In this panel discussion, one of four convened at Loyola University, New Orleans in 2008 as part of the Music Industry Department’s senior projects, panelists Kendall Minter, Carol Guess (both entertainment attorneys), producer Bennie Diggs, student and street team organizer Ben Brubecker, communications professor Lisa Martin, and producer Mike Moe address some of the problems and opportunities that the hip-hop industry faces today. They discuss music piracy, marketing in traditional and online venues, how artists reach an audience, and the role of controversy, misogyny and violence in selling hip-hop in the marketplace, and what effect these forces have on artists, the record-buying public, and society.