VCs, CHANCE THE RAPPER, AI, META, UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP. CLICK NOW FOR YOUR WEEKLY CULTURAL INTEL BRIEF!

Happy Tuesday! Hope your week is off to a good start. As always, here is a quick look at a few things I'm tracking at the intersection of power, deals, trends in emerging tech, and media/entertainment through a pop culture/hip hop lens. This is fuel for your insights and strategy to better reach GenZ and Millennials. Here we go!

1) So we're gonna kick things off with two back-to-back Meta pieces (I swear, this was not planned. LOL) First, ICYMI Universal Music Group and Meta just expanded their partnership. Seems the latest amp'd up version will offer mo' money, mo' Gen AI content protection. Watch for even more access to music (think: Reels) and more music stickers. "Snacks" seems to think this is all due to the fact that it's all about social discovery for the labels these days. See what you think about it all right here. In the meantime, wonder how this will play out across Meta's other endeavors which leads us to...

2) ...the fact that Chance the Rapper (who has been keeping a mad low profile lately) recently decided to pop out a bit via a partnership with Meta for a little extra sparkle for his next album release. The collabo gives Chance the opportunity to experiment with some of the company's new AI tools to "explore new artistic directions." The rapper also is said to be very interested in Meta's partnership with Rayban for new smart glasses. Will be tracking this for ya to see what comes of it, but between this and Google's partnership with Lupe Fiasco, seems like there is a lot of opportunity for more expansion, behind-the-scenes content, fan input along the way integrated via a Web3 community, and more. More bridges are definitely needed between artists and big tech. (as well as bridges between artists and fans. Gee, Chance. Give 'em a break) Give that some more thought while you check out the deets right here.

*** Quick Note: if you are someone who wants to learn more about this powerful space of youth culture and how you can use it to better connect with Gen Z and Millennials and/or become part of the cultural narrative, connect with celebrated recording artists/notables in the space, and/or creates brand?strategy,?DM me to discuss further.

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3) Finally, just wanted to share this item with you ICYMI. Stats god Nate Silver penned a quick piece for "Business Insider" on why VCs don't mind dealing with problematic personalities found in many tech founders today. He says that the often on-the-edge types are a result of particular social circumstances. He says,

Feeling left out, excluded, or estranged can make you extremely competitive. VCs want founders who are willing to commit to low-probability ideas — ideas they think the rest of the world is wrong about — for a decade or more.

Perhaps. But Silver doesn't seem to be able to then answer why, if the above is the case, that tech founders of color aren't being scooped in droves. They surely fit his definition. There is just much, much, much more to it than this. Thing is, if we all want to see Innovation truly take off, especially in the entertainment space, a wider lens is going to be needed to evaluate and support those who are out here running around with killer ideas who don't necessarily fit the typical mold. If you want to think about this a bit more and plan how you are going to better compete by widening the net on your own teams, read the full story, and click right here.

Well, that's it for this week! See you next Tuesday and have a great rest of the week.