Rap Snacks is the brainchild of hip-hop manager and businessman James Lindsey. His story isn’t a straightforward tale of instant success, though. He had a great product on his hands and a $40,000 initial investment collected from friends and family to start - but for this creative brand, market timing was everything.
Lindsey initially partnered with No Limit Records founder and serial entrepreneur Percy “Master P” Miller in 1994, but the company hit a $5 million revenue plateau in 2011. As sales slowed, Lindsey focused on creating more connections across the hip-hop community as co-manager to rap artist Meek Mill.
In 2017, it seemed that the time was finally right to relaunch and rebrand Rap Snacks for a new generation of consumers.
“I just noticed that with the internet these kids were really into items that were approved by the artists and I knew that I created a brand years ago that I could rebrand and make synonymous with what's going on in today's world," Lindsey shares in a Billboard interview, adding how “social media has played a big part in the resurgence of Rap Snacks."
Tying the profitable business' deals to a more meaningful mission, Lindsey explained how “the new version of Rap Snacks is something just to teach these guys the power of their brand. Years ago they needed a lot of these big companies to pay them to do X, Y and Z, now they're becoming the brand where they can sell through all their social media followers and they don't really need those big companies.”
Packages feature profiles of rising stars and established icons, clever flavor names like Fabolous' “New York Deli Cheddar” and Romeo Miller's “Bar-B-Quin with My Honey” chips, and more diversity with instant noodle and pre-popped popcorn flavors available in Eastern and Midwestern markets.
Thanks to the involvement of Romeo, Master P’s son, as both a featured flavor profile and a limited partner in the company, the equity is even passed down a generation.
Marketing for Rap Snacks also incorporates artists such as rap group Migos, who produced a creative jingle for their flavor release. The company also plans to cross over into financial technology through the launch of its Stock Boss Up app, which teaches users how to invest the stock market using up to $1 million of simulated funds.
The company simultaneously paid tribute to the late hip-hop icon Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace with potato chip flavors “Big Poppa Cookout BBQ Sauce” and “Notorious Honey Jalapeno,” while directing a portion of sales to a philanthropic partnership deal with the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation.
“Our primary focus in doing this deal was to assure a portion of proceeds of sales are paid to The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation to further our efforts of providing computers, books and other educational tools to inner city youth as well as assistance to the elderly in the urban communities," Voletta Wallace, B.I.G.’s mother shared in a press release on the company’s website.