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Justin Timberlake

By Thomas Golianopoulos 11/21/11 5:50pm

Marketing

Courtesy Getty Images

How Jay-Z Met H.P.: Blame Hip Hop Branding Wizard Steve Stoute

Over the summer, Steve Stoute, the CEO of the brand-marketing firm Translation, went to Wimbledon with his friend and business partner, the rapper Jay-Z, to cheer on Rafael Nadal during the Spaniard’s fourth-round battle with Juan Martín Del Potro. With the match tied in the third set, BBC cameras spotted them. “The man is still here,” said BBC tennis analyst Boris Becker in his heavy German accent. “The Jigga Man, that’s what they call him—Shawn Carter.”

Where most viewers saw a star-sighting. Mr. Stoute saw a “tanning moment.”

Mr. Stoute, in his recent book The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy (2011, Gotham Books), defined “tanning” as “the catalytic force majeure that went beyond musical boundaries and into the psyche of young America.” That’s a pretty thick slice of marketing-speak, but the gist of it is simple: hip-hop has radically changed culture and corporate America.

And Mr. Stoute has had a central role in the transformation.

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By Nate Freeman 10/01/10 7:53pm

“The Facebook Movie in One Minute”

"The Facebook Movie in One Minute" gives us a condensed, hyper-sexualized version of The Social Network: After creating Facebook, a pint-sized Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin take the next logical step, which in this case turns out to be wild sex in graffiti-covered bathrooms. The NMA subtitles describe this as "allowing Mark and Eduardo to Read More

By Michael Miller 9/11/09 1:58pm

Justin Timberlake Was Tardy to Shopping Night at Saks

Fashion’s Night Out drew a big crowd at Saks Fifth Avenue. People scurried about on the first floor: getting their make-up done, being sprayed with perfume and hand lotion, and, presumably, buying things.

On the second floor, designer Chris Benz stood awkwardly in front of a television with a sign next to it that read “Play Read More

By Leon Neyfakh 7/07/09 2:25pm

Justin Timberlake Out With a Book Proposal on Golf

Justin Timberlake wants to write a book about golf! Sources say lit agent David Vigliano—who has recently repped books by celebrities like Shannon Doherty and Clay Aiken—sent editors a short proposal by the singer last month. Mr. Timberlake has been a golf fanatic for years, getting his first taste of the game as a Read More

By Meredith Bryan 5/05/09 6:48pm

Models Mob the Met!

The theme of this year’s Met Costume Institute Gala—i.e., the Oscars of the East—was “the Model as Muse,” and the weedlike mannequins floating up the red carpet in weapons-grade shoes and teensy get-ups appeared only moderately more human than the “superheroes” that inspired last year’s ball.

Molly Sims called her elaborate gold Dolce & Gabbana Read More

By Christopher Rosen 4/27/09 11:00am

Week in DVR: Our Favorite Show, Kidman Kids, Duff Grows Up

Monday: Chuck We’re not exactly sure when it happened, but sometime during the last four months, Chuck became our favorite show on television. Maybe it’s because of the brilliant cast, which seems to have chemistry on top of their chemistry; or perhaps it’s the fact that we find it impossible to watch Chuck without feeling Read More

By Christopher Rosen 3/09/09 2:45pm

Dear Lorne Michaels: Hire JT!

Given that Saturday Night Live will celebrate its 35th anniversary later this year, we doubt Lorne Michaels needs any advice from us about how to run a successful show. However, after watching this weekend's mostly harmless episode hosted by the charming Dwayne Johnson—note to studios: put him in a musical comedy co-starring Anne Hathaway Read More