Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, every rapper was either launching a clothing line or a record label or both. Today some rappers are still venturing into the apparel business and the artist production business. But it isn't at the rate it was over 10 year ago. Today Hip Hop artists are turning their attention to new sources of revenue. If it isn't a liquor brand which has made Hip Hop heavies like Sean "P Diddy" Combs fabulously wealthy, its sneakers? Jay Z, Kanye, 50cent and Eminem all had/have shoe deals with major athletic wear companies with Drake as the latest Hip Hop artist to join the exclusive Hip Hop sneaker club. But is it a big business or just another way for these artist to promote themselves? And even if this is the case, isn't that the whole point anyway? Compared to shoes produced in deals with major sports figures like Lebron James and others, celebrity sneaker deals have limited production quantities which tend to push prices up. These limited runs are for good reason. When Jay-Z released his S. Carter sneaker line in 2003 through Reebok, it became the fastest selling shoe ever for the company. But it can be challenging for celebrities to create a line that has the year-after-year success of athlete-branded shoes. The S. Carter line declined in popularity after its initial hype burned out. So who benefits more from these short lived deals? Is it the sneaker company looking to dig deeper into an artist's fan base or the artist looking to give their fans a little more of themselves?
source›› time
