ProHipHop

Rap City Leaves the Bassment

Mad Linx takes over Rap City ending the 5 year reign of Big Tigger and the retirement of the Bassment set. Did you know that Big Tigger has a cognac and signature automotive rims coming out soon?

Snoop to Perform at Meteor Awards

Snoop Dogg is one of the first acts announced for the Meteor Ireland Music Awards to take place in February in Dublin.

50 Cent Wants That Charger

50 Cent’s interest in the 2006 Dodge Charger is a lucky break for Chrysler, a company seeking younger demographics. I’m curious about the fact that 50 Cent’s comments were made to the publisher of auto customizing magazine DUB (that features a bunch of hip hop artist’s vehicles) via a phone message that was then released to the press and is also available online. Was that prearranged or what? Perhaps one of the things he had to do to get the Charger?

Top 10 Games of ’04

The Entertainment Software Association and NPD Group just released the list of 10 bestselling games of 2004 that includes Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas at no. 1 and Need for Speed: Underground 2 at no. 5.

The Return of Portishead

Although Portishead is not a hip hop group, their hip hop dj-influenced production is illuminating, especially on their first album Dummy (1994) which I just threw in the player. So I’m glad to hear that they’re working on a new album after many years.

Hip Hop Nominees for the Wired Rave Awards

The annual Wired Rave Awards features a variety of “mavericks, visionaries and leaders” nominated by Wired editors in multiple categories. Hip hop nominees for this year’s Awards are:

MUSICIAN
Danger Mouse, The Grey Album
The Streets, A Grand Don’t Come for Free

TV CREATOR
Rick Hurvitz and Bruce Beresford-Redman, Pimp My Ride (MTV)

And, since Russell Simmons is the go to guy for Razr quotes, due to his relationship with Motorola and his designation as a monetizer of style, you could argue that the INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER nomination for “Paul Pierce and Motorola CXD team, Razr V3 Cell Phone” is also a hip hop related nomination.

Correction – The TV CREATOR nomination for Pimp My Ride has been corrected to read Rick Hurvitz and Bruce Beresford-Redman rather than Xzibit, as previously announced.

Funkmaster Flex – DJ, Auto Enthusiast

Last year’s Funkmaster Flex Super Series Invitational, a hip hop infused auto event, will be the subject of a “racing reality special” called The Funkmaster Flex Super Series to be aired this weekend on Spike TV.

Fashion: Nigo and Ennio Capasa

Nice Fashion Wire Daily piece last week about a Pharrell Williams bash for Japanese designer Nigo who worked with Pharrell on those awful Ice Cream sneakers but is a really fascinating guy. It includes some interesting comments on limited edition fashion lines in Japan.

Guy Trebay opens an account of this week’s Milan men’s fashion shows with some thoughts on Ennio Capasa’s Nureyev-inspired collection. A photo from the collection illustrates the article and that is some fly gear. The impact of that photo in the context of a search for hip hop business news inspired all sorts of visions of how hip hop artists might respond.

On that note, if you know where I could find online photos of this collection, please write me:
prohiphop(at)netweed(dot)com

NY Times on The Game

The Game’s The Documentary has dropped and even the NY Times has noticed. For me, the best parts of the article come at the end, where we are reminded of Dr. Dre’s well-established work ethic and hear The Game’s plans for diversification.

More links posted yesterday.