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« August 19, 2007 - August 25, 2007 | Main | September 2, 2007 - September 8, 2007 »
I assume there will be more at Idolator soon, heck, everywhere soon but Maura Johnston has informed me that not only has the clean version of Kanye West's Graduation leaked but so has the regular version AND so has the clean version of 50 Cent's Curtis.
Guess we're just waiting for the dirty Curtis and it's a wrap. Kenny Chesney is going to have an open field!
Extra thanks to Maura for not allowing me to call it a day. Thanks, really.
Mr. Dibbs & Willie Maggot Go Shealing
Last month GRANDGOOD posted this tripped out video from Scratchapuncture of Mr. Dibbs "shealing", aka shopping without money, another important element of hip hop.
Q-Tip and Common are planning on working together.
The Swift Chancellor discusses his respect for Russell Simmons.
In addition to the Rawkus Blog Fam, Rawkus has partnered with two blogs that I read regularly and there are more on the way. I'll get back to you with the bigger picture but I just wanted to point out their new associates who actually switched a few weeks back:
The Rap Up and The Smoking Section
Almost forgot, Fat Lace Magazine is also on board, though that news is what reminded me to do this post in the first place!
Apparently the clean version of Kanye West's Graduation has leaked. Though this sounds like it's going to be bad for album sales the fact that it is said to be the clean version may not be as big a problem.
And there's lots of time for more leaks.
Jess Harvell has a review of the leaked version at Idolator.
Soulja Boy's Crank That (Soulja Boy) rises to second place on the Hot 100 singles chart followed by Kanye West's Stronger in third.
Crank That is the fastest growing digital track while Stronger is no. 1 on the Hot Digital Songs chart. Timbaland's The Way I Are tops the Pop 100 chart.
Top 10 Singles in the Hot 100:
1. Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry
2. Soulja Boy - Crank That (Soulja Boy)
3. Kanye West - Stronger
4. Timbaland - The Way I Are feat. Keri Hilson
5. Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls
6. Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah
7. T-Pain - Bartender feat. Akon
8. Fabolous - Make Me Better feat. Ne-Yo
9. Plies - Shawty feat. T-Pain
10. Rihanna - Umbrella feat. Jay-Z
50 Cent's I Get Money debuts in the Hot 100 at no. 85.
Speaking of 50 vs. Kanye vs. Kenny, Mr. Chesney is looking strong. Not only has he already had a top single on the Hot Country Songs chart with Never Wanted Nothing More (now no. 3) but he's making a little chart history according to Billboard:
On Hot Country Songs, Kenny Chesney sets a new high debut threshold in the modern era and matches the all-time high bow on the list with "Don't Blink" at No. 16. The song tops the Nielsen BDS-era record set when Keith Urban's "Once in a Lifetime" opened at No. 17 in August 2006. It also matches Buck Owens' No. 16 start with "My Heart Skips a Beat" in March 1964.
Of course, those tracks aren't in the Hot 100 top 10 but I bet Kenny does a good job of mobilizing his base and album sales do work rather differently than singles.
? - Both Timbaland and Sean Kingston were listed as No. 5 in the above linked article. I'll update.
Currently I'm not knowingly running any expandable ads except for a few box ads beneath the individual posts that shouldn't interfere with actually seeing the site. However, an ad that was not marked correctly at one of my ad networks showed up today and I just removed it, though it may show up more over the next few hours.
In general I don't run ads that interfere with the site and I consider these expandable ads one of the worst things going right now. But I'm not always up on screening my ads and sometimes they aren't what they seem so stuff slips through.
Redman's Mascot Up Close Deck
Redman is releasing a limited edition series of skateboard decks.
Via Nah Right about whom I've never written a subliminal. Seriously. But if it was necessary...
For some reason, I've held back from saying anything about the use at Hip Hop Ruckus of the term "exclusive" for all sorts of things they link to elsewhere, maybe because I've run into some cool things there first.
But it was really just a matter of time before something like this post caught me on the wrong day:
Exclusive Video
Yo we may not be the most well known hip hop site out there but on the real, we do get the exclusive stuff for ya. Hey, heard about that new movie that Fox is trying to do on the life of Biggie? Well, Searchlight (which is affiliated with Fox) is doing casting calls for the part of Biggie. I got the exclusive videos of the cats from across the country who are tried out for the part. Here they are.
This statement is followed by four links to videos at foxsearchlight.com. If anybody's got an exclusive here it's Fox Searchlight, not Hip Hop Ruckus, and HHR does this kind of thing all the time. They've even posted YouTube videos and proclaimed them exclusive.
It's kind of sad because there are definitely things I see first at Hip Hop Ruckus and they have a strong style so why don't they just present what they actually do rather than claiming these bogus exclusives?
Though Michael Vick has little to do with hip hop he has been taken up as an example of the fruits of "hip hop culture", whatever that is, and so the price drop in his memorabilia is worth considering here as a form of brand destruction:
While Vick was once considered by collectors as having some of the most-sought after memorabilia, the value of his autographs, cards and other collectibles have dramatically dipped, Hackler said. Even his 2001 SP Authentic rookie card, once valued at more than $1,000, is now being traded at $285 to $400, he said.
As you've probably heard, some chewed up versions have done very well:
The eBay auction for 22 Vick football cards, chewed up and slobbered on by two Missouri dogs, ended Wednesday as the winning bidder dished out $7,400 - with the money expected to be donated to the Humane Society.
So much for "all publicity is good publicity".
I haven't been keeping up closely with the sillier aspects of 50 Cent's recent marketing efforts from his enthusiasm for a debate with Kanye West to his claim that he would quit rapping if Kanye sells more but I thought all that was off in any real sense. Maybe 50 Cent's still buying in but I thought he'd finessed his way out of that.
I guess I'm just bored with the high school antics like "let's have a debate" and "I'll quit if you win" but Glenn Gamboa thinks that these latest escapades show 50 Cent is a great marketer and he might be right. We'll see on the 11th and see even more in the weeks that follow.
Glenn Gamboa is very impressed with "The Bet":
Just so no one's confused, 50 Cent will not lose that bet promising to retire as a solo artist if his new album "Curtis" (Interscope) didn't sell more copies than Kanye West's new album "Graduation" (Roc-a-Fella) in its first week.
He wouldn't have made it if he wasn't sure...He adds that all the hype surrounding The Bet is totally media-generated and he would know. After all, that's the way he planned it.
The Bet is what got him and Kanye on the cover of the next Rolling Stone. It's what got him mentioned on TV, got the Sept. 11 release date for both albums ingrained in the heads of people only passingly interested in music, spawned endless chatter in the hip-hop blogosphere and in countless newspapers, including this one.
The Bet only goes to show that 50 Cent, like Madonna and pre-crazy Britney Spears, is a master at manipulating the media.
I'm just not feeling it and I think it's the whole setup of Kanye West Vs. 50 Cent that's driving the media coverage and The Bet was only one example. But I'll keep looking for differing responses so I'm not in total dereliction of duty since I wasn't that moved by "Hip Hop Is Dead" either and you see how well that's done for Nas.
It doesn't take much to realize that banning saggy pants is kind of ridiculous unless, of course, you believe that will make some kind of difference in regards to the bad things in the world:
Last week, Atlanta Councilman C. T. Martin sponsored an amendment to the city's indecency laws to ban sagging, which he called an epidemic. "We are trying to craft a remedy," said Mr. Martin, who sees the problem as "a prison mentality."
Well, there you go, prisoners go home and launch the saggy style, saggy styles get picked up by forward fashion youth, the saggy style then spreads everywhere, therefore, kids have a prison mentality. Ask around and see if any kids wearing saggy clothes would describe themselves as dressing like prisoners.
Things start one place and change as they spread. If you want to make a direct connection back to the beginning, you've got to provide some evidence, not a leap of logic that looks more like a leap of faith.
Niko Koppel does a nice job overall with this look at the variety of places banning saggy pants and the various issues involved. Unfortunately, I can't buy this line which is a big one if accepted at face value:
Not since the zoot suit has a style been greeted with such strong disapproval.
Between the zoot suit and now, lots of people have gotten seriously injured for dressing in disapproved ways. Ask the hippies. That's not to say that one couldn't draw many parallels but we haven't seen anything like the Zoot Suit Riots in relationship to saggy pants.
Apparently HSAN may get involved:
Benjamin Chavis, the former executive director of the N.A.A.C.P., said, “I think to criminalize how a person wears their clothing is more offensive than what the remedy is trying to do.”
Dr. Chavis, who is often pictured in an impeccable suit and tie among the baggy outfits of the hip-hop elite, is a chairman of the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, a coalition he founded with the music mogul Russell Simmons. He said that the coalition will challenge the ordinances in court.
“The focus should be on cleaning up the social conditions that the sagging pants comes out of,” he said. “That they wear their pants the way they do is a statement of the reality that they’re struggling with on a day-to-day basis.”
HSAN would be an appropriate group to take this on though I'll be surprised if they do anything substantial with this issue in terms of legal action. And the idea that all these saggy pants wearing people are reflecting their struggle in their clothing is also kind of ridiculous but I guess we'll be encountering that soundbite over and over in press releases and media coverage as soon as HSAN starts holding press conferences on the matter.
There are very serious issues at stake here in terms of self-expression and freedom of speech but also in terms of potential harassment of saggy pants wearing people. I don't believe these initiatives will successfully make it through the courts but I do know that as soon as they pass locally, cops won't be swarming the malls, they'll be swarming low-income neighborhoods and clearing the streets.
Now if you'd promise me showcase raids on malls filled with rich white kids, heck, rich kids of any color, then I might sign on just for entertainment.
Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
As UGK's Underground Kingz drops to no. 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart, Talib Kweli's Ear Drum debuts at no. 2 and Swizz Beatz' One Man Band Man at no. 7. This is the first time in the top 10 for both men and especially nice for Talib Kweli after many years in the game though Swizz Beatz must be pretty happy for his first time out.
Swizz Beatz - One Man Band Man
Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. Soundtrack - High School Musical 2
2. Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
3. Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus
4. Soundtrack - Hairspray
5. NOW! That's What I Call Music 25
6. Fergie - The Dutchess
7. Swizz Beatz - One Man Band Man
8. San Diego - As I Lay Dying
9. Nickelback - All the Right Reasons
10. UGK - Underground Kingz
M.I.A. - Kala
M.I.A.'s Kala debuts at no. 18.
The Complex blog points to another instance of Hip Hop Weekly biting their content.
It's not the first time. You may recall that Hip Hop Weekly sent a cease and desist letter over that claim and even put out a press release stating that Complex had removed the above post.
Actually, Complex removed the part that got them in legal trouble but, obviously, the post is up and it still details Hip Hop Weekly's plagiarism.
I don't have all the information on what was removed but Complex documents their claims and their posts remain up so I guess whatever else Hip Hop Weekly may or may not be, it's clearly a home for plagiarists.
That said, it sounds like folks covering similar material should consider keeping an eye on Hip Hop Weekly to see what else they may have jacked, if you can find a copy.
I've been pretty consistently ignoring MTV.com after their ridiculous redesign earlier this year, which was quickly redone, followed by some of their publicists treating me rudely (mtv staff not outside agencies). But since they seem to be struggling with a downturn I guess one more little link won't matter.
That said, it sounds like Kanye West's new album is a winner, based on the response of MTV's Shaheem Reid. He has a nice rundown of the album preview in New York last night that pretty much got me past all the silly stuff Kanye says about himself.
It would be really nice to see exceptionally positive responses to meaningful music become the strongest marketing tool to reach the masses. That's just usually not the case.
Complex also has an excellent interview with Kanye by Marc Ecko that's particularly interesting on the fashion tip though Ecko is quite annoying when he goes into man to man banter.
The Federation's College Girl Dance Contest
Though it seems a bit unfocused so far, The Federation is promoting their single College Girl off the upcoming It's Whateva with a YouTube College Girl Dance Contest.
The video above explains that one must submit one's video to www.youtube.com/fedtv where there is currently no information whatsoever about the contest itself. However the video does explain that the winner will get to appear in a Federated music video and will also get some stuff including a pair of Federation approved Stunna Shades from StunnaShadez.net.
Unfortunately the lyrics to College Girl make it clear that this contest does not promote education:
She's a college girl.
She's nasty.
Best of luck, ladies.
Rick Rock's 18 Dummy Energy Drink
I don't know the full back story on 18 Dummy Energy Drink or the order of events but basically Rick Rock, a major producer who works with The Federation, has an energy drink produced in partnership with Xyience called 18 Dummy that leverages the slang term 18 Dummy and the Federation single 18 Dummy.
Early reviews are mixed.
MySpace Pages:
The Federation
18 Dummy Energy Drink
Wes at the swift chancellor report is working on a book currently titled Battle For Cash: Hip-Hop and The Art Of War. Go give him some feedback!
GRANDGOOD spreads the word that KRS-One has signed to Duck Down Records.
If you totally need to Twitter away some time, follow
Jay Smooth and Q Tip.
As Arbitron's Personal People Meter rearranges the radio landscape one Denver hip hop station has benefitted from the new data source.
Though I'm not sure if there's a PPM connection, Columbus, Ohio's hip hop and RnB station Power 107-5 moved up to no. 1 in the Spring Arbitron ratings.
Trailer for Skid Row Starring Pras
Skid Row, a documentary about homelessness on LA's Skid Row starring Pras, opened in NY, DC and LA on Friday. LA Downtown News has an interview with Pras regarding the project in which he spent 9 days and nights on Skid Row:
Basically, the situation was "a fish out of water," like if something was to happen to any one of us and somehow you ended up on Skid Row, what would it look like, that reality? What are the requirements to get a room in a shelter, how are you going to survive, where are you going to sleep, what are the politics, can you get yourself out of the situation? This documentary is not propaganda. It's not saying the governor is to blame, the mayor or the police. It's about a situation, homelessness, and that it's a condition, not a disease. And these are the different stories.
Trailer via Notes from a Different Kitchen.
Official Site:
Skid Row
Ahsmi Rawlins [psst, that's Eskay from Nah Right!] is featured in the Boston Globe spilling his guts about the MP3 blogging scene:
Rawlins gets leaked material like the 50 Cent/Timberlake song online. He wouldn't reveal where he found it, but noted it's not file-sharing websites, which remove copyrighted material if a record label asks. "The sites where I'm getting these leaks," says Rawlins, "the general public and record labels can't even get into. Nothing is pulled off of them."
Sounds like the kind of thing you say and then wish you could take back.
It's tough being in the limelight.
Special thanks to Jason Fell of FOLIO for the link.
Late last week Russell Simmons stepped down as CEO of Phat Fashions and Kimora Lee Simmons expanded her role as President and Creative Director of Baby Phat to become Creative Director of Phat Fashions.
It's unclear if a new CEO will be named or if those duties will subsume to Kellwood CEO Robert C. Skinner, Jr.
This is the first I'm hearing about mixtape raids in Nashville that occurred August 16th:
This month, the counterfeiting raids reached Nashville, when Metro police seized more than $21,500 worth of CDs and DVDs from two Nashville record stores, Platinum Bound and Key 2 Music...
The raids have dramatically affected Nashville's hip-hop scene, spurring local retailers and DJs to pull their product from store shelves and making it difficult for Nashville hip-hop fans to find the music.
In a reminder of major labels' deep involvement with mixtapes:
Nashville-based chain Cat’s Music enforced a chainwide ban on mixtapes after the raids. Jason Herndon, manager of the Cat’s in Hermitage, says the company’s vice president is waiting to hear back from the recording industry association about the material before deciding whether to restock the CDs. “We were under the impression that these types of mixtapes were sanctioned,” Herndon said. “The labels kind of turned a blind eye to them. There are record label reps in our store every week from every major label.”
Apparently legal cds were seized as well:
Underscoring the difficulty of determining which CDs conform to the law and which do not, Beach claims that about 200 of the 828 CDs seized by police from their store weren’t infringing on copyrights at all. “They were (CDs for which) a local artist had actually paid for studio time, wrote his own music, bought beats and melodies from local studio producers.”
Though there are a number of missing pieces to this story, especially the details of how these raids came about given that previous mixtape raids have been haphazard and not part of a national campaign, writer Dave Paulson does a nice job of sketching in background and creating context.
For more on previous mixtape raids see ProHipHop's Mixtapes category.
Promo Video for Traxxpad: Portable Studio
Here's a fun promotional video for the Traxxpad: Portable Studio:
turns your PSP (Playstation Portable) system into a music studio. The power of a drum machine, sequencer, mixer, and sampler is now portable!
Video features Zion I, Mistah FAB, Lyrics Born with Zion I's Amp Live on the Traxxpad.
Missy Elliott will appear in a campaign for Doritos Collisions.
Doritos is also working with The Black Eyed Peas in a long term agreement.
Rockport continues its relationship with Yung Joc with Roc with Joc a recent contest to find a "true hustler" that ties into Yung Joc's upcoming release of
Hustlenomics as well as Alloy Access's Urban Hustler demographic.
After over a year of experiments with YouTube video blogs, mixed newsfeeds, microsites and guest blogging I'm now focusing my endeavors on ProHipHop and the related sites that have built the strongest audiences.
You can check the navigation bar at the top of the page to see where my energies are now being focused. It feels good to have some clarity, however temporary, about the limits of my current online activities.
Here's what's changed:
I'm no longer blogging at Fast Company but I do expect to return to related topics in a new project I hope to launch after I'm done settling in and start getting antsy, probably at Flux Research.
[think: business, information services, media 2.0, open access publishing and the distributed library, yadadadamean?]
Though I'm not relaunching Weekly Hip Hop Albums I have returned to updating netweed's Hip Hop Albums section at a lighter volume. I'm also adding graphics to both Hip Hop Albums and Hip Hop Movies and will be doing more with both those resources in the near future.
Hip Hop Logic is back in action on a light posting schedule with a continued focus on hip hop culture and politics. Hip Hop Logic is where I started blogging almost five years ago and it's nice to see the old spot back in action.
VidRap and World Cypher have been the best received of such experiments and will continue to be a core part of ProHipHop's related endeavors going forward.
Hip Hop Press is currently my most successful site in terms of raw traffic with 59k unique visitors and 89k pageviews over the last month. For analytics geeks, my reading is that the high number of unique viewers coming mainly from search engines, the high clickthrough rates on ads and the average time of over 4 minutes spent on the site per visit suggests a combination of lots of casual web surfers and a core of deeply engaged readers.
On the larger issue of ProHipHop's future, which was raised as a topic of discussion last summer, I have not secured an academic position for the fall and am planning on business as usual at ProHipHop for another year. That could change given a variety of last minute possibilities but I started this season's search very late in the game and the vast majority of relevant upcoming positions will be for Fall 2008 so my overall planning is based on that timeframe.
Given that I had been preparing to become a minor contributor at ProHipHop in order to take on fulltime responsibilities elsewhere, I'm finding myself really excited about having what looks like another year with ProHipHop as a primary focus.
So it's time to pick up the pace as summer begins to fade and fall comes into view.
I was going to post a sample SongSpot widget from Sonific after hearing that they would make them free for indie labels to use. I would have posted a widget with music chosen as a fan.
But then I clicked yes on the terms of service and a popup said I couldn't use the widget on commercial websites though bloggers can post them on any service such as AOL.com, which is a very commercial website, and I couldn't find the statement in the actual terms of service themselves.
I then found that when creating the widget I had to specify the exact page on which it would be posted. Since many bloggers would add such a thing to a sidebar there wouldn't be a particular page though there would be a particular site.
Maybe it would work anyway but that's too many wrong turns for me.
The idea is to offer the tools so people can make magic happen but magic can't happen with bizarre restrictions that ignore actual Web use. Roadblocks lead to finding other routes and in the current environment I would strongly suggest keeping that key point in mind.
Music industry news from Hypebot:
Concert giant Live Nation appears unlikely to renew its deal with Ticketmaster which could mean big changes for fans of live music.
MTV is dropping its URGE download store deal with Microsoft and partnering with Real's Rhapsody and Verizon in a new multifacted music venture dubbed Rhapsody America. Hypebot live blogged the event.
An exclusive interview with international indie trade group Merlin's CEO Charles Caldas.
Wal-Mart has added DRM-free mp3's from Universal and EMI.
Talks on internet broadcast royalty rates are finally making progress.
Rhino killed free music downloads for fans of the Grateful Dead on official Dead.net
The Future Of Music Coalition seeks a DC based intern.
A French internet company is offering a free Universal Music subscription service along with its broadband service.
Music widget creator Sonific is opening up its service for free to all indie labels.
A hack which turned every song streamed on MySpace into a free download was shut down. Now the programmer is offering the code free on the net.
TheRockDose offers a daily dose of music wisdom.
See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.
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