ProHipHop

February 02, 2005

The Impact of Pimp My Ride

If you set up a Google news search on the words “pimp” and “ride”, you’ll find that journalists and everyday people all over the U.S. are using the phrase “Pimp My Ride” or variations in a multitude of ways. Yet, for me, the fact that the California Job Journal’s Auto Mechanic Career Snapshot references the tv show when discussing the popularity of auto customization is one of the coolest signs of the show’s impact.

In related news, more tech gadgets for car interiors are coming and, if your 4×4 is feeling a little small, check out the International CXT.

Posted by Clyde Smith on February 02, 2005 in Automotive | Permalink

February 02, 2005

Quick Takes and Stuff I Missed

Spanish language hip hop has a home on the web at Latino Hip Hop Radio located at latinohiphopradio.com.

C-Murder will release a new album next month, though he’s still behind bars.

Not only is Lil’ Mo expecting a child at the end of the month, she’s also got her first album with Cash Money/Universal due in April.

Master P and Silkk the Shocker were arrested on weapons charges after being pulled over while driving a car without license plates. That gets a big ProHipHop WTF?!?!

The Game’s album The Documentary “scores the largest week by any January release in Nielsen SoundScan history.”

A concert tour may be in the works for Eminem, 50 Cent and Linkin Park.

50 Cent’s second album is now set for a Mar. 8th release and may now be called Massacre, since it will no longer be released near Valentine’s Day.

The Christian Examiner takes a look at Holy Hip Hop.

This summer may bring a documentary on the History of Hip Hop by Kurtis Blow.

InvestorIdeas.com has launched MusicIndustryStocks.com.

Gemini has released a hybrid turntable that allows djs to control and play both vinyls and cds. Thanks to DJ Elite for the tip.

The sometimes strange and sad stories of people sued for filesharing remind ProHipHop of why even those of us in support of copyright and fair compensation for musicians and who don’t fileshare find the RIAA to be a bunch of assholes.

Posted by Clyde Smith on February 02, 2005 in Hip Hop Business News | Permalink

February 02, 2005

I Need It Chopped, Screwed, Slowed

I really want to get caught up on the impact of DJ Screw. Any recommendations for classic releases, whether it’s Screw’s mixtapes or cds by related artists, will be greatly appreciated. Plus, if you ever checked out his shop, please send me stories:
prohiphop(at)netweed(dot)com

Posted by Clyde Smith on February 02, 2005 in DJs/Producers | Permalink

February 02, 2005

The Source: Power 30

I finally got a copy of the Jan/Feb issue of The Source which features the 9th Annual Power 30, a "who’s who of hip-hop music, fashon & style."  It’s a nice look at some of the power players in hip hop and a reminder that many rappers are businessmen as well.  Plus, you’ll probably hear some names that are new to you, unless you’ve been keeping up better than I have.

Not only do many of the entries in the Power 30 include 2 or 3 people associated with a particular business, they also have additional sections with up and coming business folk, profiles of some fashion biz execs and an interview with Island/Def Jam chairman Antonio Reid who, I believe, is going to make Russell Simmons regret earlier attacks on the man.

However, the additional material begins with a full page on Source co-founders Ray Benzino (Raymond Scott) and Dave Mays.  Mays is also the CEO while Benzino is the Chief Brand Executive.  Although I think Benzino is the last person I’d want involved with branding, at least these guys are consistently self serving, whether promoting Benzino’s attempts at a music career, talking political trash about competitors or identifying power players.

I should note that there’s a lot more material scattered throughout the issue profiling hip hop business people.  Special thanks to Hashim Warren, the founder of Hip Hop Blogs, who made sure I knew about it.

Posted by Clyde Smith on February 02, 2005 in Books Magazines Websites, Source Mag | Permalink

February 02, 2005

Geek Rhythms Climbs Amazon Sales Charts

The last entry in this Yahoo! News – Tech Notebook is about Rajeev Bajaj’s Geek Rhythms album which uses hip hop to promote engineering as a career. I had avoided this item because I find academics writing rap lyrics a bit annoying, especially when done by people I otherwise respect, like Cornel West.

But it became a hip hop business news item by briefly climbing up the Amazon music sales charts to at least #460. Although it’s come back down, as of this writing it’s still at #9,333. That means, not only do I have to pay attention to criminals but, even worse, I still can’t escape the academics.

Nevertheless, big ups to Rajeev and his crew.

Available from Amazon:
Rajeev Bajaj – Geek Rhythms

Posted by Clyde Smith on February 02, 2005 in Charts/Sales News, Community, Education | Permalink

February 02, 2005

Off Topic: Marketing Ambassadors Paid to Misrepresent

Recently I was checking out writing jobs at Craigslist and, while wandering through the site, found an ad from Guerilla PR with the heading “Chatter – Online Marketing Ambassador.” The ad said:

“We are looking to hire 30 Online Marketing Ambassadors to Chat and Write Message Board Messages.
Multiple Shifts available from 8am – 3am.
Talk about video games, movies, sports and much more.
We are also looking to hire 2 Online Marketing Managers.”

I briefly considered applying for the job as a form of research but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. However, I poked around the Guerilla PR website and, in addition to seeing the prominent names of many large corporations, found the bio for Paddy Taber, V.P. Online Marketing who “sets the tone for the viral campaigns that deliver individually tailored messages and dialogue to highly targeted segments.”

Paddy’s online biography goes on to explain that he,
“recruits, trains and certifies the online Marketing Associates with the Online Campaign Managers. Under his instruction and management, they learn how to use guerillaPR’s Proprietary Technology that allows them to be in 2 Chat Rooms and 10 Instant Messenger sessions at the same moment in time, while also learning the 7 techniques of human engagement to maximize communication impact and conversation effectiveness. When certified each Marketing Associate can seamlessly blend into an assigned target market to engage them in conversations that result in increased traffic, awareness and branding.”

I hope I don’t have to explain the implications of this information but I do want to say that I’m not picking on Guerilla PR because this kind of thing is much more commonplace than people realize. But it is the first time I’ve found a website by one of these companies that lays out so clearly the fact that people are getting paid to shill for corporations by going in and acting like everyday people.

I was thinking about doing a short piece on these guys when I ran into various references to such posts for Ashlee Simpson and traced them back to a mini-exposé on Metafilter. The post may seem confusing but when you take part of the quote from “mandyc19″:
“I just read about Ashlee in us weekly. Those guys at the football game were total jerks.”
And put it into Google, you’ll see that miss mandy was all over the place, as if she was paid to cut and paste the same phrase everywhere she could.

Now I’m not picking on Ashlee Simpson either, she has enough problems. Although I think she should take a break and start studying music more seriously and come back, not anytime soon, but when she’s ready to be something similar to a real musician.

Guerilla PR? I bet they would have done a much more sophisticated job with this campaign of lies and falsehoods.

Posted by Clyde Smith on February 02, 2005 in Marketing, Off Topic | Permalink