The Only Reason I Respect Donald Trump
Ali G Invents the Ice Cream Glove
on the real, this man knows how to maximize his time by cutting to the chase.
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« October 28, 2007 - November 3, 2007 | Main | November 11, 2007 - November 17, 2007 »
Ali G Invents the Ice Cream Glove
on the real, this man knows how to maximize his time by cutting to the chase.
Jay-Z Live In Brooklyn
More soon on one of hip hop's greatest self-promoters, Jay-Z.
Thank you, thank you. Vote Early! Vote Often!
Like the headline says, ProHipHop has been nominated for quite a long list of blogs from which you, my dear, dear friends, can help pick the Hey! Nielsen & Billboard.com Best Music Blog.
On the one hand, it's a real honor because it's a great list of blogs. On the other hand, how can you compare this group of blogs for best when even the few hip hop blogs I recognize on the list all do such different things? Music bloggers can also nominate their own blogs so the list will get longer and probably even more diverse.
Voting starts November 12th but I'm going with "just being nominated was a victory" on this one.
I just don't do well in popularity contests so best of luck to everyone and ProHipHop wants to congratulate all you winners now!
But think on this, while you're enjoying your shallow popularity party, I'll still be busy in the shadows plotting world media domination!
So think, child, of the ocean's waves washing away your outline in the sand!!
Think on that!!!
Free pulls a Clay Aiken but that doesn't make SOHH Gyant Kelly Ripa. Nope. He's just another media artist whose tools you should not touch without invitation!
Seriously, if you don't like an interview, walk away. It can lead to blog-based brand destruction as Gyant's post reveals.
On a related tip, folks are feeling the Internets Celebrities and of course it's fun to watch them sneak out of the pressroom and grab great live footage but bumrushing other journalist's interviews in a tightly scheduled, high stress setting is not a good look.
Scion, LLC Announces Acquisition of Artful Dodger Brand:
Scion, LLC, a joint venture between Iconix Brand Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICON) and Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter, today announced that it has acquired the brand Artful Dodger(R) from Sovereign State, LLC. The purchase price for the brand was approximately $15 million, paid in cash by Scion.
Artful Dodger is an exclusive, high-end apparel brand sold in boutiques and specialty stores such as Harvey Nichols in the UK and at specialty stores and boutiques in the United States.
In connection with this acquisition, Scion has entered into a multi-year exclusive license with Signature Apparel Group for Artful Dodger men's and women's sportswear. Scott Langton, Artful Dodger's founder, creative director and head designer will join Signature Apparel Group in this capacity.
In addition, Scion is currently evaluating a number of licensees beyond the core sportswear license including footwear and outerwear to transition Artful Dodger into a lifestyle brand.
Official Site:
Iconix Brand Group
A new group of manifestos is available from Change This including Build Your Brand in Bits and Bytes about building your personal brand online.
William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson present a systemic approach to evaluating and improving your online brand presence. It's nicely organized with the possibility of going analytical or simply browsing the sections for new ideas.
I think this would be a useful document for anyone considering issues related to online brands and it might be just the thing for folks looking at the Internet in relationship to their personal brand and feeling totally overwhelmed. If that's where you're at, this looks like a good place to start.
Though geared to individuals, folks considering larger brands will also find it relevant.
William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson are the founders of Reach Branding Club.
Ill Doctrine - Waiting for Cam'ron
A Cam'ron flunky announces a Cam appearance at the Apollo. Another flunky, or the same guy supporting Cam, it doesn't matter, shows at the event, hands out mixtapes while saying things like, "he could be watching from around the corner", or something similarly ridiculous.
This event was so weak I'm not even going to watch the video again to make sure I got the quote right. It's close enough.
Message to the World from Cam'ron:
"I'm as big a loser as you imagined and my return is mostly symbolic since my best work is most likely behind me."
Thanks, Cam. We get the message!
And thanks, Jay Smooth, for simply bearing witness.
Update:
Eskay gives Cam's mixtape the Nah Right seal of approval in the comments and can point you to the download.
Playaz Circle - Supply & Demand
Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys are the closest the top 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart gets to hip hop this week.
Big ups to Britney! We still love you!!!
Baby Bash - Cyclone
Playaz Circle's Supply & Demand debuts at no. 27 while Baby Bash's Cyclone debuts at no. 30.
Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. The Eagles - Long Road Out of Eden
2. Britney Spears - Blackout
3. Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride
4. Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold
5. Josh Turner - Everything Is Fine
6. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
7. The Backstreet Boys - Unbreakable
8. Josh Groban - Noel
9. The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere
10. Rascal Flatts - Still Feels Good
Badd Santa: A Stones Throw Records Xmas
Peanut Butter Wolf Presents Badd Santa: A Stones Throw Records Xmas is available exclusively through Urban Outfitters in the States and internationally via:
Europe: Carhartt Flagship Stores
Canada: Goodfoot (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, & Calgary)
Japan: Beams Records + Beams T
That's a pretty interesting distribution approach for Stones Throw and fun marketing maneuver for the associated retailers.
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Promo Vid: Peanut Butter Wolf's B-Ball Zombie War
Illest Skate Trick Contest
From YouTube:
About This Video
Let's see your illest skate trick! Upload video of your best (or worst) skate trick. Tone Tank And Krayo of Iller Than Theirs will pick the best one. The winner will receive a prize pack including a deck, hat and shoes courtesy of Zoo York, a one year subscription to Vapors Magazine, a Scum LIfe soccer hooligan scarf, and signed CD and poster from Iller Than Theirs
Contest group for the Illest Sk8 trick. Hosted by Iller Than Theirs, Vapors Magazine, Zoo York, Embedded Music, and Audible Treats.
myspace.com/illerthantheirs
vaporsmagazine.com
zooyork.com
embeddedmusic.net
audibletreats.com
YouTube Group for Upload:
illersk8contest
This Just In:
Iller Than Any Blog is a very cool tour blog.
Over at VidRap:
Iller Than Theirs - Razor Bumps ~ To Be Ill
Available from Amazon:
Iller Than Theirs - Iller Than Theirs
Promo Spot for Freeway's Free At Last
Freeway drops a promo rhyme on this promo video for the November 20th release of Free At Last and, despite the disposable nature of such a maneuver, makes it a listenable moment.
Common is voting for Obama
Barack Obama gets some serious support from Common in a really nice commercial created for Vote Hope, an organization described on their YouTube channel as an "independent grassroots effort to win the California primary for Barack Obama".
Hey, might as well win the rest of the nation while you're working California, eh?
This is a great look for both Common and Barack. And for Vote Hope as well.
Press Release:
Vote Hope Launches 'Get-Out-The-Vote 4 Obama' PSAs Featuring Hip Hop Artist and Actor Common
AT&T Kicks Commercial
A rough looking dub of an AT&T commercial is released in what appears to be an example of casual viral seeding. In any case, the sets are said to be based on various famous sneaker shops whose names are visible in the commercial so I'm assuming they have made some kind of actual agreement rather than just sneakily biting the sneaker shop style.
Here's the description from the YouTube post:
AT&T's new commercial (created by Sanders\Wingo and directed by Chris Robinson) brings sneaker culture to the forefront. Sets were created to mimic actual stores like: ALife, Undefeated, Solebox, and Motive807. Check it out.
Via Miraflor.
Update:
Considering what it might mean to have these sneaker shops in a tv commercial caused me to leave out the fact that I basically think it's a pretty darn good commercial. It flows well and, instead of the usual using technology takes me to a nutty fantasy world routine, the commercial actually does communicate a sense of the fact that networked communications have changed how we're connected to the world.
And it's done by simply playing off the shared experience of shopping online, the inevitable move to shopping via cellphone as the mobile web kicks into gear and an actor passing through a series of sets that register "cool" at every turn.
I say simply but that's not to imply that it's easy to do.
I know some people will roll their eyes at this commercial, or whatever they do at such moments, but I give it a thumbs up. It's also a reminder that the biggest sneaker freak watchers are in marketing and that sneaker freaks are practically worshipped by the marketing industry.
I would almost be willing to bet actual money that when marketers sit around discussing the summary they read of The Tipping Point that they keep coming back to sneaker freaks as a magical key of some sort. Once identified, such fetish items can then be used in turn to unlock the pockets of said marketers and the institutions they represent. And you can take that to the bank.
I haven't done as much comment sp@m exposure as I could but I just got the following message posted on 7 different posts and that's just plain stupid.
Here's the message with the affiliate code removed:
check out Karmaloop.com, they have Artful Dodger, LRG (the Jason Hoodie!!), fresh Jive, them supra high tops, and all kinds of stuff for both men, and wemon. when you check out across from where you put in your address in the lower right hand corner you'll see a box that says REP CODE, put in [removed] to get 20% off the first order, then 10% off every other one, there's a trick though...you check out with your e-mail address which is where they send the order confirmation to, so if you use a different e-mail address everytime you check out, you'll keep getting 20% off!!! check it out (myspace.com/ghetaway2)
Karmaloop, you need to get your man Trip in line cause he's fouling up your game.
LYCOS announces that Kanye West is this week's Most-Searched Celebrity Blogger.
Not sure what tipped the scales on that one but I have to say that kanYe West: Blog is clearly outpacing Billionaire Boys Club Blog though they're doing very similar things.
Each are a mix of stuff in Kanye West's or Pharrell's world from celeb & event pics to luxury merch to outstanding design examples to music videos (sometimes their's but mostly not) to videos of other fun stuff. Kanye West's blog has a higher volume of posts and that leads to a broader range of coverage but both are nice examples of celebrities developing their own online outposts to take back some of that attention from us media upstarts.
Talib Kweli at Icer Air 2007
Unless all you can see are first week sales, signs of hip hop's relevance to actual humans abound with marketing attached, for example at the Icer Air 2007 with Talib Kweli and Mos Def:
What started out a sketchy jump over a San Francisco intersection in 2005 and turned into an even sketchier jump over a 100-foot tall scaffolding in 2006 has finally evolved into a legitimate contest. As North America’s only stadium snowboarding event, the 2007 esurance Icer Air was an impressive display of what happens when you use the popularity of action sports and hip-hop to get corporate sponsors to kick down hundreds of thousands of dollars for a made-for-TV event that guarantees them countless marketing impressions and plenty of mass media coverage.
Sponsors included:
Title Partner esurance and a variety of other categories of sponsors including Crocs, Toyota, Playstation, Full Throttle Energy Drink, NOS Energy Drink, North Face, Chipotle, SF Weekly, Live 105, SPIN, Outside and a bunch more.
I'm just focusing on some of the bigger names. The full list is pretty impressive and gives one a sense of how an extreme sports type event tied into a musical genre can create [or create the appearance] of a demographic that attracts the attention of all sorts of companies.
Providing a nice looking Sponsor page is also very smart. Sponsors may not expect much more than a place in the list on a press release and a presence at the event but give them a simple online extra that looks good and they do appreciate it. Some may even remember it but, if you keep it alive, you can just point it out on your next sales call and, if there's love to be had, there's a better chance you'll get some of it.
Official Site:
esurance ICER AIR 2007
Public Enemy #1 Mixtape Commercial
I remember when I totally despised Cam'ron, but once I mentally moved him out of the realm of musician and into the realm of amusing sideshow, I really started appreciating his act.
In case you can't deal with this guy in the video wandering around and babbling about mixtapes long enough to get to the end, it closes with an announcement that this character will supposedly be at what I assume is the current location for Cam's Public Enemy #1 mixtape distribution media event.
November 7th at the Apollo [NYC], 10 pm until, Dipset street theater in full effect.
So Diddy posts some amateur hour YouTube requests for a personal assistant over at DiddyTV and we all help Diddy spread the word, embedding wackily amusing videos left and right and even directing wayward applicants back to the correct source where they, of course, always found incomplete information.
But Diddy gets on Oprah to announce the end of the tale and its embedding disabled, "bloggers go f*ck yourself" time over at YouTube. Not even a silly moment at Diddy "i'm more a party promoter than an artist" TV.
Thanks Diddy. That's a very clear message and some of us got it!
PS:
When you go to DiddyTV, if a little login/password box pops up, just hit cancel and you'll be fine. Apparently Diddy's amateur hour online production aesthetic extends to his technical support.
Clarification:
I'm not referring to any Diddy music videos from whatever label he's on regarding embedding.
DiddyTV videos are all off-the-cuff and every one's been embeddable that I've wanted to use from day one. That's why his stupid little channel got so much attention at the jumpoff. Diddy could have had a different assistant videotape a quick backstage moment with his new assistant and waited to drop it till after Oprah got the exclusive announcement on tv but he didn't.
Eyedea & Abilities Announce Tour
Here's a rather odd little promo video from the indie sector, in this case, Eyedea & Abilities announcing their upcoming tour.
See Rhymesayers Events or E&A Fan Community for tour info.
Junk Science - The Making of Gran'Dad's Nerve Tonic Part 1
My apologies for sleeping on this.
Junk Science - The Making of Gran'Dad's Nerve Tonic Part 2
I could say something vaguely intelligent but then you'd have to wait while I take a nap and clear my mind.
Hey, I just played both of them at the same time to make sure nothing bad slipped past ProHipHop's censors and it works pretty well that way.
Available from Amazon:
Junk Science - Gran'Dad's Nerve Tonic
I'm just now reading Ethan Brown's piece for the Guardian on the rising murder rate in New Orleans and hit this startling bit regarding news I totally missed at the time:
The mayor, Ray Nagin, has been silent in the face of the sort of mass killing that occurred and often dismissive of it. This summer, he told a group of reporters that the murder rate "keeps the New Orleans brand out there."
I'm speechless with disgust.
Jay-Z - Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)
Looks like I'll finally be back to fullsteam tomorrow. No more outside writing assignments. No more tai chi modeling auditions (that was yesterday afternoon, wish me luck!), no more of that stuff.
Till then. Enjoy Jay-Z's song of success.
Different Kitchen has links to downloads of Jim Jones' Harlem's American Gangster mixtape, hosted by Damon Dash.
Here are the winners of the upcoming VH1 Soul Presents: VIBE Awards Special to be televised November 14th at 9 pm on VH1 Soul:
Hip Hop Artist of the Year
Lil Wayne
R&B Artist of the Year
Beyonce
Best Collabo
Fabolous featuring Ne-Yo "Make Me Better"
Breakthrough Artist of the Year
Robin Thicke
Producer of the Year
Timbaland
Song of the Year
"Buy U A Drank" by T-Pain featuring Yung Joc
Video of the Year
"Umbrella" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
VStyle (celebrates Hip Hop and R & B's most cutting-edge, influential and innovative style and fashion trendsetter)
Beyonce
VIBE Props
Jay-Z
Mixtape of the Year
"Can't Tell Me Nothing" by Kanye West
Ringtone of the Year
"Party Like a Rockstar" by Shop Boyz
VHollywood (celebrates artists who have demonstrated that their talents truly do excel beyond stage)
Will Smith
Vibe might want to reconsider its somewhat haphazard approach to a Vibe Awards homepage since that's currently the first result in Google for "vibe awards".
JR Writer - Being Held Hostage For Bars
I decided to post the above video segment from a REAL TALK TV: DEAD ON ARRIVAL dvd in response to a comment by Malik Soliman who asked:
How does Hip Hop do business Clyde?
Perhaps it was a rhetorical question but, sadly, sometimes the above is the answer.
Funkmaster Flex has one of the more interesting automotive games in hip hop and his newly announced partnership with Microsoft to promote Windows Automotive is an excellent example.
That's a sweet, lucrative niche, no doubt.
Mare 139 drops some pics of graf decorations he did for Emporio Armani NYC in 2002.
According to Box Office Mojo, American Gangster's estimated weekend take was "$46.3 million on approximately 5,300 screens at 3,054 theaters."
Official stats out this afternoon.
Wonder what Ridley Scott thinks about his movie now being called the American Gangster Movie due to Jay-Z releasing the American Gangster Album?
Jim Jones is in full marketing mode as he previews Harlem's American Gangsta mixtape for Mixtape Monday: big upping Dame Dash, pushing the Streets [Jim] vs. Movies [Jay-Z] theme, talking about his next album, boosting the Byrd Gang and keeping the momentum flowing.
Lil Jon updates Mixtape Monday on his broad range of activities:
Crunk Rock is coming in 2008. The rap/rock fusion half is done and he's working on the rap half that is more like the Lil Jon you know.
He's got a track on Pitbull's upcoming release The Boatlift.
BME acts with whom he works, Lil Scrappy, E-40 and a "new artist, Korean pop singer Min", are going at it in the studio.
Lil Jon has been developing an animated series called A-Town and he may launch the series on Will Ferrell's FunnyorDie.com.
He will also provide the voice of Santa Clause for Andre 300's Class of 3000 Christmas special.
To "relax", Lil Jon has been dj'ing in places like Australia and Las Vegas but that somehow all ties into work:
These spin-doctor escapades resulted in him and DJ Spider putting out two Rock Box mixtapes: The first is rock-oriented, featuring Guns N' Roses, Joan Jett and Nirvana, while the second includes New Wave acts like Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Gary Numan.
I think that covers the full Mixtape Monday list of Lil Jon's activities but do click through for quotes and commentary.
Online 40 Water Store - Coming Soon!
E-40 is holding a 40 Water Birthday Bash on November 15th in Las Vegas to celebrate all sorts of things including his birthday, "20 Years in the Rap Game" and the birth of his new water line 40 Water.
You can find out a bit more about 40 Water on the official site where an online store is coming soon.
Flavors: Lemon Lime, Fruit Punch, Watermelon, Tangerine.
The site includes the "40 Network" which currently has links to E-40 related sites and the request to freeze/thaw/shake your 40 Water and send in the photo of the results. I guess that will make more sense when we see a pic or video.
Also, according to the press release, attendees will be serenaded with samples from E-40's next album, The Ball Street Journal, now set for a first quarter '08 release.
E-40 is a franchisee of Fat Burger and Wingstop Restaurant and there will be Fat Burger gift bags at the party!
The 40 Water man also "recently gained an endorsement deal with diamond studded toothpick company called Ice Picks" but no related gift bags have been announced.
Note Regarding the Name 40 Water:
"Forty Water" is actually one of E-40's many alternate names predating this product.
Correction:
I had initially reported, based on the first version of the press release, that E-40 had a VitaminWater deal, however that release has been corrected as has this post. E-40 is doing his own water line called 40 Water so it's related to products such as 50 Cent's formula 50 from VitaminWater.
TomC3 & Prince Po - Saga of the Simian Samurai
To receive this report on an individual basis, please visit Weekly Hip Hop Albums and sign up for our free weekly newsletter delivered every Monday with Tuesday's releases.
The following new releases are available from Amazon.
Cassidy - B.A.R.S.: The Barry Adrian Reese Story
Colosus - Ahead of My Time
Immortal Technique - The Green Lantern Mixtape
Jay-Z - American Gangster
Kool Keith - Sex Style: The Unreleased Archives [Ltd. Ed.]
Living Legends - Almost Famous [Reissue w/Extra Tracks]
Murda Mook - Murda He Wrote
Nas - Greatest Hits
Phanatik - Crime & Consequences
Skor Dawg - The Workshop
Statik Selektah - Spell My Name Right (The Album)
TomC3 & Prince Po - Saga of the Simian Samurai
Vicious & Mr. Phat - Better Getcha Mind Right
For a database of upcoming and past releases with updates,
please see Hip Hop Albums @ netweed.
Music industry news from Hypebot:
One of Hypebot's most read posts ever, The Rise Of The Musical Middle Class - Part I & II , outlines how the fragmentation of media and rising power of the Internet is creating a new middle class of artists who may never drink Cristal and ride in limos but who make a decent living. Add your comments to those of more than a dozen industry insiders.
The big news this week for music marketers came as social networking sites moved to open their services up to outside developers and marketers:
The head of investment firm Terra Firma issued another memo to his EMI staff (full text here). After reading it and a previous memo, Hypebot asked, "Has Guy Hands Aready Lost His Way?"
EMI joined WMG, Sony and many indie labels in making their product available on imeem's viral song and video streaming service. EMI also signed a deal with Music Choice.
Paste Magazine is following the Radiohead model and offering subscriptions for "pay what you want" during a 2 week experiment.
Music industry job openings in the Warner Brother's Records Tech Dept. and at the Future Of Music Coalition.
OurDigitalMusic.com had a roundup of articles on saving money on downloads and mp3 players and 5 New Indie Rock Bands You Need To Know About.
See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.
I'm officially giving up outside writing except email interviews like the one I still owe Hypebot [sorry Bruce] cause I've missed keeping ProHipHop as up-to-date as I'd like over the last week or so.
But part of my lack of attention has been due to time spent developing some new relationships for ProHipHop. There's been a big shift this year in the kind of opportunities available to the more highly visible bloggers and that's a really good thing for ProHipHop for a number of reasons. Nothing to report yet but there are some pretty interesting possibilities on the table.
In addition, I'm currently helping develop a new hip hop mobile app for Mobile Lingo that will give me the chance to improve considerably on my efforts with the Hip Hoptionary.
Over at netweed I'm helping a new blogger get a project going that's been on our agenda for quite awhile. It will be my first WordPress experience so I'm looking forward to having a reason to learn more about that product.
I've got a lot to post, some other things to announce, lots of people to get back in touch with, generally speaking the list is long. But I'm encouraged by the possibilities that are now emerging at a time when I've only recently rededicated myself to this nutty project and I'm definitely feeling up to the task at hand.
Nevertheless, it may not be till sometime tomorrow that I return to full force at ProHipHop.
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