip-hop is no different.

When you think about the sounds that defined each era and what accompanied them, the shifts are really clear. The late 80s/early 90s embodied the revolutionary roots of groups like Public Enemy & Afrocentricity of the Native Tongues movement.

Then, by the mid-90s, that sound was overtaken by Gangsta rap.

Gangsta rap was eventually overtaken by Trap music.

The new generation took all those ingredients and made Rage music.

It’s a cycle.

And the cycle is now moving into a new space that feels close to the early 90s—one focused on bars again (we’ll talk about that another day) and, more importantly, focused on health.

Whether it’s the OGs or the new generation of emcees, we’re seeing Hip-hop embrace all forms of health, from mental, physical & spiritual to financial.

But why?

PART I: THE LIFESTYLE

Even the healthiest artist will tell you how taxing it is on the body in every facet.

Late studio nights require late-night meals and stimulants to stay awake. Those late hours culminate in an album promoted on a months-long tour, which means subpar sleep on a potentially uncomfortable bus/hotel bed, coupled with early-morning press and an overabundance of fast food.

Your circadian rhythm is all jacked up. Nerves bad too.

And if you add in drugs or alcohol on top of that?

One album/tour can shave years off your life.

And even for rappers not on tour, the last decade has put their future in perspective.

Consider what’s happened in many of Hip-hop’s major markets.

From Atlanta to Chicago, the 2010 class of rappers who’ve helped build their cities are all but gone because of a mix of legal issues and violence. Serious physical health issues took quite a few who were either on the rise or legends in the culture.

Then there’s the survivors of trauma.

Many of Hip-hop’s greatest talents have also suffered from undiagnosed or untreated mental health issues. Behaviors that would otherwise be considered abnormal are chalked up as “creative genius” or as “Man that’s just _______, he/she gets like that sometimes.”

Despite that, change is on the horizon.

Perhaps the first radical change Hip-hop fans saw in rappers’ physical health was Gucci Mane’s transformation. In the late 2010s, Gucci was sentenced to years in prison following what we now know was a mental health crisis that resulted in a parole violation.

While incarcerated, Gucci locked in on his health and brought those healthy habits home.

Fans were so shocked to see that the “lean belly” had disappeared that they created conspiracies that the person on their screen was a clone of the real Gucci Mane (some still believe it).

With a sober mind, he was also able to address his underlying mental health conditions and recently wrote a book about past mental health episodes to help destigmatize mental health issues in general.

PART II: WELLNESS BECOMES CULTURE

Run Club participation on apps like Strava has grown by over 59% in the last two years, and it’s no surprise why. They’re great spaces to build community while also getting in shape.

In recent years, we’ve seen Hip-hop artists embrace running and even build their own communities as the trend becomes mainstream.

For example, Gunna, who’s become a beacon for health in Hip-hop, now hosts his own run club events, which have appeared in several states in partnership with Under Armor.

Waka Flocka has also gotten in on run club culture as well, with the recent launch of “Flock Runs” in Atlanta. The event was a 5k run around Atlanta complete with a live performance and other fun at micro-distillery Block & Drum.

More recently, Wiz Khalifa has been the topic of Hip-hop and fitness’ cross-pollination. As one of rap’s most prolific stoners, who’s spent the past few years living an active lifestyle, he recently took the internet by storm as he picked up running as a hobby.

Overall, we can see 3 different generations of rappers with different subject matter, all showing that health is wealth.

PART III: LONGEVITY BECOMES THE NEW FLEX

As rappers focus on their health, the culture itself is becoming more fixated on health in all its forms as the years go by.

In Black culture, therapy has become way more acceptable, and the ability to face your internal demons is praised even by elders who weren’t afforded the knowledge or space to name their own.

Moreover, Gen Zers and Millennials are in a place and space where they’re seeing their parents age — many of whom are dealing with ailments that are affecting their quality of life.

These and a host of other issues are forcing people to reckon with the future they’re building and ensure it’s built on longevity and good health. '

Larry June is another prime example of the mainstream shift we're seeing —much of his sound is built around deals tied to health and wealth. Mantras like “doing numbers” & “good job, Larry” have been adopted by fans. And those looking to clean up their music diet and shift away from gangsta rap can move to something smoother, with a POV geared toward elevation.

Outside the booth, music industry vets are also recognizing the toll life takes and pivoting to build a better life. Big Bank, an Atlanta legend, underwent a drastic transformation triggered by a health scare at the doctor.

After being told that many of his vitals were through the roof, doctors said that he would need to take over a dozen medications for the rest of his life. Instead, he took that moment as a chance to slim down & change his diet.

Bank dropped over 100 pounds and has since launched a fitness arm of his brand, “Hik’n Wit Bank,” that invites Atlanta natives to go on nature hikes with him, and even invites vendors out with healthy food options.

PART IV. WELLNESS BECOMES BUSINESS

As artists continue to build a health infrastructure in their personal lives, the trends that become culture eventually become businesses.

On one hand, brands are in the wings, looking to partner with the artists making the changes. On the other hand, some of the OGs are also taking their newfound ideals and turning them into hubs for others to patron as they become inspired by their journey.

I. STYLES P & JADAKISS X JUICE BAR

Jada & Styles are 2/3 of The Lox, and together they own a chain of Juice Bars named “Juices For Life” — in recent years, both emcees have taken a strong commitment to their health, with Jada having several fitness-related clips go viral & P starting several other health-related ventures including: Farmacy For Life, & Juice 2 Heal.

II. GUNNA

Though people are beginning to catch wind of UA’s affiliation with Gunna, it’s been years in the making.

After a brief incarceration because of the YSL RICO, Gunna came home and immediately transformed his health. This caught the attention of Under Armor, who, before partnering with him on the Wunna Runk 5k, brought him in for the “We Are Football” campaign and a Bouncy Tee collection.

Since then, the fitness-based partnership has grown, and the brand has announced plans to sponsor his first marathon in 2027.

III. LIL JON

Lil Jon was turning 50 when he realized he was at a crossroads of sorts.

After years of turning up and also seeing an acquaintance have a triple bypass surgery, He decided to make a concerted effort to improve his health, including the spiritual and mental side of health.

This personal mission also led to a business pivot into the health space, and in 2024, he released “Total Meditation,” a guided meditation album to help beginners transition smoothly into meditation.

In the years since, he’s encouraged other rappers and fans alike to take their health seriously and get into meditation to improve their lives.

WHAT NOW?

As the days go by, more of the culture is embracing the idea that health is wealth, and after decades of the opposite dominating the mainstream, it’s refreshing to see.

Personally, I think as the geopolitical landscape continues to shift and people are leaning on community in lieu of larger institutions, we’ll continue to see that health will become a larger part of that; less processed, more farm-to-table vibes.

Wherever you’re reading this at the moment, if the sun is out, don’t hesitate to go on a run.

If nothing else, you’ve been staring at the screen for at least 7ish minutes if you made it this far. You should at least stretch.

One.

When you think about it, the ' 90s were a golden era in damn near everything.

From debut albums to tours and everything in between, some of Hip-hop's greatest and most tragic moments happened in the '90s. The shows that we still revere today, like Living Single, Martin, and The Wayans bro’s dropped in that decade, and Michael Jordan 3-peated twice.

It has a strong case for being the best era of pop culture ever.

The 2000s that followed were good, although they don’t quite have the same prestige. Still, that decade gave us a lot, and from film & TV to music, Black media representation still existed, courtesy of shows like All of Us, Bernie Mac, etc.

But by 2010, it all disappeared.

According to TheWrap that year, the number of live scripted TV shows with predominantly black casts was a whopping ZERO. UPN & The WB offloaded almost all of the Black shows that built those networks as they shifted toward servicing the “general market.”

But then came 2016.

2016 was the year everything changed: Kobe Bryant retired, Obama was about to leave office, Pokemon Go had people chasing virtual monsters, and an influx of new ideas flooded our TV screens.

That year, we got two shows that completely shifted the cultural zeitgeist: Atlanta & Insecure.

Both Issa Rae & Donald Glover were at the cusp of next-level stardom, and the creative outputs they delivered inspired the next generation of creatives and fans alike.

For the first time in many Millennials' adult lives, they didn’t have to lean on 90s nostalgia to reflect big-city living, relationship ebbs & flows, friendship, and career navigation — it was right in front of them, with fresh faces and cultural references from the same era they lived in.

Hollywood hasn’t greenlit many shows like this since. But the real irony comes from the stats:

So we know these shows were incredibly successful, and they appeal to broad audiences. The question becomes… Why don’t more shows like Atlanta or Insecure exist?

But I’ll let y’all sit with that for a minute as we discuss the underpinnings of this golden era that was ushered in.

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I. Discovery Of The Next Creative Class

2016 TV shows like Atlanta & Insecure were also crucial in advancing the overall music landscape because each show platformed artists on the cusp of blowing up and/or looking for the next look that could take them over the top.

Music was the focal point of each show’s experiences, and fans truly appreciated the soundtrack to both. On Insecure in particular, the playlist accumulated over 200k followers on Spotify by the time the series ended.

Issa Rae and Music Director Kier Lehman placed songs by Kari Faux, Childish Major, and Rico Nasty, introducing them to an HBO audience. Conversely, Atlanta introduced audiences to cult classics from the city, including artists like OJ Da Juiceman, while also shining a light on Atlanta’s catalog.

On Atlanta, Jen Malone handled music supervision for the first season with Donald Glover, and Fam Udeorji added old Atlanta, New Atlanta, deep cuts, and songs from other genres that gave the show a unique feel.

Atlanta actors like Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and LaKeith Stanfield have all gone on to get bigger roles and movie roles after their stellar ‘Atlanta’ performances, while the director Hiro Murai executive-produced FX’s hit show “The Bear.”

Similarly, Insecure cast members like Y’lan Noel (known as Daniel on the show) are starring in the new Netflix show Nemesis; Yvonne Orji has been a mainstay in the comedy circuit, Kendrick Samson made his film debut this year as Quincy Jones in Michael (now ranked the highest-grossing biopic of all time), and Natasha Rothwell has been in several films/tv shows, including The White Lotus (a personal favorite).

II. Afro-Surrealism

Terrestrial TV & streaming are overrun with stories of strife, gangsterism, and single motherhood, but shows where the protagonists are hopeful about overcoming their circumstances? Ones that center on fantastical worlds where the outlandish & absurd are possible?

Nah, B. Hollywood wasn’t going for it.

Atlanta dropped right at the precipice of a larger trend of Afro-Surrealism taking shape, and right after its premiere we saw the release of Jordan Peele’s Get Out (which was technically already in production), Lovecraft Country, and Sorry to Bother You; In essence, Atlanta was the case study that showed how much appetite there was for surrealism among Black audiences.

What made it such a breakthrough moment is that it brought texture to the idea that “Atlanta is not a real place” — anyone who’s visited will tell you that. Beyond being home to Black people from all walks of life, the city has a random magic that makes it feel like itself.

You could indeed end up racing Michael Vick outside the club, and get into a fight at the Waffle House just hours later. Those are real possibilities in Atlanta.

There were episodes on the hauntings of Lake Lanier, and reparations that were comedic and absurd; and also, dare I say, slightly within the realm of believability, which made them hit so much harder.

Similarly, on Insecure, Issa’s conversations with “Mirror B*tch” feel like the ones we all have with ourselves to some degree. And right at the moment where you’re about to go off on someone, you snap back into reality, much like she did on Insecure.

III. Fresh POVs That Pushed Culture

A lot of shows/films these days feel stale, and that eventually bleeds into creative marketing and other fields.

Why?

It’s the same references — Mad Max, Steve Buscemi (no disrespect), and Marvel. They work, but after decades of use, there’s not much new thinking to pull from them.

Atlanta and Insecure were special because each was high-level artistry and craft that, at the time, sparked fierce conversations among viewers (as good art should), while also putting forth new ideas that challenge culture’s POV.

Insecure had everyone asking questions about their relationships and friend groups — when is it time to let go? What do you do when you outgrow a person? Can you reconcile with someone who cheated on you?

It got deep. And the cinematography, from the lighting to the wardrobe, highlighted Black culture in a way that made it a worthy successor to its 90s predecessors.

On the flip side, Atlanta put on a Masterclass in Season 3, using surrealism to spark cultural debates that many would find taboo to discuss in regular conversation. Episodes like “Trini 2 De Bone” touched on Black caregivers to rich White families, while others like “The Big Payback” gave a surreal look at what reparations could look like in modern times.

10 years later…

No one knew how important 2016 would be for the culture, but it was clear this was something different. That year helped Black TV move beyond the confines of average Hollywood stereotypes to something new. Something freer than the norm, and both of these shows have entered the Black TV pantheon alongside their 90s & 00s sitcom brethren.

The cast of Insecure is currently on tour for the 10th anniversary, giving fans a chance to relive their favorite moments and ask questions that they’ve always wanted answered.

On any corner of the internet on any given day, you’ll be sure to find people having heated debates about the cast and plotlines — was Atlanta all Darius’ dream? Should Issa and Lawrence have gotten back together?

No matter where you fall on any of those debates, it’s evidence of 2016’s impact on culture, and it was one of the most free years for Black narratives that we’ve ever experienced.

Hollywood may be in shambles, but there are still moments where that same Black creative freedom breaks through.

No matter what happens, we just gotta keep telling the stories that matter.

One.

Streetwear is an ever-evolving space, with new brands and faces popping up every day. Still, a few players have always been in the mix, helping shape it for decades, like Angelo Baque.

Baque has been around since the 90s, working everywhere from Stüssy to Supreme, where he was the brand director for 10 years. And while Supreme is still doing its thing in the space, Baque’s own brand Awake NY has quietly grown from a side project in 2012 into one of the most sought-after streetwear brands, with partnerships including Jordan, Gap, ASICS, and more.

But what’s more interesting than Awake’s collabs is the creative lens he applies to each collection.

A lot of Awake NY’s work has a layer of familiarity to it. No matter what category they partner with, that partner ultimately steps into the world Awake has cultivated, embodying the ethos of what New York is at its core.

It’s a bold choice to stay committed to a hyper-specific reference point in a world that’s increasingly becoming more global.

To that end, what makes Baque’s/Awake’s POV even more interesting is that it moves the brand from being only a streetwear label to a cultural institution of sorts; One that can move forward and backward in time, chronicling New York’s creative scene, drawing inspiration from the most important cultural DNA of New York’s past and pairing it with the brightest parts of NY’s future that is starting to bloom.

But how did it all start?

I. THE BACKGROUND

Baque grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens, and developed an interest in the arts, including photography, which eventually led to internships at Source magazine, plus stints at Canal Jean Company, Stüssy, and The Fader as an adult.

In a sit-down with Set Free Richardson of The Compound, he talks about cutting his teeth in streetwear at Nom De Guerre, where he learned about merchandising and curation and even launched his first brand, Absurd.

While there, Supreme scooped him up, and he spent the next decade further developing his craft as it moved from a niche skate brand to a cultural juggernaut, which helped him learn how to run a streetwear line from the inside out.

With a decade-plus of streetwear knowledge under his belt and his desire to build his own brand, Baque decided the next step in his journey was ownership. He launched Awake NY in 2012 while still working at Supreme, and within 4 years he left the company to focus solely on Awake NY.

Years later, his friend and streetwear legend Virgil Abloh encouraged him to open his own store after starting Awake, citing that downtown New York had changed and kids didn’t have places to go as they did in their youth.

In 2023, Awake opened its first flagship store at 62 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side, where the brand uses it as a hub for apparel, events, and everything in between, while strengthening the brand’s cultural footprint through drops and partnerships with other pop-culture brands.

II. A BRAND BUILT ON CULTURAL MEMORY

What separates Awake from its competitors is how culturally specific it is. Whether it’s the product itself or the brand film that shows the world around it, everything feels very specific to New York.

Brand films are placed squarely in the heart of the city, and a quick search shows that the bulk of the talent in those films are young creators from NY — some of whom also have their own NY-based brands. Some serve as love letters to the fashion of specific eras of New York, while others serve as love letters to specific boroughs themselves.

Sneaker colorways draw from heritage, fabrics & patterns pull from the heart of downtown, and drops bring local hypebeasts into a flagship that blends the city, Hip-hop, and streetwear in one location.

These are two that stand out:

I. GAP

Earlier this year, Awake’s collection with Gap hit the internet, along with another brand film the collaborators describe as “A Love Letter to 90s Culture.”

Baque noted that growing up, Gap was considered a premium brand, and it was also one his extended family would gift him when they visited. Like much of his other work, the campaign stars New York creatives, and the film features Baque’s family.

Speaking of family, this partnership is even more of a full-circle moment for the Awake brand, as much of Baque’s early interest in fashion came from his sister, who’s Gap Anarok he used to steal growing up.

II. JORDAN

Awake and Jordan’s partnership started back in 2024 with a reimagining of the Air Ship, followed by the Air Jordan 5 (which still retails for hundreds on StockX and other resell sites).

2026 marks the 35th anniversary of the Jordan 6, and Awake/Jordan are building on the success they’ve shared with a pair of Awake NY Jordan 6s in two colorways: Blueberry and Bubblegum.

In the brand films for each Jordan release, Baque again pulls from his cultural memory of New York, blending themes of heritage, family, relationship, and the city in a way that feels layered and, not to beat a dead horse, distinctly New York.

The one below from last year is an ode to Brooklyn featuring two Brooklyn emcees, Rome Streetz and Joey Bada$$.

III. THE BAQUE ECOSYSTEM

Beyond Awake NY, Baque has created an ecosystem of brands, each serving a different purpose; still, they all share the common thread of connecting past with present and using culture to build community and drive commerce.

I. BAQUE CREATIVE

After leaving Supreme, Baque maintained relationships with many brands across the industry and launched his own boutique agency to help them land in culture. Through Baque Creative, he consulted on projects for Nike and FENTY, as it was just building its presence in the market.

II. SOCIAL STUDIES

Baque developed Social Studies in partnership with artist & photographer Shaniqwa Jarvis, and creative agency Something Special Studios. He describes Social Studies as “a multi-day event that brings artists and brands together,” and it’s a project he initially kicked off in 2017 at Art Basel.

The online hub for SS, which hosts everything, features conversations, book recommendations, and resources to help communities—all curated by creatives across various cultures. Past guests have included Tremaine Emory (Denim Tears), Melody Ehsani, and Chris Gibbs (Union).

WHAT’S NEXT?

Awake has been around for over 10 years, but it feels like the brand is shifting into another gear.

The Flagship store has been open for a few years and doubles as a community hub, hosting events like the Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist Alfredo II party last year and highly anticipated releases with brand partners.

Baque is on a mission to bring the new generation an era of New York that they weren’t around for, but informs much of what they know and have today. If what we’re seeing from Awake Today is just a glimpse of what’s to come, then it’s safe to say that in the decades to come, it’ll be a pillar of New York culture and an archive for the future to reference.

If you got a line on those Jordan 6s, holla at me.

One.

We all collected things growing up.

For some, it was Pokemon cards or Yu-Gi-Oh. For others, it was Tamagotchis and Pet Rocks.

If you were in the Pokemon crowd, you probably lament daily, realizing that you could be set for life at this very moment if you had held onto that holographic Charizard you kept in the plastic sleeve when you were 10.

If you were a Pet Rock owner, you were gonna have to work regardless.

But for both parties, the good news is that it’s not too late to make a comeback.

A few months back, we talked about the rise of the Archive Generation — Gen Z is buying physical media not only as displays of fandom but also as sources of value and, more importantly, TRUTH.

Today, all media is subject to edits, rewrites, upscaling, etc. And though the intentions behind these “tweaks” are often good, they change the media forever: suddenly, iconic shows/movies are missing a few scenes, song lines have been changed, and iconic books are missing whole chapters from earlier editions that the publishers decided didn’t matter in today’s times.

This comes as much of what we have preserved is disappearing before our very eyes: AI tools are reportedly absorbing, then destroying, rare first-edition books at scale; half of the internet is made of bots, and information is quickly shifting from concrete facts to concrete opinions.

It’s a strange time in culture.

That’s why archivists and collectors are popping up everywhere, digitally and physically. People know that without preserving physical media, some of the most valuable (and historically accurate) information will be “lost”.

But the larger point is that all of this is setting the stage for a new era in the economy built on collectibles, much like the late 20th century. However, in this era, practically everything is an asset class.

To be clear, collectibles have always existed across generations, but they used to be considered niche.

And if you’re a hypebeast or the least tapped into culture, you’ve likely either bought or, at the very least, seen KAWS dolls, Bear Bricks, or even Jordans that are considered collectible pieces.

You also likely know that in recent times, brands have caught onto the wave, doing everything from limited runs to 1-of-1s, and everything in between.

To that end, the archives Gen Z has started are also becoming lucrative side businesses, where they buy and sell rare memorabilia & collectibles in every space you can imagine.

Folks, the long and short of it is that when everything is available to everyone at all times, the last moat capable of producing value is scarcity. Ironically, this also means we might be getting back to a place where we cherish art again. After all, there’s only one Mona Lisa — imagine if there were 1,000s?

But what’s underneath all of this?

That’s what today is about, so let’s get into it.

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I. FANATICS IS CORNERING THE MARKET

When it comes to the most lucrative assets, you’ll likely start in the world of collectibles, particularly sports collectibles, and perhaps the biggest player out there is Fanatics; their reign has been a long time in the making.

Fanatics owns Topps and Lids, and has strategic partnerships with all the major sports leagues and many of today’s biggest sports stars and celebs (who are also investors). More recently, they bought a 75% stake in the sports giant Mitchell & Ness for $225 million, with the ownership group including LeBron James and Maverick Carter.

The business itself is valued at over $30 billion and shows no signs of slowing down, and its cultural footprint grows each year through its capstone event: Fanatics Fest.

The first fest drew in a little over 70,000 fans worldwide, but in just two years it's almost 3x’d its attendance, with over 200,000 fans attending to buy things, trade memorabilia, and even capture moments with some of their favorite pop culture voices and characters.

There are also exclusive events, such as the one that takes place at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club. That part of the event often features the who’s who of entertainment — everyone from LeBron James to Tom Brady to Serena Williams makes an appearance, making it one of the biggest cultural events of the year.

II. AUCTION HOUSES & OTHER PLAYERS

While Fanatics keeps a firm grip on sports and the categories that surround it, budding competitors and auction houses deal in art, auto, high fashion, and pop culture.

And though auction houses and secondary markets have long existed, in more recent times, youth culture has become the cultural focal point of commerce, leading many of them to dip their toes into spaces like sneakers and even Hip-hop.

For example, Sotheby’s auctioned off Biggie’s crown in 2020 for almost $600K, and more recently, competitors to Fanatics like The Realest have helped auction off rare Hip-hop collectibles, including Dr. Dre’s mixing board for over $165,000.

Smaller creators building their own archives are also finding success in the space, uncovering items often overlooked by larger corporate entities.

All in all, everybody’s eating.

The live buying trend overseas is also helping power the asset-class shift, with folks becoming millionaires overnight by selling stuff they’ve held onto for years that is now considered valuable.

We could see glimpses of this trend forming years earlier with the rise of TikTok Shop; however, it’s really picking up steam in the U.S., particularly through Whatnot. In addition to WhatNot users supplementing their income through live selling, it has also become a great space for collectors looking to bid on cards & other collectibles in real time.

Fanatics is also in the live-buying space, as are WhatNot and TikTok. Users say that each space has its merits; however, Fanatics is geared more towards sports, while WhatNot has been a hub for everything from trading cards to Funko dolls, pointing to the idea that anything physical that’s considered of value is now part of a class of assets that someone out there is collecting.

III. ASSETS IN CULTURE

Brands have always given away merch that eventually turns into memorabilia. If you head to eBay and type in your favorite brand, there’s sure to be someone out there selling a rare item from them that dates back to the 90s, or earlier.

Collectibles were always a tried-and-true playbook that fell by the wayside, but brands seem to be remembering their power. In the sports world, in particular, you can see leagues have done their fair share of partnerships that leverage popular IP to make inroads with Gen Z and get them more heavily into sports.

Then in spaces like Hip-hop, people and publications are also finding their way into the game, with more artists taking control of their legacy and associated items that help tell the story of their biggest moments.

This includes legendary figures like MF DOOM and J Dilla, both of whom have released several collectibles through their respective estates.

I. Anime

In the anime space, Toei Animation created a card game for its biggest IP, One Piece. On top of the secondary market the game created, they’ve also partnered with the NBA & MLB on several activations.

This year, the LA Dodgers hosted One Piece Night, which brought thousands of fans to the stadium for straws hats. Just a month later, fans doubled back to another Dodgers game for a Luffy trading card, which was instantly listed on resale sites for hundreds of dollars.

Even more recently, you can see that pro MLB player Julio Rodriguez traded a signed bat mid-game to a fan in exchange for one PSA grade 10 Monkey D. Luffy card from the July event, further showing just how serious the collectibles game is becoming.

II. Hip-hop

Hip-hop has a long legacy in collectibles, especially trading cards, going all the way back to the days of Yo! MTV raps, and recently that relationship has started to surge a bit.

Just this year, Ian Schwartzman, Joe Budden’s longtime manager and business partner, created a show in partnership with Conway The Machine of Griselda and Tilt Rips entitled ‘Rippin’ 2Gether,’ where the two rip open card packs together and discuss what they’ve found.

This week, the show experienced its first viral moment through an interview with Mike Tyson that’s sure to bring more attention to the new venture.

WHAT NOW?

According to Yahoo Finance, the global market for memorabilia is expected to top $600 billion this year, but that’s honestly just the beginning.

In terms of trend cycles, we’re nearing the point where the average person is starting to perk up their ears again for collectibles, and media is reporting on it more, which means the market will start to saturate in a few months. Especially given the times, folks will be looking around in masse to see what they own and if it can fetch them some value elsewhere.

All that to say, whether it’s shoes, trading cards, or memorabilia, it may be a good time to look at what you own and check the value. If it’s rare enough, there’s a good chance it might go up in value in a few months (of course, this is only speculation and not advice).

Digital scarcity (à la NFTs) may have fizzled out, but cultural scarcity is in full swing.

Get in where you fit in, just sayin’.

One.

One of the cornerstones of brand building is gaining (and keeping) consumer trust. Without trust, you’ve got nothing.

Some of the greatest brands nearly collapsed overnight because the trust disappeared — maybe they changed ingredients, or sold themselves to conglomerates. Perhaps they ignored repeated requests for change from consumers, or didn’t keep a promise.

And Boom! Just like that, they took a reputational hit.

The result was months and sometimes years of searching for ways to regain favor in the market.

The thing is, people have to trust a brand to be exactly what it says it is, and there’s no shortage of ways for a brand to communicate its “why” to consumers, but perhaps the most tried-and-true method has always been the celebrity ambassador.

One of the best celeb ambassadors at the moment (if you couldn’t tell by the cover) is Cardi B. Every campaign she’s been a part of in the past year or so just makes sense.

Brands are placing her in the right worlds, with the right messaging, and letting her personality shine; and even if you aren’t the intended audience for the campaign, you can still find some enjoyment in it.

To that end, 3 of her most recent campaigns combine for a great case study in how to “land in culture,” as the marketing folks like to say.

For brands like Old Navy, Cardi is helping communicate affordability & style.

For brands like Zevia, she helped communicate real ingredients with wit (and shade) to a health-conscious crowd.

And for brands like Bobbie, she helped them communicate earnestly with new & expecting moms.

In each of these campaigns, Cardi becomes a translator for the brand's truth, and it’s fair to say that she might be advertising’s best “truth translator” right now.

Let’s talk about it.

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I. CARDI SAYS WHAT THE BRAND CAN’T SAY

If you don’t work in creative marketing, I’ll peel the curtains back for you a bit.

Amongst a lot of marketers, there’s an underlying feeling that they can’t tell a joke anymore without stepping on someone’s toes. The fear is rooted in the truth that this is an industry where the wrong headline about your campaign could potentially mean losing business and ultimately losing your job.

Because of this, brands often attempt to keep campaigns at just the right temperature creatively, i.e., nothing too outside the box, nothing too bold. Fun is almost certainly out of the question. The name of the game is keep the boat rocking steady, and we’ll all make it home.

In short, marketers often feel like they’re fighting a battle with one hand tied behind their backs, and that’s why someone like Cardi B is refreshing to see in the space; because through creativity, she can have fun in ways that creative marketers feel like they can't.

In her work with Zevia, for example, the two spots from the campaign are centered on individuals saying hella shady things to each other while she acts as a translator between the parties.

Could it have worked with someone else? Ehh. Maybe.

But Zevia’s brand positioning is that they are ‘Refreshingly Real.’ They needed a voice to match the energy of that statement.

With Cardi, the work feels fun, honest, and entertaining. It's the type of commercial that people WANT to watch, and because people know Cardi to be unfiltered and authentically herself, it feels natural.

II. CARDI’S OWN BRAND IS LAYERED

Celebrity ambassadors usually only have one key attribute or anchor that brands leverage for storytelling. For some it’s style, for others it’s a recent cultural moment they were involved in, but for Cardi it’s multiple attributes.

She’s never been shy about displaying all the layers of her life from relationship ebbs & flows to motherhood, which gives brands different angles for storytelling.

Cardi has no problem hopping on live and talking candidly with fans or clapping back at trolls. She’ll talk about the reality of budgeting in an interview, and in the same week sit with a politician to better understand what’s happening in the economy to help other people win.

For those tasked with coming up with a creative campaign, she’s a dream in that way; Finding a strategic anchor for a commercial or activation becomes easier because of the fullness of her public life, and by extension that means her presence works across different categories. It’s hard to find celeb talent that can be the voice of multiple solutions (and do so within a budget).

Bobbie is a great example of how a brand can showcase a lot of her qualities at the same time.

They were able to do a retro old-school ad campaign with Cardi centered on reducing feeding shame & judgment around mothers who choose formula, while offering a healthy alternative to the other formulas out there.

From the wardrobe to the BTS footage, the commercial itself feels less like marketing and more like a moment the audience was let in on, and it doesn’t get any better than that.

III. CARDI ENSURES BRAND ALIGNMENT

Cardi’s most recent work with Old Navy reminds me of a marketing term that’s become common for creators and brands alike: alignment.

One thing that often gets missed when celebrities do commercials is usually a key question: Would this person actually use this product?

Often, in the excitement of being able to book the biggest talent possible, both the brand and the agency making the commercial (if an agency is involved) usually disregard that question to work with [insert major celeb here].

Think back, and you’ll remember some kind of commercial where the star looks like they’re being held hostage as they read the script.

The brand alignment wasn’t there.

They got a bag though.

On the contrary, with Cardi, it’s easy to forge that alignment because in a sea of mystique and posturing, she keeps it super real.

So when a brand like Old Navy wants to spread the message of affordability, it feels natural, because while we know Cardi will go to the Met Gala and be the best dressed there, it’s also realistic that on a random Tuesday she’d rock some Old Navy jeans, because why not?

That’s why commercials like the one below win.

And granted, there are other stars in the commercial like Wisdom Kaye, Quenlin Blackwell, and Paloma Elsesser, but Cardi being her authentic self, even to the point of making the commercial feel like BTS footage, all feels in place.

It all feels aligned.

EPILOGUE

Finding the right voice for a brand, within budget, and within the right window of time in culture for a campaign to live is tricky to do.

But when it’s done correctly, it’s always fun to watch unfold.

For Old Navy, their campaign has generated a ton of earned PR and impressions across social media (this piece will likely contribute to that), and for the other aforementioned brands, they likely saw exposure to new audiences that they may have had trouble reaching before.

Hopefully the future grants us more brand work from Cardi.

At a time in the advertising industry where most creative is forgettable, and even advertisers have AdBlock on all their devices, it’s nice to see work that you don’t want to skip.

As for hip-hop, it’s another sign that the culture is doing just fine in terms of commercial impact.

You gotta love it.

One.

The greatest invention of the social media era just might be… The Hot Take.

It’s highly effective.

2016 Lebron type sh*t.

In fact, the first line of this newsletter was a hot take. And you’re still reading, because it works. It’s provocative — it gets the people going.

And the thing is, you’ll find no shortage of hot takes no matter what industry you look at. They work because they take a kernel of truth and push it to the extreme.

For example, in the music industry, you’ll often hear that it’s hard to break through and gain a following (a truth). To “get on,” an artist must do a ton of TikTok videos tapping into a trend and effectively abandon their artistry for clicks and views (false).

But the take gets hotter from here.

Because if an artist somehow broke through without doing the things above, the internet will say that they’re either an industry plant, doing humiliation rituals behind the scenes, or sacrificing loved ones because that’s the only way to win, apparently.

We see similar (less extreme) hot takes in the world of film.

You’ll often hear that consumers want comfort over a theater experience, so you have to follow up the film release with an immediate streaming release. It’s the only way.

But here’s a hot take of my own:

What if the only thing that actually matters, that has ever actually moved the needle, is a commitment to making the best work possible?

Seriously. If you look at what’s happening around us, THE CREAM STILL RISES TO THE TOP.

Consider this…

The radio primarily plays slop, but Hip-hop’s “Big 3” are all highly skilled craftsmen.

The film industry rarely greenlights original IP, but one of the highest-grossing films of the year was made for under $1 million.

The movie theaters are “dead,” but the Odyssey in IMAX 70MM sold out a year before the movie dropped. And the tickets are reselling for 3x the price.

According to “hot take” culture, these things shouldn’t happen. But if we approach this with a sober view, it’s clear to see that “anomalies” happen every year.

Why?

Because the thing that each of these examples has in common is that they’re just really fucking good.

And, to be fair, we can say there’s always a bit of luck at play.

Sometimes things hit at the right time, and for whatever reason, it catches on in culture.

Sometimes it’s just your turn to win.

The unseen aspect of it all is real, and it's out of the control of most, if not all, creatives. Despite that, if the other boxes are checked, then winning isn’t a matter of if; it’s just a matter of “when?”

Let’s talk about it.

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CAN PEOPLE SEE THE CRAFT?

We’re in an era where creating is easier than it's ever been.

AI can generate almost anything you want for the cost of a few tokens and 30 minutes of time (it’s crazy what we’re doing to the planet, though).

That said, everyone has the same tools. Creativity is more or less democratized, but vision and execution are not.

Think about one of the biggest movies of the year so far: Obsession.

By conventional logic, this shouldn’t have succeeded to the level that it did. The director turned down A24, shot the movie for $750K, and there were no A-Listers attached to the film.

Despite all of that…

OBESSION MADE $400 MILLION.

It’s the 8th highest-grossing film of 2026, because craft doesn’t demand a crazy budget. However, it does demand a really tight grip on the fundamentals of whatever your “thing” is.

Curry Barker made a blockbuster with 750K because he knows his craft well enough to do a lot with what many would say is a little.

More than anything, that’s what created the word of mouth that helped turn this film from a moderate success to an industry anomaly.

Moreover, when you’re a seasoned vet, people can see that, and it makes them even more in awe — consider Jay Z & J. Cole.

Both of their shows have captured headlines because they clearly show a commitment to emcee’ing and putting on a great experience.

Cole is performing songs from the middle of the crowd, engaging fans who couldn’t afford the front row, and putting the spotlight on die-hards in the nosebleeds. To that end, Jay-Z is doing 3-hour sets with no backing vocals, and keeping the crowd engaged despite a 4-hour delay.

In an era where the average artist has 20 people on stage who serve no purpose as they meander back & forth in a drunken-high haze, two of the highest-selling rappers ever show us the difference: It’s Craft.

IS THE WORK ACTUALLY GOOD?

The algorithm gets a ton of unwarranted blame these days. If no one saw your work, or it doesn’t reach the heights you imagined, the instant response is usually…

IT WAS THE ALGORITHM.

But we’re giving the algorithm too much credit.

Does it play a role? Sure.

Do platforms put their hands on the scale to tip things? Yep, absolutely. And they do it all the time.

However, the tougher thing to ask is whether what you’re creating is actually connecting? Did you communicate your message effectively? Is this what people actually want from you? Is that at odds with what you want for yourself?

Amidst the steep competition out there in the world, is this actually competing? Because when we look at what’s still “cutting through” these days, the things that have staying power have proven to be really fucking good.

Remember that hot take about the music video being dead?

Victoria Monet’s lead single “Reach Out” took over social last week, and according to conventional wisdom, it shouldn’t have done well. But it did.

Choreo from Sean Bankhead. Sade Aesthetic with the album cover. Janet Jackson video vibes. 90s vogue type shit.

High-level craft. It was great, which is why it connected with people.

DOES THE STORY MAKE SENSE?

The art of storytelling is about making the complex seem simple and relatable. People have to be able to look at what you’re doing really quickly and say “Oh, I get it,” or they’ll tune out because there’s too much out there to consume.

To that end, everything is a story no matter what your profession or vocation.

And in each instance, the person reading/watching/experiencing the story needs to quickly figure out where you’re taking them, even if they can’t articulate that that’s what they want.

For the storyteller, that means everything has to feel like matching luggage; The shirt has to match the shoes, the shoes have to match the belt, the fit has to match the aura, etc.

If some of these elements are off, the experience becomes jarring. Suddenly the people you’re telling the story to raise an eyebrow, and for a reason they can’t quite ascertain, they just don’t really wanna hear what you’re saying.

But when the story makes sense, it’s the opposite. They get the characters, the world they live in, etc. They can then decide if this is a “tell me more” moment or an “I’m good” moment. And with that clarity of choice comes the ability to truly share your work.

Iman Europe & Kaelin Ellis told an excellent story in Iman’s newest video for her single “Ego Death” — the song itself was dope, but the video added a layer to the story that pushed it even further.

It did over 4 million views on Instagram alone because she and her team focused on the craft.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

The thing we should all remember is that good work still cuts through in every field.

Great marketing will convert. Dope music will spread. Indie movements become major. Cream still rises to the top.

There’s a lot of noise out here, but it’s just that; It’s noise.

And honestly, who’s to say why anything truly resonates? Any super successful person (who’s honest, at least) will tell you how much of it was out of their control.

The only thing they could control was how hard they worked and how much they believed in what they were doing.

Don’t sacrifice that because of your industry’s hot takes.

Hot sh*t is bad for your gut, ya know?

One.

When you think about it, the most important part of a movie aside from the dialogue itself is the music that accompanies it.

The sound design and the soundtrack itself.

Many of the artists we know and love from the 90s got their start from songs placed on movie soundtracks, and some of the best music videos have also doubled as promotional tools for the movie.

Moreover, good sound design can elevate a subpar movie because it adds a layer of context that helps the story stay fresh.

The right soundscape helps pace a chase scene or underscore a romantic moment. Thoughtful sound design can create a sense of urgency or heighten the suspense.

For almost a decade now, when fans ask “who made the music?” in a major Blockbuster film, the name Ludwig Goransson pops up, and it immediately feels like a no-brainer.

Ludwig has been the architect behind the sounds of some of the biggest work across music & movies of the past decade, and when you hear him describe his process, you can tell how technical and thoughtful he is with every project.

Whether it’s infusing math and science into the music of Oppenheimer, or creating a realistic Blues soundscape that can translate to a new generation of moviegoers watching Sinners, he does so seamlessly.

For those unfamiliar with Ludwig, kick back for a few. Let’s talk about his impact and catalog for a bit.

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BACKGROUND

Ludwig was born September 1st, 1984, in Linköping, Sweden, to a father who was a guitar teacher and blues devotee who helped spark his interest in music. With that foundation, he was introduced to Jazz and Classical music and even got the chance to score an orchestra in high school (where he was also a metal guitarist).

Eventually, Ludwig went to the Royal College of Stockholm, where he studied Jazz before going to USC film school in 2007 to enter their film scoring program.

During the USC years, Ludwig met some of the collaborators who would eventually change his career. While attending, he scored between 20-30 films, including a 5-minute short film called “Locks” by a fellow classmate named Ryan Coogler.

Then, right before graduating, he landed an apprenticeship with an established film composer named Theodore Shapiro (who scored Tropic Thunder), and as fate would have it, NBC reached out to Shapiro to score their new sitcom “The Community.”

However, Shapiro was too busy for the role and recommended his new mentee, Ludwig. It was there that Ludwig would eventually meet Donald Glover, an actor on the show, who was in the midst of starting a music career under the moniker “Childish Gambino.”

These two partnerships set the stage for the worlds he would later build.

PART I: THE MUSIC

After Ludwig and Donald Glover met on the set of The Community, the two began collaborating on music. For years, if you checked the credits of Gambino’s early projects, you would see Ludwig Göransson’s name in the credits.

Things went to another level in 2013, when Gambino dropped the project that catapulted him into superstardom: Because The Internet.

Like much of Donald Glover's work, Göransson produced virtually the whole album, including the lead single from the project, “Redbone,” which dominated radio that Summer.

In the years to come, it would also become heavily synonymous with Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” appearing at the beginning of the film and throughout its promotion as well.

The music lived in the world of Parliament-Funkadelic and 70s funk, and it was completely left-of-field in 2014. Moreover, his work on “Because The Internet” set the stage for Donald Glover’s rise to superstardom and everything else to come.

To date, he and Glover are still close collaborators, with Göransson being a co-writer and co-producer on This Is America.

In the years since Redbone, Ludwig has gone on to produce records for everyone from SZA & Justin Timberlake to Alicia Keys, Travis Scott and Burna Boy.

PART II: THE FILMS

Building on the relationship they established at USC, Ludwig has scored every single one of Coogler’s feature films to date.

Each film had a different sonic world that he brought to life, and he often travels to locations or learns from experts in the field of the sonic world he’s trying to build.

For movies like Creed, that meant finding sounds unique to boxing, while Black Panther meant studying with Baaba Mal of the Fulani tribe to learn how to make music authentic to the film (Baaba Mal is also featured on the Black Panther Soundtrack).

The result is that each time we get a film or show scored by Ludwig, it has a noticeably different soundscape than the one you’d find in a regular film. People can immediately tell the difference, and it was Ludwig’s touch.

Black Panther was also one of Göransson’s biggest films, as the movie itself became a cultural phenomenon.

It would eventually land him his first Oscar, and one of the greatest compliments of the film, aside from the storytelling itself, was the incredible music.

The culmination of all his experiences, lessons learned, and influences came together in 2025, when Ryan Coogler’s Sinners dropped.

The movie broke box office records, became the most nominated film in Oscar history, and, right at the center of all the commotion again, was Göransson.

Sinners earned him his third Oscar, and at the 2026 Grammys, he won both Best Score Soundtrack and, alongside Ryan and Serena Göransson, Best Compilation Soundtrack.

For the soundtrack, Göransson was able to pull from the Blues roots of his father and immediately impact the world Ryan built visually.

Moreover, the sound design of the film was also handled by him, and together, fans were given scenes where the music creates the feel of a period piece, with just the right amount of modernity to make it really hit home. The track below was playing in the background as Mary confronted Stack and he professed his love to her.

If Goransson’s work with Coogler is akin to prime Kobe & Shaq, his work with Christopher Nolan is a seasoned Michael Jordan working with a young Kobe Bean Bryant.

Together, the two have worked on three films: Tenet, Oppenheimer, and The Odyssey.

Many of Nolan’s films from The Batman/Dark Knight to Interstellar were scored by Hans Zimmer, but for Tenet he wanted a different approach.

As Ludwig recounts in an interview with SohoHouse, Nolan was in the midst of working on Tenet and requested a meeting with him, which sparked the partnership. They spent hours listening to music, and from there he went on to craft ideas for the film.

Since then, Ludwig’s contribution to the Odyssey has been another heralded addition. For this interpretation of the Greek epic, Christopher Nolan challenged him to find instruments that existed in those times and come up with something that hadn’t been heard before.

EPILOGUE

Often when movies are made, the person doing the score is separate from the producer of the soundtrack, but what makes Ludwig dope is his versatility.

In many of the feature films that he’s a part of, he not only handles the scoring duties or the sound design duties — the purview of which is usually just about finding sounds that complement scenes; he also oversees the music itself, meaning that he has to produce records with various artists for the soundtrack.

Odyssey is in theaters, and we are treated to another Chris Nolan creation, and sound design from what many call this generation's Hans Zimmer.

In art, there’s rarely an artist you come across where every time they drop, satisfaction is a ‘sure thing,’ so when you run across them, you have to cherish them.

That’s the case with Ludwig Goransson.

Each score crafted with care. Every sound chosen with precision.

One.

From creation myths to modern media, society is built around the concept of storytelling.

Your favorite song.

Your favorite movie.

That paragraph text that just blew up your morning.

They’re all stories meant to convince, convey, inspire, reveal, etc., and they do so with the goal of communicating a message.

In many respects, this is what marketing does as well. It’s storytelling from a brand whose goal is to communicate why you should buy their product or service.

In the old days, brand storytelling was way simpler and more effective.

A brand would come up with the tagline — something like “Lucky Strikes. The Cigarette for the lucky,” and with that short tagline, Lucky Strikes would tell folks a story about success or style — something you could attain through them.

Over time, the above story became less effective at driving sales, and the preferred mode of storytelling shifted. This time it was about having artists and entertainers translate products to consumers on behalf of the brand.

The formula was as simple as it was in the old days: Popular Celeb + Product = $$$$$.

The entertainer was typically not involved in the creative process (e.g., script or tagline creation), and their main expectation was to hold a product. Alas, it was a goldmine.

Since then, entertainers have carved out more space for themselves as full-blown media properties, leading to a shift from pure celeb endorsements to actual collaborations (and, in some cases, full partnerships).

In this era, artists/entertainers have more influence, but much like the old modes of storytelling, they’re still brought in after the process when the script is already written, and the set is agreed on. In essence, all the brand asks is that the lines they wrote be read (though the entertainer may make *light* suggestions).

That formula still works (for now), but it’s long past the point of oversaturation.

There are so many stories to consume, and so many ways to consume them that it’s hard for many brands to connect with people earnestly, let alone convince them to buy something.

Despite that, there is one category where time and again, it’s been shown that consumers in this space not only tune in to stories from the brands they purchase from, but also expect them and revel in how creative they can be.

Of course, we’re talking about….

SNEAKER CULTURE.

In a world that’s still telling stories like it’s the 80s, sneaker brands are consistently showing what brand storytelling will look like in the future.

Whether you’re a brand or a creator, we can all take cues from what’s happening in that space and apply it to our creative. Let’s talk about it.

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I. TVC CRAFT WITHOUT TVC LOGIC

The old-school marketing mindset is to dump all our money into a large-scale TV commercial, put a ton of media dollars behind it, and wait for the results.

That’s the preferred mode of storytelling because that’s where the most attention is.

Moreover, everything is backed by paid media, so it's justifiable to anyone who questions its efficacy. All the bases covered, except the one that really mattered: CULTURAL IMPACT.

Sneaker brands have given their artist partners free rein to deliver compelling stories to the places where people spend most of their time: their phones.

The production value of the social videos is high enough to double as TVCs, but the beauty is that they don’t have to deal with the same roadblocks.

You don’t have to bid for airtime, make sure creative is locked and delivered to the media partner in time for it to air, etc.

The brand, or the creative behind it, can post the clip as they like, and from there the audience can engage with it or not.

From there, in the case of sneakers, the cultural outlets embedded in the sneaker community pick up the news, and enthusiasts carry the lore on behalf of the brand.

II. PERMISSION TO PLAY

As times change, brands have become more risk-averse; they’re deathly afraid of making the wrong move, and anything that’s slightly above room temperature is likely to be left on the cutting-room floor.

They’ve forgotten one of advertising’s strongest storytelling devices: fun.

The obvious here is that sneaker brands inherently have permission to play. But if we look a layer deeper, it’s because they’ve allowed the people they're in business with (the creators) to actually come up with stories they think are dope.

These stories can be daring, nostalgic, and everything in between because the creator themselves exists within youth culture, and the shoes (which will be considered grails by their fanbase) will lowkey sell themselves regardless of how good their marketing rollout is.

To that end, brands hoping to convince people to buy a vacuum cleaner or Alka-Seltzer have a much harder job.

“Permission to Play” looks way different in those spaces, but just because the product is “ordinary” or “unexciting,” the world around it doesn’t have to be.

When you look at what’s happening in the sneaker category, you remember a lesson that brand managers these days have forgotten: It’s okay to tell fun stories.

Take the piece from A$AP Rocky below announcing the return of the Puma Suede ‘94s — it opens in a restaurant, the shoe is sitting on a tray of food, and the music isn’t Hip-hop.

It feels like it was fun to make, and that energy comes through in the work.

III. CULTURAL AUTHORSHIP

We talked about this in The Rise of the Creator-Led Brand a few weeks back, and it’s the idea that brands leading in culture are choosing long-term partnerships with respected creatives that closely model the Artist/Patron model from the 1500s.

We can look to countless people in the space, from Joe Freshgoods to Jae Tips, and the signal of where things are going is clear.

In the old guard, the campaign (i.e., the story) needed one message repeated everywhere, ad nauseam, so people would remember it. As mentioned earlier, the brand would leverage creators as ambassadors to deliver that message and discard them just as quickly as they found them.

In the future, sneaker brands are showing that the real play is backing the innovators of this generation and letting them tell their stories.

In this way, the patron way, all parties feel invested (including the consumer), and they’re able to truly do the deep work because it's a years-long affair.

And, to the earlier point on TVC, the social ends up doing what a television commercial would at a fraction of the cost because it was delivered to people in a way consistent with where they spend most of their time.

IV. WORLDBUILDING

Worldbuilding is one of marketing’s newest, favorite buzzwords, and for good reason.

Attention is scarce, and brand messaging is at an all-time high, but building an ever-expanding world helps the brand create a presence that’s recognizable anywhere.

In these worlds, you can rotate out the creative messaging here and there because the world itself is the focal point of everything that springs from the creative, whether it's year 1 or year 10.

It’s what Adidas has been building with Anthony Edwards through “Believe That,” and what Tyler, The Creator’s has done with his work with Converse.

Believe That has become its own self-contained world, with recurring characters and chapters that sneakerheads recognize at first glance. It’s a story with multiple plot points that converge on AE, and even when he’s not present for most of the commercial, it's still communicated well.

To that end, Tyler’s work has always lived in a high-fashion, creative world filled with endless possibilities. Sometimes the stories are abstract, and at other times the influences around them are clearly visible. Either way, his work is so consistent that you may not remember the collection name, but you KNOW the brand.

Ronnie Fieg & KITH are really good at worldbuilding as well. He’s been teasing the relaunch of Nike’s Linen collection, with an entire world built around it. And, much like Tyler, A$AP brings in characters and energy that give the collection a totally different vibe.

LASTLY, TO BE FAIR…

We do have to acknowledge every brand is like the sneaker category. If you’re selling cat litter, there’s a community for that, no doubt, but will they spread the lore of your cat litter video? Who’s the creator that you allow to write the script for that? Are they out there?

Honestly? They might. But it’s hard to say, unless somebody tries.

Just some food for thought.

People still watch TV, and it’s still (one of) the biggest channels for reaching people at scale, but brands would likely do well to consider how to tell better stories on social. We’re almost two decades into social media, and it’s often still treated as the side dish of a 360 campaign.

Despite that, every brand steward returning from Cannes says content creators are the future.

If creators are the future, the future of brand storytelling is to stop bringing them in after the story has already been written.

Give them room to actually write it.

One.

You live long enough to realize that life happens in cycles.

The same trends that once defined your generation become uncool by the time you’re an adult, only to resurge again once you’re a parent looking for cushy shoes and an ergonomic chair.

Same with stars. They come and go. And some experience a resurgence.

The song of the summer becomes a throwback. Then it becomes a sample.

Once a man, twice a child, as they say.

It’s all a cycle.

Hip-hop itself is cycling out of a decade-plus of Trap music and into something that closely resembles its 80s sibling, Punk. The festival circuit already knows it, and the radio is catching up as the stars of this generation start to cement themselves.

And with Complex’s announcement of its most recent ComplexCon lineup, there’s one clear takeaway:

THE RAGE GENERATION HAS FULLY ARRIVED.

Their presence has been growing for a while, but now that we’re halfway through the year, we should take an in-depth look at what Rage is, where it’s headed, and what the subgenre is all about.

I. TRAP WAS ONCE DISRUPTIVE…

Before anything, we have to start with where we’ve been over the past 15-ish years: Trap music.

Trap went from regional slang to a musical sound to a sub-genre of Rap to the standard sound of pop music. To that end, “Trap” has become something that lives completely outside of Hip-hop culture.

Now you’ve even got subgenres of Trap, including “EDM trap” and “dub-step trap”—what are they? Only God knows, but that’s what happens with culture. It starts underground, becomes mainstream, and once it's oversaturated, the youth move to invent something.

As Trap has become commoditized, producers & artists from the SoundCloud era were finding ways to push the sound & aesthetic further. The sounds that defined trap music, like hi-hat rolls and lead synths, became harsher, more electronic, and more frantic than their trap predecessors.

II. PUNK & HIP-HOP WERE ALWAYS SIBLINGS

Punk Music began its ascent in the mid-70s, with groups like The Ramones laying the foundation, while Hip-hop music entered the cultural zeitgeist in the late 80s.

Rappers like Fab 5 Freddy helped bridge the gap through his event Beyond Words, which brought together emcees, graffiti artists, and punk rockers all in one place. The Punk Rock group Blondie even mentioned Freddie in their 1980 single “Rapture” — further showing how tight the two underground communities were.

In fact, just a year after Blondie name-dropped Fab 5 Freddie, a British punk rock band, The Clash dropped “The Magnificent Seven,” inspired by The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper's Delight” (the first Hip-hop single to reach radio play in 1979).

As we get deeper into the 80s, artists like the Beastie Boys, who were originally Punk Rockers under a different name, blended the sounds of Rock and Rap throughout their new work. Rick Rubin, who was also a punk rock kid and equally interested in hip-hop, was at the helm of the production, further blending the two worlds.

Moreover, groups like Public Enemy collaborated with Anthrax, a heavy metal band, on records such as “Bring the Noise.”

Then, as we move into the early 2000s, we see the emergence of Bands like N.E.R.D., who continued the rock-rap wave in the mainstream.

And finally, in the 2010s, Ye dropped Yeezus, which marked another sonic shift in Hip-hop music; The sound was industrial and raw, like an 80s record, with the visuals and overall spirit of a Punk record. From there, we see the emergence of Travis Scott and the very early sonics of Rage start to take form.

III. DEFINING THE NEW SOUND: RAGE

Much of what youth call “Rage” music is what Millennials and X’ers reference as “Soundcloud Rap” or “Mumble Rap.”

This was around 2014 — by then, music production & recording was fully accessible, and the barriers to reaching consumers were so low that one could record straight from their phone and upload to SoundCloud. No mix or master required.

In the years since, Rage has become a full-blown community, much like Trap was, and producers anchoring the sound include F1thy (Carti’s longtime producer), Bnyx, starboy, and more.

The synths are dark & electronic; a derivative of Trap leads and melodies, while the drums are more distorted than their predecessor. The vocals range from muddled and hard to understand to distorted and emotionally charged.

A. THE OVERLOOKED BRIDGE

When asked about the pioneers of Rage, three names usually pop up — Playboi Carti, Trippie Redd, and Uzi Vert. However, before them there was a rapper in Atlanta whose meteoric hit ushered in the genre.

In 2014, OGMaco dropped “U Guessed It” at the tail end of The Blog Era, and it became an instant favorite. It was different - built for moshing and tearing the club up. Maco even took up the moniker Lord of Rage;

Much of what happens with the Rage genre begins after his single cut through on the radio.

B. SOUNDCLOUD TURNS PAIN INTO DISTORTION

Another definitive shift in the space happened when an unknown artist named XXXTentacion (or XXX for short) went viral for the song “Look At Me!” — his rise underscored a shift in Hip-hop towards emo, with rappers rapping about mental health and more.

His music was distorted and harsh on purpose; it was a texture that helped convey the music's emotion — something that often gets lost in the process of mixing/mastering an album.

XXX followed up with his debut album “17,” which was praised by other emcees at the top of the industry, including Kendrick, and though he passed before seeing the full extent of his influence, the mark he left was indelible.

Around that same time, we also see the emergence of Rico Nasty, who deserves her own category because her work predates much of the rage-related conversation.

She was punk. She was Hip-hop. She was something that the game hadn’t seen before. And as the Rage movement began to take shape, she was pushing the sound and aesthetic before they were popular.

By the late 2010s, SoundCloud also gave rise to two other aforementioned pioneers of the genre: Trippie Redd & Lil Uzi Vert.

Together with Playboi Carti, the trio is essentially 'The Big 3’ of Rage music. Trippie dropped songs like “Miss The Rage,” which is a Rage classic, while Uzi’s entire sound & aesthetic embodied the genre. His project “Luv Is Rage 2” was a transitional moment that catapulted him into superstardom.

IV. THE CULT OF CARTI

In the late 2010s, Playboi Carti’s popularity began to grow into a cult-like following — one that hadn’t been seen since the Blog era days. He had formed a strong connection with the A$AP crew in NY and eventually signed to A$AP Rocky’s AWGE, where he dropped his debut album, “Die Lit,” to much acclaim.

As the years progressed, Carti’s sound and aesthetic evolved, and he would even note that much of his artistry was inspired by Punk artists.

As his sound progressed from the Pierre Bourne-produced “Magnolia” back to his roots, the seeds of the Rage movement were being actively planted.

By the end of the 2010s, rumors that he was finally dropping his next project, “Whole lotta Red,” gripped the internet. When it finally dropped, WLR became a definitive moment for Rage Music. An album as important to the sub-genre as Illmatic is to 90s Hip-hop.

With ‘Whole Lotta Red, ’ Carti was no longer just the fashionable Atlanta rapper behind “Magnolia.” He was King Vamp: an elusive, red-haired figure dressed in leather, crosses, Rick Owens, and black nail polish. He became a mythical figure.

The reaction to WLR was polarizing, as it was a complete sonic shift, one that fans of his debut ‘Die Lit’ had never expected. But its success turned Carti into a superstar, and further positioned the Rage movement for success.

Its arrival was only topped by the arrival of his late-2025 project, “I AM MUSIC,” which, despite having no major single on the radio, no album rollout, or music video, still sold roughly 300k in its first week — something that only music superstars across all genres accomplish these days.

V. OPIUM BECOMES AN INSTITUTION

As Playboi Carti ascended, he started his own imprint 00pium (often stylized with two zeroes instead of an “O”), in partnership with Interscope Records.

Many of the artists at the forefront of Rage (Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely, for example) are signed to Playboi Carti’s Opium imprint and have dropped songs and projects considered pillars of the sound. Ken Carson'

To that end, Carti’s fashion also became a fixture for fans who quickly gravitated towards his style, leading to the emergence of “Opiumcore” online. Some loosely refer to the aesthetic as“vamp,” and there’s another imprint associated with the next wave of artists on Opium called “Young Vamp Life.”

Millennials who are befuddled by all this can use Goth as a quick reference. The key difference is that brands like Chrome Hearts and Rick Owens serve as the uniform of this generation’s fashion.

Much like the sound, Opiumcore's clothing is dark, and the hairstyles give off a 1980s post-punk vibe (teased hair, distressed tees, leather jackets/pants, winged eyeliner, etc.).

EPILOGUE

Though 00pium gave Rage a solid foundation, artists like Yeat showed that the sound could survive outside their crew; his run in the early 2020s is often cited as a key part of the movement.

Moreover, there are other acts in the space that should be on everyone’s radar, including SoFayGo, Baby Kia, and Tia Corine, who’ve been putting Punk & Black Alternative culture at the forefront, before there was ever such a thing as Rage.

The Rage scene has been forming for a while, and the Complex Con announcement is the latest indication that commercially this will be (one of) the next waves to hit.

While there are other sounds forming underground, if you’re an older Hip-hop fan and wondering why you’re seeing & hearing some of the names above, hopefully this gives you some context.

If anything, as I get older, I’m always interested in seeing where the next generation takes things.

Rage isn’t my bag, but as long as the youth push the culture forward, that’s really all you can ask for. It’s up to the OGs to guide their steps in the meantime.

One.

The BET Awards were last weekend, and some are calling it the best in years, in no small part because of the icon awards given that night. The winners included Teyana Taylor and Sylvia Rhone, as well as a win/performance by the incomparable Ms. Lauryn Hill.

Ms. Hill is the vanguard of a level of Hip-hop artistry from the 90s that we rarely see in modern times, that’s revered by artists across generations. In an era when talent felt secondary to success, she was talent personified—a true triple threat; she could sing, act, and rap. Like really rap. Like “embarrass your favorite rapper in a battle” rap.

Her only album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was nominated for 10 Grammys. She won 5, and became the very first rapper to win album of the year at the Grammys.

It was such a strong project that, almost 30 years later, it still stands the test of time and is widely sampled by modern-day artists. Apple Music even crowned it the best album of all time last year.

And then there’s The Fugees.

Their sophomore album “The Score” turns 30 this year, is widely considered a Hip-hop classic, and for a while was the highest-selling rap album of all time (over 22 million sold).

And as evidenced by her BET appearance, her presence is appreciated.

Moreover, her speech felt like a moment that could be crystallized in time; something full circle, given the years of media coverage of her personal life and her periodic lateness to shows.

Despite all of that, her words were a reminder that she’s an artist giving the world her gift. Giving the audience a new way to look at things — sometimes the road there can be bumpy. But either way, you’re better for it.

BACKGROUND

Lauryn Noelle Hill was born in East Orange, New Jersey, in May of 1975 to Valerie and Mal Hill in a family that was steeped heavily in music, so much so that in 1987, at only 13 years old, she appeared on the amateur night of Showtime at the Apollo. That was only a glimpse of what was to come.

And though the new generation thinks that Ms. Hill’s career started in music, her journey actually began as an actor, appearing in Off-Broadway shows like The Twelfth Night (shoutout to MC Lyte), before making her debut on network TV as Kira Johnson in the daytime soap opera “As The World Turns” at 16.

Between her Apollo appearance and As The World Turns, Lauryn’s abilities were in full display, and shortly after, she booked more roles, including the sequel to a Whoopi Goldberg film — Sister Act 2- and it would go on to be one of her greatest acting performances to date (hence why the BET Awards made a nod to it during her tribute).

Lauryn’s role in Sister Act 2 as the defiant Rita Watson also showcased her maturation as a singer. Moreover, as she was securing movie roles, she was actively attending Columbia High School in New Jersey, where she became friends with Prakazrel Michel, aka Praz.

Together, the two decided to create a music group and, after meeting Wyclef Jean, formed The Fugees.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I. THE SOUND OF MS. LAURYN HILL

Ms. Hill’s music blends a ton of genres, weaving in and out of her work with The Fugees and on her solo album. At times, you hear the influences of Reggae and dancehall. Other times, you hear Soul, Doo-wop, Blues, and even a dash of Gospel. Sometimes the vibes are purely Hip-hop.

Regardless of how you classify her music, every individual sound and lyric feels purposeful and thought out. Whenever she’s on a record, she doesn’t waste a bar or half-ass a bridge; Each recording is truly a display of mastery of craft.

A. THE FUGEES

With The Fugees, their work was monumental for the African Diaspora, especially Haiti, where Wyclef & Pras were from. 1

And the genre blending that we’d eventually see on Ms. Hill’s solo album is on full display with records like “Killing Me Softly With His Song”— a flip of the classic Tribe Called Quest Record (Bonita Applebum), where Lauryn covers a Roberta Flack song of the same name.

Their Sophomore album “The Score” is what most consider their magnum opus, and is overtly Hip-hop from the outset, with soul samples, dusty drums, skits, and sounds from the diaspora on songs like “No Woman, No Cry.”

While “Killing Me Softly With His Song” became the highest-charting Fugees single, the 3rd single, Ready or Not, is another favorite from the album with an incredible verse & hook from Ms. Lauryn Hill floating over the mysterious-sounding instrumental.

B. THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL

In her BET speech, Ms. Hill notes that a key inspiration behind Miseducation and all of her music is her great childhood.

More specifically, she realized that not many people had experienced the levels of love, safety, and support she did as a child, and her music was an attempt to give that to others.

Whether in her work with The Fugees or, especially, on her solo project, you see these themes come to life in various ways, exploring everything from failed relationships to social justice, and favoring self-respect over shallowness.

As you dig into Miseducation, you’re instantly met with bars, then ballads, reggae & dancehall vibes, themes of spirituality and much more. It all mixes in, and by the end of the album you experience a wide range of sounds that you don’t necessarily hear from the Fugees (some of which are courtesy of New Ark, who helped out on the project).

Her album doesn’t sound like a random collection of songs put together over a few jam sessions; it sounds like an extremely personal and reflective project full of stories and wisdom that the audience could hear was from a place of care.

Also worth mentioning is that a good chunk of The Miseducation was recorded at Bob Marley’s studio, “Tuff Gong,” in Jamaica, as her relationship with Rohan Marley kicked up, and as she became an expecting mother; all of this found its way into Ms. Hill’s sound and the album’s subject matter.

And honestly, if we’re keeping it simple — the shit was jamming.

II. MS. HILL’S LASTING IMPACT ON HIP-HOP

Ms. Hill is widely regarded as one of the female emcees who paved the way for the next generation after the 90s. Everyone from Nicki Minaj to newer artists like Lizzo & Doechii mention her as an inspiration, and a bar to aspire to musically.

And although Ms. Hill has only released one studio LP (or two if you count the unplugged album), the material on Miseducation is widely sampled by artists including Ye, H.E.R., and Drake, who has sampled Lauryn Hill multiple times throughout his career.

This includes sampling "Ex Factor” on Nice For What” from his 2016 album Scorpion. To date, it’s one of the biggest chart-toppers of his career.

DRAKE - NICE FOR WHAT

Ms. Hill is also still active — collaborating with select artists and collaborators with whom she’s had success before. To that end, she recently appeared on the deluxe edition of Ye’s “Bully,” and also appeared on “Nobody” on Nas’ King Disease II in 2021.

NAS - NOBODY (feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill)

III. LAURYN HILL’S AESTHETIC

As the author Joan Morgan notes, Lauryn Hill “begat this” (check out Ms. Morgan’s book on Ms. Lauryn Hill, btw).

At the time (and even now), if you consider what Hollywood touts as the beauty in pop culture, marketing, movies, etc., rarely are Black women positioned as the standard, let alone dark-skinned Black women with natural hair (afro, or locs).

To that end, Lauryn was the embodiment of 90s cool, and, specifically for Black women, but more specifically, a huge part of the natural hair movement. It was revolutionary for someone like her to appear on magazine covers in the 90s.

And her impact is clear. On apps like TikTok, searches for Ms. Hill’s name bring up everything from her art to users entering their “Lauryn Hill” phase of their natural hair journeys and using her 90s outfits for inspiration.

And, in keeping with the current times, you can still see Ms. Hill in a dope outfit periodically via man-on-the-street style interviews; Still fly, and still ahead of the curve.

EPILOGUE

Longtime fans have always welcomed the potential for more music, a new tour, and even a Fugees reunion, all of which have appeared in some form or another. Dave Chappelle briefly reunited The Fugees in 2005 for his “Block Party” film, and the trio has performed together sporadically in recent years.

No matter if we get any more new music from Ms. Hill, the fact that we still talk about her album and presence after 3 decades is a testament to the fact that we got properly fed the first time. And hey, if a meal is that good, you’re likely gonna be full for a minute.

But if we still manage to get a verse or a hook from her every now and then, you definitely won’t hear complaints on my end.

If nothing else, we can take to heart the words from her BET speech. Share your gift with the world.

She already did, so I guess that means it’s our turn.

One.