Black Talk and Pop Culture Blog

1. Find a current commerical in which a hip-hop artist advertises a product. Discuss the video as it relates to the role of marketing and advertising in the artist’s career. Make sure you provide examples to argue the thesis that hip-hop artists have (or have not) blurred the line between music and merchandise. Is hip-hop more open to identifying itself with brands? Is hip-hop more entrepreneurial than rock or pop? “…has black talk been used openly, knowingly, and not mockingly to sell products” (Savan 195)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jubz1Ini-o


The current commercial that I used has Beyonce in it where she is promoting Direct T.V. It begins like every other music video that she has made where she dances in a barely there sequence dress and sings about how much of a diva she is. This commercial has been seen by all and not only does Beyonce look gorgeous in the video, the song is rather catchy also. The song sounds as if she pulled it right off of her platinum CD. I do not believe that hip-hop is more entrepreneurial than rock or that it is more open to identifying with brands. These commercials that feature any celebrity is not only there to just promote the product but to promote the music. I'm sure if you watch a decent amount of TV you can sing along to every commercial that features a song in it. This is one of the ways advertisement pulls the public in.