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« April 6, 2008 - April 12, 2008 | Main | April 20, 2008 - April 26, 2008 »
Lil Wayne's Lollipop jumps two spots to no. 2 on the Hot 100 singles chart. It's also the fastest growing track at radio.
Top 10 Singles on the Hot 100:
1. Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
2. Lil Wayne - Lollipop feat. Static Major
3. Jordin Sparks - No Air feat. Chris Brown
4. Usher - Love in This Club feat. Young Jeezy
5. Mariah Carey - Touch My Body
6. Ray J & Yung Berg - Sexy Can I
7. Madonna - 4 Minutes feat. Justin Timberlake
8. Chris Brown - With You
9. Sara Bareilles - Love Song
10. Flo Rida - Low feat. T-Pain
Rick Ross' Trilla rises to no. 8 from no. 9 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:
1. Leona Lewis - Spirit
2. George Strait - Troubadour
3. James Otto - Sunset Man
4. Now That's What I Call Music 27
5. R.E.M. - Accelerate
6. Soundtrack - Alvin and the Chipmunks
7. Ray J - All I Feel
8. Rick Ross - Trilla
9. P.O.D. - When Angels & Serpents Dance
10. Danity Kane - Welcome to the Dollhouse
Akon's criminal past has been exposed as a fraud by The Smoking Gun:
"Police, court, and corrections records reveal that the entertainer has created a fictionalized backstory that serves as the narrative anchor for his recorded tales of isolation, violence, woe, and regret."
Note: government records available to the public busted Akon. These guys are applying some basic research skills utilized everyday by journalists and librarians made much easier by the growing accessibility of such documents online.
David Carr at the NY Times recently included this angle in a profile of The Smoking Gun's three person operation:
"Mr. Bastone...said the idea for the site was his fascination with rummaging around courthouses and city property records and a notion that it might attract an online audience. Nowadays, that obsession finds expression on his desktop."
"'Sitting here, we can monitor cases and filings as if we were sitting in the courtroom,' he said. So far, the Smoking Gun crew is still doing the most looking."
"'We figure that people who come to the site sort of get it; we consider them to be sophisticated and in on the joke,' said Mr. Goldberg. 'But I would never have thought this far down the road that we would be all alone.'"
So who's up for tearing through all the rap game bullsh*t with some records research?
A game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 based on Afro Samurai will be released in the fall featuring a soundtrack by The RZA.
GameSpot has a preview.
Via Kotaku.
Related ProhipHop Coverage:
Afro Samurai Soundtrack Cover & Promo Plus RZA Interview
Keak Da Sneak - Deified
Keak Da Sneak's Deified is set for release May 27th from KOCH Records.
Guests include Too Short, Daz Dillinger, Mistah Fab, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Alchemist, Chingo Bling, Lil Keke, Jacka of the Mob Figaz and Paul Wall.
Producers include Young Mozart and Chops
Press Release:
Bay Area Sensation Keak Da Sneak to Release Long Awaited Album, "Deified," on May 27th, 2008 on KOCH Records
Touch has a couple of posts with numerous rap commercials, one on St. Ides commercials featuring real rappers and the other a mixed slection of what GRANDGOOD terms a "collection of commercials that incorporate rap in the most creatively awkward ways."
For more hip hop film and dvd news please see ProHipHop's Film/DVD II catgegory.
As previously predicted, Elliott Wilson's back via television!
For various reasons it was an easy call but Old Yeller is back pushing the no doubt heinous Miss Rap Supreme via his network of friends and family [check "A PSA from YN"].
Hey, Elliott, rumor has it I'm moving to New York. First round's on me buddy!
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Goodbye Old Yeller: Elliott Wilson Fired From XXL
Elliott Wilson: The Great Lion Brushes Off the Flies
Industry Pros Term Elliott Wilson's Back Cover Ad "Offensive" & an "Egregious Violation" of Ethics
Update 2: HERE'S THE VIDEO!!!
Busta Rhymes f/Linkin Park - We Made It
Update 1: HERE'S THE SINGLE: Busta Rhymes f/Linkin Park - We Made It
Video Still: Busta Rhymes in We Made It
[Updated w/photos!]
Interscope announced that Linkin Park is joining Busta Rhymes on the first single, We Made It, from his upcoming album Blessed and they're shooting a video today.
That's a reasonably fitting combination for a song about which Busta Rhymes says:
"It ain't just about the 'hood, it ain't just about the suburbs, it's about everybody. This is one of those songs that can't be described better than touching the souls of the common people."
Though that sounds like a bit of a reach, Linkin Park should help Busta Rhymes connect with folks that might not automatically be checking for him at a time when a rock influence is reemerging in rap.
Video Still: Busta Rhymes & Linkin Park in We Made It
Blessed is due June 17th and the video for We Made It will be released in May.
On a related note:
Busta Rhymes lashes out at journalists during a listening session for Blessed, or is it I'm Blessed?, for not showing some enthusiasm on the job for his work.
And that's one of the main reasons listening sessions with the artists are something in which I have no interest. Don't ask me to dance around and act happy when I'm working. Let me be me. Know what I mean?
[Photos via ThinkTank Marketing]
Over at The Rap Up:
More pics from the video shoot.
Slim Thug says he'll be off Interscope by the end of the week:
"If I'm supposed to be the mutha----ing boss, then I should be putting my [own] sh-- out."
Except many quotes of that line. Slim Thug explained:
"'Really, I just sat down and told them, 'Y'all over here don't understand the type of music I do, and y'all hold me back while y'all trying to get your situation together. I ain't really got that time to sit on the sideline while you do this. Let me pay y'all. Y'all gave me all this money. Listen, I'll give y'all some money off the new album.' I just can't sit on the sideline while they do their sh--. He sat down with [Interscope Chairman] Jimmy [Iovine], and we all came up with something we could all agree with. It ain't no hard feelings.'"
Currently Slim Thug is working on the Boss Hogg Outlawz second release to be followed late in the summer by his solo album Boss Of All Bosses that will include more focus on Houston.
Note to up and coming artists:
As usual, we'll never know the actual details about Slim Thug's stint at Interscope beyond "he said, she said" but Slim Thug may have made a major mistake:
"I was an independent artist that did all the work myself. Once I signed a major deal, I kind of felt like, 'I'm signed to a major label, oh, they gonna do all the work now.'"
Even if you get that major label deal, you can't sit back and play artist, though ST didn't clarify which work he slacked off on.
The idea that the major label does all the business while the artists focuses on their art needs to be wiped out of your mind and replaced with the harsher reality that the grind will get more intense in certain ways and that, at the end of the day, you can't count on the majors to make it happen for you or to give a damn if it's not happening, whatever the circumstances.
AndroidEMR
I've been keeping up with Austin Hip-Hop Scene for the last month or so and was totally surprised at Minto Tsai's announcement that he's created AndroidEMR in response to Google's Android Developer Challenge.
Android = open source "software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications."
AndroidEMR = "first Mobile P2P Social Network Electronic Medical Record application."
Best of luck with further development, MT!
RZA announced on Saturday at the Mind Over Matter HHCF Chess and Grappling Exhibition that he's teaming with ChessPark.com to create WuChess.com.
No official launch date but you can sign up now on the site.
Finally found the online copy of the Blender interview with Alicia Keys after reading all sorts of sites' one or two line quotes, often without even mentioning Blender.
I actually wasn't even going to track it down but I was contacted by someone from Curtis Sliwa's WABC radio show so I checked it out. Turns out they needed someone who agreed with Alicia's beliefs that gangsta rap was a government "ploy to convince black people to kill each other" and that Biggie and Tupac were assassinated "to stop another great black leader from existing".
Unfortunately I don't believe those things so my New York media debut has been delayed yet again.
But my love for Alicia Keys was deepened by all the radical talk. She's read Assata Shakur's bio and, in response to being lumped in with anarchists by the NYPD, said:
"Hell...Someone's gotta be an anarchist."
My heart goes boom!
On a side note, I've been getting this weird desire to move to New York.
I'll update you if my Alicia Keys fascination or my emergent interest in NYC goes anywhere.
But don't hold your breath for Alicia news!
Putting those Interscope investment dollars to work, social media company Buzznet has acquired music blog Idolator.
Buzznet recently completed the acquisiton of Stereogum, followed by the launch of Videogum, along with the purchase of music app maker Qloud.
Gawker also got shed of Gridskipper and Wonkette.
I know such changes can be nerve wracking for writers and editors. Best of luck everybody!
Official Site:
Buzznet
Dark Lotus - The Opaque Brotherhood
To receive this report separately each week, please visit Weekly Hip Hop Albums and sign up for our free weekly newsletter delivered every Monday with Tuesday's releases.
Braille - The IV Edition
The following new releases are available from Amazon.
ADHD - Let It Burn...
Big King - Hard II Kill & Refuse II Die
Braille - The IV Edition
Channel U, Vol. 2 [Import]
Dark Lotus - Opaque Brotherhood
DJ Smallz & AWOL - Clientale
J-Bo - ATL's Finest
Kottonmouth Kings - The Kottonmouth Xperience, Vol. 2
Manny Loco - Platano con Salami
Sick Wid It Records & Doey Rock Presents 916 Unified
Sick Wid It Umbrella - The Machine
Soprano - Live au Dome de Marseille [Import]
Vanilla Ice - Best of Vanilla Ice [Reissue]
For a database of upcoming and past releases with updates,
please see Hip Hop Albums @ netweed.
On Friday, Interscope officially announced what we've been reading about, at least in part, in the wake of Wale's Allido Records/Interscope deal.
Mark Ronson's taking Allido Records to Interscope and Wale, who started with a production deal with Mark Ronson, is their first project.
Allido Records released Rhymefest's Blue Collar with distribution by J Records but it looks like the Wale/Interscope fit helped lead to this alliance which goes beyond the Wale deal.
Music industry news from Hypebot:
Problems lie ahead for digital music distributors as labels demand lower fees and more services.
A letter to labels from The Orchard's CEO leaked to Hypebot showed concern for how the new MySpace Music will treat indie record labels and artists. A Hypebot commentary shed additional light on the issue.
Music based social networker imeem bought Snocap.
Last.fm says full song streams sell music.
Island Def Jam and TAG men's body spray have formed a hip-hop record label, TAG Records to be led Jermaine Dupri.
Coverage of two video sites run by indie music blogs that launched this week: Pitchfork.tv and Videogum. Vote on which one you think will be the most popular.
Virgin Megastore sales are up a surprising 11.5%.
Zune has cut deals with several major Latin American music sites.
Wikipedia beats MySpace as the top go to place for band and music info.
Music contest site OurStage.com has partnered with some of America's largest music festivals.
Study says only 40% of music will be sold via downloads by 2012.
Overlay.tv asked Hypebot readers to comment on their video tagging service and tell them how it can be used by the music industry.
An interview with the head of Penny Distribution.
The first Digital NARM Conference is taking shape.
User awareness of iTunes is up and MySpace is down.
HELP WANTED: Megaforce is looking for a marketing and digital coordinator and ArtistExcite seeks a marketing and business development staffer.
See ProHipHop's Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.
Wild Pitch Classics
Golden era label Wild Pitch Records appears to have returned though I can barely find anything on what's up with their return or their upcoming reissues of a number of classic albums on April 22nd. At least a couple have been reissued by other labels in the last year or two and so we have a little mystery at the moment.
The Coup - Kill My Landlord
Noz seems to have found them the same way I did, via Amazon, but didn't have the backstory though he did have a more complete list of titles.
Main Source - Breaking Atoms
Discogs has a Wild Pitch Records discography
Ultramagnetic MC's - Four Horsemen
JCOR reissued some titles back around 2001 and then they went under.
The UMC's - Unleashed
Wake Your Daughter Up has a nice history of Wild Pitch Records.
Chill Rob G - Ride the Rhythm
This Chill Rob G cover certainly sticks out from the rest.
The Coup - Genocide & Juice
Oddly enough, The Coup's Genocide & Juice is being released May 6th by Pendulum Records rather than Wild Pitch, though Pendulum is also supposed to be deceased.
Additional titles being reissued by Wild Pitch Records:
Brokin English Klik - Brokin English Klik
Gang Starr - No More Mr. Nice Guy
Hard Knocks - School of Hard Knocks
Lord Finesse & DJ Mike Smooth - Funky Technician
Main Source - F*ck What You Think
O.C. - Word...Life
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud - Blow Up the Spot
The UMC's - Fruits of Nature
An anti-Semitism PSA starring Jay-Z and Russell Simmons, a Russell Simmons concept shot in 2006, has led to a related effort concerning Jewish/Muslim relations starring six rabbis and six imams.
Video Update: Dr. Pepper Commercial Featuring Flavor Flav
Original Post:
Flavor Flav is featured in a new Dr. Pepper commercial:
"In his commercial debut, Flavor Flav gives voice to one of Dr Pepper's 23 flavors, delivering a creative and unique commercial that depicts that there is something new to discover in every sip of Dr Pepper."
"'Dr Pepper is flavorlicious like me. Just like Dr Pepper, I add more to it,' said Flavor Flav."
"The commercial was created by Young & Rubicam and directed by Rob Pritts. It opens with a college student listening to a lecture on a college campus. The student opens a can of Dr Pepper, unleashing the 23 flavors of Dr Pepper, which disrupt the professor's lecture. The recognizable voice of Flavor Flav begins singing about how 'flavorlicious' Dr Pepper is, and captures the attention of all the other students and the professor. The student covers the can, but a salsa rhythm begins playing as soon as he takes his hand away for another drink. After quieting the Dr Pepper a third time, a final flavor plays a heavy metal riff to conclude the commercial."
Official Site:
Dr. Pepper
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