In a posh suite in a swanky hotel above Los Angeles, hip-hop artist Lil Jon jerks a controller to a video game, manipulating an image of himself. The on-screen Lil Jon is seen fighting to Lil Jon music and wearing a Lil Jon brand T-shirt and characteristic dreadlocks.
In addition to the video game, the artist, known as the King of Crunk, is also featured in products such as an energy drink (Crunk Juice), a clothing line, Oakley sunglasses, as well as on a Comedy Central cartoon show that's in development and, of course, a few albums.
"Once you get popular, you have a brand," he said. "You have to market that brand."
Lil Jon, born Jonathan Mortimer Smith, is hardly unique in the hip-hop world, which long ago established itself as a cultural enterprise that went far beyond CD sales.
But never before has it been so important for rappers to focus on their ventures outside the recording studio, and they know it.
Rap suffered a 20% decrease in album sales in 2006 (the second-largest slide of any genre, trailing only "new age" music), and rappers were shut out when it came to nominations in marquee categories at the Grammy Awards last month.
For the first time in more than a decade, no rap album was among the top 10 bestsellers for the year.
Leading voices in the genre, among them Jay-Z, Dr. Dre and Nas, have decried the creative doldrums, the latter even releasing an album titled "Hip-Hop Is Dead" in late 2006. If ever there was a time to diversify, this seems to be it.
The mind-set is one of seizing opportunity, said Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and author of "The New N.H.I.C.: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip-Hop," about the diversification beyond music. These musician-entrepreneurs know "that when one thing dries up, you have to move on to something else."
In no other genre of music, Boyd said, has this diversification become as common or lucrative.
Last week, for example, on the same day the "Def Jam: Icon" video game featuring Lil Jon and 30 other artists was shipped to stores, rapper Jay-Z announced he had sold his clothing line Rocawear for $204 million. Other companies use endorsements from rappers to sell skateboards, hooded sweatshirts for dogs, and chocolate bars, to name a few items.
Hip-hop fashion, footwear and accessories alone are a $2.6-billion industry, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for the NPD Group.
