ProHipHop: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News

See You Soon

I'd hoped to post more today but I've been busy responding to comments.

I should have a number of things clarified and be back at full force by Sunday or Monday.

I'd normally post tomorrow but I'm checking out real estate in a small Southern town called Wilson, North Carolina.

Want to talk?

Write me at: clyde(at)prohiphop(dot)com

Got things to announce, press releases, links to embeddable videos and so forth?

Hit me up at: hiphoppress(at)netweed(dot)com

Peace.

Update:
I had a very interesting trip to Wilson.  I love thinking through situations with a lot of unrealized potential and Wilson certainly has that though it's hard to know what can be realized in a reasonable time frame.

But the high point was actually lunch with Brian Bowman of The Fiber Optic Files and with Eric Blues, whose resume I'm not totally clear on but it includes professional video production as well as a lot of musical activity as an artist and organizer.

Brian's a great advocate for Wilson and I look forward to speaking with him further about the possibilities down there and to possibly knowing him as a fellow resident.

But Eric stepped it up a notch by being the kind of guy that makes you think, "I could build with this dude."

Not that I wouldn't still be spending all my time at my computer and would be limited in what I could do offline.  But it's really important when you're as "unique" as am I, to know that there are at least a few like-minded folks in what would strike most urban outsiders as a quaint little country town.

So Brian and Eric are actually selling points to me cause a city is only as good as its people.

So, like I said, see you soon.

GRAMMY Salute to Fashion: Jay-Z, Diddy / Sean Combs, Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake & GRAMMY Brand

The first GRAMMY Salute to Fashion happens February 7th featuring spring collections from:
"Beyonce and Tina Knowles' House of Dereon, Sean Combs' Sean John Women's, Jay-Z's Rocawear, Jennifer Lopez' justsweet, Jessica Simpson's Jessica Simpson Collection, and Justin Timberlake's William Rast."

The show will also include the GRAMMY Brand.  CoverGirl is the presenting sponsor.

From Good To Great: Focusing on What Not to Do

I just started reading Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't by Jim Collins author of Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

I can tell I'm going to love this book because the introduction is quite strong and the project is based on research by a large team over an extended period of time.  The team involved 20 people and Collins estimates that they put in "something on the order of 15,000 hours of work to the project."

But I'm mentioning it now because a quote in the introduction struck me as particularly relevant to my plans to go comment free at ProHipHop.

Collins lists a series of discoveries that they found surprising when studying companies that dramatically outperformed their peers over 15 year periods.

From p. 11 of Good To Great:
"The good-to-great companies did not focus principally on what to do to become great; they focused equally on what not to do and what to stop doing."

And that's a lot harder than it sounds!

Book Posts Continue in Books 08

That's right.  You'll find even more posts about books in the Books 08 category.

PEEL: The Art of the Sticker by Dave & Holly Combs

PEEL: The Art of the Sticker by Dave & Holly Combs

PEEL: The Art of the Sticker by Dave & Holly Combs is due February 15th from the most excellent Mark Batty Publisher.

The book comes with an interesting backstory:

"Dave and Holly Combs traveled to New York City from Indianapolis, Indiana, to assist with Sept. 11 recovery efforts. While exploring Manhattan during their off hours, they were inspired by the wealth of stickers they saw all over the city. These stickers inspired the Combs couple to create the first street-art magazine to focus on stickers as an art form. PEEL gradually evolved from a black and white zine stuffed into plastic bags to a full-size, glossy, internationally distributed magazine..."

"Showcasing stickers, interviews and articles from the first eight issues of PEEL, this book celebrates the innovation and diversity of sticker and street art, including interviews with some of the scene's legendary figures like Shepard Fairey and SEEN, along with profiles of international sticker communities, and sticker designs from artists across the globe. And of course, the book comes with stickers, 69 of them."

More graphics at Mark Batty Publisher.

ProHipHop May Go Comment Free

I'm considering pulling a Seth Godin and removing the comments option for ProHipHop posts.

Though there are a handful of thoughtful and/or friendly commenters that stop by on occasion, whose presence I cherish more deeply than I ever reveal publicly, dealing with issues related to comments have taken away too much energy from the rest of my work.

Though making judgment calls about comment sp@m and reading personal messages to celebrities is part of the picture, the biggest issue is that I'm tired of fending off personal attacks and of my own responses to such attacks.  In fact, my own comments on other sites are often way too negative and I really need to pull back from all that.

Taking comments off the table will not only help keep my worst instincts in check, it will also reduce the negativity that always seem to outweigh the positive comments, at least for me personally.  No matter how I front, that stuff hurts and has been a huge factor in my misreading of comments that weren't intended as attacks.  For example, I recently responded quite negatively to both Eskay and Adam Bernard, among others, for comments that profiled like earlier attacks but were not meant as such.

In particular, I've really been worn down over the years by attacks from people associated with or supportive of Byron Crawford pre-XXL, people possibly associated with Russell Simmons who crawl out of the woodwork when I critique such projects as Global Grind and, most disappointingly, people associated with Oh Word, even when I've attempted to build bridges and have given certain individuals advice via email.

That's not to say that these guys, and it's almost always a guy, don't have valid reasons for attacking me but they so rarely directly address whatever ticked them off that it's all a really big waste of my time.

I'd rather spend my time responding to those who see that my platform could be useful to them and who treat me with the basic respect any human wants to get in response to their hard work.  Most of those folks email me and I'm inconsistent in my response.  I want to change that.

For now, the comments are open but I think I'll be cutting them off fairly soon.  It's a big decision that goes against much Web 2.0 dogma but some of that is starting to feel way too knee jerk and even cult-like at times.

So we'll see.  Feel free to comment, if you wish.  As in the past, the opinions of a few have often lead to major changes at ProHipHop so I'm interested in what you might say.

I want to send a big shoutout to all the folks who've participated in a positive manner and served as examples of why comments are a good thing.  I'm just sorry I wasn't able to handle the negativity more productively but there you have it.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Cranky Clyde Sez: Comments Closed, Peace Restored

Entertainers 4 Education Alliance & Bragster Launch I Will Graduate Campaign

Superstars for the I Will Graduate Campaign

The Entertainers 4 Education Alliance is utilizing star power to encourage kids to make a pledge to stay in school over at Bragster.

From the press release:
"Through an awareness campaign on E4EA.org and an interactive bet on Bragster.com, Entertainers 4 Education Alliance (E4EA) and Bragster will challenge one million students to pledge to graduate from high school and pursue higher education by voting "I Will Graduate," "I Will Help A Student Graduate," or "Both," and students can leave their stories or comments on the discussion board. In addition to the bet, Bragster will donate one dollar ($1.00) for a maximum of thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) for students who sign up for Bragster and participate by voting in this bet."

If it's a bet I can't participate because I don't gamble but I like the fact that they have an "I Will Help A Student Graduate" option.

Sadly, and this is on the real, the only kid I know right now that could really use my help graduating is too focused on doing time and he doesn't even know it.  I keep meaning to track him down and hang out a bit so I can see that beautiful smile one more time before prison wipes it off his stupid face.

But I digress!

Over at YouTube:
E4EA on Bragster.com
Bow Wow and Omarian [sic] - E4EA

[Note: Catty remarks about Omarion's hairdo, people who done already graduated, Lil Mama's tendency to slump forward when she does these video shoutouts and the fact that the previous contest on this YouTube channel was for a World Record Cigarette Smoking Competition have been removed cause it would be wrong to leave that stuff in.]

Rev Run's House Still for Sale, 8 Houses of Bling

I got a an email telling me that Rev Run's house is for sale.  Or maybe it just hasn't sold because it looks like it was on the market in 2005 and has remained on the market ever since unless, of course, it was sold and now the buyer wants to be a seller.

I can't sort it all out right now but, if you're digging the hip hop real estate scene, you'll appreciate 8 Houses of Bling featuring real estate offerings from Rev Run, Russell Simmons, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Suge Knight, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Jermaine Dupri.

ProHipHop News Center: Site Map & Source List Added, Site Suggestions Needed

I've just added a site map with a list of all the sources on the ProHipHop News Center home page.  I think this will not only be a cool resource of its own but will also strengthen the marketing aspects of the News Center, i.e., it will give all sources more attention and a little more link love.

You'll notice that the sources for a few sections haven't yet been added because they involve feeds with a large number of sources such as World Cypher: Blogs [featuring 35+ blogs].  I'll list those once I get done creating any additional subsections and removing blogs that don't add to the conversation.

Seeing that source list made me realize that the main reason it took so long to launch this project is that literally hundreds of blogs plus a handful of news sources are included with more to come.  So the home page is now also a mini-directory of great blogs.

But I need more!

Please suggest more great sources on the Comments & Site Suggestions page keeping in mind that an RSS feed is required for participation.

Particularly needed are suggestions for:
Artists & Labels
Audio & Podcasts
Hip Hop Politics
Hip Hop Videos

Plus any blogs focused on hip hop outside the U.S. such as Flight 808 or deejaying and production blogs like Crate Kings.

The ProHipHop News Center is basically complete but I will be adding some features like a customized search engine that includes all the sites in the News Center.  I'll also be putting a lot of time and energy into publicizing this project and hope that will be beneficial to all involved.

Linking back to the News Center or the section in which your blog appears is strongly encouraged though not required for participation.

If you want to opt out of the ProHipHop News Center, please hit me back and I'll remove you ASAP, no questions asked:
clyde(at)prohiphop(dot)com

ProHipHop Launches the ProHipHop News Center Featuring Top Entertainment, Lifestyle and Business News Blogs

The ProHipHop News Center Offers Top Hip Hop, Art, Lifestyle, Business and Web 2.0 Blog & News Mixes with Portable Feeds and Customized, Grabbable Search Widgets

Raleigh, NC (Jan. 29, 2008) - ProHipHop, the web's core resource for hip hop marketing and business news, now offers a rich selection of blog and news sources for entertainment seekers and news junkies operating on the breaking edge of digital society.  The newly launched ProHipHop News Center also provides a central location for those wanting to keep an eye on such characters!

The ProHipHop News Center presents news mixes from the top hip hop magazines, websites and blogs as well as related blends on themes ranging from sneakers & streetwear to entertainment marketing to the business of blogging.

Each news mix has a customized grabbable search widget of the originating sites and is available as an RSS feed or through multiple subscription options ranging from email to Skype.

Possible Uses for the ProHipHop News Center:

Scanning daily blog posts and news items for entertainment or information gathering.

Discovering world class blogs and news sources.

Gathering or subscribing to feeds and widgets for access elsewhere.

The creation of the ProHipHop News Center brings together lessons learned in such projects as the netweed Web Directory (netweed.com/directory) and World Cypher (worldcypher.com).  It is intended to expand ProHipHop's news services beyond the daily blog posts at ProHipHop and related press releases at Hip Hop Press (hiphoppress.com) to offer a more complete news gathering and information service in one central location.

ProHipHop News Center:
http://www.prohiphop.com/news.html

To suggest sites for inclusion in the ProHipHop News Center:
http://www.prohiphop.com/comments.html

About ProHipHop:

ProHipHop (prohiphop.com) is a hip hop marketing and business news blog written by Clyde Smith.  Launched in 2004 in San Francisco, ProHipHop is currently headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Press Contact:

Clyde Smith
clyde(at)prohiphop(dot)com
919-809-6401

Complex Network Features Reebok Kool-Aid Sneakers Advertising Takeover

Reebok Kool-Aid Sneakers Ad

Reebok's got this Kool-Aid line coming out February 1st with a lot of interesting angles like Kool-Aid scented soles and related merch, some of which you can see in their flickr pics:

"Check out Reebok’s newest collection: the Kool-Aid collection! The first installment will launch on February 1st in three great flavors: Grape, Cherry and Strawberry, each complete with hoodies, T-shirts, hats and sneakers. Plus, Reebok packed each of the kicks with extra flavor by crating scent-infused sockliners!"

As soon as I read this I couldn't stop thinking about Damon Dash sniffing the soles of some Keds he put out and talking about what he considered his ill sneaker game in Just For Kicks.  The rest of his appearance was kind of pretentious but it's hard not to appreciate Damon Dash, sneaker freak, when he shows his true colors.

Kool-Aid Reebok Takeover at Nah Right Screenshot 1

I'm especially interested in the total Reebok Kool-Aid promotional takeover at Complex that includes a Lookbook on a promotions page with more pics of the hats and hoodies than I've seen elsewhere.

The high point is the ad takeover of Complex.com and the blogs in the Complex network, the link to which has been giving me a 403 Forbidden message for about a week but you can find them all via the ProHipHop News Center's Complex Network page.

Kool-Aid Reebok Takeover at Nah Right Screenshot 2

Of course I discovered the Kool-Aid Reeboks ad takeover at Nah Right as you can see from the above screenshots..

What knocks me out is the background pattern that pushes the ad takeover to another level.  Not sure how long anybody would want to go for that but it's a great burst of attention prior to the February 1st release and there's no way you can ignore it.

Some folks might be annoyed but I'm feeling this campaign and it's starting to awaken this weird desire to acquire one of those hats I saw via the Complex Lookbook.  Stop that!  Stop it now!

I haven't checked for other sites yet but the full Complex site and all the Complex Network blogs appear to be participating though the background is much less visible on the sites with wider pages.

Pras Holds Eventful Competition for Skid Row Screenings

Pras Michel is holding an Eventful competition to bring his documentary Skid Row and Pras to five cities for special screenings.

I might say something more about that but I'm diverted by the ridiculous press release headline that gets bogged down in somebody's obsession with claiming to be the "First-Ever User Generated Film Screening Competition" which is a buzzword stretch given that there are currently 2627 demands for "movie" though a lot of them look like sp@mmy marketing efforts.

Not that the press release actually addresses the topic of the headline.  In fact, it's a decent release but the headline is opportunistic in a silly manner which is unfortunate given that Skid Row is an interesting project.

Previous ProHipHop Coverage:
Skid Row Documentary Starring Pras Opened Friday

Hip Hop Album Releases for Jan. 29: Big Daddy Kane, Big John, Crucial Conflict, Das EFX, MC Lyte, Mister D, OG Ron C, Yak Ballz, Young Gunz

Go DJ OG Ron C Presents Houston Ain't No Problem, Hosted by Kiotti

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.

The following new releases are available from Amazon.

Big Daddy Kane - The Very Best of Big Daddy Kane [Reissue]
Big John - The Next Step
Crucial Conflict - Planet Crucon
Das EFX - The Very Best of Das EFX [Reissue]
Go DJ OG Ron C Presents Houston Ain't No Problem
MC Lyte - The Very Best of MC Lyte [Reissue]
Mister D Presents: Southland Music
Yak Ballz - Scifentology II
Young Gunz - Rapid Fire

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

Foxy Brown's Brooklyn's Don Diva Pushed Back to May

Amazon.com's got Foxy Brown's Brooklyn's Don Diva now set for release on May 13th and that info should be coming from the label and it's typically correct in my experience.

Check netweed's Hip Hop Albums homepage for a growing list of pushed back albums with no release date.  I'm pretty sure I'm missing some but what I've posted looks a bit grim.

The Game Featured on First MONSTA Mag Cover

The Game on MONSTA Cover Premiere Issue

MahoganyGirl drops what is said to be the cover for everybody's favorite hip hop media celebrities' newest project: MONSTA!

Dave Mays and Benzino have some great ideas.  Too bad their history's even shadier than Billary Clinton's.

I'm not saying I wouldn't work for them.  But I am saying they'd have to pay in advance and wait till the check clears.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Dave Mays & Benzino to Launch MONSTA Magazine

VIBE Media Group Promotions Include Danyel Smith

Given all the firings in the magazine industry, not just in hip hop but all over the place, it's nice to see the VIBE Media Group announcing some promotions.

Special note should be made of the promotion of Danyel Smith, VIBE Editor-in-Chief, to Vice President and Editorial Director of VIBE Media Group.  She keeps her EIC position at VIBE so she must be doing something right!

Additional announcements include the hiring of Edgar Hernandez as VIBE Associate Publisher back in September and the promotion of Gary R. Lewis to Chief Marketing Officer.

But they didn't stop there, oh no.  They gave some shine to the folks you rarely hear about.

"Other recent staff promotions, include (in alphabetical order):

Chauncie Burton to Marketing Director
Kevin S. Ford to Research Chief
Janelle Grimmond to Associate Market Editor
Sarah Hambrick to Interactive Art Director
Cher Harrison to Entertainment Account Manager
Shanel Odum to Associate Editor
Aileen Payumo to Marketing Associate
Williams Perkins to Sportswear & Footwear Manager
Anthony Ragusa to Designer, Creative Services
Heston Roberts to Web Producer
Audrea Soongg to Account Executive, Interactive Media
Michelle Tennant Timmons to Office Manager"

Congratulations everybody and best of luck to whoever held those positions before you and to those who will come after!

Hate to be a spoil sport but let's hope at least some of these positions are newly created since we all know how tough it is to keep one's job in a declining industry being reamed by the demands of private equity.

Flashback to the Summer of 2006 via The Huffington Post:
A Whole New Vibe: Layoffs, Unrest and "White Boys" Standup

BlacKout: BET TV & DVD Release, Jeffrey Wright & Prodigy Still Shot

BlacKout - Starring and Produced by Jeffrey Wright

BET will offer the tv premier of BlacKout, "The Explosive Story of a Forgotten New York Neighborhood During the Largest Power Failure in American History", on February 1st followed by the DVD release from BET Home Entertainment on February 5th.

Prodigy & Jeffrey Wright Still Shot from BlacKout

Lots of great actors in this flick but this is ProHipHop so, look, it's Prodigy!  Yay!

Official Site:
BlacKout

[Photo courtesy BET Networks]

Buddylube Promotes: Lil Kim, Wyclef Jean & LL Cool J

With a name like Buddylube you've got to be good!

And they seem to be doing okay with a wide range of online promotions for numerous artists including Lil Kim and Wyclef Jean as well as LL Cool J.

Given the notoriously homophobic nature of the hip hop scene across the board from gangsters to conscious rappers to so many fans and bloggers, it's probably a good thing that the name Buddylube doesn't appear in this promotion for LL's Workout Challenge.

Tupac Remembered: Bearing Witness to a Life and Legacy

Tupac Remembered: Bearing Witness to a Life and Legacy

I've got some conflicting release date info but it looks like the book Tupac Remembered: Bearing Witness to a Life and Legacy was out earlier this month.

More info at Thug Life Army on the authors and content.

Lil Mama Grinds: From Young Faces Smiling to Lil Mama TV

Lil Mama is definitely staying in the public eye as you can tell from the News page at LilMamaOnline.com.

I was surprised to see the site running generic banner ads and Google ads but that's not true of all Zomba Label Group artists' websites so that could be part of Team Lil Mama's long term strategy.

She's also still the homepage feature for the yet to be released DanceJam and gets name checked in all sorts of press releases this month:

YOUNG FACES SMILING "A REALITY CLASSROOM ADVENTURE"

MTV Krumps, Grinds and Shakes for the Special Live Audition of 'Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew'

SandboxTV and Lil Mama Announce Lil Mama TV

Update:
Ian from Notes from a Different Kitchen drops the word in the comments on the upcoming release of VYP: Voice of the Young People now due April 15th.  Plus:
"Her new "Shawty Get Loose" video featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain premieres on BET 'Access Granted' this Wed. (1.30.08)."

DVD: Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav

Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav (Extended and Uncensored)

The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav (Extended and Uncensored) will be released on DVD February 12th from Comedy Central.

Press Release:
Flavor Flav Gets Clocked! 'The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav: Extended & Uncensored' DVD Hits Stores on Tuesday, February 12

Hip Hop TV PR: Flavor of Love 3, Hood Fab, Our World w/Black Enterpise, Luke Entertainment Group & VideoMix TV, Starz InBlack Shows

From Hip Hop Press:

Flavor Flav Attempts to Find Love for the Third Time During VH1's 'Flavor Of Love 3'

Watch Hood Fab: The Brokest Game Show In America

Our World With Black Enterprise Nominated for NAACP Image Award for Best Television Talk Series

Luke Entertainment Group Partners With VideoMix TV

Starz InBlack Debuts Late Night Celebrity Talk Series This February

Starz InBlack Showcases New Hip Hop Series

Pharrell & Louis Vuitton: Blason Jewelry Collection

Blason Promo Featuring Pharrell & Jewelry

Video via Nah Right.

Previous Coverage at WoooHah:
First photos of Pharrell's Louis Vuitton jewelry collection
Pharrell unveils Louis Vuitton jewelry collection

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Photo Shoot for Pharrell's Louis Vuitton Jewelry Line
Pharrell Williams & Kate Moss For Louis Vuitton
Pharrell, Nigo, Hoodies & Jewelry

Hypebot: Digital Music Report, iTunes Strategy, Aging Live Acts, Last.fm, China, Seth Godin, Sonicbids' Panis Panay, EMI Publishing

Music industry news from Hypebot:

2007 music sales dropped 10% and digital sales growth slowed according to a new report. But highlights of the IFPI's 2008 Digital Music Report attempt to paint a more optimistic picture.

Is "up-selling" Apple's new iTunes strategy?

Only 30% of 2007's top live acts were under the age of thirty which could cause concern for the future of live entertainment.

Last.FM added full single song streams and an indie artist royalty program.

Hypebot began a multi-part series on the music business in China with a look at piracy and the retail sector.

Retail marketing guru Seth Godin made the case that the entertainment industry is charging too much for digital product and that it's encouraging file swapping.

An interview with Sonicbids founder Panis Panay about his plans for the musician centered online service.

EMI Publishing appointed Leo Corbett to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer and Thomas Kelly replaced him as Chief Financial Officer.

OurDigitalMusic had stories on how to save 40-80% on your next iPod on Zen and plans by Leonard Cohen to tour for the first time since 1993.

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

Hurricane Chris' Fila/Helmsman Commercial is "Horrible"

Fila / Hurricane Chris Helmsman Commercial

Blogs Is Watching says:
"Horrible commercial and even more horrible shoe."

I guess I'd have to agree except that I can't care enough about the commercial or the shoe to make it all the way to horrible.  And that's a bad sign in and of itself!