Hip-hop is big business — venturing from the world’s grandest and most expensive stages into profitable sponsorships in sneakers and apparel, nightlife and liquor, real estate and sports.
The industry has gone from “main street” to mogul, turning Dr. Dre’s beats into a lucrative headphone brand and transforming an artist like Jay-Z from a “businessman” to a “business, man.”
Is hip-hop the driving force behind Black business and economic mobility? What can we glean from its innovative strategies and enterprising spirit? And how do the creative economies hip-hop has brokered affect California’s racially diverse and rapidly changing communities?
Join us for this evening co-presented by Zócalo Public Square, ASU and California Forward (CA FWD) in partnership with Stocktonia.
Hip-hop brand marketer and executive Tara DeVeaux and hip-hop culture media executive Detavio Samuels will discuss hip-hop’s impact on the economy during the opening night of California Forward’s 2025 California Economic Summit in Stockton. Robeson Taj Frazier, director of USC Annenberg’s Institute for Difference and Empowerment in the Arts, will moderate.
This public conversation will be followed by a reception hosted by San Joaquin Partnership at the Banner Island Ballpark, featuring a live musical performance, drinks and bites.
Join us for this event, which will be streamed live on Zócalo Public Squares’s website.
The program is part of California 175 — What Connects California?, a suite of free Zócalo events and essays, bringing together leaders and thinkers from all walks of life to envision California’s next 175 years.
Event information
What: “Is Hip-Hop America’s Biggest Success Story?” by Zócalo Public Square
When: 4:30-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21
Where: University Plaza Waterfront Hotel, 110 W. Fremont St., Stockton
Register: