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Step Up 2 The Streets Soundtrack

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Flavor Flav in New Dr. Pepper Commercial

Atmosphere's When Life Gives You Lemons

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« August 12, 2007 - August 18, 2007 | Main | August 26, 2007 - September 1, 2007 »

August 24, 2007

Crank That (Soulja Boy) Enters Top 10 Singles

Soulja Boy's Crank That (Soulja Boy) moves up from no. 11 to no. 6 on the Hot 100 singles chart.

Top 10 Singles on the Hot 100:

1. Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls
2. Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry
3. Timbaland - The Way I Are feat. Keri Hilson
4. Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah
5. Kanye West - Stronger
6. Soulja Boy - Crank That (Soulja Boy)
7. T-Pain - Bartender feat. Akon
8. Rihanna - Umbrella feat. Jay-Z
9. Fabolous - Make Me Better feat. Ne-Yo
10. Hurricane Chris - A Bay Bay

Gym Class Heroes' Clothes Off debuts at no. 46.

Albums: UGK, Plies, Common Remain in Top 10

As T.I Vs. T.I.P. exits the top 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart, UGK, Plies, and Common remain.

Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:

1. Soundtrack - High School Musical 2
2. Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus
3. Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live at Radio City
4. NOW! That's What I Call Music 25
5. Soundtrack - Hairspray
6. UGK - Underground Kingz
7. Fergie - The Dutchess
8. Jonas Brothers - Jonas Brothers
9. Plies - Real Testament
10. Common - Finding Forever

August 23, 2007

Nah Right Speaks on "Fake" Lethal Squad Mixtapes

Nah Right is inspired to commentary by Universal's Lethal Squad Mixtape series:

After first quietly sanctioning "illegal" mixtapes and then allowing the arrests of DJ Drama and Don Cannon, Universal Music now has the audacity to drop their own "legal" mixtape...

What a perfect example of music execs not knowing what the f*ck is going on in the world. Honestly, I’m not even that mad at their flagrant hypocrisy, it’s the incompetent execution that disgusts me. If you’re gonna do something like this, at least get a respected DJ that somebody has heard of and give people some exclusive music...

This is nothing more than a label sanctioned attempt at a street version of those NOW CD’s that drop every couple of months. Whoever thought this sh*t up should be tarred and feathered.

In case you're wondering, Scion's Sampler CDs and FADER/Subaru Mixtapes seem to be getting a better reception but I'd love to hear more from hardcore hip hop fans on the topic of corporate sponsored mixtapes.

For background:
Universal Music Enterprises tests the mix tape waters

Related Coverage:
Hot 97's DJ Envy Releases Hip-Hop Mixtapes Downloadable to Cell Phones in Deal with Cellfish Media

For more Nah Right News!!!:
Nah Right is ranked no. 81 on Blender’s 2007 Hot Report .

Biz News: Aesop Rock Video, Rappers Love Money, Three 6 Mafia Clothes, Lucky Nites Golden Liqueur, 5WPR's Growing, Koch Marketing, Romeo's Rap Snacks

Aesop Rock's new video is available for viewing if you can run the gauntlet of trivia questions.

Idolator essayist Jess Harvell has some choice words for journalists who are only now discovering that rappers are all about getting paid.

Three 6 Mafia has a new clothing line out that builds on and for the current emergence of a new rap/rock crossover.

Straight Up Brands releases Lucky Nites Golden Liqueur with the help of Lil' Flip.

5WPR makes the 2007 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.

Epic reaches out to Koch in order to outsource their urban marketing.

Romeo buys Rap Snacks.

New Labels From Foxy Brown & Pacman Jones

Foxy Brown is said to be launching an indie label, Black Rose Entertainment, to be distributed through Koch.

Adam "Pacman" Jones is launching National Street League Records in the wake of an NFL suspension and all sorts of legal problems.

The Essence of Hip Hop: Racking, Stealing, Shoplifting

unkut.com on the true elements of hip hop:

You wanna know what the essence of hip-hop is? Racking. Call it stealing, shoplifting or even the Five Finger Discount – that’s the real heart of this here game..

My point is that boosting sh*t is more hip-hop than print hoodies, white sunglasses and tight salmon polo shirts will ever be...

Rolling dudes for their sh*t also remains a staple of hip-hop. From the days of sheepskins, Pumas and gold ropes to the diamond-encrusted watch and platinum fronts era, the opportunity to gank someone’s sh*t off them by fair means or foul at a rap show remains the great leveler.

Well, there you have it.  Check the post for a bit more context on the above statements.

Update:
Gotta love stealing till it happens to you.

Note to Seth Godin: Put Search Where People Can Find It

After an extended period of scepticism, I eventually embraced Seth's Blog but I found his recent post You can search this blog disturbingly off the mark.

Seth points out that it's "a shame" when sites neglect to offer a search function for a variety of reasons that he doesn't enumerate.  Allowing visitors to find what they want immediately comes to mind.

Interestingly enough, Seth has buried his own search option "down at the bottom of the main page".  Down at the bottom is where you put things that you don't need people to see unless they're highly motivated to dig deep.

Up near the top of all pages is where you put search if you want people to actually find and use the search option.

August 21, 2007

Master P & Romeo's Sidekick Song Placement

Master P and Romeo are promoting the Sidekick LX with a song called Sidekick on their upcoming album Hip Hop History.  A video is expected soon.

Listen here.

I guess I haven't succumbed totally to cynicism as I find this development rather disturbing though it also seems completely inevitable.

August 20, 2007

Kanye Vs. Curtis: They Forgot About Kenny

Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates cd

Kenny Chesney - Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates

While much of the Kanye Vs. Curtis smoke and mirrors show has been rather lame, even to 50 Cent who finds it "mind-boggling how stupid the general public is at some points", the entry of Kenny Chesney into the ring promises to stir things up:

''It's funny how with every record that comes out, we're aware of the urban [competition], and none of those acts acknowledge that I exist,'' Chesney tells EW via email. ''Until I have that No. 1 debut on the Top 200.''

Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates, Chesney's 11th studio album, goes on sale the same Tuesday morning as 50 Cent's Curtis and Kanye West's Graduation. Chesney's last four studio efforts have opened atop Billboard's albums chart — including his most recent effort, The Road and the Radio, which beat the original soundtrack to 50 Cent's film Get Rich or Die Tryin' when both debuted in November 2005.

My money's on Kenny!

SXSW Interactive Panel Picker & B2B Panel Proposal

The SXSW Interactive festival happening in March has posted the 2008 SXSW Interactive Panel Picker featuring panels proposed by folks like yours truly.  You can simply browse the hundreds of suggested panels or create an account and make comments as well as rank the panels for possible inclusion at SXSW.

Here's my proposal for a panel titled From B2B Blog to Media/Event Empire:
This session will introduce the possiblities for expanding one's blog/brand by considering the insights of successful B2B bloggers. The focus on practical realities will include how such projects are leveraging low cost blogging platforms and small teams to challenge old school B2B media companies both on and offline.

If the panel makes it I hope to convince some folks that have successfully built their B2B blogs into media companies with multiple web properties and offline events to come down and give me a chance to ask them some serious questions.  It should be a cool event.

Related Coverage:
Vote to add Africa 2.0 panel to SXSW festival schedule

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
SXSW Interactive Festival Panel Podcasts

The Return of chartreuse [BETA no longer]

chartreuse is back in action. Something seems a bit amiss but I'm sure he'll find his stride again. Check him out if you're trying to figure out this Media 2.0 thingie.

Global Grind Raises $4.5 Million VC Round

Global Grind (globalgrind.com), a startup currently previewing a personalized startpage featuring urban-related feeds, raised a $4.5 million Series A round of venture capital from Accel Partners:

The New York-based company was recently launched by former executives of 360hiphop (later acquired by BET Interactive), including: CEO Navarrow Wright, CFO Richard Slomovitz and former 360hiphop CEO Osman Eralp.

Also involved is hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, who bankrolled 360hiphop and is again providing both financial and infrastructure support. Simmons will sit on the board alongside Jim Breyer, and is incubating Global Grind in the offices of his Rush Communications umbrella company.

I recently checked out the site quite briefly and saw no real reason to get excited but I'm not that into these kinds of startpages.  Mashable has a reasonable review that correlates with what I saw.

Previous ProHipHop Coverage:
Hip Hop 2.0 Oddities from Universal Music Group & Def Jam

Related Coverage:
Anybody Checking Up on Global Grind?

August 19, 2007

Musicane Store Widget Featuring Public Enemy

After seeing that will.i.am will be selling his next single through Musicane, which uses stand-alone store widgets that can be embedded on blogs and websites, I went ahead and set up the above store featuring Public Enemy's How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???

Public Enemy recently announced their participation in Musicane's program, a reminder of Chuck D's continued willingness to explore the next step in digital music.  They seem to be the biggest act among the current hip hop selections and possibly of the site itself.  will.i.am will definitely up the star ante for Musicane.

One of the roadblocks is that people will have to sign up for a Musicane account.  Another question mark is whether or not folks are ready to treat free standing widgets as secure options for ecommerce.

The widget is currently offered in one size only and that's a drawback for folks who might want to drop one in the sidebar of their blog as I might have done.  Easy customization is definitely the way to go in widget land. 

It would also be nice if the singles had accompanying graphics or if one could upload one's own logo as a default graphic.  The quick response of the audio and video samples is a huge plus and any additions to the widget should avoid losing that key quality.

Official Site:
Musicane

Hypebot: DRM Free, will.i.am Widget, Lovemark, CD's 25th, MySpaceMP3.org, Epic & Koch, Speakerheart

Music industry news from Hypebot:

More details of the Universal DRM-free experiment which starts next week emerged with Rhapsody giving Hypebot an exclusive interview as well as details of Google's important role in the test.  Also read Hypebot's commentary "DRM Free Won't Save The Music Industry But It Empower's Those Who Can".

Black Eyed Pea Will.i.am will drop his solo CD on 8/28 DRM free and is paying fans to help him sell it via a Musicane widget.

EMI has hired ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi to design a year long catalog push using its "Lovemark" strategy to re-brand the product. Rumors are also flying that the new owners of EMI are eying changes at the top.

This week marked the 25th Anniversary of the CD.

A new hack makes it easy to download free mp3's from hundreds of thousands of songs on MySpace.

An understaffed Epic Records hired competitor Koch to help push its Hip Hop releases.

Passalong has spun off indie and d.i.y. download enabler Speakerheart.

See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.

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