Rap mogul Lyor Cohen’s relationship with Young Thug on CNBC series about businesspeople was a revealing glance at how hip-hop and ego management worksI’ve seen and heard some truly ridiculous things while interviewing rappers. There was the time 2 Chainz refused to go anywhere whether he wasn’t attached to a segway; and the time Danny Brown walked out of an interview after a falling out about a divisive savoury snack. There was Rick Ross’s stories about an iguana-flinging feud with John McEnroe; and the time Future told me how he could create a song by using nothing more than the hum of an air-conditioning unit. While these stories were playing out there was almost always someone,normally a well-dress gentleman looking decidedly un-hip-hop in a corner, calling the artist “baby!” and making sure the wheels didn’t arrive off totally. A manager or a self-styled mogul, and someone with gravitas and an understanding of “the bigger picture”,who could code switch effortlessly and remain unflappable in the face of a 30-strong entourage with the munchies. In hip-hop few people have been more adept at filling that role than Lyor Cohen.
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Source: theguardian.com