ProHipHop: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News

Hip Hop Grub Spot Challenges Hip Hop Soda Shop

Hip Hop Grub Spot Promo Video

Looks like the Hip Hop Grub Spot in Miami is going to benefit from the extended buildup to the opening of the HipHopSodaShop in St. Petersburg since both seem to be opening around the same unspecified time and have some striking similarities.

Despite the rough camera work in the above video, this can't be happy news for the folks from HipHopSodaShop's H3 Enterprises who have been building a rather complicated sounding company including H3TV, an acquisition creating flat screen HDTVs for gamers, as well as "H3Raps, H3WhiteTeaBeverages, H3Players.com, H3Merchandising, and H3Players' WorldSeries of CyberSports."  What they haven't done is open a HipHopSodaShop.

Check out the Hip Hop Grub Spot's self-description from their press release:

Hip Hop Grub Spot, is a Hip Hop themed, healthy fast-food global franchise which incorporates, student executive/entrepreneur training, in-store video gaming provided by Microsoft XBOX, with support by Hip Hop artists and professional athletes. It will also retail magazines, DVDs, mix-tapes, and apparel; while serving fast, fresh, healthy sandwiches, wraps, smoothies, and energy drinks.

And compare with H3 Enterprises' description of the HipHopSodaShop concept on their official site:

The HipHopSodaShop franchise is the backbone of all H3 related businesses and encapsulates not only the numerous revenue streams that the Company has developed but also embodies the “community conscious” approach that H3 applies to all of its endeavors. The HipHopSodaShop is a unique restaurant concept that celebrates the skyrocketing demand for everything Hip Hop, complete with a healthy quick service menu, merchandising, memorabilia, giant LCD screens, and a large area dedicated to competitive Video Gaming...H3 has...signed agreements with several top athletes and Hip Hop stars for Area Development Agreements to further accelerate the SodaShops’ market penetration and prominence in the community.

Food, video games, merchandise, social responsibility and big name involvement all tied together with a hip hop theme.  There are a variety of differences between these companies but I'd hate to be the one pitching those during a 30-second local tv interview.

Cynically Tempting ProHipHop Brainstorm:
I know a great spot down the block to launch my latest project, The Hip Hop Chicken Shack.  Opening day proceeds will benefit the Jena 6.

ProHipHop will co-sponsor the 1st Annual Hip Hop Chicken Shack "Shoot the Klansman With TIP's Automatic Weaponry" video game tournament in multiple locations  throughout the Deep South.

Colonel Saunders, your time is over, baby.  We're burning the plantation down and grilling Hip Hop Chicken over the open flames!

Update:
The domain HipHopChickenShack.com is now available for purchase!

Saul Williams, NiggyTardust! & Pricing Option Mistakes

So the press release headline announces Saul Williams' new album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!,  from The FADER Label produced by NIN's Trent Reznor is available for free.  The subtitle offers an additional pay $5 option and those two are your only options though one might interpret these choices as following in the spirit of Radiohead's choose-your-price approach for In Rainbows.

I go to NiggyTardust.com and suddenly I'm faced with a moral dilemma, I can pay $5 and according to the website that states that:

I want to directly support the artists involved in the creation of this music.

If I decide to download it for free that means:

I'm not concerned about that. I just want the music.

Problem.  I don't want to buy this album for $5 at the present time.  It's spoken word or something, right?  I have difficulty listening to that kind of thing and there aren't any samples so I'll pass on that option.

But if I download it for free and take a listen, something I don't do nearly as often as most artists and publicists wish, then I could say something nice about it or avoid the topic of liking it if I'm just feeling supportive.

But the artist and his people would interpret that as lack of support.

You know what?  I'm being really silly.  Why am I sitting here splitting hairs when most people in my position would just go ahead and download it?

Well, I've got some work to do.  Maybe I'll check out what Saul's up to these days another time.

Note:
A lot of people decided to pay more than one might expect for Radiohead's In Rainbows release as a clear show of support.  But I don't recall Radiohead asking for support.  They offered their work with variable pricing and they got the support of the people who cared in the form in which those people wanted to give support.

Seriously, two options with a guilt tripping message?  That's what I'm seeing and it's not a good look.

Seth Godin Asks: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?

Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?

Seth Godin has a new book coming out December 27th called Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?.  It seems to be targeted towards folks trying to bring smart web marketing to slow moving corporations.

I'm in a web seminar with Seth which is going over schedule after an hour.  I already know I'm not going to sum this up.  I'll link to all the great posts that I'm sure will come out of this later.

The webinar is being hosted by Kevin Ryan, VP, Global Content Director for Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch and he's adding a nice element, not overly intrusive but making great comments at appropriate points.

Some moments:

Seth responded to my question about what he had to say to the disruptors by suggesting we not get too far ahead of ourselves if we want the masses to be able to catch up [and give us their money, ed.].  He gave Twitter as a great example of the breaking edge having no connection to the masses.

I love it when Seth drops names like Josiah Wedgwood.

Kevin shared a quick anecdote about being in a meeting in which a $16 million traditional marketing campaign going an additional $16 mil over was taken in stride while his request for $200k for search marketing was greeted with a stern lecture about staying within one's budget!

Seth talked about Facebook as a platform for permission marketing and about the shift to contacting people the way they want to be contacted as key for marketers who want to thrive.

[See Chris Anderson for why all marketers must get up to speed on this issue.]

I love hearing Kevin chuckling in the background.

I'll be back with links.

Big ups to Seth for so generously sharing his time and attention.  Seth's books are like Diddy parties, the announcement is automatically news and he gets lots of link love, so he doesn't have to do this.  It just really seems to be where he's at.

Great work Kevin!

Related Coverage:
Video of Seth Godin discussing Meatball Sundae at the Mixx Conference [haven't checked this out yet].

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Seth Godin On The Dip: When to Quit & When to Stick
7 Days of Seth Godin at Hear 2.0: Radio & The Dip

Singles: Soulja Boy Slips to #3, T-Pain Omnipresent

The top 10 singles on the Hot 100 singles chart mostly reshuffle as Crank That (Soulja Boy) drops to no. 3.

Top 10 Singles on the Hot 100:

1. Chris Brown - Kiss Kiss
2. Timbaland - Apologize feat. OneRepublic
3. Soulja Boy - Crank That (Soulja Boy)
4. Alicia Keys - No One
5. Colbie Caillat - Bubbly
6. Kanye West - Stronger
7. Kanye West - Good Life feat. T-Pain
8. Baby Bash - Cyclone feat. T-Pain
9. Rihanna - Hate That I Love You feat. Ne-Yo
10. Timbaland - The Way I Are feat. Keri Hilson

Flo Rida's Low featuring T-Pain debuts at no. 91.

College Hoops 2K8 In-Game Soundtrack: Dilla/Doom/Guilty

College Hoops 2K8 from 2K Sports

Here's the in-game soundtrack listing for 2K Sports' video game College Hoops 2K8 due November 19th.

In-Game Soundtrack Listing:

Arabian Prince                  "Professor X Saga"
Bumblebeez                      "Black Dirt"
Deltron 3030                     "Positive Contact"
Dilated Peoples                 "Spit It Clearly"
E Reece                            "Just Move" (Bautista Remix)
Guilty Simpson                  "Make It Fast"
Heliocentrics                    "Joyride"
Hot Chip                           "My Piano" (Radio mix)
J Dilla & MF Doom f/Guilty Simpson    "MASH"
James Pants                      "You're Doing It"
Jurassic 5                          "Without A Doubt"
Liars                                 "Plaster Casts of Everything"
Oh No                               "Chump"
Panthers                           "Goblin City"
Percee P                           "Legendary Lyricist"
DJ Romanowski                 "Lord Of The Pants" (2-Cents Remix)
Ski Beats                           "Idea"
Strange Fruit Project          "Underclassmen"
Strange Fruit Project          "Thru Tha Lane"
The Black Lips                   "It Feels Alright"
The Kooks                         "Eddie's Gun"

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
NBA 2K8 Game & B-Ball Zombie War Album f/J Dilla Collabs

Crank Dat: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Youngsters Crank Dat in Dance Class

MIT's Henry Jenkins relates his own experience of the Crank Dat phenomenon and the work of his students who include Xiaochang Li.  He mentions that Xiachang's post "generated some interesting responses from the hip hop blogosphere".  More importantly, Xiaochang joined in the conversation beyond the psychic walls of the University.

Xiaochang Li's participation in the blog-based conversation regarding Crank That (Soulja Boy) and the Crank Dat dance phenomenon is a nice example of how blogging has allowed many boundaries to be crossed between individuals in diverse contexts.

My experience of academia was that, even in interdisciplinary settings, conversations were often tightly siloed and speaking with people outside the University got fancy titles like "Public Intellectual" to offset the fact that the very act of going public earned those scholars disrespect.

Related Coverage at Melatone Music:
For Clyde Smith - Check comments for my critical response to the pathetic performances of the NBA rookies.

Video via Altrap.com.

Jacob the Jeweler Pleads Guilty, Some Charges Dropped

Jacob the Jeweler pled guilty Wednesday in a plea bargain in which money laundering charges were dropped:
No sentencing date was immediately set by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn. Terms of the plea agreement call for Arabov to serve up to 46 months in prison and pay a $2 million (€1.38 million) penalty, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a statement.

Saul Williams Remixes Nine Inch Nails on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D & So Can You!

Nine Inch Nails - Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D [CD/DVD]

Nine Inch Nails aka Trent Reznor is releasing an album of remixes from Year Zero on November 20th titled Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D.

According to the press release, Saul Williams has two remix tracks, gunshots by computer and survivalism.

And for those of you who prefer to do the remixing yourselves:

Purchasers can even reinterpret and remix Year Zero themselves. The CD package for Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D includes a DVD-ROM containing every track from Year Zero in multi-track format (Mac and PC). Perhaps for the first time, the master multi-tracks for every recording on a major album are being made available to the public.

The tracks are pre-formatted for Apple GarageBand and Ableton Live (Mac or PC); the DVD-ROM also adds the demo version of Ableton Live (Mac or PC) and generic WAVE files at 16 bit 44K that can be loaded into any audio editor. The package is 180 gram heavy vinyl in a deluxe six-panel gatefold jacket.

That's a very cool maneuver and, like Jay-Z's Black Album, some folks could use this to blow up in all sorts of interesting ways.  I know the first time I heard of Danger Mouse was when he did that Grey Album mashup of the Black Album's acappella version and the Beatles' White Album.

Why shouldn't you be next?

Official Website to Debut Nov. 20th:
remix.nin.com

Albums: Hurricane Chris' 51/50 Ratchet Debuts at #24

Hurricane Chris - 51/50 Ratchet

It's a country/rock/Christmas shindig in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart with no hip hop in sight cause hip hop is dead, dead, dead.

Yet rap lives on* with Hurricane Chris' 51/50 Ratchet debuting at no. 24.

Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:

1. Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride
2. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
3. Gary Allan - Living Hard
4. Serj Tankian - Elect the Dead
5. Josh Groban - Noel
6. Coheed & Cambria - No World for Tomorrow
7. Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus
8. Rascal Flatts - Still Feels Good
9. Seether- Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces
10. Soundtrack - High School Musical 2

*So I'm being a little silly.  I'm just thinking that maybe it's time to balance out hip hop purism with some rap purism and wondering what that would look like.

For example:
It ain't art,
if it didn't chart!

[Can you tell I'm getting in the $pirit for the Christmas $ea$on?]

50 Cent/Pontiac Link w/JBL's Audio Gear

50 Cent, Pontiac, JBL Audio

50 Cent's got some sort of endorsement deal with JBL, a consumer audio company who are described in their press release as having "outfitted rapper 50 Cent's (a.k.a. Curtis Jackson) new Pontiac G8 performance sedan with an 800-watt JBL audio system, JBL PX600.2 two-channel amps and two 12 inch JBL P1222 subwoofers."

Clearly this builds on 50 Cent's relationship with Pontiac whose G8 GT and G6 GXP appeared in the Amusement Park video in the spring.

Also from the press release:
Installed by Unique Autosports, (of the television show "Unique Whips") the car will debut at the 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

[Photo courtesy: Business Wire]

Chingy: Hate It Or Love It on DTP Records

Chingy is back on Disturbing Tha Peace Records with a new album titled Hate It Or Love It due December 11th.

Chingy had this to say about his old Capitol Records home back in August:
I don't think Capitol really knew how to work urban artists...They're really stuck on pop and they didn't know how to market me. I ain't knocking them because that's where I started, but I think that's why they fired a lot of people in the L.A. offices recently. I'm glad I'm off the label.

Update:
Special thanks to Mic Lowrey for pointing out a previously glaring error in this post.

Jim Jones: Harlem’s American Gangsta Mixtape

Jim Jones is set for another round of making bank off Jay-Z with the announced Nov. 6th release of Harlem’s American Gangsta mixtape.

See You Tomorrow & Making Notes: Music of the Carolinas

Posts at ProHipHop will mostly be delayed till sometime tomorrow because I'm finishing up a very short piece on hip hop in the Carolinas for a book from Novello Festival Press called Making Notes: Music of the Carolinas.

I was actually contacted at the last minute and am happy to be involved.  However, if I had become involved earlier, I definitely would have made a strong argument for a longer section.  Still it's good to see hip hop included.

Chamillionaire Attacks Weak-Minded Industry Clowns

Chamillionaire Discussing 1st Week Numbers

Though The Ultimate Victory did not outperform, Chamillionaire is still on the grind because, as he points out, after working on an album for a year or so, why would you stop supporting it because the first week of sales didn't go as planned?

And he's right.  There are certain things you can gauge from first week sales and you can certainly use them for a fun game of Kanye vs. Curtis, but using it to justify quitting after the first week?

That's a punk move on the part of record labels.  Labels like that deserve the great pain that is still to come.

Chamillionaire Talks About Labels & Artists Doing Their Jobs

Chamillionaire really opens up and rants a bit but mostly makes solid, honest points every step of the way regarding the relationship between labels and artists.

Official Site:
Chamillionaire TV

The Clipse Discuss Their Sony Deal

Mixtape Monday talked with the Clipse about their recently announced deal with Sony:

"The deal is done, the ink is dry," Malice said last week. "We're very happy. Everything is going according to plan...We're pleased with the sense of urgency them dudes is moving with. I can say that we are a welcomed addition. They feel that way. The vibe is right. That says a lot, for me to say that, because I'm skeptical of all labels. I don't believe it till I see it. The game made me this way."

"We're looking forward to '08 and putting out consecutive good music," Pusha added..."Sony has that energy, that new blood that wants to win. It's [also] where the Clipse are right now. We've just never been in the position to put out music consistently. Every album [there's] always been something to stand in the way of us getting the music out in a timely manner. Sony has structured a deal that honestly gives me the free right to put out music anytime I want."

"This go-round, my brother and myself, we're CEOs [of our label], and we also got equity in the group," he added. "I think it will be all good."

Let's hope their happiness continues!

Jay-Z Says Roc-A-Fella Deal for Jadakiss is Near

Jay-Z fills in Mixtape Monday on his efforts to bring Jadakiss to the Def Jam empire:

"Well, I've been actually trying to get Jadakiss to come to Roc-A-Fella/ Ruff Ryders for a minute," he said. "It's not done. It's in the final stages, though. I spoke to [co-CEO] Dee [Dean] and all of them about doing something really special with a Roc-A-Fella/ Ruff Ryders collaboration."

Hip Hop Album Releases for Oct. 30: Baby Bash, Buck 65, Indo G, Montana Trax, The Pack, Playaz Circle, Project Pat, Prophet Posse, Rob Gold

Montana Trax - A League of My Own

I've decided to revive Weekly Hip Hop Albums as a way to receive this new releases report separately via the RSS feed or free weekly newsletter.  However it will not contain additional album art at this time though I intend to start adding much more cover art at Hip Hop Albums @ netweed in the near future.  Really, I do!

The following new releases are available from Amazon.

Baby Bash - Cyclone
Boyz N Da Hood - Welcome to Atlanta
Buck 65 - Situation
Indo G - Purple Drank
Kage - Block Work Re-Up
Montana Trax - A League of My Own
The Pack - Based Boys
Playaz Circle - Supply & Demand
Project Pat - Walkin' Bank Roll
Prophet Posse - Belly of The Beast, The Return: Part 2
Rob Gold - Better Believe Me
Royal Family - Family Ties
Shy Boy - Shy-N-High
SPG Records - Old School Hip Hop Jams
Twilin - Something To Prove

For a database of upcoming and past releases with updates,
please see Hip Hop Albums @ netweed.

Blog Events: Boy Genius Report Anniversary Party; Sit Down Stand Up, Oh Word & Internet Celebrities Show

The Boy Genius Report has a one year anniversary party with lots of hip hop stars and tech sponsors.

Sit Down Stand Up and Oh Word are "curating" Stand Up!, an evening of hip hop on December 6th, presented by Liberated Matter and hosted by the Internets Celebrities.

Looks like the Rafi Kam/Dallas Penn combo is firing on all cylinders.

Let's see.  They've explored t-shirts.  Now where's that mixtape?

Kanye West Self Publishing Thank You And You're Welcome

Kanye West with J. Sakiya Sandifer - Thank You And You're Welcome

Kanye West and J. Sakiya Sandifer have teamed up to create a book of "Kanye-isms" titled Thank You And You're Welcome that he appears to be self publishing.

Hypebot's 100 Free & Affordable Music Promotion Tips

I'm reposting this list of links to Hypebot's "100 Free & Affordable High & Low Tech Music Promotion Tips" because the series is now complete.

1 to 10 ~ 11 to 20 ~ 21 to 30 ~ 31 to 40 ~ 41 to 50
51 to 60 ~ 61 to 70 ~ 71 to 80 ~ 81 to 90 ~ 91 to 100

Definitely worth a good look.

Hypebot: iTunes vs. Filesharing, Music Industry Growing, iLike & Billboard, Friendster, Tim Westergren, Amazon CEO Speaks, iTunes Slow on DRM Free, Music Promotion

Music industry news from Hypebot:

A new study shows that iTunes and not illegal file sharing is to blame for the huge slump in music sales. 

Believe it or not, despite the big slump in CD sales the music industry overall is growing. Here's proof.

iLike and Billboard have teamed for two new charts measuring Internet song activity.

Friendster has opened its community of 50 million to outside developers just as MySpace and Facebook have created many new avenues for marketing music.

Pandora founder Tim Westergren testified on behalf of the Digital Music Association before a Senate Committee on Internet radio.

Amazon CEO finally broke his silence and talked about the new Amazon mp3 store. The SEC made him.

More DRM free music is finally showing up on iTunes but at a painfully slow pace. Why Steve?

The final 10 Top 100 Free & Affordable High & Low Tech Ways To Promote Music and links to all 100.

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