Steve Stoute’s The Tanning of America to Reach 300 Million Francophone Readers After Surprise Announcement

At the Black Ambition event in Miami—an annual celebration of Black and Hispanic innovators—Steve Stoute experienced a career-defining surprise. The UnitedMasters CEO learned live on stage that his groundbreaking book, The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy, is officially being translated into French.

The news was delivered by Alexis Onestas, founder of OmaxBooks, a French publishing house dedicated to amplifying Afro-American voices. With more than 300 million French speakers worldwide, the translation marks a major milestone for Stoute’s work and its global cultural impact.

OmaxBooks has built a reputation for bringing influential texts from leaders like 50 Cent, Issa Rae, Rick Ross, Taraji P. Henson, Common, and Kanye West to the Francophone market. But Onestas emphasized that this translation holds special significance. The Tanning of America was the first English-language book he ever read—one that profoundly shaped his thinking, his career path, and ultimately inspired the creation of OmaxBooks itself.

“Steve’s book literally changed my life,” Onestas said. “It explained how culture moves, how hip-hop reshaped America, and how Black creativity transformed the global economy. It’s a classic—and French speakers deserve to access it.”

Stoute’s emotional reaction resonated throughout the room. His book, widely viewed as essential reading in marketing, culture, and media, examines how hip-hop became a transformative force in mainstream America and global business. Its upcoming French edition is set to introduce this pivotal narrative to a vast new international audience.

As Onestas noted, “Steve Stoute didn’t just document the culture—he helped change it.”