Of course, hip hop is not merely a music genre. Its an entire lifestyle with its own lingo, clothing, and well, accessories!

Even as the sales of rap music (all music, for that matter) continue falling every month, the business of hip hop accessories doesn’t see any sign of slowing down at all. The sales of clothing, postures, jewellery, and shoes related to the rap culture, has in fact, become the chief livelihood of many retailers.

Some of the biggest regions of growth in terms of sales of hip hop accessories are not in the US, but in emerging markets like Russia, Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and even the Middle East. China, in fact, is one of the biggest markets for hip hop accessories and clothing today, just a tad behind the United States.

And of course, like the rest of the retail world, some of the biggest growth in this market has been seen online. While the online market still dwarfs physical retail, its growth rate has been envious. Despite the recession, the demand for hip hop accessories hasn’t slowed down at all.

The advantage of selling these accessories online is that you can recruit an army of affiliates. These are resellers who sell the stock of a company for a commission, typically ranging from 10-70% of the price. It means lower profit margins for the actual retailer, but the volume more than makes up for it if you can raise a large enough number of affiliates.

The business of hip hop accessories will only explode and continue to grow at a dramatic pace as the rap culture is embraced by more and more people across the globe, and as online retail spreads outside the developed world. This is clearly one lucrative business to be in. Sites like UrbanHipHopClothing, IcedOutGear.com regularly do business of several million an year, earning some hefty profits in return.

1. Three Days of Partying at the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival
2. Rap Beats And Hip Hop – How To Set Yourself Apart From The Rest Of The Aspiring Rappers And Singers
3. New Hip Hop Music: Resources For Discovering the Best Hip Hop From Around the World
4. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement (Paperback)
5. Hip Hop Artists Are the Best Businessmen in the World

So what does Warren Buffet and Lil Wayne have in common?

Ans: They’ve both beaten the recession.

In this current economic scenario, the one sure shot investment was gold. And diamonds. And platinum. Basically everything that is taken out of the ground and is, thus, in a limited quantity.

While financial geniuses all over the world (and especially on Wall Street) were falling head first into recession, their fancy financial instruments, derivatives, et all failing left right and center, rappers, whose primary investment is pimpin bling saw their net worth rise with each fall in the stock market.

Gold prices shot up manifold as soon as the housing bubble burst and the stocks came tumbling down. In a recession that has humbled financial geniuses like Vikram Pandit (CEO, Citibank), made GM bankrupt, befallen Lehmann Brothers and Bear Stearns, rappers like Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and anybody who aspires to blingdom saw his stock rise up significantly. This happens if your primary investment instrument is a large gold studded diamond watch that hangs around your neck and gold viking helmet.

That's What I'm Talking About

So moral of the story?

Do this:

Avoid This:

1. New Hip Hop Music: Resources For Discovering the Best Hip Hop From Around the World
2. Bling-Bling: The Origins