Attention all aspiring hip-hop artists! Do you have what it takes to join the ranks of Jay-Z, Diddy, 50 Cent, Master P and Jermaine Dupri as a multi-business, multi-millionaire hip-hop mogul? It’s ok if you don’t have a record label or haven’t released an album in over five years. All you need is WoooHa, Inc.’s “5 Steps To Becoming A Hip-Hop Mogul.”

Step 1. Create your hip-hop name. Then change it to your real name. Then change it back.
A true hip-hop mogul’s name is never constant. The first step to becoming a hip-hop mogul is to establish your hip-hop moniker and then change it to your real name. Master P just did it. He now only wants to be referred to as Percy Miller. Ludaris is about to do it and wants to be called Christopher Bridges after his last album drops. To up your mogul game, you can also change your name to multiple variations thus confusing everyone and increasing your mogul status. Example: Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Sean Combs, Diddy.

Step 2. Create a fashion line.
This is the hip-hop mogul’s bread-and-butter. What separates a hip-hop mogul’s fashion line from the rest is all in the distribution. Fashion lines like Clipes’ upcoming Play Cloths, Eve’s revamped Fetish and Fabolous’ Yung Rich line all have limited or boutique distribution. But the big players like Diddy’s Sean John, Jay’s Rocawear, 50 Cent’s G-Unit Clothing (now relaunching) and Master P’s Wal-Mart clothing line all have major nation-wide distribution in major department and retail stores. The bigger the distribution, the bigger the checks.

Step 3. Get into Hollywood any way you can.
Diddy has literally hired a Hollywood Dream Team to jump start his acting career. But while he is still struggling to get acting gigs, he is racking up millions of dollars with his TV producing deals with MTV. Master P just launched his Better Black TV network to challenge BET, T.I. has his own production company Grand Hustle and a new deal with Sony Screen Gems, Dr. Dre, Kanye and 50 Cent all have film production deals and mini-moguls such as Common, Ludacris and Mos Def have proved their is successful life outside of hip-hop as their movie deals keep rolling in.

Step 4. Start a social-media website.
Standard artist websites were so 2001. Now it’s all about the social-media sites that combine fan/user generated content with blogs, video and streaming music. 50 Cent’s ThisIs50.com is the poster-child for a successful social media site as it creates an entire new revenue stream for the G-Unit general. Even The Game’s blatant rip-off ThisIzGame.com is a suitable model as well.

Step 5. Get into the tabloids.
A real hip-hop mogul is one that has crossed over to mainstream appeal. How do you know if you have mainstream appeal? It’s when Perez Hilton or TMZ starts covering you. It’s when you are on the front page of every tabloid for stepping in dog crap, for assaulting paparazzi and for dating Michael Jackson’s sister.

Of course this is just a light-hearted look at what it takes to rule the hip-hop world, but there is a lot of truth to it. All jokes aside, it really does start with the music. Every hip-hop mogul, at one time or another, ruled the charts of hip-hop through their own music or through their production entities. It’s only though their insight, street smarts and business savvy that the select few have been able to use their name as a brand to succeed in multiple ventures outside the hip-hop world. WoooHa, Inc. will continue to monitor the trends of hip-hop and moguldom and share with our readers.

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