The Hip Hop Preneur, Dr. JahJah Shakur teamed up with Express Newark to host, The Business of Hip-Hop Artz: How to Become the Boss of Your Life on Tuesday, June 22nd sponsored by Rutgers University – Newark’s Paul Robeson Galleries. The event featured presentations by Richard Baldwin, CEO of POPPMusic.net, Attorney Elizabeth L. Carter, community lawyer and Olumayowa Okubanjo, community outreach coordinator at City National Bank.
Author, activist and professor, Shakur while making opening remarks to the evening’s attendees said, “the purpose of this evening is to provide artists in [the City of] Newark and beyond access to professional development workshop for economic empowerment.”
The goal of each workshop was to give Hip-Hop artists valuable secret information about how to monetize their air in the journey towards becoming Hip-Hop artists entrepreneurs, for the creation of Hip-Hop business development, utilizing Hip-Hop wealth creation strategies.
“Rap is something you do, Hip-Hop is how you live,” said Shakur, “Hip-Hop is the ability to create yourself of something, when the world sees you as nothing.” Referencing a study recently published, “$830 million have been generated in the Newark arts only. Did who receives a piece of that?,” adding, “everybody wants to be down with Hip-Hop but Hip-Hop doesn’t not have a union.”
The event was divided into three specialized workshops, Monetizing Your Content in Digital Spaces, How to Legally Protect Your Work and Financial Planning and Funding Partnerships.
Richard Baldwin, CEO of POPPMusic.net, a for-profit privately owned music licensing company servicing alternative R&B singers, songwriters and musicians, lead the Monetizing Your Content in Digital Spaces. “How do you prove your content has been streamed?,” asked Baldwin, “metadata and metatags,” he replied.
“In understanding your art is your Intellectual property and knowing what your ownership rights are will help you generate revenue as a creative entrepreneur,” said Baldwin.
Baldwin walked attendees through the process of embedding their content with invisible bar codes to as he put, “[help get their] presence on the internet get found,” which included how to layer content on Youtube.
Intellectual property expert, Attorney Elizabeth L. Carter followed with an interactive discussion stressing the importance of legally protecting creative works from culture vultures stating, “as a creative you are the business, legal investment is necessary to protect your brand(s).” Carter concluded by taking questions from the audience and in return offering advice to the personal issues raised.
Closing out the workshop, Olumayowa Okubanjo, community outreach coordinator, City National Bank, discussed the financial impact the arts community has on local banks urging attendees, “put your dollars in institutions that are making contributions to your community.”
The Business of Hip-Hop Artz: How to Become the Boss of Your Life was the first of many entrepreneur empowerment workshops to come. Shakur’s mission is to merge the culture of the art form and business to empower creative entrepreneurs by way of shared cooperative economics by way of the Hip-Hop Business University. This online university will explore Hip-Hop business solutions that Hip-Hop cultural entrepreneurs have created in developing best practice business models, business development ideation, and brand stability in industry markets when creating Hip-Hop business start up ventures. Student research, assessments, business opportunities, business concepts, and understanding the process of obtaining appropriate resources necessary to manage the growth of new Hip-Hop cultural entrepreneurship business ventures with a Hip Hop cultural entrepreneurship business plan. The Hip-Hop cultural entrepreneurship business economy will be studied with emphasis on case studies, colloquial, Hip Hop cultural entrepreneurship business examples, visiting distinguished lecturers, and guest speakers.
To contribute to the fundraising campaign please visit the official GoFundMe page, click here to be redirected.
