@Jayz @MCHammer @Forbes @CHAMILLIONAIRE @snoopdogg
Forbes.com does an excellent job of keeping up with the pulse of Hip Hop business. While Forbes would hardly be confused as a street credible publication they understand the influence that Hip Hop has on pop culture, public opinion and thus MONEY.  But as the music business continues to crumble the more successful artists are moving to a more digital soapbox to communicate with their fans.  Yesterday Forbes profiled the artist they feel are the “Most Tech-Savvy.”

The article particularly focuses on Chamillionaire.  While his name might be as powerful as the heavyweights in the game right now, HE considers himself a pioneer of digital promotion.

“They used to think I was a nerd,” says the artist who was born Hakeem Seriki. “When we used to do live shows on my website, back in the day.”

“I want people to understand how the tech world changes my world,” Seriki continues. “I’ve watched the dynamics of music completely change to where we’ve sold tapes, we’ve sold CDs, then everything started becoming ‘music is free’ now. In a perfect world, Napster wouldn’t have come along. But the world isn’t perfect, and when it changes, you have to adapt.”

While I couldn’t recite maybe one or two of his lyrics, Chamillionaire’s theory is correct.  Hip Hop and music in general owe artist like him a debt of gratitude for changing the landscape of how music promotion and business get done.  Without them, labels would still be drowning trying to stop ever online album download.  Here’s a peak at some other artists getting it online.

Snoop Dogg
According to Ad.Ly, CEO Arnie Gullov-Singh, who recruits celebrities for promotional purposes, Snoop could be making upward of $5,000 per tweet promoting Toyota via his Twitter account.

Ice-T
Star of  Law and Order: SVU , Ice-T is a pimp turned tweeter, using his account for self-promotion and ranting. When singer-songwriter Aimee Mann publicly dissed his acting skills, Ice T used Twitter to get at her and let her know how he felt.

Jay-Z
Jigga recently partnered with Microsoft to promote Decoded; fans of the artist were prompted to use Microsoft’s Bing search engine to look for clues that would lead to individual pages of the yet-to-be-released book, all of which were scattered around the globe in significant places from the artist’s past.

MC Hammer
Hammer launched DanceJam.com, a site where users can upload videos of their dancing skills, techniques and performances to be critiqued by others. In addition to be an avid tweeter and traveling lecturer on digital media he recently performed at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference afterparty in September, and made an appearance at the Web 2.0 Summit in November.