Thug Life Army

Pioneering Urban music execs Steve Rifkind and Lee “Skill” Resnick will combine forces for a joint venture strategic alliance between the former’s SRC and the latter’s SouthEast Music to form one of the premier creative Urban marketing and promotion ventures in the world.

Rifkind, the founder of the original hip-hop Street Team guerilla marketing concept, for which he holds the patent, will join with Resnick, whose company specializes in a non-traditional approach to creative marketing and promotional strategies in reaching the urban consumer and building brands.

“This pairing between Lee and I is a long time coming. His ideas about Urban marketing are a logical extension of my own street team concept in the early ‘90s,” said Rifkind. “This combination is the perfect example of the whole being stronger than the sum of its parts.”

Rifkind’s SRC Records is distributed through Universal Motown, just releasing Akon’s Konvicted album, which debuted at #2 on the Hot 200 and almost 300k in first-week sales, producing two hip hop hit duets with Eminem (“Smack That”) and Snoop Dogg (“I Wanna Love You”). Rifkind’s Loud Records produced such legendary hip-hop acts as Wu Tang Clan, Big Pun and Xzibit.

Resnick’s SouthEast Music’s Marketing and Distribution maintains relationships not just in Urban music, but film, fashion, video games and entertainment, reaching out to “tastemakers” and “influencers” to plan creative and innovative marketing solutions from the initial strategic planning stages to execution.

In addition, the company creates together a monthly music video/lifestyle DVD which is serviced to more than 350 Urban barbershops across 36 states, reaching an estimated 360,000 viewers within the community per month.

Reactions and feedback to the products included in the DVDs are then gathered and reported back to a client list which includes the biggest labels in rap and R&B music, including Interscope, Jive, Aftermath, Geffen, Def Jam, Virgin, Universal, Warner Bros., J Records, G Unit, Shady and Rifkind’s SRC, among many others. The company also provides creative marketing and brand consulting.

“The barbershop in the urban community has become the Internet of Urban culture,” explains Resnick. “It’s the place to go if you want to find out what’s happening in the world of music, fashion, sports and more. If they’re not talking about it in the shop, then it’s just not hot.”

By merging their proven strengths in Urban lifestyle marketing, Rifkind and Resnick’s new collaboration is certain to be a cut above.