The New Sheek is Gangsta Geek

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50 cent is dressing up and taunting rivals on YouTube. Diddy is one of the top Twitter celebrities with over 270,000 followers as of today. Has the Hip Hop elite gone, well, geek? Is being tech savvy the new trend in music?

Actually, hip hop artists have had a close connection to technology since its inception. Hip Hop music was born from a fusion of elements that were captured, mixed, and produced. The "remix" as it is associated in Hip Hop is a modern day mash-up of music derived from old samples. Sound boards and mixing programs are like hip hop playgrounds for artists in the studio. So it shouldn't be a surprise that so many artists have gone tech.

If you look at it from a outside perspective you might not see all the reasons I mentioned that keep hip hoppers close to technology. You might just say, what's that "Gangsta Rapper" doing on Twitter and YouTube ? But rappers have a long history of being great promoters and technology these days allows them to extend their promotional reach. The whole concept of rapping evolved from people trying to outdo each other and prove who could rap the best. Rapping, is one of the purest forms of self promotion. Rappers say, "Give me the mic', and I will make you like me more than you like them". 50 cent and Diddy are both great self promoters and they have made their fortunes by promoting their talents.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is a self made mogul who lives far from a gangster-esque lifestyle anymore. Same is true with 50 cent, who is now worth over 100 million dollars and owns one of the largest homes in Connecticut (formerly owned by Mike Tyson), and he is a part owner of Vitamin Water.

Rappers have always been known to tote the newest cellphones and electronics. Hip hop culture is very comfortable with technology, sound mixing software and hardware makes it real easy for artists to become comfortable with high technology early. Hip hop artists have carried and promoted technology accessories for quite some time starting with Skypagers and Startac cell phones to all sorts of hi speed devices nowadays.

Diddy and 50 have been dabbling in online video for some time now. Diddy has PtwittyTv and 50 has been recently found taunting other rappers on YouTube.

Technology will always play a large role in hip hop business and current uses of technology are pretty imaginative. Hip hop is a culture that has drawn from numerous influences, and itself continues to influence the music industry to try new things while leading in new directions.