Source: suitdistracted.tumblr.com

Producer, composer, fashion designer, art enthusiast. Pharrell Williams is a little bit of everything, including hot stuff. He’s been doing big things since he helped write Teddy Riley’s verse on the epic track, “Rump Shaker.” He’s even found a way to help design accessories for Louis Vuitton, on top of heading his popular brand, Billionaire Boys Club, and still making the hottest tracks for anybody who is…anybody (he even composed the music for Despicable Me for goodness’ sakes!). He’s my boo, and I thought I’d share his awesome-ness with you. Enjoy!

by Evette Brown

Known for their power maneuvers in the music industry, Sean “Jay-Z” Carter and Pharrell Williams have collaborated on several musical ventures in the past.

Now, the two forces are joining together again, but this time it will be outside of the studio and arena stages. According to a GQ exclusive, Jay-Z’s Rocawear has partnered up with Pharrell’s Billionaire Boys Club to manufacture and distribute BBC, thus further leveraging its success.

Though the full details of the partnership have not been fully disclosed, GQ is reporting that Pharrell will remain as the creative vision behind the BBC label while Jay-Z will use his business prowess to effectively market the brand.

Though both brands produce street wear for the urban youth, Billionaire Boys Club is not mass marketed for department stores as Rocawear is. Created in 2005 by Pharrell and Japanese fashion designer, Nigo, who is responsible for the establishment of A Bathing Ape (BAPE), the Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream were conjunctively launched to present “luxury streetwear” to their target youth demographic. Initially, both brands were supposed to be marketed through Reebok, but after several disputes, the line was indefinitely postponed.

Eventually, Billionaire Boys Club was launched as a sister company to A Bathing Ape.

Since its’ official release, Billionaire Boys Club has been moderately successful. Most of the label’s clientele are members of the hip-hop elite, including Lil’ Wayne and Kanye West, but there are only 26 high-end retailers that sell BBC to the public.

Rocawear is marketed through retail department stores including Macys which accounts for the bulk of their clothing sales. The limited purchasing availability for Billionaire Boys Club will not shift as the two collections combine. Even though Jay-Z sold his rights to Rocawear to Iconix Brand Group, he is still in charge of product development, marketing, and licensing.

The men on this list fly in private planes, throw parties at the Hamptons, and have millions, literally millions, in the bank. While your man might not have all that (pat yourself on the back if he does!), doesn’t mean he can’t dress like these G.Q. brothas. They are the best dressed black male celebrities in Hollywood–well, according to moi. After a few glances over their stylish photographs, I’m sure you’ll agree. If not, let us know who you’d like to add to the list, or unapologetically delete.

By Brittany Hutson

Nowadays, when music artists get the itch to step away from the industry and dive into the world of entrepreneurship, it’s pretty much no surprise that their first venture is a clothing line. But according to Kristin Bentz, retail analyst and president of Talented Blonde, LLC, “the era of the celeb-designer is close to being over, if not already. When the recession hit, so many rappers/actors/personalities rushed to get licensing deals. So now we are overrun at retail with the remnants of rappers past.”

We collaborated with Bentz to critique some of hip-hop’s hottest lines that are still memorable today, not only for their sales, but also for their massive appeal to consumers and demonstrated business savvy on the part of the artist; as well as some of hip-hop’s less memorable brands due to high pricing points, an absence of solid promotion and mismanagement.

Here are Bentz’s picks for fashion lines that have been leaders in the artist-designer arena:

Phat Farm

Russell Simmons was undoubtedly the pioneer of the celeb-designer phenomenon with the launch of Phat Farm in 1992, which combined the urban aesthetics of the streets and the preppy culture of the Ivy League for men. Successful lines such as Phat Farm are “established by tier one rapper/artists that truly have the star power and financial backing to hire superior management teams and designers, as well as [finance] multi-million dollar ad campaigns,” says Bentz. Another example the demonstrates Simmons’ business savvy and why the brand has lasted for nearly two decades was his decision to sell Phat Farm to the Kellwood Company in 2004 for $140 million. “Brands are sold to large publicly-held companies that know how to merchandise, manage and promote a brand much better than the celebs who own the company are able to.”