Snoop, Flavor Flav & Breakdancing Bring Hip-Hop Vibe To Paris Olympics

For anyone who thinks hip-hop culture isn’t as strong as it’s ever been globally, in the iconic words of Flavor Flav: “Don’t believe the hype.”

This year, hip-hop will be part of the fabric and face of the $9.7 billion Olympic Games in Paris. From the broadcast booth to the locker room and the competition itself, there will be familiar faces for those who have followed the music genre over the past 50 years.

The most visible sign is the presence, aura, and influence of Snoop Dogg.

Born Calvin Broadus Jr., his mother nicknamed him “Snoopy” as a young boy because of his likeness to and his love of the cartoon beagle from Peanuts. His name reached the masses in 1993 when he appeared on Dr. Dre’s debut album, The Chronic.

Since then, Snoop Dogg has sold over 35 million albums and become much more than a musician. For over 30 years, he has been a hip-hop artist, record producer, cook book author and actor. He is the voice of a generation—or should I say generations—of people around the world.

NBCUniversal/Peacock featuring Snoop was an opportunity for their broadcast. Bringing in Snoop as a partner for their coverage of the international event would help attract hip-hop consumers.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, in 2022 alone, hip-hop generated $15.9 billion solely from music streams and purchases. If you add in the influence on fashion, luxury, spirits, sports and travel—to name just a few categories—you’d be looking at consumer spending and dollar amounts that would be hard to compete against, or even calculate.

In 2014, NBCU paid $7.75 billion for the Olympics broadcast rights in the U.S. until 2032, with live events shown on its streaming platform, Peacock, and NBC as the host for curated content. After receiving some harsh feedback after the previous Olympic Games in Tokyo, they’ve turned to one of the strongest voices in hip-hop, whose influence has gone mainstream, in hopes to score better for their all-around coverage.

And it’s working.

Why Is Snoop Dogg At The Olympics

Olympic ad spending has been smoking. Recently, NBCU said it was on track to set a new revenue record after already scoring $1.2 billion in advertising. But the headline may be who is spending: over $350 million of that money is from first-time Olympic ad buyers.

Additionally, for the first time, Peacock will be live-streaming all 329 medal events, totaling over 5,000 hours. With that amount of broadcast time to fill, alongside the network coverage, Snoop undoubtedly will be getting some serious air time.

You may have seen Snoop carrying the torch in the lead-up to the Opening Ceremony, among his many other cameos, such as appearing at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Oregon last month. Each of these events is being cut up, remixed, reposted, and reshared on TikTok, Instagram, and X, to raise awareness and attract new eyeballs to the Games.

The strategy looks very promising.

During the Opening Ceremony, when asked how he was holding up in the rain, Snoop replied, “I’m chillin like a villain, raindrops falling on my head—but we still playin’ to win, baby.” From there, he went on to celebrate alongside U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel’s wife, Meghan, during a gold-medal race. The cameras captured them jumping up and down together in the stands.

This is all part of a plan to tie in his cultural relevance and business prowess to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. It’s clear that Olympics decision-makers are all in on Snoop, and that’s a good thing—not only for them but also for viewers.

Flavor Flav’s Olympics Connection

Also this year, Flavor Flav was enlisted as the official hype man of the U.S. water polo Olympic teams. In this role, which is part of a five-year sponsorship deal, the rapper will bring his signature look and energy poolside.

Flavor Flav, born Willam Drayton Jr., is an American rapper and a founding member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

As part of the sponsorship, Flavor Fav made a financial contribution to the women’s water polo team for the Paris Olympics. His duties as hype man also include making multiple appearances at team events, including the 2024 Olympic Games. His presence is bringing newfound attention to the team, such as when he celebrated in the stands with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden on July 27, when the US won a match against Greece.

In his first time ever attending an Olympic Games, he’s doing so as a partner—hugging, handshaking, and high-fiving along the way.

Breakdancing At The 2024 Paris Olympics

And let’s not forget about the lone new sport to debut in Paris in 2024: breakdancing.

Breaking, as it’s officially called at the Olympics, was added to the Paris games, after over 20 years of international competitions and being featured at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“Born” in New York City in the 1970’s, this dance style grew out of the love, rhythms, and culture of hip-hop and features a series of athletic moves, including the flips, spins, handstand and other complex techniques that have wowed audiences for decades.

The competition will take place on Paris’s Place de la Concorde over the course of two days, – with the 16 women competing on the first day and the men on the second.

On each day, four groups of four breakers will face off to compete in minute-long, round-robin competition matches, or “battles,” with the top two from each group advancing to the next round. Winners will continue through the semifinals and compete in a best-of-three final round to see who takes home a medal. Each day of competition will last up to five hours and be led by a master of ceremonies, with a DJ spinning playlists of randomly selected music.

A panel of judges will sit sideline and make their decisions based on five scoring categories: originality, technique, execution, musicality and vocabulary.

It may not be long before the Olympics recognize those who were so influential in the creation of hip-hop: Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and DJ Kool Herc, known by many as the “Holy Trinity” for their contributions to the genre.

And when they get that moment of acknowledgment, I look forward to seeing Flavor Flav stand up, with the crowd’s energy in the palm of his hand and say, “Yeahhhhh boyyyyyyy!”

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