Hip Hop, Inc.

Book excerpt: 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.