David Banner Samples Kickstarter For New Album

David Banner: Kickstarting the hip-hop business model.

David Banner isn't the sort of person who checks his cell phone at dinner. The Mississippi-born rapper-actor-producer makes a point of being a true Southern gentleman; he'll tell you that two of his top priorities are honesty and punctuality.

But tonight at a West Village cafe, he just can't contain himself. He tilts the screen of his iPhone in my direction to reveal a series of PayPal notifications—increments of $2, $5, $20—all headed...