Here are some of the best collaborations rappers have done with brands!
10 - CÎROC and Diddy
With a personal net worth somewhere over $850 million dollars,
Diddy is easily one of the richest rappers around. And it goes without saying that most
of his earnings come from calculated business moves, and NOT from rapping. But we can’t forget
that Diddy did have one of the best selling rap albums of all time with his album, No Way Out.
One of Diddy’s best business deals was getting into the liquor business with Diageo.
They decided to pull up Ciroc vodka. Before Diddy got involved, Ciroc was just a random
vodka brand that hit the market in 2003 and promoted by former NFL player Earl Little.
Because of Diddy’s involvement, Ciroq basically popped up everywhere seemingly overnight.
Instead of getting paid up front in cash over several years, Diddy decided to put a
big bet on his promotional skills and went for ownership. It’s a risky proposition
considering all the alcohol collaborations other rappers have done, and how almost
all of them have gone nowhere. Before Diddy signed on, Ciroq was doing around 40,000 cases a year.
Diddy negotiated a 50/50 split of the profits from Ciroc sales. And that might have inspired him to
give the deal his full energy. Diddy revealed that his main simple focus was attracting the
big money guys, something that he obviously has a way of doing. He took over Ciroc’s marketing
and was responsible for picking the new spots to promote and distribute Ciroc.
With Diddy’s help, Ciroc became a profitable venture in just a few short years. Today,
Ciroq has annual sales anywhere between 1.4 to 2 million cases a year,
a huge jump from the 40,000 cases back in 2007! 9 - McDonald’s and Travis Scott
Travis Scott isn’t a stranger to collaborations. He’s had collabs with Nike with his cactus jack
design for Jordans. He’s collabed with his hometown team Houston Rockets to do a remix of
their logo with the Cactus Jack theme. Then there are the Fortnite and Reese’s Puffs collabs. And
of course, there’s this collab with McDonald’s. In this month-long endorsement deal, McDonald’s
fans could grab the Travis Scott Meal for six bucks in select Mickey D’s across the US. But
what exactly were diners getting for six bucks? Travis Scott's favorite McDonald's meal of course.
This partnership was the first time since 1992 that a celebrity's name is actually
featured on the McDonald's menu. The last person? Michael Jordan. Yeah, we can safely
say Travis Scott is kinda a big deal now. The Travis Scott Meal included the Quarter
Pounder with Cheese, bacon, and lettuce, fries with BBQ sauce, and a Sprite.
The collaboration wasn’t limited to the meal, though. Travis also designed clothes for the
campaign, such as t-shirts, pants, and socks. Then there’s the Travis Scott action figure McDonald’s
came out with. It was limited to just five models and given away on Twitter.
This handcrafted figure was first listed for a whopping $55,000 bucks by one of the lucky
winners on StockX. Who knows what it’ll actually sell for….but as of right now, someone’s willing
to pay at least thirty five hundred bucks for it. But c’mon, who can forget the chicken nugget
body pillow they came out with? 8 - Vitamin Water and 50 Cent
50 Cent is known to be a pretty smart guy with all the ventures he’s been a part of. His most
memorable deal has to be with Vitamin water. This is most likely his biggest single deal
ever? This deal was done back in 2004 when he partnered up to promote Vitamin Water,
which was owned by Glacéau back at that time. But how did that deal come about? 50 wanted
to get into the beverage business. He was working with the late great record executive,
Christ Lighty at the time. So Lighty did some light research and learned about Vitamin water,
and he set up a meeting for 50. Basically, 50 noticed that Vitamin Water didn’t have a grape
flavor. And that’s how they came up with and developed the new flavor, Formula 50.
Instead of taking cash for promoting the new flavor, 50 opted to get a percentage of
the company. He even threw in some of his own money to help with developing the flavor. He
negotiated a minority stake, which made him one the wealthiest rappers once the brand took off.
Coca Cola took notice of Vitamin Water’s growing popularity. So in 2007, they offered slightly over
$4 billion dollars to have the brand under their ownership. When that deal went through,
50 instantly made 100 million dollars, according to Forbes. However, 50 himself has
actually never disclosed the full figure. In 2015, during his messy bankruptcy proceeding,
he still didn’t disclose how much he really made. That’s because,
Formula 50 is still on the market today, and the money is still rolling in from the deal he signed!
7 - Reebok and Jay Z
Jay Z didn’t get to a billion dollar net worth by just selling music and
touring. His deal with Reebok back in 2003 was arguably one of the most
important highlights in his business life. It paved the way for his later endorsements,
and it gave major shoe brands big reasons to consider rappers in general for endorsements.
Endorsements back then in the shoe industry were reserved only for elite athletes.
At that time, Jay was red hot heading into 2003. He had just released his eighth platinum album,
The Blueprint 2, and it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. So in April of 2003,
Jay and Reebok came out with the S dot Carter, a shoe named after Jay-Z's real name.
Each pair was packaged along with a CD sampler featuring unreleased Jay Z tracks. Within a week
of its release, Reebok had sold more than 10,000 pairs. That made the S dot Carter the fastest
selling shoe in company history at that point. However, Reebok isn’t Nike. They didn’t know how
to exactly keep up the momentum by properly making the shoe seem like a premium shoe.
Instead they flooded the market with S dot Carters and completely flooded the market.
The allure of the shoe was quickly over. A year later, Reebok introduced the S dot
Carter 2, which was a similar tennis-inspired low-top shoe. But they couldn’t replicate the
initial success of the partnership. Jay and Reebok ended their partnership after four years.
However, even though Jay couldn’t keep up the initial success, Jay paved the way for other
rappers on other brands, and that leads us to: 6 - Reebok and 50 Cent
We’re back talking about 50 again because he made another great deal.
50 exploded onto the music scene in the early 2000s with his massively successful debut album
“Get Rich or Die Tryin”. After the success they had with Jay Z, Reebok decided to sign
50 and they came out with the G-Unit sneaker. The G-Unit sneaker line was a big hit. According
to 50, G unit sneakers outsold S dot Carter sneakers by 6 to 1. 50 also claimed to make
around $80 million dollars from the deal with reebok. The numbers aren’t exactly verified but
yeah, back in the mid to late 2000s there were plenty of people walking around with G unit shoes.
But the most interesting fact has to be this one. Supposedly, another reason that Reebok had decided
to sign Jay and then 50 at that time was because they had lost out on signing Lebron to Nike.
Lebron’s deal with Nike at that time was 90 million dollars for 7 years. Reebok had offered
115 million to Lebron at that time. Even though Reebok offered 25 million more dollars, Lebron
chose Nike because they were positioned better for market longevity. One thing that’s for sure is,
Lebron and 50 both won in the deals they signed. 5 - Balenciaga and Cardi B
In just a few years, Cardi B went from a minor instagram and vine celebrity to a legitimate
hip hop superstar. And while there’s still a hot debate about whether she can stack up
against Nicki Minaj, there’s no denying that she’s made a huge name for herself.
And that’s the exact reason why a big luxury brand such as Balenciaga wouldn’t
mind cutting her a check to tap into some of that influence. In September 2020,
Balenciaga shared the promo images of their new campaign featuring Cardi on twitter.
She later acknowledged it and retweeted it with the caption, “new face of Balenciaga”.
Around the same time, images of Cardi popped up all over the world in Balenciaga’s Fall
2020 campaign. For example, the poster was displayed prominently on a billboard
in Paris near the famous Louvre museum. But that was just the start. From the side of
the Louvre, the campaign was throughout Paris and across Asia in places such as South Korea, Taiwan,
and Singapore. But the most interesting fact is that Cardi actually took the photo of her
in a Balenciaga black dress herself while she was in lockdown mode. All Balenciaga
had to do was slap the brand name on the pic. Would this get more people who’re into Hip Hop
music to wear more Balenciaga? We’re willing to bet that that this collab will work out,
but only time will tell! 4 - Mountain Dew and Lil Wayne
Back in March 2012, Mountain Dew collaborated with Lil Wayne. The campaign was called
DEWeezy, and it was Lil Wayne’s first major endorsement deal.
The DEWeezy campaign officially kicked off with a Lil Wayne performance at South By Southwest
in Austin Texas. The deal was the biggest collaboration with a celeb in Mountain Dew
history, and Mountain Dew executives showed up to watch Wayne perform.
However, this is an example of how quickly a big partnership can go WRONG. It also illustrates
why for artists who want full creative control, a major corporate collaboration may not be possible.
That’s because, in just a little over a year, Lil Wayne’s deal with Mountain Dew was over.
In April of 2013, Mountain Dew had to terminate the contract after the lyrics he used when he
was featured on Future’s “Karate Chop” remix. Lil Wayne put in an Emmet Till reference that
caused a big backlash. We won’t repeat the lyrics here but a quick google search will bring this up.
Mountain decided to sever their ties with Lil Wayne because of pressure brought on by
the family of Emmett Till. 3 - Adidas and Kanye West
What hasn’t Kanye done? Kanye is well known for his involvement in the fashion world,
specifically for collaborating with Adidas. It’s arguably one of the most lucrative ventures for
him, bringing in nine-figure earnings for Kanye. It’s also made him one of the richest rappers with
a net worth of slightly over a billion dollars according to Forbes estimates.
Kanye signed the deal with Adidas back in 2013 after terminating an earlier five-year partnership
with Nike. The first Yeezys hit the market back in 2015, along with the release of the Yeezy Season
1 collection. It featured different apparel pieces such as T-shirts, coats, sweatpants,
and, of course, sneakers among other items. The Yeezys were a HUGE hit. They sold out
right after release, and resale on eBay for Yeezys commanded up to close to 2
thousand bucks a pair for certain colorways. Kanye boosted the Adidas brand significantly,
making it the most liked brand on Instagram in 2015 according to Business Insider.
Clearly, Adidas’ decision to collab with Kanye worked out. But are these the best shoes Kanye
ever designed? Remember the Louis Vuitton Collab Kanye did back in the day?
2 - Ralph Lauren and Chance the Rapper
Chance The Rapper is one of the few clean cut rappers without tattoos. Well, technically he
has one, but he says he regrets getting it. With his wholesome image, he’s still as successful.
He’s been a big fan of Ralph Lauren, and they took notice of him wearing their brand since
he fits their brand image. Ralph Lauren and Chance collaborated in September of 2020 with
a pre-recorded performance at Ralph Lauren’s Chicago store. The show was aired on both
Chance’s and Ralph Lauren’s social media channels. According to Chance, music and fashion have always
been interlinked. Ralph Lauren had always been one of his favorite designers and it’s
what he’s worn for his favorite moments in his career and his personal life.
The intimate virtual concert tied together the greatest events of Chance’s life. The virtual
concert was a win-win for the both of them. The concert introduced Chance to a wider audience,
and it helped out Ralph Lauren with their brand perception in the hip hop community. That’s
because it seems like Ralph Lauren has lost a step the past few years because of the surge of
certain luxury brands in hip hop! 1 - Bud Light and Post Malone
In October 2019, Budweiser released a limited edition of Bud Light cans
that was in collaboration with Post Malone. The cans were designed with various details
referencing his personal life and style. One of them was a mugshot of Post Malone.
Other notable cans had swords, barbwire, and dragons, with all of them references to some of
Post Malone’s….uhhh…”interesting” tattoos. Post Malone confessed that he loved the
collaboration. Obviously, he got a big check from it but that wasn’t the big deal for him.
Apparently, he was just super happy that he had his face on a beer can.
Honestly, if there was a beer brand that fit perfectly with Post Malone’s persona,
it’d be bud light. Or maybe it’s PBR. Here’s what’s next!