Rolanda Brandon has filed a lawsuit due to North Carolina’s NIL restrictions. She is the mother of Faizon Brandon, a quarterback at Grimsley High School and the nationa’s top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class, according to ABC11. The high school player intends to play for the University of Tennessee upon graduating in the fall of 2025, which he affirmed through a verbal commitment, per CBS Sports. The journey toward higher learning is often met with great excitement for athletes and name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals have further energized the sports arena for both college and some high school students. However, this may not have been the case for Faizon. The Athletic Narrative states that while high school students can engage in NIL deals, the eligibility is subject to state laws and the specific rules of their schools or sports teams. Rolanda is now suing the state of North Carolina due to the barriers around NIL deals, The Charlotte Observer reports. This has prevented Faizon...

When you’re committed to evolving, the only way to go is up, and that’s Cardi B’s story. Before becoming a music star and having a social media following of over 100 million, she was in hustle mode to make her music career pop off. The Bronx, NY, native has been outspoken about facing many rejections at the start of her rap career. The superstar says she received lowball offers from record labels and was not taken seriously because she had previously been on the cast of the VH1 network’s reality TV series “Love & Hip Hop: New York.” So, in true hustler fashion, she decided to bet on herself. “I invested my own money in everything,” Cardi B shared on “The Jason Lee Show.” “For my videos to my looks.” Cardi B also recalled paying for artists to collaborate with her when she first started releasing mixtapes and her own music tour. In addition to initially self-funding her artistry, the “Bodak Yellow” emcee started on the low tier for brand deals when she was known for being a popular...

When Migos first broke into the mainstream in 2016 with “Bad and Boujee,” their impact was fast and nearly immediate. By 2018, the collective’s viral hit had topped Billboard’s Hot 100 list, and Forbes Magazine noted that they were demanding $150,000 per show. Subsequently, the collective made it to Forbes’ 2018 list of 30 under 30 in music. That same year, Cardi B — who is now married to Offset from the Migos — made it to the list, as well. And this kicked off a series of successes for the Atlanta natives that culminated, according to Celebrity Net Worth, with an estimated combined net worth of $80 million. But while it seems like their success was an overnight one, the reality is, it was anything but. The collective was first formed in 2008, and it took nearly a decade (even with the Internet and social media at their disposal) to finally gain traction with their music. That said, between September 2017 and September 2018, the collective earned more than $25 million from their...

If you’re a rapper and you’re looking to secure the bag, endorsement deals are the way to go. But believe it or not, the concept of rappers getting endorsement deals is nowhere near a new concept. According to High Snobiety, the rappers of today can thank a legendary Hip-Hop group for securing the first-ever product endorsement deal in the rap industry, which kicked off the trend that’s still going strong today. “You’ll likely recall Run DMC’s third studio album, “Raising Hell,” which thrust the group into the American mainstream and forever linked the genre to their iconic style and affinity for the Three Stripes,” they said. “When the album was released in 1986, one track particularly stood out: “My Adidas.” The song was more than just a powerful co-sign — it would soon become the catalyst for rap’s first endorsement deal, setting the stage for a generation of new artists to follow suit.” Run-DMC may have been just the first of many rappers to secure the bag with endorsement deals...