The more and more I look at the Tech movement these days The more I think this looks a whole lot like the way Hip Hop was kicking it in 1985. Sit back and watch todays show on my thoughts on this and more and pay close attention the patience message.
The Tech world 2008 = The Hip Hop World 1985
Tags: hip-hop, patience, personal brand, tech, technology
April 1st, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Get in there, man.
Keep bringing the thunder.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
This is definitely an accurate comparison, but I have no clue how you thought of this comparison. I love it.
@biird
April 1st, 2008 at 4:28 pm
That is a perfect comparison dead on accurate.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
The patience part is what people aren’t getting. It’s just like the notion of building relationships in business — you aren’t going to see $$$ the moment you start something, for example, but things really start rolling as you continue that momentum and you can later cash in your brand equity through several opportunities.
I guess it’s a lot like Warren Buffet’s view on stocks. Gotta be able to handle the storms, stick around, patiently nurture what you have while keeping your eyes open to what’s going on around you.
Patience really is a virtue.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Gary,
Great video as always… I took your advice and started branding myself about one week ago and I’m getting a ton of feedback! First video blog, 100 views, and 20 emails within 24 hours… Thank you!!
- Adam DesAutels
April 1st, 2008 at 4:35 pm
My head almost fell off from all the nodding! This is some of the most astute analysis of the current web market I’ve ever seen. Thank you again for all the great content.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Here’s my question for you tho, Gary… How relevant will age be?
All of the rap/hip-hop artists you mentioned were the young kids coming up. More, I would think, they were like Mark Zuckerberg, than most of the names you mentioned.
I think there’s a certain level of ‘old man on the mountain’ that many people are a little afraid of.
Scoble et al have built their brands over the past decade - but who is the next generation of (as Chris Brogan calls them) Social Media Rockstars?
I think you’re on target - I’m just not sure who the names will actually *be* 5 years from now.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
(I gotta interrupt my lurking here)
And there I thought I was the only one to notice that.
Here’s what I like about your shiz:
While everybody in the podcasting and vlogging scene is on some story telling stuff you go all in and make it personal. You talk about your job, your game, your hustle and yourself…
WLTV is something like Reasonable Doubt to me. A classic, a benchmark and a ~daily source of inspiration.
If you ever drop by Zurich, Switzerland feel free to holla at me. Peace!
April 1st, 2008 at 4:38 pm
You tapped that vein perfectly. WORD. /chestthump
@geechee_girl
April 1st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Colaborations and idea sharing is welcomed today but just as with hip hop back in the day, the “sweet” tech community (as we know and love it), where everything is about fun might be heading towards a “darker” future.
Just like Gary says, too much emphasize on monetization and too little on love for what you’re doing might do exactly that.
I think its up to as actual user authorities (we are all authoritites in the social media realm), and the opinionleaders (such as Gary) to together do our best to preserve what we have to the greatest possible extent.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Hey Gary, I agree with what you say here in that it is very important to build your personal brand and to be in place for the explosion of the future. As an artist, woodturner, wood sculptor I am building community one person at a time. I started a blog about 7 months ago, started twitter about 6 months ago and I have already been pretty successful in building up my personal brand in the space. However, what I love about this space is the room for freedom, growth and personal expression. The fact that my brand does not have to be something that is packed up all neat and tidy in a little box somewhere with a Label on it. We all have the ability to push forward, learn, and grow in this space.
I agree whole heartedly with you on the positioning of new media. I really do. However I still think that we all have to be able to keep our feet on the ground. Stay connected, stay sincere, and don’t come off like a commercial all the time. Consumers are able to see through a marketing pitch like glass and if we get too high on ourselves or too car salesman, they’ll just say goodbye. Gary, great post…and keep up the great work. I never miss a new vid post from you anymore!!
Keith Burtis
April 1st, 2008 at 4:44 pm
comparison in what is behind us may sound right, but will not be true…
there always will be a ‘my generation’generation that will implement apps that are there for them @ that specific time; and those will/can not be the same as we use now, the choice will be in their hands.
like your view though…;)
April 1st, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Wine Library is proof positive that consistent, quality content (with a heckalotta charisma) goes a long way. It’s almost like with so many things shifting towards the ‘net, financial capital isn’t nearly as important as creative capital. Everyone is looking for creative, unique content.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Much better than when you were saying ‘friend me up’ like a three-year-old!
One key point:
Successful branding is the result of making an emotional connection with your ‘audience’ that is completely honest to your DNA and personal experiences. Hip-hop connected with what was happening ‘in the streets’ in a way that was in tune with the artists’ internal DNA… and they translated it into honest communication/music that struck a nerve. Nothing works better in life than communicating things that are totally honest, genuine, and true. People can tell the difference. You’ve connected with people because of your genuine passion with wine and your ability to communicate it. It’s real, we can see it.
Now, if you connect this GV video with the one you made the other day… ‘know yourself’… you have the two key elements necessary for social networking to ‘work.’ In a secondary way… It’s a content issue. The social networking phenomena-turned-useful-communication only grows exponentially if people but ‘personal content’ into it whole-heartedly. This requires being yourself 24/7… you. always you. no denying it’s you. EVER.
Two basic elements that drive the system. Well done, GV.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:51 pm
haha stop stealing my material! For real though I make that comparison all the time.. there are some key differences too though, maybe I’ll do a response vid..
April 1st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
you just made my day! I’ve been slogging along doing what I do, building my imaginary staircase to nowhere…. thinking… why… your video put it in perspective. thanks again!
April 1st, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Good seeing you yesterday at Web 2.0! It’s great to see a wine guy figure out how to leverage the online masses. For being relatively outside of the online industry you connected the social media dots fantastically well. There is just one thing I’ve been meaning to talk to you about though and that’s…GO PATS!!
April 1st, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Gary:
I don’t think this is much different than the creation of the PC. It was a paradigm shift from mainframes. Tehn we had a bunch of youngsters, Jobs, Gates, Allen, Wozniak who embraced the new technology. Gates and Allen created MS-DOS as IBM did not see the money in software, hardware ruled in their mind. Jobs was looking at better computer experiences. These guys did it for the love of the technology, creating the new ‘in thing’. They wanted to be the legend in their own circles. Now the web is everywhere and being a geek is cool. Youngsters think it is cool to be a techie, 20 years ago when Gates up and coming it was not so cool to be a geek. I think there is some correlation to RAP, but it my mind it is that it became mainstream, and of course like rap prior generations do not understand it.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:20 pm
One thing that I have taken away from the past few GV’s is that moving forward is also critical. Even at the risk of missing some things on the route, keep going forward, loving what you will do the spaces missed will be filled in. This series could also be called “take a step back” — you are taking the important step back and in the same way you make unusual but usually spot on analogies with the aromas and tastes of wine you are doing the same with these videos. Its like you are pouring the technology into the Big Ass Glass and inhaling deeply — pausing and then describng your sniffy sniff. This entry is the description of the taste, just like “Big League Chew’ or the “taste of your mitt when you were chewing on it in left field waiting for the ball to come to you”; you have made a similar connection between ‘85 and Web2.0.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Excellent, excellent analogy, Gary. I think you’re drawing a great big picture, but maybe not even big enough. Many of us were doing all these tech “things” in 1995. Not all of us built the brands that we may now be able to with today’s tools. Or some of us built brands for companies that didn’t last. I was struck at how several of the names you mentioned did start back then (who remembers Silicon Alley?). It just underscores your point about patience and trend development. I’ve had WLTV in my RSS reader for a long time now, and was on the fence about adding Gary Vaynerchuk too, mostly due to time management in my life, but you’re hitting many points that I held high ten years ago and became a bit too discouraged about. So now I’ve subscribed to this feed. Was it Kevin Kelly that said you’re break point is 1000 true fans? Now I’ve got to go look that up. See what I mean about managing time?
Thank you, Gary.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I really like the comment that you need to let society back into those personal brands. Good angle on how this is going to play out. Keep building, GV, keep building!!
April 1st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
very true GV! good analogy.
it will be so awesome to see in around 20 years who is doing what.
like when BIZ Markie went on that reality show not too long ago. who knew way back in the day that something like that would happen!!!
the future will be crazy weirdness radool!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Gary,
YoUUUU are a madman. Gotta love pulling White Lion out too.
Loved the insight you brought here. The hip-hop reference can actually - in meeez opinion - be projected to the hip-hop world today AND the need for patience. How so? Not much money in selling records through record labels anymore. Few made money in the past. Only the Madonna’s.
Back to hip-hop…How did MC Hammer pull more coin out of da record label when he signed? He actually had that social currency - that patience. He was already selling records after his local shows and making money. So he had leverage.
So today, I see the hip-hop, rock groups, whatever will - with that patience - the patience to build an audience, and not be afraid to give away a lot of FREE songs so they will build the social currency for people to pay them directly, not labels, not promoters for live shows.
That’s why the record labels, for fear of extinction, are desperately trying to lock up ALL the artists’ REVenue. They need the artists’ concert money. LIVE NATION is kickin’ butt.
And so is Gary Vay-ner-chuk. You’re definitely rockin’ da mic.
Mark Fitzpatrick
April 1st, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Gary, that dope video was stupid fresh!
If your analogy holds up, there will be big mainstream successes (like Will Smith, the Beasties, Dre, LL, Ice T, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah). There will be people who can carve out a niche for some hardcore fans (like KRS One, Eric B. and Rakim, 2Live Crew). And there will be short-term players and fads who have their one moment and then disappear (anybody still listen to the Fat Boys, Whodini, EPMD, Dana Dane, Egyptian Lover, Schoolly D?). But yeah, it’s worth staking your personal branding claim now, in the web gold rush.
The question I have is: will it play out the same way, with these people climbing out of nowhere, to be courted by a few big, monolithic media companies? Because the whole idea of monolithic media companies is also under attack right now. In the end, I think yeah, the big guys who’ve always done it will mostly come out on top in the end again, once they learn the new rules and modify their game. And of course, they will be always hungry for new people with talent and traffic.
But I think the one sure thing is: 10 years from now, we’ll all be sitting around the breakfast table, eating our SuperGalatic Laser Cheerios while we’re absorbing our virtual brain implant newsfeed. We’ll read about something or other, something none of us ever predicted in 2008. And we’ll all be saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Because that’s the one true prediction - nobody can really predict out past the singularity.
Oh yeah, the other sure thing is: in 10 years, I’ll be digging into those 2005 Bordeaux that I’ve cellared.
Peace out and as we said in the ’80s, word up, homey!
April 1st, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Gary, that dope video was stupid fresh! If the analogy holds up, there will be big mainstream successes (like Will Smith, the Beasties, Dre, LL, Ice T, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah). There will be people who can carve out a niche for hardcore fans (like KRS One, Eric B. and Rakim, 2Live Crew). And there will be short-term players and fads who have their moment and then disappear (anybody still listen to the Fat Boys, Whodini, EPMD, Dana Dane, Egyptian Lover, Schoolly D?). But yeah, it’s worth staking your claim now.
The question I have is: will it play out the same way, with these people climbing out of nowhere, to be courted by a few big, monolithic media companies? Because the whole idea of monolithic media companies is also under attack right now. In the end, I think yeah, the big guys who’ve always done it will mostly come out on top in the end again, once they learn the new rules and modify their game. And of course, they will be always hungry for people with talent and traffic.
But I think the one sure thing is: 10 years from now, we’ll all be sitting around the breakfast table, eating our SuperGalatic Laser Cheerios and reading the virtual brain implant newsfeed, while we’re charging up the hoverpack in the garage. We’ll be reading about something none of us ever predicted in 2008. And we’ll all be saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Oh yeah, the other sure thing is: in 10 years, I’ll be digging into those 2005 Bordeaux that I cellared. Peace out.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:07 pm
This GaryV isn’t quite working for me - it’s like HipHop 1985, how?
The groups mentioned selling a lot of records in 1985 and most of the groups selling records today weren’t around at all in 1985. And the groups mentioned didn’t wait 15 years to be successful and it’s not a matter of patience, either…if they weren’t hits quickly, the label dropped them.
There’s a lesson in there somewhere…but I’m not sure the lesson is the lesson Gary thinks it is.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Darn slow loading Internet today. Made me double post.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:48 pm
So your saying I am gangsta?
[viddler_video=7151d651]
April 1st, 2008 at 7:22 pm
OK- you are totally a genius…I really mean that! I agree with your analogy entirely, so does that make me a genius too?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
You nailed it man. I think you’re totally spot on.
Mary
April 1st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I was going to type a long diatribe about how you were wrong and Hip Hop = mainstream and web 2.0 = indie and you just couldnt compare the two. then i realized in 1985 i was 4 years old. i cant remember a time when hip hop WASNT mainstream. i learned about hiphop from mtv which was mainsteam by the late 80s. someone born today will grow up in a web 2.0 world. i then realized, you might have something here.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
So who’s the Vanilla Ice of the Web 2.0 world?
April 1st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
So Very True!! I especially agree with the Gamer comments!!
April 1st, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Favorite part: “We are in the national anthem of a 18 inning game!”
So true. I’ve often considered this the “early days” in so many ways. I’d just like to say AMEN to patience! Too many people expect popularity to come quickly and easily. As you’ve said, it takes sustained effort over YEARS.
Thanks for this Garyvee, I needed to be reminded that the seeds I plant today are the Redwoods of tomorrow.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Yes and no. It’s not just repetition. People need a message that resonates as well. The book “How Brands Become Icons” by Holt is my favorite marketing book. Read it. WLTV’s ethos of trusting your own palate and changing the wine world is in opposition to the Parker/critics know best national ideology. The most successful 12-15 year olds will not just be persistent, they’ll also have messages that resolve cultural contradictions.
I’ve almost watched every WLTV episode!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I agree completely, you and all the nerds who grew up being made fun of in school, are now in a position to cause an effect in our society.
You, Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, iJustine, and MC Chris are all riding the tech wave.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Cool, but one issue: For such a forward thinking Tech group, how come all they’ve come up with is “WEB 2.0?”
Serious here! The “2.0″ slangology is soooo 1990s. You need to rebuild THAT brand!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
First time on your site. I have no clue who you are, but brother, you’ve got this one pegged. It’s like you just dropped a napalm run in my mind. That was some perspective that I needed.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
This movement, whatever you want to call it, is no different than any new technology. You can draw analogies, but I don’t think it changes simple economics. Very few will win big. Those that work hard and get lucky will win more than those who don’t. Lots of people won during the tech boom of the late ’90s but many more lost. How many Mark Cubans are out there? Some people will be able to make a living at it, but honestly, what is the percent of aspiring hip-hop artists that actually hit it big?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Absolutely!
My parents used to always say, “when you grow up you won’t listen to that crap ass rap.” But low and behold, I’m older now and lovin’ it more than ever. So too with the games. Are you sure you’re not from Texas GV? Straight from the hip common sense! Yee haw!!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I wasn’t alive in 1985, however, the point is still made. It is just really hard for us kids today to have the patience to wait it out.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:58 pm
[...] awhile now, however, what Gary Vaynerchuk talked about today has prompted me to write it. In his video, Gary talks about the kids of today and how they are embracing technology. Everyone wants to be a [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:02 am
Wow talk about a stretch, c’mon this is a bit of a reach, c’mon admit it, c’mon.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:45 am
Hopefully thats not the case. If web 2.0 sells out and starts getting shitty like hip hop did circa 98, I will bail and move to CHINA. I used to like hip hop, now some lil’ suburban kids are driving SUVs and pumping JZ. These guys are all lame, and they drink overpriced wine and shitty cognac (which they put coke in no less). I liked hip hop when it was about the 40’s and the flat tops. Bad analogy… I can only hope. And 80s Rock still Rocks! Hell even the Stones are still Rollin’ in big sales. Today’s Hip Hop is like 60s era pop. No one will remember it even existed in 50 years. Except for 2 Pac, who keeps recording, somehow.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:57 am
you got it brother! I agree, everything will be revolutionized and monetized. I equate it to looking at no cell phones to now cell phones, what’s the next 10 years going to be like…the ubiquitous push of Internet into every aspect of our lives.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 am
@Bobby B: Another addition to the “hip hop is dead” crowd, huh. I gotta.. I can’t… Let me ask you a few:
What’s so wrong about Jay-Z? Ever listenend to Common’s new album? Kanye’s? What about Lupe Fiasco’s last two discs?
If hip hop were in such a bad state, there wouldn’t be room for work like that.
I think the important point you are making is something that holds for all of media:
It’s hard to filter out the good content from all the crap that’s out there - regardless of genre and medium. And that is probably one of the skills our generation has to pass on to the next generation: filtering out the good stuff. Personal branding - if honest and sincere - will help us differentiate just that.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
Today is post #2007 for the Deep Fun weblog. Post number two-thousand-seven.
Patience is good. Stubborness is also good. A sense of humor, priceless.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
[...] to Robert Scoble’s Share in Google Reader for knowing about The Tech world 2008 = The Hip Hop World 1985 from Gary VayNerChuk - whose blog I just subscribed [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
[...] video came from http://garyvaynerchuk.com/2008/04/01/the-tech-world-2008-the-h... No Comment Watched It LOL’d Loved It Hated It Tell ‘em 0 0 ratings rate [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Rad stuff GV, I think I’m going include some of your rants in the Managerial Economics course I teach in the Fall. Seriously, the CKCs need to realize what they’re sitting on.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
[...] Fellow Propeller Scout Dave Cohn tweeted…twitted..urg (I hate that term)… Dave informed me of his latest blog post via the web application Twitter. And I love the video embedded.. I’ve watched a few of Gary Vay - Ner -Chuck’s videos before, I love this guy, what a character, he is so excited about everything that is the internet. Dave was commenting on Gary’s latest. [...]
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Nice comparison but I think you missed it by close to a decade. Now is more like the 95ish Dre, 2Pac, Biggie hay day than the Beasties/LL days. Those days (85) were more like the pre-bubble days. Now technology adoption is as common as turning on a radio and/or tv station and finding Snoop D-O-double-G on. In 85 hip hoppers were still making beats on grimy drum machines, in the 90’s the only people using old drum machines was the Wu Tang Clan and everyone else was sampling like there was no tomorrow. Pre-bubble the ability to setup an infrastructure that could scale took too much time, and too much money. Today high school kids are setting up LAMP stacks over lunch to fiddle with the newest latest and greatest in tech. I’m a techie and a bit of a hip hop head and I do like your analogy, I just think you’re off by just a bit. The proliferation of technology facilitates the ability to create a solid personal brand because it opens more channels than we saw in the pre-bubble days. In 85, the Beasties didn’t have the mainstream adoption that say Diddy and Bad Boy did in the 90’s. I think that is more of an accurate comparison. FWIW.
Any way you look at it….you’re the man for making the comparison GV. Keep rockin it.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:33 pm
[...] Vaynechuk is, without a doubt, one of the most open, engaging, motivational and insightful guys I’ve ever encountered. He runs Wine Library TV as well as publishing a daily video blog [...]
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
Gary, you are so inspirational. And you care so much. I am so sick and tired of hearing the “how ya going to monetize it” greed-based bs too. Keep on being love-based.
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am
The music industry is not something you want to model your success as a creator on… ever.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Looks like Hip Hop 85 even sees Tech World 2K8 as a new branding machine. http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=79878&Nid=41126&p=394794
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm
You’re fired up and excited. And everyone seeing the video gets fired up and excited. I was too - you’re amazingly inspirational my friend.
But you’re saying there will be a dozen people who will become household names and that there is a 0.0000001% chance any of today’s bloggers getting famous. The music industry is a terrible comparison… The chances of doing well, let alone making it big, are so infinitesimally small that almost everyone blogging today will end up poor and penniless (if this is a true comparison to what the hip-hop industry is really like).
I love the concept of intelligent people becoming the stars of tomorrow. I’m entirely in agreement on that point, but it’s on an emotional level. The masses aren’t gathering on Twitter and reading intelligent and interesting blogs. Heck, they aren’t even reading… They’re watching YouTube videos of Miss South Carolina making all of America look stupid.
Lastly, hip-hop came up from the poorest ghettos in the Bronx. Twitter is coming from a 35-45 wealthy demographic. It was bumped from ghetto blasters while people in the hood danced on cardboard on street corners. It hit the charts when the well-off top-40 listening kids picked it up.
Scoble, Zuckerberg, Winer, Vaynerchuk, and Young, are the heroes of today’s bloggers. They’ll be iconic in the blogosphere a few years from now. But unless there is a worldwide movement towards reading and watching intellectually stimulating videos on bleeding edge technology, we won’t be compared to hip-hop ten years from now.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Gary - you’re ‘on it’ as usual. Keep up the great work.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:32 pm
[...] been around for ages I can’t help feel like this is on some whole Alexander Graham Bell shit. Gary Veynerchuk has repeatedly said that ‘we’re at the national anthem of an 18 inning baseball [...]
May 7th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
[...] recently watched a Gary Vaynerchuk blog post (highly recommended) in which he compared the 2008 Tech community to the 1985 Hip Hop community — the thesis said [...]