If the shoe fits wear it Article: Rapper’s sample athletes turf By: Matt Sinnott

The industry l Basketball shoes are a big business that makes up a massive $16.4 million USD sneaker industry. Nike is the most dominant player in the industry, raking in around $12 billion last year. l Consider for a moment that people in Cleveland and Chicago were recently willing to camp out for up to four days just to get a $90 pair of limited edition LeBron James 'Chamber of Fear' sneakers l $55 billion footwear and sports apparel market. l And1 shoes doesn’t plan on endorsing an artist because they think that they sparked this movement.

Joining forces l Reebok's S.Carter Collection (by Jay- Z) became the company's fastest selling sneaker in company history l This industry grew 2.6% in 2003 l Since 1993, hip-hop and rap has grown 13.8% of all music bought in the US.

A taste of the Market

Top selling shoes l Jordan's l Air Force 1’s l Shox l Air Max l Flights l Uptempo l Casual-adidas, puma, pony, converse

The Jordan Era

The Jordan enterprise l Jordan is the longest running athletic shoe endorsement l Original deal was $2.5 million over 5 years in 1984 l Most successful shoe line. l Air Jordan's are now in their 20th year l In fact Nike had to move back the launch date to Saturdays each year because too many kids were skipping school during the week to line-up for the latest Air Jordan launch

The Hip Hop Generation “Rapper’s want to be ballers and ballers want to be rappers” -Jay-Z

Hip Hop Shoe Sector l Jay-Z-Reebok l 50 Cent-Reebok l Xzibit-Reebok l Nelly-Nike l Snoop Dogg-Pony l Missy Elliott-Adidas l Run DMC-Adidas l Ludacris, Nelly, Usher with Nike AF1 l Baby aka: Birdman- Lugz

What is the craze all about l Hip hop artists shoe sales have outperformed athletes shoe sales. l Is the craze due to the lifestyle these artists live? l More and more artists are not only getting shoe deals, but more endorsements as a whole. l Casual shoe sales grew 24.5% in 2004 vs. a.3% increase for basketball shoes l Artists can get away with endorsing items despite there police records and actions. l Increasing exposure to the hip hop music industry l Artists as businessmen/businesswomen l Failures with big name athletes: Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant l A way to catch Nike because Nike isn’t joining the market

Issues in the Industry l Creative differences l Limits of the contracts l Troubled pasts of artists l Advertising

The next level l Magazines l Commercials Commercials l Music Videos l Television-Bet, And1 Mixed Tape, MTV l Private lines-Sean John, Rocawear, Phat Farm l Product Placement l Movies

Bibliography l endorsements_x.htm?csp=34 l l l l mi_m1571/is_n8_v13/ai_ l l 07/athletic-endorsements-by-rappers.html l l l l