The thinking man's Diddy

With his own record label, a new clothing line, a movie in preproduction and three more Grammys in the trophy case, Kanye West’s career continues its skyward trajectory — just like he told you it would.

Whether scandalizing the religious right by posing as Christ on the cover of Rolling Stone, irritating Republicans by trashing the Bush administration or annoying homophobes by demanding gay-bashing be excised from hip-hop, West won’t be held back. The unstoppable success of his platinum LPs, “The College Dropout” and “Late Registration,” his gift for cross-branding, or perhaps the eerily-familiar white suit and sunglasses West wore at the 2006 Grammys, inspire pop-culture vultures to snark, “Look! Kanye’s turned into P. Diddy!”

(Oops ... it’s just “Diddy” now. My bad.)

It’s a comparison with merit, if not completely accurate. Both are producers-turned-rappers. Diddy, with his ever-changing moniker and ubiquitous white suits, is one of the first hip-hop millionaire moguls. West, with his expanding business ventures, follows that tradition.

But unlike Diddy, who brought hip-hop to Top 40 radio via watered-down beats, West bridges the gap between socially conscious rap and party music. And he succeeds in Top 40 anyway. If anything, West is a thinking man’s Diddy, a hip-hop mogul for the new millennium.

At 28 years of age, and $16.9 million in 2005 earnings, West made No. 25 on Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 30 list of The Richest Rock Stars of 2006. (Diddy rings in at No. 14 with $24.3 million, making him the richest hip-hop artist on the list.) Like his predecessors, Diddy, Russell Simmons and Dr. Dre, West followed his success by launching a record label, GOOD Music (which stands for  “Getting Out Our Dreams.”)

An impressive lineup
Artists on GOOD Music roster include West’s protégé, soul singer John Legend, whose platinum-selling debut LP “Get Lifted” received eight Grammy nominations in 2006 (the same number West received), and Common, whose career West revitalized via the platinum-selling LP “Be.” Also on board: Consequence, Farnsworth Bentley, GLC, SA-RA Creative Partners and Really Doe.

As well as helping his fellow hip-hop artists, Kanye will aid the preppy-impaired by launching his Pastille clothing line this year. Considering Diddy’s multimillion-dollar Sean John line, which won Diddy Menswear Designer of the Year several years in a row, West’s unique take on fashion will no doubt garner similar success. West’s own fragrance, like Diddy’s “Unforgivable,” may not be far off.

Given his lip service to social responsibility, West would do well to watch who’s manufacturing his clothing line. Diddy suffered one of his many public image pitfalls when it was revealed that Sean John was manufactured in violation of labor laws in Honduras-based factories. Social responsibility is, after all, the emblem of the hip-hop mogul of the new millennium.

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