Why Hip-Hop Stars and Tech Gurus are Exactly The Same
This is the story of how hip-hop and software development grew up around the same block.
The late 1950’s brought the world DARPA- the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and creators of the first computer networking system- and Motown Records- the first institution to commercially mix pop and soul tunes that led to today’s hip-hop beats. Seemingly disparate industries, software engineering and hip-hop have moved in lock-step, taking over industries, countries, and entire generations.
“I’m Your Daddy”- Ice-T
Whether writing lyrics or lines of code, the old guard of hip-hop and computer engineering are often credited with continuing the talent pipeline by dedicating time to mentor up-and-comers and providing a safe space for their successors to grow in their craft. For example, Lil Wayne’s Cash Money Records cultivated the talents of phenoms like Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga. Likewise, Paypal bred Youtube, Yelp, Yammer, and several others. At an industry level, choosing a good lyrical protege is a lot like selecting a good startup for your venture capital (VC) portfolio; you have to hope that 1 out of 10 will pay for the investments in the other hopefuls. The rhapsodic vanguards of today: Jay-Z, Kanye, and Beyonce, mirror Apple, Google, and Facebook in that each of them was supported by the wisdom of elders in their industry.
“On the Playground Is Where I Spent Most of My Days”- DJ Jazzy Jeff
Many OG’s- original gangsters- grew up in the same communities as children. For example, Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, a.k.a. Bed-Stuy, produced Lil’ Kim, B.I.G, Jay-Z, while Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences delivered Snapchat’s Evan Spiegel, Whisper’s Michael Heyward, and Viddy’s Chris Ovitz. Coming from similar backgrounds, they were able to understand each other and grow together in ecosystems ripe with potential.
The Wojcicki sisters provided a home for the greatness of Google and the future of Youtube. Lil’ Kim and Faith Evans’s catapult into fame as perhaps two of the baddest melodic engineers of the early 2000’s by connecting with Bad Boy Entertainment. Anne, Susan, Lil’ Kim, and Faith helped build today’s ecosystem of chart-topping mobile applications and musical singles.
“It Was All A Dream”- B.I.G.
Sean Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment, started at arguably one of the most illustrious music production companies of all time in his friend’s garage after being fired from Uptown Records in the early 1990’s. Likewise, a year later, Jeff Bezos formed the online bookstore Cadabra, Inc. in his Bellevue, Washington garage after leaving a big company. During that time, both fledglings were too young to know how to play by the rules and ended up writing new guidelines for rap music and e-commerce. From such humble origins, both young founders knew that the first single and the first book shipped was just the beginning of their empires.
On another note, good technologists and prominent hip-hoppers are excellent storytellers. They help confirm truths about ourselves that we knew all along or always hoped for; whether that’s the 15th productivity app that verifies that you’re an astute steward of your time or the public declaration that royalty is in your DNA- courtesy of Kendrick Lamar. Technologists and musicians allow their customers to fall into a world customized to their specifications mentally and emotionally.
Tech and Hip-Hop’s Shared Formula for Global Domination:
One New Idea at a Time
Each operating system update often comes out with a flagship change, while songs usually try to compel a single sentiment to their audience. They explain one innovative technological improvement or hard-hitting lyric thoroughly, thereby allowing their customers to immerse themselves in what they’re selling one bit at a time. Additionally, by allowing their stories and product upgrades to unfold slowly over time, they give the gift of anticipation to their patrons.
2. Everything is Vivid with Examples
Whether they’re bumping NSFW verses with graphic details, or streaming in-depth use-case videos for new users, hip-hop stars and developers don’t shy away from giving context to the way they see things. By weaving familiar concepts into their products, technologists and musicians have an active theme running through an entire software program or musical album so that every feature connects back to that one new idea.
3. Make People Care
From intriguing features to provocative album covers, tech and hip-hop innovators are expert at formulating new ways to peek curiosity at just the right moment for maximum impact. Just got cheated on? Wale’s The Break Up Song provides this sage advice - “Relationships should never rewind, [you] better leave it all behind,” while Facebook gives you a satisfying “unfriend” option immediately at your disposal. The choice is yours, but your best friends at RCA Records and Facebook have proactively supplied entertaining and/or cathartic options that help you feel like they care. Moreover, they create opportunities for shared experience, connecting each of us, through their viral song or social media button, with people in similar situations that can affirm our pains and other emotions. Pieces of technology and lines of rap help their buyers deconstruct situations into manageable portions, and provide solutions to known and unknown challenges.
4. Iteration, Iteration, Iteration
You can drop bars anywhere, and you can whip out a drawing of your proposed User Interface (UI) at any moment. The portability of their products allows for constant critique from anyone willing to hear or see what they’ve been working on. By talking to trusted friends or battling other rappers, technologists and musicians are able to continually test, refine, and prototype their storylines and widgets to find out where people are getting confused, bored, or both.
Using their global domination formula, a few hip-hop stars have begun a new type of technical crossover. In 2006, Dr. Dre of N.W.A. created contemporary audio consumer products company, Beats Electronics that, was acquired by Apple in 2014. Following in the fellow hip-hop legend’s footsteps, Jay-Z dipped his toes into tech by investing in Uber in 2011. Taking things further, Jay-Z announced the formation of his own venture capital firm in 2017, further extending his high tech prowess.
Tech and hip-hop grew up together; now they’re finally making the connection official. Right now the intellectual flow is one way- rappers becoming techpreneurs, but who knows what 2018 will bring. With tech companies expanding their competencies and competitive landscape further and further, it’s not too far-fetched to think the Bezos crew at Amazon might start a hip-hop record label. I mean, as of 2016 the Amazon Echo raps!
Motown and DARPA; N.W.A. and Apple; Bad Boy and Paypal: all of them created the foundation for the upstarts of today - whether that’s label-less artists like Chance the Rapper or lawless ventures such as Uber. Hip-hop and tech trendsetters fly in the face of traditional success models to create new ways of winning and show us all that whether you
represent the East Coast or the West Coast
compile code or compose lyrics
avoid rewind or unfriend
We all have something in common.
This article was heavily inspired by Andrew Stanton’s TED Talk, “The Clues to a Great Story ” and “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” documentary on P. Diddy, and lightly inspired by Chris Anderson’s TED Studio session, “TED’s Secret to Great Public Speaking.”
