Lil John and Tom Mahlke, the man behind the Crunk

It looks like even Forbes is starting to pay more attention and dedicate ink to the rising enteprise that his hip hop business.  It used to be a footnote reserved for business moguls like Russell Simmons or more recently Jay-Z or the marketability of 50 Cent  but this morning Forbes.com dropped an unbelievable 7 part special report called the Business of Hip Hop.

Not only did the publication examine the obligatory cash Kings of the game but also detailed a relatively unknown business venture forged between 50 cent and South African billionaire mining baron Patrice Motsepe.  According to the author, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, 50 may soon enjoy and equity stake in Motsepe’s subterranean platinum, palladium and iridium mine that would eventually enable Mr. Jackson to bring 50 Cent-branded platinum to the world.  A really dope innovative business venture and definately worth the read.

In addition, Forbes also sits down with So-So Def founder, Jermaine Dupri to disuss the future of Hip Hop and gets gritty on some very controversial questions.  Check it out:

Do you think YouTube has taken the place of radio?

YouTube has taken the interest of radio. Radio is not interesting to fans. Radio has become lost basically. The fans are obviously showing me that radio is not the way they’re learning about an artist. The fans have spoken and said “we’re tired of not knowing about these artists you keep trying to force us to go buy. Let us know about the artist. Let us know the artist likes pink, let us know the artist lives in this place, let us know they drive this.” YouTube and MySpace have opened the door to fans actually getting to know the people that we’re putting out again. They offer more to a fan.

I’d have to admit, he’s probably right.  Radio and Music Television for that matter is in trouble because they can’t get that access that an artist can provide via YouTube video and the great thing about it is viewers hardly ever care about the quality.  Its the content that’s most important not the packaging.

I won’t spoil anymore for you but there’s also an interesting read on energy drink veteran and Kimberly-Clark executive Tom Mahlke who is the man behind Lil John’s Crunk Juice phenomenon.  Greenburg profiles how the unhip white dude who previously promoted Kleenex and Kotex brands was able to shift focus and “Get it Crunk.”   Also check out the profile on Hip Hop’s most underated and underestimated money man, Swizz Beats.