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Wiz Khalifa: Marketing Genius

2 Feb

Many people wouldn’t think of rappers as marketing gurus, but Wiz Khalifa might change that impression. The Pittsburgh-based rapper released his hit single “Black and Yellow” in September 2010. Please note the logos of Pittsburgh’s three major sports teams:

Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Pirates

What do the three teams have in common? Their primary colors are “Black and Yellow” “Black and Yellow” “Black and Yellow.” That, by itself, is fairly remarkable. Most cities have tremendous variation in the colors of their sports teams, but Pittsburgh bucks that trend. Khalifa’s single was released last fall and saw its popularity rise with every Steelers victory. By now, fans have adopted the hit song as the official anthem of the team (now destined for the Super Bowl). Khalifa performed the song before kickoff for the NFC championship.

“I’m sure he will be loved by Steelers fans forever,” said Dan Charvas, author of A History of Hip Hop. At the very least, “he might get paid off of this forever.”

The music video also shows marketing intelligence. It features Pittsburgh landmarks and could easily pass as a modern tourism video for the city. With this song, Khalifa cements himself as a Pittsburgh legend, while launching a mainstream career at the same time. Sounds like a pretty genius strategy to me.

PS: Green Bay released a similar colors song, called “Green and Yellow,” to support their team before the Super Bowl. This young rapper is pretty good. For Wisconsin.

Update: Rapper Lil’ Wayne has joined the Green Bay side. His version of “Green and Yellow” \”Green and Yellow\”

Not Enough “Working Class Heroes” in the Music Industry?

30 Jan

The BBC asks if the music industry “Has Gone Too Posh?” in a recent article online.

They point to a rise in privately-educated musicians with pop hits, rather than stars who came from poverty to conquer the industry. As always, the story is slightly more complicated. For every star musician that rose from extreme poverty, like Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon, there were those who came from middle class backgrounds, like John Lennon and Pete Townsend.

With that said, the BBC compared the current Top 40 chart with one from 20 years ago, and discovered that back in 1990 nearly 80 percent of artists were educated in state schools. Rolling Stone recently pointed out new hit artists, like Nicki Minaj, who attended drama schools.

With all that said, do you think the music suffers from private school pupils?

Would they have made it today?

 

My New Song Obsession

23 Jan

Nothing like a blast from the past. This song sounds like a soul ballad from the 1970s, but was actually recorded two years ago. “Moneygrabber” courtesy of Fitz and the Tantrums.

Amanda Palmer— “Map of Tasmania”

23 Jan

I just heard this song, and watched the music video. You should probably watch it right now. It’s about… unshaved pubic hair.  I think.

50 Cent Tweets Stock Advice, Makes Millions

11 Jan

“Get Rich Or Die Tweeting.” That was the headline from The New York Observer after rapper 50 Cent began offering stock advice this weekend, in a series of tweets. Over the weekend, 50 began hyping a little-known company called H & H Imports. Their stock shot up from $.10 to $.39 on Monday, a staggering 290% gain. Turns out, 50 has a 12% stake in the company and made a cool $8.7 million in 140 characters.

“You can double your money right now. Just get what you can afford,” the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, tweeted. Today, he followed up. The company, as might be expected, has some suspicious business ventures, but 50 Cent can enjoy his moment of financial glory.

I’m sure I would take financial advice from him… but… that’s me.

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