When Cortez Bryant decided to negotiate a headphones marketing deal for his clients Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj a few years ago, he turned down more money from other more established companies to sign with Beats By Dre for a simple reason.

“There was a bunch of history there, so at the end of the day I took less upfront money to be part of this deal with people who understood pop culture” Bryant said. “I try to stick to that because if I lose touch with pop culture, then I’m out of the music business.”