ProHipHop

P. Diddy: The Evidence Proves Me Wrong

I realize now that my negative assessment of P. Diddy’s prospects inspired by my reaction to his appearance at CTIA Wireless, his difficulties at Blue Flame Marketing + Advertising and a variety of other problems, including a lawsuit in the fall for alleged assault, didn’t mean the guy’s career was over. I guess I’ll just have to forgive him for pretending he can dance and inflicting Mase on the world and accept that this cat’s got legs.

Not only have Diddy and MTV announced an executive producer position for P. Diddy and a first-look production agreement with Bad Boy Entertainment, he says to expect a wireless announcement soon, because “everything is creating a content empire.”

Already Diddy’s exec activity has resulted in signing Rev. Run for an MTV reality show titled Run’s House. Plus, in addition to producing Making The Band 3 and Borrow My Crew, he’s developing a special called The Show about the upcoming launch of his women’s fashion line.

Furthermore, rumors are circulating that a signing may be in the works for American Idol escapee Mario Vazquez who would have been committed to RCA Records if he’d gone on to win. Other rumors suggest that he’s bringing in Common and Talib Kweli to write lyrics and Kanye West to produce tracks for what may be his last solo album, so he may be “retiring” like Jay-Z.

In closing, last month a film deal with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films to develop a heist action-comedy was announced. He did just keynote at CTIA and his Superbowl ad was a winner for Diet Pepsi. And, although he may not like the valuation, his partnership with Warner Music Group is a big deal. And there’s some other good news but I think I’ve made my new point.

So, even though he’s now being sued by Columbia Pictures and a coat that Diddy supposedly had custom made but didn’t pick up didn’t sell on Ebay, I obviously focused on the wrong trees and missed the forest. Honestly, I just let my personal feelings undermine my analysis. What can I say? It’s P. Diddy’s world. I’m just blogging in it.

Hip Hop at the SXSW Music Conference

When I lived in Austin, I said bad things about it. Now I say mostly good things. If I hadn’t developed totally new allergies when I moved there, I might still be living in an incredibly liberal town in a state where you can shoot people just for trespassing (or so I was told).

In any case, the music and other stuff conference SXSW is indie rock central but there are always interesting hip hop acts, at least in my three year experience of the festival. That’s where I first saw many Def Jux artists, including Aesop Rock and Mr. Lif, Swishahouse, Dizzee Rascal, Cage and a bunch more. In fact, I wrote about the 2002 Def Jux et al SXSW showcase in my early hip hop blogging days. Note that I didn’t realize that their “country ass” caps were trucker hats!

At a Q&A session at this year’s conference, Erykah Badu talked about her new label, Control FreaQ Records, whose first signing is an mc from New Orleans, Jay Electronica. She also talked about her interest in running the label quite differently from business as usual and her commitment to community development. I’m not a Badu fan at all and haven’t kept up with her career, but this article alone clued me in to the fact that I should be paying attention.

Joe Gross writes about Texas hip hop acts at SXSW. Like Chingo Bling, the Tamale Kingpin, mayn!

Contrary to the headline, it appears that the Gorillaz’ Damon Albarn premiered a new animated video for their next hybrid album, Demon Days.

Brand Autopsy has an interesting reading of the Scion-sponsored appearance of the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra at SXSW. The comparison to happiness cult band Polyphonic Spree makes me cringe but I dig Dakah and wish them the best.

How much growth is possible for hip hop at SXSW remains to be seen, but both the music conference and the Interactive conference are doing quite well and that’s a good thing for everybody concerned.