Knowledge From the Afrikan World, For the World

PMC Articles

Rethinking the MBA through Hip Hop innovation and Hip Hop innovators: Fat Joe and DJ Khaled pair with two sport × entertainment faculty

PMCID: PMC10902134

PMID: 38425567

Abstract

Theory without relevance for practice in a professional graduate degree has been critiqued by some scholars as a deficit approach when preparing MBA students for the workforce. Scholars and practitioners alike call for more pedagogy in the curriculum with a focus on innovation, creativity, and the involvement of industry practitioners. This paper serves as a case study of a moment in time on Monday, 14 June 2021, when the concept of “pracademics” was realized between two artists and two faculty. Following the transcription of the dialogue between two guest speakers from the Hip Hop world (i.e., Fat Joe and DJ Khaled) and two faculty from the sport management MBA program, the paper analyzes the deeper meaning of their intellectual presence with their expertise in the business of culture (i.e., Hip Hop). Findings reveal how the pairing of Hip Hop artists and faculty in an MBA program can address the innovation gap within global business curricula and models. The broader umbrella of pedagogy and application has implications for other academic disciplines to embrace this concept of pairing academics and industry practitioners.

Full Text

Jay-Z, Where I'm from (1).
–DJ EFN, “Drink Champs” Podcast featuring Michael Eric Dyson (2).
–Dom Kennedy, “Platinum Chanel” lyrics (3).
N.O.R.E., “Drink Champs” Podcast featuring Michael Eric Dyson (2).
During this symposium panel dialogue of business experts, colleagues agreed that a different design must be integrated with MBA courses in higher education. Consider the following major questions and themes that capture the barriers to innovating many of our current MBA courses:
Sport management is the educational platform many students in higher education gravitate toward. Since 1966, such programs in America have increased in quantity and popularity due to student interest, evolving from the physical education model to a business-oriented model (4). Theory without relevance for practice in a professional graduate degree has been critiqued by some scholars as a deficit approach when preparing modern-day MBA students for the workforce and real-world scenarios (5). In order to present graduated students who have demonstrated integrative thinking and problem-solving skills to the workforce, this paper turns to an existing business model that addresses the relevant concerns listed above.
Toppling rock'n'roll as music's top-earning genre, the Hip Hop industry is worth over $15 billion and is the most consumed music genre in the United States (6, 7). As a major business player in the music industry, it encompasses production, distribution, publishing, live concerts, album sales, streaming, and other artform-related activities. In 2017, Goldman Sachs found that for Rhythm & Blues (R&B) and Hip Hop, live music generated $26 billion, publishing generated $6 billion, and recorded songs generated $30 billion (8). For example, in 2018, the largest single-day streaming total for any album on any streaming service to date was due to Drake's fifth album released on Spotify and Apple Music (8). More than just music generation, Hip Hop is a global culture based on five distinct elements, as will be illustrated next.
Exactly 50 years ago, DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy Campbell staged block parties in the South Bronx, New York, in 1973. Through a combination of soul, rock, funk, reggae, and Jamaican dancehall toasting genres, dancers and rappers pioneered their art form over looped beats and percussive instrumentations (9). From these informal music scenes in the South Bronx emerged the five elements of Hip Hop: (a) MCeeing, (b) DJing, (c) Graffiti, (d) B-boy/B-girl, and (e) Knowledge. An MC stands for “master of ceremonies” and describes a rap performer on stage. A DJ is a “disc jockey” who plays recorded music for an audience, usually on multiple turntables, and introduces the names of the songs on a microphone. Graffiti is an art that is written, painted, or drawn on a wall or other public service, usually without permission. Hip Hop graffiti artists use this form as a means of cultural expression and resistance to hegemony. Just as MCeeing and DJing challenge what counts as music, graffiti challenges mainstream notions of art, public space, and property. Similarly, B-boying/B-girling through breakdancing challenges what counts as dance through shuffles, footwork, poses, and acrobatic moves performed on the floor. The commonality of these elements contributes to the energetic, improvised, and disruptive nature of Hip Hop. Dance floor battles made up of mostly Black and Puerto Rican crew members became renowned for their emphasis on creativity, skill, and musicality.
The fifth element of Hip Hop is knowledge. While it is the element most underutilized in theory and practice, most of the intellectual attention has been rigorously addressed in the social sciences and humanities. This canon has crossed disciplines from sociology, psychology, history, fine arts, dance, kinesiology, African studies, and African American studies (10). From an economic perspective, Hip Hop is worth examining because it occupies a vertical market and has value as an opportunity structure for broader business concepts, e.g., innovation, entrepreneurship, disruption, organizational behavior, and creativity. Groundbreaking partnerships have emerged from the intersection of Hip Hop and sport: Adidas partnered with Run-DMC in the 1980s; Jordan Brand signed endorsement deals with artists Drake, Travis Scott, and DJ Khaled; and rapper Jay-Z founded Roc Nation Sports to manage athletes and execute marketing deals (11). Historically, sports in Black communities (i.e., the post-World War I Negro Leagues) and the Hip Hop industry share a common thread of market disruption: “Both movements exploded out of resistance toward the myth of white superiority in the music and sport industries” (12, p. 207). With few exceptions, most of the content areas covered by the following journals have overlooked, ignored, and outright “dissed” the intellectual value of Hip Hop to build our knowledge base in the academic discipline of business, e.g., with departments typically in management, accounting (13), economics, finance, and sport business.
The case presented in the current study involves industry practitioners and is nested within an MBA course on the intersection of Hip Hop and sport business management. Out of the 213 sport management MBA programs in the United States (14), only one offers a program on Hip Hop entrepreneurship. This aspect of the curriculum introduces an unprecedented pedagogy in the MBA of sport management program design, rendering the case study within it especially valuable for scholars and practitioners who are committed to redesigning the existing structure and curricula.
We want to be intentional before reviewing the literature on rethinking the MBA educational experience; Hip Hop culture and Hip Hop artists are not the only ways of rethinking the MBA (15). In response to the questions listed above, we seek to advance the call for more pedagogy in the curriculum with a focus on innovation, creativity, and the involvement of industry practitioners through Hip Hop. Since the onus to redesign current MBA programs rests on scholars and business experts alike, it would behoove us to analyze a cultural phenomenon that pivoted the business of music, artistry, and ethnic minority representation toward a multibillion-dollar financial gain.
Business researchers are immersed in designing and rethinking the MBA degree (16, 17). In their efforts to critically scrutinize the degree and programs, researchers have documented analysis of new and futuristic ideas (18–20); the MBA curriculum at the crossroads (17, 21–25); global/international focus (26, 27); medical and healthcare context (28); human capital (29); women/gender (30); economics (31); industry (32); and cross-disciplinary synergy (33). While our synthesis of the literature is not exhaustive, the topics above are the major themes that scholars have used to contextualize the MBA redesign.
One of the biggest criticisms of the MBA degree in higher education (historically and contemporary at many business schools) is that creative skills are overlooked in the curriculum, are rarely taught, and offer ineffective elective options for MBA students (17). Three major concerns from top MBA programs highlight the necessity of teaching creative skills:In order to advance research, knowledge, and best practices in sport business, the sports industry should connect with academics to identify solutions to customer retention, service delivery systems, ROI measurement and sponsorship, customer retention, and advertising assessment.
Analytical skills are readily available. People who are creative and innovative are far rarer. MBAs lack creativity. They don't think outside the box. Business schools have to find a way to encourage creativity. Few graduates are capable of formulating “game-changing ideas.” In many sections of the economy, it is innovation and creativity that add the highest value, yet business schools have, at best a modest record of developing these skills. (17, p. 143)
Creativity is not an elusive or exclusive character trait. Creativity can be taught to adult learners (34, 35) and business students in particular (36, 37). In their article on enhancing creativity and innovation without encouraging unethical behavior, Baucus and colleagues (38) identified four categories of behavior in business that align perfectly with the rebellious nature of Hip Hop culture: breaking rules and standard operating procedures, challenging authority, avoiding tradition, creating conflict, competition, and stress, and taking risks. Given the lack of creative skills and innovation in 2023, how might Hip Hop culture be framed in a business context to address these gaps in MBA curriculum units? Furthermore, what other non-cognitive skills might Hip Hop culture teach future students?
We see a potential fusion of theory and practice that points to how these gaps in creativity and innovation might be filled. The integration of members of the academic community into the sport industry could result in more strategic, measured, and evaluated systems to deliver sports to consumers. Academics can investigate problems in the business of sports to drive data-informed decisions. Sutton (39) coined the term “pracademics” to merge the two approaches: “That is, academics working with the sports industry and its practitioners to improve the products and services of the industry and increase and retain its consumer base” (para. 13). There is a small body of literature on Hip Hop moguls that contains lessons for business scholars and industry leaders who want to learn from the case studies of Hip Hop catalysts/influencers (40–44). In Watson's chapter from the “Handbook on Wealth and the Super-rich,” the commercialization of Hip Hop has provided access to ethnic entrepreneurship:Ethnic entrepreneurship is a means of upward mobility. It is “a set of connections and regular patterns of interaction among people sharing common national background or migration experiences” (46, p. 13). Historically, these entrepreneurs have entered self-employment due to discrimination or entry barriers in the labor market, usually due to their educational background and language deficits (47).
The mainstream Hip Hop that followed the corporatization of the genre in the mid-1990s would prove to be a huge opportunity for many Hip Hop artists and entrepreneurs, and there are now numerous African American Hip Hop millionaires (45). The so-called Hip Hop “moguls” represent a small number of ethnic entrepreneurs who have risen from the ranks of the many Hip Hop microenterprises to accumulate significant personal wealth, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. They are generally artists who have established successful companies that own the rights to their production, as well as the production of other Hip Hop and R&B artists. Yet they also have business interests that have extended well beyond music. Drawing on the economic power of Hip Hop and their own celebrity status, they have developed business interests in fashion, sport, alcohol and a wide range of other consumer products that appeal to the young consumers of the Hip Hop generation. Some have themselves become iconic brands—cultural icons and representative symbols of globalized Hip Hop culture. (p. 183)
The interactive model below illustrates how the success of an ethnic group's entrepreneurial endeavors cannot be attributed to one characteristic; rather, it is the complex interaction between opportunity structures and group resources. The dimension of opportunity structures (on the left) typically materializes from the development of a new ethnic community, e.g., Hip Hop. According to Volery's model, these communities have specific needs that only co-ethnics are capable of fulfilling. Such communities consist of ethnic minority groups or individuals who have immigrated over the past few decades. The greater the cultural gap between the ethnic group and the host country, the bigger the potential niche market. Access to open markets and ownership are often blocked through high-entry financial barriers. The second dimension (on the right) draws from the resources shared by immigrants and ethnic people of the same origin. Cultural traditions can predispose certain groups to assume self-employment. Ethnic networks account for the significance of family and other in-group networks that can compensate for the innumerable disadvantages that immigrants and minorities face in the host country (Figure 1).
Volery’s (47) ethnic entrepreneurship conceptual model.
The figure above is one snapshot of the many ways scholars, practitioners, and forward thinkers might view Hip Hop through a business/innovation/entrepreneurship prism, especially for racial and ethnic groups who are non-White (48). Ethnic entrepreneurship as a framework enables business scholars as well as practitioners to examine the nuances of ideas that become tangible products and outcomes through the execution of creativity and ingenuity. Before analyzing the presence of two ethnic entrepreneurs in the current paper, we present the relevant research literature that synthesizes the “rethinking the MBA” scholarship line of inquiry.
An important part of any business is human connections within a network of movers and shakers in the industry. An existing business literature has called for rethinking the MBA degree. In particular, scholars and practitioners seek pedagogies that instruct MBA students to think about commerce in futuristic ways to solve timely and timeless challenges. The figure below captures four representative leaders, each of whom brings their own crafts, values, and skills to the intersection of sports, business, and Hip Hop. Combined, these four individuals co-created a novel engagement for pairing MBA students with faculty and industry leaders (Figure 2).
While the two Hip Hop leaders featured in this case study may be most famous for their rap careers, they were included in the current model of ethnic entrepreneurship because of their business acumen. After signing with Atlantic Records, Fat Joe created his own record label called Terror Squad Entertainment, which allows him to sign other artists and distribute their releases. Similarly, DJ Khaled is the CEO of the label he founded under the parent company of Universal Music Group, called We The Best Music Group. He launched his record label to manage, publish, and produce other artists and has released over 10 albums with prominent rappers such as Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Future, Chance The Rapper, and Lil' Wayne. Both entrepreneurs have expanded into businesses outside of music. Fat Joe launched The Fat Joe Show, wrote a memoir, and donated $100,000 in brand-new clothes to South Bronx students (49). DJ Khaled has partnered with Weight Watchers and Jordan Brand, founded a non-profit organization to provide scholarships for Miami high school students entering the STEAM field, and opened a restaurant franchise named Another Wing with 150 locations across five countries (50). Interestingly, both men have engaged in philanthropic efforts to benefit young students in their native cities, which is arguably the most worthwhile investment that a person can make.
Khaled's projects are part compilations, part soundtracks, and all all-stars. My brother has been able to parlay his relationships into recruiting everyone from Jay-Z and Beyonce' to myself, Rock Ross, Drake, Busta Rhymes, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, T-Pain, Nas, and Rihanna to record for him. He then weaves in all into a cohesive body of work (51).
The relationships that DJ Khaled has parlayed have allowed him to combine artists and genres in novel ways. Khaled's net worth of $510 million supports his accomplishments as an entrepreneur (52). His successful execution of creativity and ingenuity make him an ideal candidate to pair MBA students with game-changing practitioners.
The case of Fat Joe and DJ Khaled's pairing contributes to the research on rethinking the MBA. First, it addresses the innovation gap within numerous MBA curriculum programs. The presence (and knowledge) of Fat Joe and DJ Khaled guest lecturing with approximately 20 MBA/MSBM students demonstrates the strengths of pairing faculty with industry leaders/executives/influencers/catalysts. Theory becomes a practice in real-time, a conversion that research literature has encouraged scholars to consider (53, 54).
The second contribution is that this case study pairs industry leaders from the business world (e.g., sports/entertainment) with faculty in higher education. The major themes from their guest lecture on their industry knowledge created a platform for major takeaways that, at a minimum, engaged MBA students in learning in different ways from traditional instruction. From our case example and moment of pairing (Summer Session A 2021), the faculty and graduate students asked questions that were engaging, non-linear, and based on experiential knowledge (55). Furthermore, this method of engagement provided accessible means of knowledge expression by designing options in the curriculum for multiple media for communication. Rather than relying on textbooks as the sole source of information, students interacted with Fat Joe and DH Khaled as an added option for constructing knowledge of ethnic entrepreneurship. Providing multiple means of action and expression is an equitable teaching practice within the Universal Design for Learning, a research-driven framework to guide the design of accessible learning environments (56).
Third, this case study highlights the intersectionality of Hip Hop and sports for MBA and other graduate students in sport management to think about creativity and innovation (57, 58). This intersection of artists and athletes mirrors one another culturally, e.g., fashion, art, and style. Industry practitioners increasingly see the relevance of the intersections of sport (and also sport management) and entertainment. The Sports Business Journal created a 2-day event called “4SE” (https://4-se.com/), which is one relevant example of the intersection between sport, lifestyle, culture, and entertainment. This multi-industry innovation marketed their 2023 event with “Meet our 2023 innovators” featuring Fat Joe to engage fans and serve their communities. One of the criticisms of MBA programs listed at the beginning of this paper is that the industry needs people with integrative thinking. Sports Business Journal events, such as the 4SE, foreground conversations that are at the root of the industry shift and would give MBA students time to explore cross-cultural innovation outside of the class.
Other contributions (not all will be predictable in the future) by the current case example of the “pairing” of two faculty members with Fat Joe and DJ Khaled are key when considering the 4SE concept(s). In fact, Fat Joe is one of the invited speakers at the 2023 4SE event, and Hip Hop innovators will continue to be invited to spaces such as higher education and other platforms often overlooked in the past years. Part of innovation theories is connecting the dots in ways that previous scholars and practitioners overlook (17). One successful example of this formula is the collaboration between Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg on a popular TV show. While initially perceived as two divergent celebrities and personalities, this show merged generations, gender, race, cooking, and other aspects of culture and lifestyle.
Finally, some researchers have theorized that Hip Hop culture, rap music, and its artists deliver genius and intellect to the higher education game of learning (59). The current paper serves as one case that demonstrates a valid effort to capture this genius with the four “academitioners.” The collaborative pairing was designed to challenge students to think critically and innovatively with purpose.
Limited research runs counter to the current paper's positive approach to pairing the industry with faculty from any genre. However, there are documented challenges with pairing (5). Some public observers are reticent about the presence of Hip Hop in higher education (60). There are also several limitations within the current case study. First, we only investigated the pairing of four people. Second, those participants were only located within one discipline. Future research should expand beyond the sport management realm and analyze pairing transcripts from medical innovators, educational psychology innovators, and other fields that need to engender curiosity in problem-solving.
The synergy of Hip Hop innovators and educators is full of potential. More pairing between industry leaders and faculty is encouraged when redesigning MBA programs. It may happen because of the existing relationships and networks. Yet, it is important to note that preexisting relationships are not a requirement for the synergy described here. For example, when a course on Nicki Minaj was announced at UC Berkeley for the Spring 2023 semester, the artist responded on Twitter that she would show up for it (61). For a course that centers on Nicki Minaj, Hip Hop, and feminism, a professor could only design the curriculum from an outsider's perspective. If they functioned as a pair, the students would gain access to the relevance of feminism, economic structures, and the broader sociohistorical context of Hip Hop from an industry insider. Beyond the success of her musical artwork, Nicki Minaj is capable of speaking to her multiple entrepreneurial endeavors that include starting her own management company and record label, releasing a perfume as a companion fragrance to her album, and (perhaps most relevant to the current study) becoming the global ambassador for a sports betting lifestyle brand called MaximBet. Faculty and curriculum designers should think about other cross-cultural collaborations across ethnic, racial, and gender identity pairings.
We want our last section to demonstrate how to rethink the MBA in real-time. The current research began with a list of challenges collected from our colleagues and “intellectual industry homies.” The first and second authors of the current paper have worked diligently for this to occur, and this is how the dots connect as we flesh this out through Nas's 27 Summers video from (62).
Keith and Reggie of the current paper have been team co-teaching in tandem with undergraduates and MBA students since 2012. Keith is a Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellowship alumnus at Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Khaled has delivered guest lectures in the courses taught by Keith and Reggie on the business of Hip Hop. Keith has included Steve Stoute's book (63) titled “The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture that Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy” in his course on innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of sport/entertainment. Johnny Nunez, who was mentioned in the “27 Summers” video before the golf interlude, has also guest lectured for Keith and Reggie in their Hip Hop business course. Professor Todd Boyd from USC has always said, “Do not just talk about it; be about it.” That is the goal and message of this paper, in part based on theory and practice.
This pause/interlude during Nas's 27 Summers video (62) captures in part the success of Hip Hop culture as a mirror 50 years later since its inception at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. The resilience of Hip Hop a half-century later has found another niche: American higher education. Fellowships named after Hip Hop artists such as Nas, graduate and undergraduate courses on Hip Hop, and Hip Hop artists' presence continue to increase at universities in North America (see Table 1 above). The first course ever taught on Hip Hop was documented at Howard University in 1991.

Sections

"[{\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B1\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"Jay-Z, Where I'm from (1).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B2\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"\\u2013DJ EFN, \\u201cDrink Champs\\u201d Podcast featuring Michael Eric Dyson (2).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B3\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"\\u2013Dom Kennedy, \\u201cPlatinum Chanel\\u201d lyrics (3).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B2\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"N.O.R.E., \\u201cDrink Champs\\u201d Podcast featuring Michael Eric Dyson (2).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B4\", \"B5\"], \"section\": \"Hip Hop as a global culture and business model\", \"text\": \"During this symposium panel dialogue of business experts, colleagues agreed that a different design must be integrated with MBA courses in higher education. Consider the following major questions and themes that capture the barriers to innovating many of our current MBA courses:\\nSport management is the educational platform many students in higher education gravitate toward. Since 1966, such programs in America have increased in quantity and popularity due to student interest, evolving from the physical education model to a business-oriented model (4). Theory without relevance for practice in a professional graduate degree has been critiqued by some scholars as a deficit approach when preparing modern-day MBA students for the workforce and real-world scenarios (5). In order to present graduated students who have demonstrated integrative thinking and problem-solving skills to the workforce, this paper turns to an existing business model that addresses the relevant concerns listed above.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B6\", \"B7\", \"B8\", \"B8\"], \"section\": \"Hip Hop as a global culture and business model\", \"text\": \"Toppling rock'n'roll as music's top-earning genre, the Hip Hop industry is worth over $15 billion and is the most consumed music genre in the United States (6, 7). As a major business player in the music industry, it encompasses production, distribution, publishing, live concerts, album sales, streaming, and other artform-related activities. In 2017, Goldman Sachs found that for Rhythm & Blues (R&B) and Hip Hop, live music generated $26 billion, publishing generated $6 billion, and recorded songs generated $30 billion (8). For example, in 2018, the largest single-day streaming total for any album on any streaming service to date was due to Drake's fifth album released on Spotify and Apple Music (8). More than just music generation, Hip Hop is a global culture based on five distinct elements, as will be illustrated next.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B9\"], \"section\": \"Hip Hop as a global culture and business model\", \"text\": \"Exactly 50 years ago, DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy Campbell staged block parties in the South Bronx, New York, in 1973. Through a combination of soul, rock, funk, reggae, and Jamaican dancehall toasting genres, dancers and rappers pioneered their art form over looped beats and percussive instrumentations (9). From these informal music scenes in the South Bronx emerged the five elements of Hip Hop: (a) MCeeing, (b) DJing, (c) Graffiti, (d) B-boy/B-girl, and (e) Knowledge. An MC stands for \\u201cmaster of ceremonies\\u201d and describes a rap performer on stage. A DJ is a \\u201cdisc jockey\\u201d who plays recorded music for an audience, usually on multiple turntables, and introduces the names of the songs on a microphone. Graffiti is an art that is written, painted, or drawn on a wall or other public service, usually without permission. Hip Hop graffiti artists use this form as a means of cultural expression and resistance to hegemony. Just as MCeeing and DJing challenge what counts as music, graffiti challenges mainstream notions of art, public space, and property. Similarly, B-boying/B-girling through breakdancing challenges what counts as dance through shuffles, footwork, poses, and acrobatic moves performed on the floor. The commonality of these elements contributes to the energetic, improvised, and disruptive nature of Hip Hop. Dance floor battles made up of mostly Black and Puerto Rican crew members became renowned for their emphasis on creativity, skill, and musicality.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B10\", \"B11\", \"B12\", \"B13\"], \"section\": \"Hip Hop as a global culture and business model\", \"text\": \"The fifth element of Hip Hop is knowledge. While it is the element most underutilized in theory and practice, most of the intellectual attention has been rigorously addressed in the social sciences and humanities. This canon has crossed disciplines from sociology, psychology, history, fine arts, dance, kinesiology, African studies, and African American studies (10). From an economic perspective, Hip Hop is worth examining because it occupies a vertical market and has value as an opportunity structure for broader business concepts, e.g., innovation, entrepreneurship, disruption, organizational behavior, and creativity. Groundbreaking partnerships have emerged from the intersection of Hip Hop and sport: Adidas partnered with Run-DMC in the 1980s; Jordan Brand signed endorsement deals with artists Drake, Travis Scott, and DJ Khaled; and rapper Jay-Z founded Roc Nation Sports to manage athletes and execute marketing deals (11). Historically, sports in Black communities (i.e., the post-World War I Negro Leagues) and the Hip Hop industry share a common thread of market disruption: \\u201cBoth movements exploded out of resistance toward the myth of white superiority in the music and sport industries\\u201d (12, p. 207). With few exceptions, most of the content areas covered by the following journals have overlooked, ignored, and outright \\u201cdissed\\u201d the intellectual value of Hip Hop to build our knowledge base in the academic discipline of business, e.g., with departments typically in management, accounting (13), economics, finance, and sport business.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B14\"], \"section\": \"Hip Hop as a global culture and business model\", \"text\": \"The case presented in the current study involves industry practitioners and is nested within an MBA course on the intersection of Hip Hop and sport business management. Out of the 213 sport management MBA programs in the United States (14), only one offers a program on Hip Hop entrepreneurship. This aspect of the curriculum introduces an unprecedented pedagogy in the MBA of sport management program design, rendering the case study within it especially valuable for scholars and practitioners who are committed to redesigning the existing structure and curricula.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B15\"], \"section\": \"Hip Hop as a global culture and business model\", \"text\": \"We want to be intentional before reviewing the literature on rethinking the MBA educational experience; Hip Hop culture and Hip Hop artists are not the only ways of rethinking the MBA (15). In response to the questions listed above, we seek to advance the call for more pedagogy in the curriculum with a focus on innovation, creativity, and the involvement of industry practitioners through Hip Hop. Since the onus to redesign current MBA programs rests on scholars and business experts alike, it would behoove us to analyze a cultural phenomenon that pivoted the business of music, artistry, and ethnic minority representation toward a multibillion-dollar financial gain.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B16\", \"B17\", \"B18\", \"B20\", \"B17\", \"B21\", \"B25\", \"B26\", \"B27\", \"B28\", \"B29\", \"B30\", \"B31\", \"B32\", \"B33\"], \"section\": \"Gaps in MBA degree programs\", \"text\": \"Business researchers are immersed in designing and rethinking the MBA degree (16, 17). In their efforts to critically scrutinize the degree and programs, researchers have documented analysis of new and futuristic ideas (18\\u201320); the MBA curriculum at the crossroads (17, 21\\u201325); global/international focus (26, 27); medical and healthcare context (28); human capital (29); women/gender (30); economics (31); industry (32); and cross-disciplinary synergy (33). While our synthesis of the literature is not exhaustive, the topics above are the major themes that scholars have used to contextualize the MBA redesign.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B17\"], \"section\": \"Gaps in MBA degree programs\", \"text\": \"One of the biggest criticisms of the MBA degree in higher education (historically and contemporary at many business schools) is that creative skills are overlooked in the curriculum, are rarely taught, and offer ineffective elective options for MBA students (17). Three major concerns from top MBA programs highlight the necessity of teaching creative skills:In order to advance research, knowledge, and best practices in sport business, the sports industry should connect with academics to identify solutions to customer retention, service delivery systems, ROI measurement and sponsorship, customer retention, and advertising assessment.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B17\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"Analytical skills are readily available. People who are creative and innovative are far rarer. MBAs lack creativity. They don't think outside the box. Business schools have to find a way to encourage creativity. Few graduates are capable of formulating \\u201cgame-changing ideas.\\u201d In many sections of the economy, it is innovation and creativity that add the highest value, yet business schools have, at best a modest record of developing these skills. (17, p. 143)\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B34\", \"B35\", \"B36\", \"B37\", \"B38\"], \"section\": \"Creativity in MBA degree programs: ethnic entrepreneurship\", \"text\": \"Creativity is not an elusive or exclusive character trait. Creativity can be taught to adult learners (34, 35) and business students in particular (36, 37). In their article on enhancing creativity and innovation without encouraging unethical behavior, Baucus and colleagues (38) identified four categories of behavior in business that align perfectly with the rebellious nature of Hip Hop culture: breaking rules and standard operating procedures, challenging authority, avoiding tradition, creating conflict, competition, and stress, and taking risks. Given the lack of creative skills and innovation in 2023, how might Hip Hop culture be framed in a business context to address these gaps in MBA curriculum units? Furthermore, what other non-cognitive skills might Hip Hop culture teach future students?\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B39\", \"B40\", \"B44\", \"B46\", \"B47\"], \"section\": \"Creativity in MBA degree programs: ethnic entrepreneurship\", \"text\": \"We see a potential fusion of theory and practice that points to how these gaps in creativity and innovation might be filled. The integration of members of the academic community into the sport industry could result in more strategic, measured, and evaluated systems to deliver sports to consumers. Academics can investigate problems in the business of sports to drive data-informed decisions. Sutton (39) coined the term \\u201cpracademics\\u201d to merge the two approaches: \\u201cThat is, academics working with the sports industry and its practitioners to improve the products and services of the industry and increase and retain its consumer base\\u201d (para. 13). There is a small body of literature on Hip Hop moguls that contains lessons for business scholars and industry leaders who want to learn from the case studies of Hip Hop catalysts/influencers (40\\u201344). In Watson's chapter from the \\u201cHandbook on Wealth and the Super-rich,\\u201d the commercialization of Hip Hop has provided access to ethnic entrepreneurship:Ethnic entrepreneurship is a means of upward mobility. It is \\u201ca set of connections and regular patterns of interaction among people sharing common national background or migration experiences\\u201d (46, p. 13). Historically, these entrepreneurs have entered self-employment due to discrimination or entry barriers in the labor market, usually due to their educational background and language deficits (47).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B45\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"The mainstream Hip Hop that followed the corporatization of the genre in the mid-1990s would prove to be a huge opportunity for many Hip Hop artists and entrepreneurs, and there are now numerous African American Hip Hop millionaires (45). The so-called Hip Hop \\u201cmoguls\\u201d represent a small number of ethnic entrepreneurs who have risen from the ranks of the many Hip Hop microenterprises to accumulate significant personal wealth, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. They are generally artists who have established successful companies that own the rights to their production, as well as the production of other Hip Hop and R&B artists. Yet they also have business interests that have extended well beyond music. Drawing on the economic power of Hip Hop and their own celebrity status, they have developed business interests in fashion, sport, alcohol and a wide range of other consumer products that appeal to the young consumers of the Hip Hop generation. Some have themselves become iconic brands\\u2014cultural icons and representative symbols of globalized Hip Hop culture. (p. 183)\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"F1\"], \"section\": \"Creativity in MBA degree programs: ethnic entrepreneurship\", \"text\": \"The interactive model below illustrates how the success of an ethnic group's entrepreneurial endeavors cannot be attributed to one characteristic; rather, it is the complex interaction between opportunity structures and group resources. The dimension of opportunity structures (on the left) typically materializes from the development of a new ethnic community, e.g., Hip Hop. According to Volery's model, these communities have specific needs that only co-ethnics are capable of fulfilling. Such communities consist of ethnic minority groups or individuals who have immigrated over the past few decades. The greater the cultural gap between the ethnic group and the host country, the bigger the potential niche market. Access to open markets and ownership are often blocked through high-entry financial barriers. The second dimension (on the right) draws from the resources shared by immigrants and ethnic people of the same origin. Cultural traditions can predispose certain groups to assume self-employment. Ethnic networks account for the significance of family and other in-group networks that can compensate for the innumerable disadvantages that immigrants and minorities face in the host country (Figure 1).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B47\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"Volery\\u2019s (47) ethnic entrepreneurship conceptual model.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B48\"], \"section\": \"Creativity in MBA degree programs: ethnic entrepreneurship\", \"text\": \"The figure above is one snapshot of the many ways scholars, practitioners, and forward thinkers might view Hip Hop through a business/innovation/entrepreneurship prism, especially for racial and ethnic groups who are non-White (48). Ethnic entrepreneurship as a framework enables business scholars as well as practitioners to examine the nuances of ideas that become tangible products and outcomes through the execution of creativity and ingenuity. Before analyzing the presence of two ethnic entrepreneurs in the current paper, we present the relevant research literature that synthesizes the \\u201crethinking the MBA\\u201d scholarship line of inquiry.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"F2\"], \"section\": \"Case study and description of participant pairing\", \"text\": \"An important part of any business is human connections within a network of movers and shakers in the industry. An existing business literature has called for rethinking the MBA degree. In particular, scholars and practitioners seek pedagogies that instruct MBA students to think about commerce in futuristic ways to solve timely and timeless challenges. The figure below captures four representative leaders, each of whom brings their own crafts, values, and skills to the intersection of sports, business, and Hip Hop. Combined, these four individuals co-created a novel engagement for pairing MBA students with faculty and industry leaders (Figure 2).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B49\", \"B50\"], \"section\": \"Case study and description of participant pairing\", \"text\": \"While the two Hip Hop leaders featured in this case study may be most famous for their rap careers, they were included in the current model of ethnic entrepreneurship because of their business acumen. After signing with Atlantic Records, Fat Joe created his own record label called Terror Squad Entertainment, which allows him to sign other artists and distribute their releases. Similarly, DJ Khaled is the CEO of the label he founded under the parent company of Universal Music Group, called We The Best Music Group. He launched his record label to manage, publish, and produce other artists and has released over 10 albums with prominent rappers such as Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Future, Chance The Rapper, and Lil' Wayne. Both entrepreneurs have expanded into businesses outside of music. Fat Joe launched The Fat Joe Show, wrote a memoir, and donated $100,000 in brand-new clothes to South Bronx students (49). DJ Khaled has partnered with Weight Watchers and Jordan Brand, founded a non-profit organization to provide scholarships for Miami high school students entering the STEAM field, and opened a restaurant franchise named Another Wing with 150 locations across five countries (50). Interestingly, both men have engaged in philanthropic efforts to benefit young students in their native cities, which is arguably the most worthwhile investment that a person can make.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B51\"], \"section\": \"\", \"text\": \"Khaled's projects are part compilations, part soundtracks, and all all-stars. My brother has been able to parlay his relationships into recruiting everyone from Jay-Z and Beyonce' to myself, Rock Ross, Drake, Busta Rhymes, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, T-Pain, Nas, and Rihanna to record for him. He then weaves in all into a cohesive body of work (51).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B52\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"The relationships that DJ Khaled has parlayed have allowed him to combine artists and genres in novel ways. Khaled's net worth of $510 million supports his accomplishments as an entrepreneur (52). His successful execution of creativity and ingenuity make him an ideal candidate to pair MBA students with game-changing practitioners.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B53\", \"B54\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"The case of Fat Joe and DJ Khaled's pairing contributes to the research on rethinking the MBA. First, it addresses the innovation gap within numerous MBA curriculum programs. The presence (and knowledge) of Fat Joe and DJ Khaled guest lecturing with approximately 20 MBA/MSBM students demonstrates the strengths of pairing faculty with industry leaders/executives/influencers/catalysts. Theory becomes a practice in real-time, a conversion that research literature has encouraged scholars to consider (53, 54).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B55\", \"B56\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"The second contribution is that this case study pairs industry leaders from the business world (e.g., sports/entertainment) with faculty in higher education. The major themes from their guest lecture on their industry knowledge created a platform for major takeaways that, at a minimum, engaged MBA students in learning in different ways from traditional instruction. From our case example and moment of pairing (Summer Session A 2021), the faculty and graduate students asked questions that were engaging, non-linear, and based on experiential knowledge (55). Furthermore, this method of engagement provided accessible means of knowledge expression by designing options in the curriculum for multiple media for communication. Rather than relying on textbooks as the sole source of information, students interacted with Fat Joe and DH Khaled as an added option for constructing knowledge of ethnic entrepreneurship. Providing multiple means of action and expression is an equitable teaching practice within the Universal Design for Learning, a research-driven framework to guide the design of accessible learning environments (56).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B57\", \"B58\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Third, this case study highlights the intersectionality of Hip Hop and sports for MBA and other graduate students in sport management to think about creativity and innovation (57, 58). This intersection of artists and athletes mirrors one another culturally, e.g., fashion, art, and style. Industry practitioners increasingly see the relevance of the intersections of sport (and also sport management) and entertainment. The Sports Business Journal created a 2-day event called \\u201c4SE\\u201d (https://4-se.com/), which is one relevant example of the intersection between sport, lifestyle, culture, and entertainment. This multi-industry innovation marketed their 2023 event with \\u201cMeet our 2023 innovators\\u201d featuring Fat Joe to engage fans and serve their communities. One of the criticisms of MBA programs listed at the beginning of this paper is that the industry needs people with integrative thinking. Sports Business Journal events, such as the 4SE, foreground conversations that are at the root of the industry shift and would give MBA students time to explore cross-cultural innovation outside of the class.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B17\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Other contributions (not all will be predictable in the future) by the current case example of the \\u201cpairing\\u201d of two faculty members with Fat Joe and DJ Khaled are key when considering the 4SE concept(s). In fact, Fat Joe is one of the invited speakers at the 2023 4SE event, and Hip Hop innovators will continue to be invited to spaces such as higher education and other platforms often overlooked in the past years. Part of innovation theories is connecting the dots in ways that previous scholars and practitioners overlook (17). One successful example of this formula is the collaboration between Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg on a popular TV show. While initially perceived as two divergent celebrities and personalities, this show merged generations, gender, race, cooking, and other aspects of culture and lifestyle.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B59\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Finally, some researchers have theorized that Hip Hop culture, rap music, and its artists deliver genius and intellect to the higher education game of learning (59). The current paper serves as one case that demonstrates a valid effort to capture this genius with the four \\u201cacademitioners.\\u201d The collaborative pairing was designed to challenge students to think critically and innovatively with purpose.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B5\", \"B60\"], \"section\": \"Discussion\", \"text\": \"Limited research runs counter to the current paper's positive approach to pairing the industry with faculty from any genre. However, there are documented challenges with pairing (5). Some public observers are reticent about the presence of Hip Hop in higher education (60). There are also several limitations within the current case study. First, we only investigated the pairing of four people. Second, those participants were only located within one discipline. Future research should expand beyond the sport management realm and analyze pairing transcripts from medical innovators, educational psychology innovators, and other fields that need to engender curiosity in problem-solving.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B61\"], \"section\": \"Outlook\", \"text\": \"The synergy of Hip Hop innovators and educators is full of potential. More pairing between industry leaders and faculty is encouraged when redesigning MBA programs. It may happen because of the existing relationships and networks. Yet, it is important to note that preexisting relationships are not a requirement for the synergy described here. For example, when a course on Nicki Minaj was announced at UC Berkeley for the Spring 2023 semester, the artist responded on Twitter that she would show up for it (61). For a course that centers on Nicki Minaj, Hip Hop, and feminism, a professor could only design the curriculum from an outsider's perspective. If they functioned as a pair, the students would gain access to the relevance of feminism, economic structures, and the broader sociohistorical context of Hip Hop from an industry insider. Beyond the success of her musical artwork, Nicki Minaj is capable of speaking to her multiple entrepreneurial endeavors that include starting her own management company and record label, releasing a perfume as a companion fragrance to her album, and (perhaps most relevant to the current study) becoming the global ambassador for a sports betting lifestyle brand called MaximBet. Faculty and curriculum designers should think about other cross-cultural collaborations across ethnic, racial, and gender identity pairings.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B62\"], \"section\": \"Conclusions: 27 Summers \\u201cJohnny Nunez got all the pictures\\u201d\", \"text\": \"We want our last section to demonstrate how to rethink the MBA in real-time. The current research began with a list of challenges collected from our colleagues and \\u201cintellectual industry homies.\\u201d The first and second authors of the current paper have worked diligently for this to occur, and this is how the dots connect as we flesh this out through Nas's 27 Summers video from (62).\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B63\"], \"section\": \"Conclusions: 27 Summers \\u201cJohnny Nunez got all the pictures\\u201d\", \"text\": \"Keith and Reggie of the current paper have been team co-teaching in tandem with undergraduates and MBA students since 2012. Keith is a Nasir Jones Hip Hop Fellowship alumnus at Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Khaled has delivered guest lectures in the courses taught by Keith and Reggie on the business of Hip Hop. Keith has included Steve Stoute's book (63) titled \\u201cThe Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture that Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy\\u201d in his course on innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of sport/entertainment. Johnny Nunez, who was mentioned in the \\u201c27 Summers\\u201d video before the golf interlude, has also guest lectured for Keith and Reggie in their Hip Hop business course. Professor Todd Boyd from USC has always said, \\u201cDo not just talk about it; be about it.\\u201d That is the goal and message of this paper, in part based on theory and practice.\"}, {\"pmc\": \"PMC10902134\", \"pmid\": \"38425567\", \"reference_ids\": [\"B62\", \"T1\"], \"section\": \"Conclusions: 27 Summers \\u201cJohnny Nunez got all the pictures\\u201d\", \"text\": \"This pause/interlude during Nas's 27 Summers video (62) captures in part the success of Hip Hop culture as a mirror 50 years later since its inception at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. The resilience of Hip Hop a half-century later has found another niche: American higher education. Fellowships named after Hip Hop artists such as Nas, graduate and undergraduate courses on Hip Hop, and Hip Hop artists' presence continue to increase at universities in North America (see Table\\u00a01 above). The first course ever taught on Hip Hop was documented at Howard University in 1991.\"}]"

Metadata

"{\"section-at-acceptance\": \"Sports Management, Marketing, and Economics\"}"