Birth of the Hip-Hop Ad Agency

Hip-Hop has gone mainstream, ad agencies have seen that trend and now full service shops run by hip-hop producers and musicians are springing up. They are run by the likes of Sean Combs whose Blue Flame Marketing and Adverising has done work for Calvin Klein and Andre Harrell whose Nu America is doing work for Tommy Hilfiger.

"This is part of a bigger picture about how urban America is changing, not only in the way advertising looks and feels, and the way the country looks and feels, but also how you reach this new consumer and get a piece of the pie," Vibe Magazine's Emil Wilbekin said. "That's all it is. They're being very smart business people."