March 09, 2004
Rappers Gone Wild: Hip Hop Meets Porn And It's All About the Benjamins--for Shizzle!
In a report that will give readers and hip hop fans added meaning to the rap music call-out "Everybody say Hooooo! Ho! Ho!," the New York Times has a story by Martin Edlund in today's paper explaining what may be a growing trend in which the worlds of hip hop music and adult video are converging.
Alert readers may remember that back in 2001 Snoop Dogg was involved in an adult video called "Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle" (Hustler Video), though not as porn "talent," but rather as a master of ceremonies. What you may not have known is that Snoop's foray into porn translated into one of the biggest selling adult videos ever, with sales "in the hundreds of thousands," according to Hustler's Larry Flynt, who is quoted in the Times' article.
Snoop's follow-up, titled "Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp," sold more copies than any other adult video release of 2003. In Snoop's case, the convergence argument is pretty compelling. "Doggystyle," the adult video, included Snoop performing nearly an album's worth of previously unreleased rap tunes. Talk about synergy!
Snoop is not the only hip hop star to realize this synergy and, ahem, penetrate this new market for hip hop porn. Rap star Lil John (picture above) has made a video and other rappers, including stars 50 Cent and Outkast, have been involved in porn to varying degrees of participation, either as financial partners or talent. Apparently, it's mostly about the money. Edlund writes:
"The economics of porn make it a lucrative prospect for rappers. A video like Lil Jon's can be done 'on a very meager production budget of maybe $50,000,' Mr. Mann said. Marquee rappers tend to undertake these projects as partners, rather than hired help, so if the video does well they get paid twice: once as talent (about $1 for every copy sold in the case of Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz), and then again as investors."
The other side to the hip hop-porn trend is that in much the same way that a criminal conviction for a rapper might have boosted his notoriety and resulted in a spike in the artist's CD sales, being associated with porn might give hip hop stars that "crunky" street cred that no amount of PR could buy.
Instead of the gangsta thug-life image parlayed for years by rappers of old such Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac (which some argue led to their deaths), you have the hip hop star as porn star pimp. What better way to boost that cred than appearing in a skin flick? Lil' Kim, where are you?
--Da Smitho
RELATED LINKS
Hip Hop's Crossover to the Adult Aisle [NY Times]
Essay: Woof! There it is! [Salon]
Official Lil John Web Site
Snoop Dogg Bio [MTV]
Posted by Robsam at March 9, 2004 02:16 AM
