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Long before Memphis music phenomenon Three 6 Mafia won its Oscar Award earlier this year, the Bluff City already had a reputation as one of the country’s most fertile hip-hop markets.

In a blend of marketing savvy and ego, those hip-hop artists are increasingly taking advantage of new technology to “pimp their rides” in a personalized way that turns their vehicles into rolling billboards featuring larger-than-life self-portraits.

Personalized vehicle wraps are becoming a common first step in street promotion for the urban music industry, as artists turn to companies like SignDelivery (www.vanwraps.com) in Memphis to convert high-end SUVs into guerrilla-marketing tools.

“Having your own wrapped trucks puts you on a whole other level,” says Revenski Manon, who runs the startup Yea Yea Man Records in Jackson, Miss. The budding mogul spent $6,000 on wraps for two GMC Expeditions to promote newcomers “Trippple A” at the beginning of the year, months before releasing the first CD.

Hip-hop has long pioneered viral marketing, evinced by the overwhelming successes like Three 6 Mafia. Critics may not like the music, but any accountant would salivate over the Memphis group’s multi-platinum record sales the last ten years, in part due to creative marketing strategies like vehicle wraps.

“Rappers are like realtors—both are trying to break through in an oversaturated market,” says Justin Baker, art director at SignDelivery.

With scores of contenders using antiquated street-corner tactics, promoters need more than a custom-painted Hummer or Cadillac to get noticed. It’s much easier selling albums out of a wrapped truck, Manon says.

To make the oversized stickers, massive rolls of plastic are passed through what looks like an over-grown laminating machine that prints the photos and graphics on it. The clear backing is slowly peeled away as the decal is pressed against the sides of the vehicle, leaving only the windshield uncovered. The look is brash enough to stop traffic with stylized pictures, logos and Web sites splashed across the entire automobile. Five years ago, the promotional technique was almost exclusively seen on city buses.

Baker and SignDelivery chief Dave Nelson launched the firm by tinting windows in 1998. They started covering car bodies when Three 6 Mafia asked them to outfit an SUV promoting the group’s direct-to-video movie, Choices.

Cheaper and more mobile than traditional billboards, SignDelivery produces wraps for a range of businesses from roofers to realtors, from Chicago to Houston.

“Many guys we deal with are nobodies when they roll in here,” Baker says. “But they’re stars in their neighborhood when they roll out with their head on a Hummer.”

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