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Juicy J the businessman: How the Memphis rapper makes his bands
The influence Three 6 Mafia has had on the rap game up until this point is overwhelming.
You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone that questions their legitimacy or who’d debate against their place in history. The seeds they’ve planted, especially in Memphis, are evidenced to this day.
From Memphis born producer Tay Keith, who seems to be everywhere to the gamut of young talent running the rap circuit like Yo Gotti, Young Dolph, Moneybagg Yo, Blac Youngsta, BlocBoy JB, and Key Glock, they’ve all been inspired in some ways by Three 6.
This year in fact, without any provocation, their 2000 hit “Who Run It” went viral after Chicago rapper G Herbo freestyled to it’s unmistakable instrumental on a Dallas radio program. If you love rap today you have to pay homage to the Memphis rap group. There’s no way around it.
With that being said, one of its members, in particular, has taken the opportunity and resources his illustrious rap career has afforded him and leveraged it in the business world.
Juicy J says he’s come up big after corporate giant Keurig Dr. Pepper’s acquisition of Core Nutrition Water for $525 million. Juicy initially invested in the company back in 2015 alongside some other big Hollywood names but has received, as we can assume, quite the payout.
The announcement came via his Instagram last week (Dec 5th) and, according to him, was the best investment in his life.
Of course, this could be just one of many smart investments we don’t even know about.
Juicy J’s latest studio album, Rubba Band Business, came out in 2017 and didn’t do amazing, but because he’s made witty business decisions early in his career as well as heady moves in the past couple of months, he’s doing quite alright despite his absence on the charts.
For example, he’s still making money off of “Slob On My Knob,” a song he made in 11th grade and for maximum optimization of today’s streaming era — which is experiencing decreasing payouts per stream — he strategically makes songs shorter.
Slob on the knob is trending #1 on Apple Music I wrote that song when I was in 11th grade & the bag still coming in $$$ thank you
— juicy j (@therealjuicyj) September 10, 2017
In a conversation with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, he explains how he’s modifying songs specifically for that reason.
“I feel like, when you hear it, you wanna hear it again. When you stream that motherfucker once, you stream it again. [Cash register sounds]. I was thinking about adding a third verse [to “Neighbor”], but I was like, ‘Fuck that…’ Make a n***a want to play it over.” Later on, he adds: “I feel like anything over three minutes is a no-no.”
In fact, Juicy J is doing what many of the most successful rappers have done when it comes to acquiring wealth: become businessmen. Jay-Z said it best: “I’m not a businessman, I’m, a business, man,” and truer words have never been spoken.
When you think about the creation of rap in the ’70s, it provided a new genre of music and job for people of color.
As hip-hop began to grow and popularize, this lane of opportunity became a vehicle that would take individuals into tax brackets and levels of social stature that they would not have been able to attain in any other way.
What we’ve been seeing of late, with the hip-hop stars becoming moguls, is the results of those doors opening that should have already been available regardless of class and income.
We’ve seen this before with 50 Cent, who, in 2007, sold his stake in the Vitamin Water from company Glacéau for $4.1 billion to Coca-Cola, walking away with a figure between $60 million and $100 million.
In his song “I Get Money,” he famously rapped: “I took quarter water sold it in bottles for 2 bucks, Coca-Cola came and bought it for billions, what the f*ck!?”
Rick Ross is another example. He’s the proud owner of nine franchises around the country, mostly in the southeast, near his Miami residence. It’s propelled him Wingstop into Hip-Hop’s Cash Kings for the eight years in a row and profits somewhere in the low seven figures.
More and more hip-hop stars are showing that when you have money, you can make even more money and it’s almost a sure way to do it.
Granted there are rappers who still get in the game to buy big chains and blow money on strip clubs, but rappers today are also showing us how to be entrepreneurs and even more importantly, that being successful businessmen can be done.
Shouts out to Juicy J and hopefully, that’ll inspire someone to use their refund check on a business loan and not on new J’s.