(AllHipHop News) A year ago Jay Z introduced his “#NewRules” campaign which included a deal with Samsung to purchase 1 million copies of the rapper’s Magna Carta Holy Grail album before it was even released to the public.
Earlier this year, Dr. Dre and fellow Beats Electronics founder Jimmy Iovine sold their company to Apple for a reported $3 billion. Both business moves were seen as landmark moments for Hip Hop moguls.
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Another business savvy rap star recently spoke about both major moves during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Kanye West was one of the panelists for the “Technology, Culture, and Consumer Adoption” event along with marketing executive Steve Stoute and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz.
During the discussion Kanye spoke on the respective Jay Z/Samsung and Dr. Dre/Apple deals.
“One thing I wanted to point out with Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre – they are geniuses,” said Kanye. “Both of them are cultural geniuses. What they had done for so many years – and they connected with the right company by the way. It’s all about the legacy of Steve. They’ll be tech guys that come to me and say ‘Apple doesn’t have the biggest market share here,’ but they have the right principles.”
He later added, “There would have been no Beats deal without the Samsung deal, because it showed a number one company the importance of connecting with culture… Culture and creativity is worth something.”
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While it seems Ye recognizes the importance and impact of both deals, he made it clear he is not a big fan of Samsung.
“The reason I said I didn’t like Samsung particularly is because throughout my entire life, because of the way my parents raised me, I have to work with the number,” Kanye explained. “I can’t work with anyone but Jay Z, because he’s the number one… I can’t be with any girl but Kim [Kardashian], because that’s the girl I look at her pictures the most and get turned on by and she’s a nice person. I’m not going to represent any company but Louis Vuitton, because that’s number one… Samsung is not quite Apple, but it showed that Jimmy and Dre would then be able to connect with the number one influencers.”
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Watch “Technology, Culture, and Consumer Adoption: Learning to Read the Cultural Landscape” seminar featuring Kanye West below.