Gone Till Tuesday, Balance, Hip Hop Online

I just have to stop for a few days and take care of some things.  Believe me, I'd rather be blogging.  And I may still post something, but probably not until Tuesday.

However, you should check out this piece in the SF Weekly on Balance, sometimes known as the Bay Area Mixtape King, discussing Bay Area hip hop, mixtapes and being a well known yet still unsigned artist.  I don't focus on up and coming people that much but I mention Balance because I'll be doing an interview with him next week for Talking Hip Hop Business, although it won't be up till the following week at the earliest.

Also, I'll probably keep posting hip hop press releases at Hip Hop Press because it's easy to do.  I know it's not the most exciting format but there are some interesting announcements there, at this very moment, that I'm sure you'll find well worth your time.

And if you haven't checked out my hip hop pages at netweed, you can find everything listed at Hip Hop Online, from Hip Hop Albums to Hip Hop News to NC Hip Hop Online, there's a lot of info-resource type stuff waiting for you, dude.

Till soon.

Events: The Roots, Money, Hip Hop Fest, Jurassic 5, Business Summit, Stern Grove, Winter Music, Black Star

After a three date warm-up, The Roots will resume touring May 16th.

Russell Simmons, Suze Orman and the Hip-Hip Summit Action Network are promoting a series of events called "Get Your Money Right." Chrysler Financial is a supporter of this event.

The First Annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival happens in June. Festival organizers recently announced a partnership with MySpace.com and Eyejammie.

Jurassic 5 are joining this summer's Zooma Tour which features Trey Anastasio and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals.

The African American Business Summit 2005, organized by Turning Point Magazine, happens June 23 - 26 at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in Palm Springs, California.

Hip hop will be included in San Francisco's summertime Stern Grove Festival with the appearance of such acts as Flamenco hip-hop group Ojos de Brujo and the daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra.

The early spring Winter Music Conference in Miami included hip hop acts Fatlip, Mos Def and Kool Keith, De La Soul, Newcleus, Biz Markie, Grand Master Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, DJ Kool Herc and Grand Wizard Theodore.

Mos Def and Talib Kweli reunited as Black Star at the recent Coachella Festival and were joined by Common for at least one song. There were a number of other hip hop acts, including M.I.A., at this indie rock oriented festival but the official website isn't loading at the moment and I can't name check anyone from memory.

Assata Speaks and the Hip Hop Connection

Since I mentioned the bounty on Assata Shakur and the fact that I didn't have an opinion on her guilt or innocence, I should point you to this letter published in 2000 in which she discusses the charges against her and makes a convincing case for her innocence.

[Update: Of course, you can read the same letter at AllHipHop.com except they don't tell you where they got it or when it was written. Hey, maybe Tom Squitieri should get a job there!]

Davey D. considers the connection between Assata Shakur and hip hop.

Vibe Internships, Blogger Jobs, Music Industry Jobsites

I've added a Job/Intern category so that I can post interesting announcements and also keep up with music industry employment websites as well as paid and unpaid internships that seem particularly cool.

On that note, as I posted sometime in the past, VIBE has positions for campus-based reporters who will serve as campus correspondents for 2005-06. The deadline for application is May 16th. VIBE also has a variety of internships including Online Interns, though I'm not clear if that means you can be offsite.

Though not music specific, if you're a blogger interested in getting paid, check out Blogger Jobs.

I also received some music industry job site suggestions from Duane Tyndale, a career placement advisor at Full Sail, which is a media arts college in Florida. Thanks, Duane!

MTV/Viacom's Job Hunt
BackstageJobs.com
MyMusicJob.com
ShowBizJobs.com
EntertainmentCareers.net

I'm listing these websites for informational purposes only. ProHipHop does not currently evaluate or endorse such resources beyond not linking to obviously nutty sites.

What's Up With ProHipHop?

Thanks for asking. Good things are going on and I look forward to some interesting announcements fairly soon. Right now I'm in the middle of my third week of annoying claims on my time that reduce my attention to ProHipHop. That should all be cleared up by Monday and I should be back to what passes for normal around these parts.

Because I was missing a lot of interesting stories the last couple of weeks, I'll probably continue this week with news roundups on various topics. Although I've said I wanted to focus more on regular blog posts rather than news summaries, as I get better organized and clearer about what I'm doing, I'm finding that I should be able to do both starting next week. I think that will make ProHipHop a lot more valuable in the future.

I'm also going to be sharpening my focus on business news, though I will continue to slip in entertaining items from time to time as well as material that clarifies various aspects of hip hop culture. I don't want to be all things to all people, but I do want to make this an enjoyable blog that informs newcomers, as well as a blog that addresses the needs of those with serious business interests.

I'm continuing to post hip hop press releases to Hip Hop Press almost every day. Check it out if you want to see the basis for a lot of the news you read on the web and in print. If you have hip hop related press releases, please send them to:
hiphoppress(at)netweed(dot)com

50 Cent, DJ Screw, Mike Jones, Linkin Park, Lil' Kim, Roxanne Shante, Damon Dash

Though 50 Cent was the most searched for topic at Yahoo! last month, DJ Screw and Mike Jones related searches have been doing quite well.

Speaking of Mike Jones, I forgot to mention that his new album Who Is Mike Jones? debuted at no. 3 in the Hot 100 and is also no. 1 on both the Top Rap and Top R&B/Hip-Hop charts and was apparently the #1 CD on Apple iTunes.

In the first sign of artist resistance to questionable priorities at Warner Music Group, Linkin Park raises concerns about both Warner's support for their next album and the fact that the IPO will not benefit artists.

Two songwriters have sued Lil' Kim for allegedly not paying them for work done on La Bella Mafia.

Hip Hop Ices is Roxanne Shante's newest venture with the first ice cream shop opening in Jamaica, Queens and plans for future openings in Atlanta and on the West Coast.  Shante, a psychologist, also intends for the shops to be an educational experience for the workers who will all be high school students.

Damon Dash discusses his business interests and reveals that "the more money I make, the more I want. . . I can't afford to just frivolously buy a $30 million yacht, you know what I'm saying?"  Yes, Damon, unfortunately we do.

Time Management for Anarchists

Even anarchists have time management issues, as you'll see from this simple animation called Time Management for Anarchists: The Movie.  If you've ever spent much time with anarchists, you'll appreciate the way Jim Munroe addresses the objections that will be raised before certain folks bother to discover what's actually being presented.

If you're watching this at work and can't run the audio, check it out later when you can listen.  It's very simple but the audio makes a difference.

Film/TV: Mos Def, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah, Dame Dash, Ludacris, Fat Joe, Indie Flicks, Mister Cartoon, Jermaine Dupri

Hip hop related feature films are getting lots of press as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, with Mos Def in a supporting role, opened this weekend at no. 1 with a $21.7 million box office. Ice Cube's XXX: State of the Union opened at no. 3 with a mere $12.7 mil box office. Queen Latifah's Beauty Shop charted at no. 14, a 100k or so short of a million.

The NY Times gets in on the game with reviews of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, XXX: State of the Union and Death of a Dynasty.

MTV.com offers features on Ludacris, who appears in Crash and Ice Cube, who stars in XXX: State of the Union.

As it turns out, VH1.com's RockOnTV also includes televised rap appearances on its television schedule.

Fat Joe and Nelly recently shot a video for Fat Joe's single Get It Poppin.

Hip hop documentary Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme will be released on dvd May 24th.

Though poorly publicized this first time, the Atlanta Hip-Hop Film Festival hosted by Georgia State University hopes to be an annual event.

The life and work of Mister Cartoon, a tattoo and graphic artist well known by rap musicians, is being made into a film called Ink.

Rahiem Shabazz is wearing the many hats required by indie film production as he produces and publicizes The Sun Will Rise, a hip hop oriented film being shot in Atlanta for which he also wrote the screenplay.

Composer Peter Cor, who has written a variety of tunes for ads and shows like The Bernie Mac Show and Pimp My Ride, now has his own company, Inner Cor Music.

Among other activities, Jermaine Dupri recently formed So So Def Entertainment, a film and television division headed by Todd “Todd-1” Brown.

Assata Shakur Has a Price on Her Head

I'm not sure why the Feds are putting $1 million on Assata Shakur's head at this point in time, but it's certainly inspired the bounty hunters. Assata is an important figure to many politically oriented hip hop artists, aside from being Tupac Shakur's godmother. Though often described as a Black Panther, Assata had moved on to the Black Liberation Army at the time of the alleged cop killing in 1973 for which she was convicted and is being sought. Check her out for yourself.

I don't have an opinion on her guilt or innocence at the present time but she was down for armed resistance and revolution so it seems neither impossible that she committed the act nor impossible that she was framed. I do know this, her autobiography is an amazing book that will give one a strong sense of the 60s and early 70s. Check it out before it's banned as terrorist propaganda.

Available from Amazon:
Assata Shakur - Assata: An Autobiography.

Got a Small Biz? Win 10 Million Free Ads!

Yahoo! Search Marketing's Think Big contest will award 10 million ad impressions on the Yahoo! network to one very lucky small business. Sounds like great advertising for Yahoo! search marketing services and a great opportunity for a small business as well as the handful of finalists who should also get some attention.

Official Site: Yahoo! Search Marketing: Think Big

Rumors: ProHipHop, illseed, Ya Heard???, Groupie Confessions

I don't really follow hip hop rumors all that much and usually just end up making up rumors because most of it doesn't relate to business news so much. I'm more fascinated by what's actually happening than what people think is happening. I mean, what could beat following the ongoing adventures of The Source?

But if you're interested in rumors there are a few places you can turn. For instance, there's illseed over at AllHipHop.com and Ya Heard??? at SOHH.com. What's weird about both of them is that often they seem to be discussing news items as rumors or following up on rumors with their own contacts, almost like news coverage of rumors.

If what you're really looking for is straight up nasty gossip, check out Groupie Confessions, a special feature from last fall in Ozone Magazine.

Albums: Sway & King Tech, Wendy Williams, 9th Wonder & Buckshot, Big Pooh, Big Fish Audio

The Wakeup Show's Sway and King Tech* are releasing their second album Back 2 Basics in late May.

Radio personality Wendy Williams has branded an album with a variety of tracks called Wendy Williams Brings The Heat, Vol. 1.

With Chemistry set for summertime release, MTV.com interviewed 9th Wonder.

Little Brother's Big Pooh discusses his new album Sleepers.

Big Fish Audio has released Hip-Hop Philosophy, a dvd featuring "new construction kits with beats, bass lines, synth, fx" and a "drum loops section and a stabs section."

Labels: Cam'Ron, Green Lantern, P. Diddy, Damon Dash

Dipset News: Cam'Ron and Diplomat Records signed a multimillion dollar deal with Warner Music Group's Asylum early last week. Jim Jones is Warner's new director of black music (is that really a position?) and Juelz has signed a joint venture with Def Jam.

I finally took a closer look at the DJ Green Lantern interview about leaving Shady Records. Basically he got stuck between Jadakiss taping him without telling him, which was probably illegal since audiotaping without one's consent is illegal in most states, and the fact that once the tape came out he had to leave the label due to 50 Cent's over the top issues with beefs.

Here's more on P. Diddy's plans with Warner.

Just because the Damon Dash Music Group's offices are moving, doesn't mean they're moving on. But things don't look so good for ODB's album.