Steve Stoute: The Tanning of America

On Friday, March 30th, business magnate Steve Stoute appeared before Morehouse College to share his book "The Tanning of America" and his visions of success. Stoute is the founder of Translation, which is an advertising agency that has introduced hip-hop culture into the mainstream. A few of Stoute's greatest projects were Jay-Z and his partnership with HP and Mary J Blige's "My Life" perfume.
Stoute's book "The Tanning of America" touched on how hip-hop grew from street poetry to being embedded into the fabric of mainstream advertising and marketing. Hip-hop has tanned American by introducing black culture into a european-american dominated society. Today, you see an influx in the use of rappers like Drake in commercials for Sprite, Lil' Wayne in Mountain Dew, or Nicki Minaj in Pepsi. The music that these artists produce transcends their own communities and extends into popular culture. What has grown from this movement of inclusion has been a new generation of people with more intercultural awareness. The media has exposed us to cultural diversity which has led to greater acceptance of sub-cultures. From Steve Stoute, we learned that the world is getting smaller and smaller. We are all so connected that the cultural lines are beginning to blur. We are not in the days of ignorance and inexposure. With the power of the internet at our hands, we are finding out how similar we are rather than different.

Pop Star Lady Gaga Viva Glam Ad

Rapper Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin Viva Glam Ad

Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper were the 2010-2011 spokeswomen for MACs Viva Glam Collection. In 2012, it was announced that hip-hop's leading lady, Nicki Minaj, and latin singer Ricky Martin will be their successors.