Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls [Paperback]

Richard Oliver (Author), Tim Leffel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 16, 2006

At the heart of hip-hop—the most vigorous, electric development in the music world since the advent of punk rock—are its brilliant entrepreneurs. Some have demonstrated business instinct and marketing savvy that would make many Fortune 500 CEOs envious. Hip-hop and the moguls behind it are a force to be reckoned with. These larger-than-life figures, the elite of hip-hop, have prospered through a combination of old-fashioned business savvy, shrewd marketing, and constant commercial reinvention. Over the past decade, their collective net worth has grown upwards of $1 billion. Hip Hop, Inc. reveals the secrets of success that can be applied to virtually any other business. It illustrates these secrets by telling the never-before-told stories of the most successful of the rap elite and, through extensive interviews, lets the advice flow from the millionaires themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This homage to street entrepreneurship focuses on accumulating bling, stock options, marketing, and the amassing of personal fortunes via heady business dealings rather than musical breakthroughs. Perhaps that's how the overculture finally comes to grips with rap's meteoric rise to the top of the charts. Oliver and Leffel more-or-less chronologically recap how the rap business evolved, and they tell the success stories of the likes of he who was once known as Sean Combs and multimillionaire Russell Simmons. Their disquisition on the arc of Percy "Master P" Miller's under-the-radar success story is perhaps particularly enlightening for budding Horatio Algers of urban music. These performers became wealthy marketing their once-underground music and its myriad offshoots and commercial tie-ins, employing business finesse rather than the strong-arm tactics famously applied to managing the talent. Engrossing and vital in a be-all-you-can-be sense, this is a unique take on a huge sector of the pop-music industry. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Dr. Richard W. Oliver has published a variety of successful business books, including The Shape of Things to Come: 7 Imperatives for Winning in the New World of Business; The Coming Biotech Age: the Business of Bio-Materials; The Biotech Age: The Business of Biotech and How To Make Money From It, and What Is Transparency? all published by McGraw-Hill. He also co-wrote Hockey Tonk: The Amazing Story of the Nashville Predators with NHL Nashville Predators hockey team owner Craig Leopold (Thomas Nelson Publishing) and co-wrote The Eagle and the Monk: 7 Principles of Successful Change with William A. Jenkins (Gates & Bridges Publishing). He has also published dozens of articles in a variety of business magazines and speaks frequently around the world on business strategy.

He formerly served as VP of Marketing at Nortel, as a professor of management at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, and as a board member for four public companies. He is currently the CEO of American Learning Solutions, a company he founded in 2000.


Tim Leffel is the managing editor of the Journal of Business Strategy on-line. He is the author of The World’s Cheapest Destinations and has contributed to several business books, including The Seven Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Success. A frequent media commentator, he has been interviewed on national television and on numerous radio programs. He has been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and MSN Money. His credits include Robb Report, St. Petersburg Times, and National Geographic Traveler. He received a Bachelors Degree in Music Management from James Madison University and spent seven years in marketing at RCA Records, working with such influential rap acts as A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, Kool Mo Dee, Too Short, and the Wu-Tang Clan. He lives in Nashville, TN.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560257326
• ISBN-13: 978-1560257325
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and welcome book, January 15, 2007

By 

Kam-Au Amen (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls (Paperback)

For sure the book is a great introduction to a business many of us are interested in knowing about and having wanted a comprehensinve source that took this business seriously. It was not a hard core business text detailing the strategies of the Hip-Hop moguls. If you want detail then you will need to find other books to complement, instead, Richard Oliver et al. sets the business context which is all I think the truly passionate young entrepreneur needs from this book. The entrepreneur will know what to do next!

The accounts of these players are very inspiring for a whole generation of young people of African descent who want to take the busniness of our culture seriously.

I recommend this book for use in all programmes that teach about the entertainment business right along with Vogel's Entertainment Industry Economics because it is truly about the Entertainment business rather than just about the music. If you're interested in entrepreneurship in creative enterprises, innovative branding approaches and extensions grab a copy.

More time.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hip Hop Inc -- A little misleading, January 12, 2007

By 

Vicky Vale - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hip-Hop, Inc. : Success Strategies of the Rap Moguls (Paperback)

I thought the premise of this book was great, but basically the book was a re-write of the history of hip-hop, starting with Russell Simmons. The book listed the wealth and a few tactics of P. Diddy, Jay-Z and Russell, but didn't apply any real strategic feedback.

I thought the book would outline basic business school practices such as -- Understand your market -- or something like that and THEN take that principle and break down how the hip-hop artist followed that business principle.

Totally, totally disappointing. I wanted my money back, but I wrote my name in the book.