Can Hip-Hop Music Teach Lessons About Business?
By: Ainsley Brown
Can Hip-Hop Music Teach Lessons About Business? This is not as ludicrous a question as it might seem at first, just keep reading –by the way the pun was well intended; if you didn’t spot it don’t worry about it.
The answer to the above question is a resounding YES. But you don’t have to take my word for it just listen to a leading Silicon Valley venture capitalist – Ben Horowitz.
Brian Wheeler of the BBC asked: What can rap lyrics teach us about business? And the answer from Horowitz is a lot.
Some of the lessons include:
1. Work hard and watch your costs: Get your money right, be an international player, don’t be scared to catch those red-eye flights / You better get your money right, ’cause when you out there on the streets, you gotta get it – get it – Get Your Money Right, Dr Dre
2. Be your own boss: I can’t let life get the best of me, I gotta take, take control of my own destiny / Control what I hold and of course be the boss of myself / No-one else will bring my wealth – A Job Ain’t Nothing But Work, Big Daddy Kane
3. Founders make better chief executives : You’re just a rent-a-rapper, your rhymes are Minute Maid / I’ll be here when it fade to watch you flip like a renegade – Follow the Leader, Rakim
I wonder if these lessons ring true for my profession as well?
Can hip-hop teach lawyers to be better lawyers? I don’t think I need to answer that as I think you know my stance already.
