The rapper behind “Black and Yellow” couldn’t have picked a better season to make some green.
Wiz Khalifa, an Army brat who landed in Pittsburgh in high school and claimed it as his home, released the song in October 2010. It’s since become the adopted anthem of the Steelers season — and a chance for Khalifa to capitalize on his newfound fame.
Throughout the season, Khalifa has seen digital sales grow with the Steelers’ league ranking. His YouTube views reached new peaks on the days of the conference and division championships. He’s even scored an endorsement deal for sunglasses with Eyetique. (A sign he’s made it: One pair costs $10,000.)
The Pittsbugh transplant seems to be following the mantra of hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, who once advised, “I’m not a businessman / I’m a business, man.”
The 23-year old rap star burst on to the scene in 2006 when his “Show and Prove” album, released through the independent Pittsburgh label Rostrum Records, was acclaimed as one of the top underground albums of the year. After a brief stint with Warner Bros. Records, Khalifa released “Deal or No Deal” in 2009.
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Working the Internet and performing a steady stream of college shows, Khalifa made himself one of the hottest rappers who didn’t gain acclaim through radio or by being seen on MTV. But after signing with Atlantic records and releasing the hit single in 2010, Khalifa is now seen pretty much everywhere.
It hasn’t all gone off without a hitch: Khalifa and eight bandmates were busted for marijuana possession in November — yet another star-aligned instance that saw his record sales rise. Three days after the arrest, “Black and Yellow” rose from No. 43 to No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100.
That didn’t deter local eyeglass company Eyetique from pairing up with the rapper to design a pair of Khalifa-endorsed frames.
Five hundred pairs of Khalifa’s “The Elevators” shades went on sale through Eyetique in November. The plastic oversized aviators come in black and tortoise shades and retail for $225, a price point the rapper insisted on.
“Wiz wanted his fan base to be actually able to buy them,” said Brad Childs, vice president of Eyetique.
For a more select fan base, the company designed a one-of-a-kind black-and-yellow pair.
They cost $10,000.
Those shades are kept in an off-site safe, a precaution the eyeware company has taken since another high-end Eyetique model, the Reuben, was stolen after hours. The Reuben was designed to resemble the glasses worn by Elliot Gould’s character in “Ocean’s 11″ but were stolen after DJ Bonics of local radio was seen donning the shades.
About 200 frames are still available, but according to the retailer’s Web traffic, Eyetique doesn’t expect the “first edition” round to last much longer.
The Eyetique website (eyeÂtique.com), which used to average 3,000 hits per day, now sees daily traffic of about 40,000 hits. The shades premiered on a Sunday, and the heavy traffic soon shut down the retailer’s server and the 30 sites Eyetique shared it with.
About 30 percent of Elevators sales have been international.
“We shipped a tremendous amount to Japan and Australia,” said Mr. Childs. “Hawaii, Alaska, California — they’re eating them up in Canada.”
Sales of “Black and Yellow” digital tracks also have seen increased interest from far-flung places: There was a bigger jump in sales last week in the Johnstown/Altoona region than in Pittsburgh, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (And in the Green Bay region, sales have increased 28 percent in the past two weeks.)
The music video broke the 300,000 mark for daily views on Jan. 15 (Steelers over Ravens, 31-24) and saw another spike, with 380,343 daily views on Jan. 23 (Steelers over Jets, 24-19). All told, the video approached 31 million views on Tuesday.
It’s a 3-minute, 51-second travelogue of the city, featuring pans of the skyline and raps delivered under the smoke stacks at the Waterfront — just steps from the LongHorn Steakhouse that sits off-camera. The video now includes advertising that runs either before or during the song.
Naturally, videos of imitation anthems called “Green and Yellow” have come out of Green Bay in anticipation of the Super Bowl.
The intersection of sports and hip-hop culture is as worn as Run-DMC’s 1980s Adidas campaign and old copies of Shaquille O’Neal’s 1993 single, “(I Know I Got) Skillz,” said Dan Charnas, author of “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip Hop.”
Though Khalifa’s rise in the rap business seems interwoven with his identity as Steelers head cheerleader, Mr. Charnas said the national scope of Steelers Nation could help him avoid becoming a one-town wonder.
“There are certain local teams that are national teams,” said Mr. Charnas. The Steelers join teams such as the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox or the Los Angeles Lakers, he said.
And whatever the outcome this Sunday, it looks as if the Steelers season has already been a winning one for the city’s new favorite son.
“I’m sure he will be loved by Steelers fans forever,” said Mr. Charvas. At the very least, “he might get paid off of this forever.”
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