ProHipHop: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News

Achozen: RZA, Shavo Odadjian, Kinetic 9 & Reverend William Burke

Achozen to Premier Deuces April 22nd

RZA, Shavo Odadjian, Kinetic 9 & Reverend William Burke have joined together as Achozen and recorded a self-titled album for release this summer on Shavo's urSESSION digital label:

While RZA, Burke and Kinetic handle most of the vocals and lyrics, George Clinton, Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, Wu-Tang affiliate Killah Priest, Wu-Tang founding member GZA, emcee Sick Jacken from Psycho Realm, and rapper Leggezin Fin also appear on the album.

These rock/hip hop connections keep coming from all over.  They might actually avoid becoming a subgenre if the range of projects continues to develop as widely as the distance between RZA and Lil Jon.

Achozen will premier Deuces, their first single, on their urSESSION profile on April 22nd.

Q Tip Interview From 2002 Stays Relevant

Jay Smooth has highlights from an interview with Q Tip conducted in 2002 with some juicy industry nuggets like how he got banned from Hot 97 and thoughts related to Industry Rule #4080.

Q Tip's advice for everybody:
"no matter what, you have to stick to your guns...you have to stay on your path."

Young Buck: Eating Off Shows, Not Royalty Checks [?]

Young Buck drops a rather shocking revelation, he hasn't gotten any royalty checks since signing with G-Unit!

He doesn't say anybody's ripping him off but he does say this:

"A lot of times a lot of artists don’t recoup off of albums so a lot of times they never get to see the backend from that project. I’m the only artist on G-Unit that ever recouped off of an album meaning I went off on this "Buck The World" project not owing Interscope and G-Unit shit, I can say that much. I’m still waiting on a royalty check period, I never seen a royalty check since I’ve been signed with G-Unit. So hell yeah I’ll tell you one damn thing the show money is that good. I’ve never in my career cashed a royalty check, how you like that?"

Check out the article for more on his relationship with Jimmy Iovine, etc. but the biggest point I'm taking is that "the show money is that good".

This is strong support for the necessity of building one's live game as an artist and also suggests that other hip hop businesses would be making a big mistake by avoiding live events.

Via Nah Right Lite.

Update:
A bunch of hip hop news sites all say they've heard from Sha Money XL, Young Buck's Manager, or his publicist and that he's saying it's all untrue.  That Young Buck has received over $10 million in royalties.

You can search through the Google results for yourself and decide who received it and who just cut and pasted it and claimed they received it.

Yada yada.  Yo Raps, who ran the interview linked above, is based in Germany and doesn't have a direct email on their site.

More wasted time.

Prodigy Sets the Trends, Like Logins for Blog Posts

I was going to link directly to Prodigy's post about setting trends but you have to sign in to see the stupid thing so Mr. Eskay gets all the link love.  Now I see why he reprinted the list of trends Prodigy claims to have set.

There are a lot of people that claim to be the first this or the first that but Prodigy's list of firsts has to be the most interesting one I've ever read.  It's such a strong mix of hip hop street & web history, meaningless trivia, impressive claims and drug-induced megalomania that I can't even comment beyond pointing out that if he wants to establish a historical basis for his legacy, he should really get an editor or, at least, a good copywriter.

Note: Making people sign in to read your blog post or check out your social network is kind of a doofus move.  But I'm not questioning Master Prodigy's trend setting and I am astounded by what he brings to the table.

Jay Electronica, Erykah Badu & B.o.B: URB's Next 100

Jay Electronic, Erykah Badu & B.o.B. on URB

Jay Electronica, who's catching the attention of many hip hop bloggers, Erykah Badu and B.o.B. get featured on URB's upcoming 14th Next 100 issue.

Via Nah Right.

?uestlove on Music, Business, Politics & His Next Movie

The Independent Weekly, out of Durham, NC, has a great interview by Derek Jennings with ?uestlove who's in town tonight for Hip-Hop Sampling Soul with 9th Wonder and Mark Anthony Neal who teaches in Duke University's Women's Studies program.

Duke's whitey white but they have some serious black academics and students over there and the University does support Black History Month with some great programming.

?uestlove drops a lot of beautiful musical and political knowledge and experience, so do check the extended interview, but here's some business bits.

?uestlove on Okayplayer.com and thinking long-term:

"One of the reasons I created okayplayer.com was to be sort of a life raft or safety zone, just in case there was some sort of tsunami in the future. A lot of folks, especially in hip hop, think in the near-term. Most think, "I'ma tour from May to August ... after that, I don't know what I'll do." I credit Chuck D [of Public Enemy] for giving me that long-term outlook. He'd say, back in the '90s, "What do you see yourself doing in 2011?" He was thinking in decades instead of years."

On working in the mainstream music industry:

"I never saw the old system of selling records as a way to provide any type of survival or career sustenance. And I see it now as simply a way to promote the group. If there's a way to let three million people know that a Roots album is coming out on April 29 without going through all of this, I'm all for it. But for now, this is what we have to work with; this system that has robbed, stolen from and used up our artists for the last 100 years..."

"I'm not particularly saddened now that the bottom is falling out...But it does affect us, slightly, and I'll tell you how. You know that The Roots have never really lived off of record sales...other acts are starting to tour more, kind of infringing on this live show playing field that we've more or less had to ourselves for 16 years. So the game—circa late '07, now that we see all these other cats in our lane—is to think, "Hey, don't we normally do Howard University around this time of year?" and actually call them up. Because there's more competition now. Between '92 and '06, we were just about the only option. So I look at it as us having to go to Plan C. We're Will Smith in the back of the taxi, tryna figure out that Rubik's Cube."

On success and realness in the rap game:

"The thing I want people to know, the reason I'm so open on okayplayer about my personal life, is just to let people know that you don't need some kind of hyperbolic, over-inflated existence to survive in hip hop..."

"I think it's possible for an underground emcee, if he's hustling, to make around $200,000-$300,000 a year. An unsigned rapper may be able to pull down around $1,500 per week. If a manager of an establishment can make and survive off of that kind of money, so can you. But if you're making $1,500 per week and you want a Bentley coupe, then that's different. You've got a problem."

"It says a lot about our perspective when we can view a doctor as a success pulling down around $300,000 but we see the rapper making the same money as a failure. That's why I reveal all of the details of my life on my site, in interviews, etc., even to the level of why a muhf*cka can't have a successful relationship and a career. That's what I see as realness."

If you're serious about a career in music, be sure to check for ?uestlove's thoughts on building a musical movement involving other artists as a conscious process.

Plus, ?uestlove's down with Obama, sick of Reagonomics and says he's "working on a film project...starring Sam Jackson and Bernie Mac. It's a musical film by Malcolm Lee (The Best Man, Roll Bounce). Since it's a musical film, I won't be straying too far afield in terms of my role."

Big ups to ?uestlove for his honesty and his ability to build in a positive manner.  We need a lot more of that in hip hop music and business.

The Return of the Trill: Bun B's Back!

Bun B returns to the stage February 8th in Houston at Warehouse Live.

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)."

The Rap Up's 2007 Rap List, Where's Adam Tensta?

Rizoh's posted the The Rap Up's 2007 Rap List created this year by a complex system of tabulating the top 10 lists of 25 rap critics.

If you read hip hop blogs regularly, you'll be familiar with all these names and the only surprises may be some of the albums that didn't make it, though no one seems surprised at the absence of 50 Cent's Curtis.

Note: There's nobody on here that didn't have some kind of decent marketing support.  I'm not saying they don't deserve it.  I'm just saying.

I don't know if anybody nominated Adam Tensta's It's A Tensta Thing that dropped December 4th as an overpriced import item.  But I'm hoping he'll release an official U.S. version so Tensta can build all year and get his due in the States.  We'll see soon enough since reality is always the trump card.

If I'd followed up on Rizoh's request for my participation, I think Adam Tensta would be near or at the top of my list.

Sweden, stand up!

Wake Your Daughter Up knows and has a bunch of singles for your listening pleasure.

Adam Tensta at VidRap:
My Cool
Bangin On The System
They Wanna Know

Seriously, how could you not like a black men from Sweden who's breaking it down like that?

21st Century Stand Up!

Soulja Boy on Free Downloads, GZA, Sampling & Mixtapes

This interview with Soulja Boy is just too good.  I think he was bred in a vat or something because he flips the script so easily on dated rapper strategies.  Actually the vat reference is unfair and shows my advanced years.  He's simply a 21st Century artist surrounded by dinosaurs.

Soulja Boy's not phased by downloaders grabbing stuff for free cause he still gets paid by the fans:

"Before I got signed, I never bought an album. If I really wanted a song, I'd type it [into the computer] and get it for the free. When I got signed, we cleaned it up. The old version [of "Crank Dat"] was me in my house on the computer...The next version, I went in Collipark's studio, got it mixed and mastered, and put it back out. For [fans] to pay for it -- that ain't nothing but love. They downloaded it and still bought it."

Sorry, GZA, game over:

"I wouldn't even rap against the Genius. I'd put up someone who was born in '66 to go against the Genius so it can be a tie...[In the video] he was looking like I stole his money or something. He's in Alaska. He's cold...He got famous for five little minutes, but he had to sacrifice a relationship with Soulja Boy. Now it's gone. I ain't gonna be like "F the GZA" 'cause I ain't never met that dude. But he says, "F Soulja Boy" 'cause he needed a buzz. Now he's back in Alaska."

On the economics of sampling:

"When it comes to sampling, I can do that. But you gotta clear it with the artist, so I just never did it. Basically when it comes to chopping, I sample my own voice 'cause I gotta get 100 percent of that money."

And why he won't be putting out masses of mixtapes:

"I ain't did mixtapes with DJs because I ain't need it. I got the Internet in the palm of my hand. DJ Scream hit me up, and I was like, "Yeah, that's a bet," 'cause I mess with DJ Scream...Other than that, I don't need no mixtapes."

Soulja Boy Tell'em is right.

Phoenix On the Come Up: Northpole, Hot Rod, Juice

The Phoenix New Times has an extended piece by Niki D'Andrea on the Phoenix hip hop scene focused on Northpole and his upcoming Disturbing Tha Peace release but also digging into the history and some of the other rappers on the rise such as Hot Rod (G-Unit) and Juice (Black Wall Street).

Some of it is focused on rappers in the scene who want to stay unified or, at least, get along, even folks like Juice and Hot Rod.  That's a good look for Phoenix if they can pull it off.  I think it would be cool if Arizona could bring some peace into the game.

Eminem Hospitalized for Pneumonia Complications

TMZ reports that Eminem's publicist told them:

"Over the holidays, Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, was under doctor's care at a Detroit-area hospital for complications due to pneumonia. He has since been released and is doing well recovering at home."

TMZ is also claiming that Eminem was "taken to a Detroit-area hospital for a serious heart condition and severe pneumonia. Sources tell TMZ Em's weight has ballooned to over 200 lbs."

Anybody seen any recent pics or videos of Eminem?

I think a fat Elvis type show starring Eminem would be really awesome except for the bad health part.  Don't they both have a history of pill-popping and stealing musical styles from black people?

Hmm, I better stop before this hole gets any deeper!

Update:
Shaheem Reid notes that Eminem's last public appearance was over the phone on September 12th when he called Hot 97's Angie Martinez during a visit by 50 Cent.

The LOX Reunite, Album Due in 2008

The LOX have a reunion show tonight in New York said to be their first in five years.

Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch are also working on a new album set for release next year.

Update:
Shaheem Reid covered the reunion show for MTV and he was very glad he did.

Kelefa Sanneh also wrote about the show.

20) Prince Whipper Whip Chills in Michigan

Prince Whipper Whip moved to Monroe, Michigan leaving the fast lane of LA for a more settled life.

Via GRANDGOOD.

Looking Back: Conceit Wins YouTube's OnTheRise Contest

Conceit - Scissors & Glue

In the news I skipped department, Conceit won YouTube's OnTheRise Rap Edition back in September.

Zoneil Maharaj checked in with Conceit in October while the details were still being sorted out.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
50 Cent, Common & Polow Da Don Judge YouTube Rap Contest

Kanye West & Bill Clinton: 2007 GQ Men of the Year Covers

Kanye West on the Cover of GQ

GQ 2007 Men of the Year include Kanye West, Bill Clinton, Daniel Craig, Ron Paul and "Workaholic" Lil Wayne.

Kanye gets one of three alternate covers along with Bill Clinton and Daniel Craig.

Lil Jon: Crunk Rock, Pitbull, BME Acts, A-Town, Santa's Voice, DJing, Rock Box Mixtapes

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.

Nelly: Brass Knuckles, Chuck D & the Don Imus Nappy Negro College Fund

Nelly Talks With Sway

Video notes: Interesting comments about his relationship with Bob Johnson; animated presentation of his take on Don Imus; plus, Sway does a nice job of pushing him on the Jena 6 situation.  FYI, the "Hip-Hop Entreprenuer" subheading is misleading.

Nelly's new album Brass Knuckles is due November 13th and it's going to include Chuck D on a tune called Self Esteem.  Nelly had some surprising [to me] comments for MTV about Chuck D so click through for that.

But he really gets in the zone when he discusses Don Imus:

Right when Imus did that, instead of everybody getting all riled up and pulling him off the air, [we could have said,] 'Wait a minute, y'all. Hold up before we pull him off the air. Let's get what we can get out of the situation...this guy is a moneymaker.' It's obvious [MSNBC] didn't want him off the air...So, what can we get out of this?...How about we fine both of them? Let's fine both of them $50 million over the next five years; $10 million a year...

Let's start the Don Imus Nappy Negro College Fund...And then for the next five years, we're sending brothers and sisters to college off his mistake. And let's hope he does it again next year! So we can get 100 million. Let's provoke him! Somebody call up there and piss him off.

But again, us jumping to conclusions, because you got so many people wanting to claim the glory off of it, wanting to step in front of the camera, we got shook out of our 40 acres and a mule again. We missed it again! It was right there! Do I think he should've been fired? Hell no! Stand up, let's dock him. We could've built schools. We could have built rec centers off of that. We could have gone to college. We missed it...

What is he going to do, go home, take a vacation, lay up, watch a little TV, then get a bigger deal on a satellite-radio station?...Now he's even bigger because now black folks know who he is. Now we're tempted to tune in just to hear if he's gonna say some other dumb stuff. Now he's even bigger. All we did was blow him up.

He's got some good points and a legitimate argument for those focused on reparations and related approaches though I still think it was necessary to take out Don Imus, even if it was temporary, because that hurt him and he'll carry that with him despite the big stacks of money he will continue to receive.

For my part, I dug Nelly's first album quite a bit.  I lost interest musically after that but was certainly impressed with the "swipe credit card between buttocks" moment for its encapsulation of how men view the trick/stripper relationship [though not thinking of themselves as tricks].  Given that strippers often view men as ATMs, within the rules of the sex industry game that was fair play and an awesome example of pop surrealism.

It also speaks to all whose intimate relationships are financially based yet legitimated by such social institutions as marriage.

That said, I still understand why people got upset and had to move at that moment.  It's not the kind of thing a smart activist passes up.

Via Real Talk NY.

Q-Tip Focused on The Renaissance, Not Lupe Fiasco

Q-Tip has spoken on Fiascogate, says he's talked to Lupe Fiasco and they're basically cool.  They even discussed the possibility of a tour!

Q-Tip is a bigger man than most.

He already sounds ready to leave it behind and focus on his work:

He is now turning his attention to the February 12th release of his long-awaited sophomore solo album, The Renaissance...

In addition to the early '08 release of The Renaissance – a video for the album's next single, "Fever," is forthcoming – Tip will be making his Andre 3000-esque comeback complete in the coming weeks with his own Mick Boogie-backed mixtape, as well as an additional pre-album treat helmed by Green Lantern and Statik Selektah entitled The 21 Breakbeats of Death, wherein which Tip will be spittin' over classic hip-hop breaks.

Even though Q-Tip isn't dwelling on it in public, you know he's feeling the love from all you guys that blew up in Lupe's face over this one.

Via The Rap Up.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Lupe Fiasco to Sue Vibe for Fiascogate Article

Dr. Dre Says Detox Will Be Last Solo Album

If Detox is Dr. Dre's last album that means he'll never retire.

But if he does complete Detox he's just quitting the "young man's game" of rapping:
He is devoting the next two months to working on Eminem's next album, and tells the Times anything unrelated to producing, weight training and time with his family is not on his agenda.

However, there is new business to report. Dre recently inked a multi-year production pact with New Line Cinema, under which he will join longtime collaborator, director Phillip G. Atwelll, to score and possibly direct films.

Lot's more on Dr. Dre past, present and future at the LA Times.

RZA's Chamber of Fear, Madlib in Newsweek, Buck 65 on Piracy, MF Doom MIA?

Behind the scenes with RZA for Chamber of Fear, the Lebron James/Nike commercial.

Madlib makes Newsweek!

Buck 65 on the personal and professional effects of piracy.

Is that really MF Doom behind that mask?

Raleigh's Small World Joins DTP Records

I've been remiss in not congratulating Small World, the newest signing to Ludacris' DTP Records and a resident of my hometown, Raleigh, NC.

The above-linked article describes the video shoot for Small World with Ludacris which they initially tried to shoot at a different location without a permit but got run off.  A friend of mine who lives around the corner from the final shoot says it's the spot where drug dealers hang out all day and say "got it" when he walks by.

Apparently Derrick "Brolic" Chavez is also on-board with an album to follow Small World's introduction.

Also from the article:
"We scouted North Carolina, and we found Small World and his (group, Norfclik)," says Dixon, who thinks the Raleigh-Durham area has the talent and grittiness to become the next hip-hop mecca, as Atlanta was 15 years ago.

There are a lot of artists in the Triangle, i.e. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, and they run the gamut from gangsta to highly conscious but there's no reason to expect it to be like Atlanta except for the opportunity to sign unknown talent.  It's highly unlikely that you'll see major operations that go beyond an A&R opportunity here the way you do there.

Then again, I don't know what the hip hop scene in Atlanta was like 15 years ago though I do know Atlanta was more of an urban cultural center in the 80s than the Triangle is now.

Nas Rips & Runs in Hungary?

This week's JumpOff.TV: Hip Hop News Cast reminded me that hip hop fans in Hungary are claiming Nas jacked the loot from a recent show there and then fled the scene.

Thanks to Akucs Attila who first filled me in and sent along this statement which also appears on discussion boards:

It was an ultra-shaft. Nas was here. He didn't do the show. I still don't know exactly what happened because so many rough things happened that i don't know how to put together. They were really rat-style worms. Stealing, cheating, disrespectful scumbags. They put their 2 millon forints and vanished with it...NAS and his crew tried to run away with the money when everybody and everything was ready. THEY TRIED TO GET AWAY IN SECRET THROUGH THE BACK DOOR WITH THEIR STUFF. Even the technician took OTHERS bags and said nothing about they won't come back. OK, they don't answer the phone, don't open the doors, but they are still inside.

All of them (except Chris Webber) was a f*ckin egoist dirty rat...

Nas was my favourite artist, his lyrics are phenomenal, but now i know, they are f*cking lies. f*cking disrespectful bumptious worm. I won't forget this.
"actin like u tryin to get kick knowledge" Oh, and Kelis had yesterday a concert in Hungary too. She did it... it started 3:00 am... what more... it finished 4:00 am... i don't say anything :(

If true, this sounds like bad news for Hungarian fans and apparently there were other cancellations.  That's especially sad because there are a lot of hardcore hip hop fans there without the disposable income or opportunities for live shows that we take for granted in the States.  And even for those in the upper classes, getting ripped off by Nas would be an unpleasant experience.

Sharkula Rising w/Diagnosis of Sharkula

Fascinating profile of Sharkula by Phillip Kaplan taking an extended look at this homeless Chicago rapper with unique artistic gifts.  Selling his cds on the street and trains, Sharkula has become well-known in the Chicago area and worldwide online.

Apparently Sharkula's latest release, Diagnosis of Sharkula, is a higher quality product than he's done in the past, though I'm particularly intrigued by an earlier release titled Martin Luther King Jr. Whopper With Cheese.

Sharkula could do well if he gets the right team around him and isn't hooked in to too many leaches and users.  Making some of his cds available online would be a good first step that wouldn't require a music industry professional's help.

Let's hope his rising visibility gets him paid in a positive manner.

Video:
Sharkula 16 mm film

Official Site:
Sharkula

Xzibit on Koch, Sony & the Power of Owning Your Music

Cameron Adams has a really nice interview with Xzibit for the Herald Sun of Australia.

Xzibit on his "one-off" deal with Koch:
Koch is not the place for Xzibit, not at all, but it's the only place that would put my record out and distribute it the way I wanted it...I can control more of it now, own the licensing, that's where it's headed. The days of charging someone $(US)15 or $16 for a CD are over. Even getting paid for downloads is sketchy. The only way to protect yourself as an artist is to own the licensing. Ten years down the track, if they want to use your song for a Coca-Cola commercial then they have to deal directly with you.

Xzibit on his days with Sony:
I had to get away from Sony. Sony's not the place to put out hip hop records...

On Weapons of Mass Destruction I put together a Bush speech. There were Sony lawyers who wanted me to sign something to leave them clear of repercussions...We'd argue about the songs they wanted as singles and it'd hold my record up for months if I didn't agree with them. It wasn't cool.

I came to them with a connection to the streets that made those records work. They had no intention of going to the streets!

On the power of owning your own music:
The path of success in the music industry has yet to be paved. There was a time there was a working business model, but so many things have changed that it doesn't work any more. You have to be empowered as an artist, you can't give away that power by signing a deal that puts you at the lowest part of the totem pole. It's about owning your music and your licensing until that new working business model is created...

I don't want to sign to your label. F--- you and your label! I own 100 per cent of my music now.

Bad Brains Back, Prod: Adam Yauch, Video: Shavo Odadjian

Bad Brains - Bad Brains (1982)

The Bad Brains are back with an album titled Build A Nation, produced by Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, due June 26 on Megaforce Records.

Let me just say that the Bad Brains are one of the most important bands in rock history.  Unfortunately, the last time I was hearing much about them, they were being widely denounced in punk and anarchist circles for overt homophobia and some weird incidents and rants and so forth.

I pray that they will just play music and bless us with the goodness that is Bad Brains.  That means a tour!!!

Ok, fanboy mode off.

System Of A Down's bassist Shavo Odadjian is directing the first video.  Not only that, he's working with The RZA and getting ready to launch a website called urSession:

He is also collaborating with RZA (Wu Tang) on a new super group called Achozen, also featuring Kinetic 9, along with special guests' DJ Muggs and Sick Jacken (Psycho Realm) among others. The hybrid group, which blends unique, contemporary beats with a hip-hop, soul and rock fusion is being produced by Odadjian along with Power 106's King Tech (The Wake-Up Show) on board as engineer.

...Odadjian is also gearing up to launch urSession, a new digital community offering independent and unsigned acts a revolutionary promotional platform that can lead to a record deal. UrSession is the first online record label to audition and sign acts based solely on uploaded audio and/or video performance and urSession user ratings. Both urSession artists and registered community users will benefit from sharing in advertising revenue. urSession artists can also monetize their art on the site with no back-end fee. The site plans to launch this summer.

Cam was right.  This is going to be a hot summer.

Ivan Matias on Creating Caushon & Ghostwriting

I always wondered what happened to Caushon, a rising gay rapper from New York befriended by Kimora Lee Simmons.  Maybe the news has been out but Tanisha Alston gets the word from Ivan Matias, the originator, ghostwriter and ghostrapper behind Caushon, who tells a fascinating tale of the invention of a would be superstar:

It started out as a prank that we pulled on Funkmaster Flex. A couple of us were hanging out at my crib. The Bash Brothers were there, a Black magazine editor, a major record company publicist and a music publicist. We were all sitting around listening to the radio and decided we wanted to prank Flex while he was on the air. We said let’s call up in a flamboyant way and get on his records he was putting out at the time...It was a funny thing. He wasn’t really trying to hear it. Even though he didn’t let me spit the rhyme, the next day and night they were all talking about it on the radio.

Ivan based the voice on childhood friend Jason Herndon who then became the face of Caushon even as Ivan continued to create and record the music using his version of Jason's voice.

Buzz built and then came Kimora.  Turns out Jason was doing Kimora's hair, somebody called him Caushon and she soon made her move:

At first she was tight because the attention was on him, but after a while, she got over it and wanted to bring him into her circle. So she did...Kimora even moved him into an apartment Uptown. She basically gave him an advance in the form of an apartment. She wanted to give him $50,000 and make her driver/assistant the A&R person...She tried to sell the publishing not realizing that the publishing rights already belonged to me. I’m a signed writer.

Ultimately everything had to end cause Caushon could never step up to the challenge of becoming a performer.  But Ivan Matias continues to cash checks as a ghostwriter:

Ghostwriting is a lot more common than people think...My job is to make things that people can buy and sell again. Maybe if they don’t like my hook, they can take it and make it their own. If they say they like it, they’ll change two words, cut a check and all of a sudden, they wrote it.

Alston asked, "Do people ever get offended that you ask for proper publishing percentages?"  To which Matias replied:

I should get offended that they are planning to sell records and bank their whole career on something that I created. If what I created is so hot that you are willing to sell records with it, then you should be happy that you even found a joint that can sell your records, you can tour, market and merchandise off my joint!...I create a product that people are going to want to buy. Once I create it and know that people want to buy it, resell for fifty times what was paid for it, why should I be eager to give someone 20% of my royalties?

Nice work, Ms. Alston.

Lil Mama: You Tube Promos for the Debut of a Pop Star

Lil Mama Says Vote for Me on 106 & Park

I'm assuming this video is an online only promo to encourage folks to vote for the continued appearance of Lil Mama's single Lip Gloss in 106 & Park's Countdown.  It's nicely done to emphasize her realness and cuteness, leaving in a couple of fumbles and then ducking out with a cute little response to someone off camera.

I'm totally serious when I say that Lil Mama has the potential for a huge career as a pop star.  Nice work if you can get it.  Whoever came up with the tagline, "Voice of the Young People", is pretty darn smart though it should probably be followed up with some kind of youth oriented community appearances.  Nice debut all around.

Lil Mama - Lip Gloss

If I had ever done the Hip Hop Signs of Life series I discussed a while back, I would be adding the Lip Gloss video for the dancing and choreography.  I think it's great that not only are so many popular dances getting started, involving folks on the dance floor in regional and national fads, but that so much solid dance and choreography is appearing in rap videos, from Tell Me When To Go to Lip Gloss.

Lil Mama and her crew of dancers bring it live as well.

On a sour note, I went to her Jive Records home page and it automatically fired up my iTunes account.  I hope that's not becoming common because it's an unacceptable intrusion for me.

Lil Mama at MySpace

Jurassic 5 Breaks Up

Jurassic 5 announced their breakup on BBC 1Xtra this weekend.

Hip Hop Under Fire and the Case of David Banner

As sales slip and criticism grows, hip hop's current state continues to be called into question.

David Banner is quoted in the above linked article as a representative of hip hop who has tried to do some more positive songs but offers the same weak excuses for the same old social content (I'm just showing what's around me and the fans hold me back when I try to do anything different).

What I find interesting is that in the formulaic AP coverage, the standard style for most mainstream media news writers, Banner appears somewhat superficial with not much new to say.

However, in an interview with David Banner playing off his experiences shooting Black Snake Moan, he's given some room to talk and suddenly a complex, thoughtful man emerges.  What's interesting is that the questions in the interview aren't complex, they simply give Banner room to talk without fitting him into a debased and misleading journalistic template in which balanced coverage equals one guy saying yes and one guy saying no.

I have a lot of thoughts on the questions being raised (cause I'm the Thinker Upper!) so I'll sum a few up in brief:

The best beats will win.

Corollary: Meaningful content can chart if the music rocks the house.

Whether or not you simply want to make a lifetime living in music with nonmainstream values or whether you want to take your art to the top of the charts, you've got to build your own independent system that will allow you to do an endrun around the gatekeepers (as the South has done in relationship to New York) and outlast the ups and downs of popular taste (as Chuck D has done).

On a personal note to progressive artists asking for "support" for their art, as an artist I never asked people to support my work due to the values expressed.  If I asked for their support, it was for a specific cause.  But I did encourage them to come out and have a great time at well-organized performance events in which performers gave their all.  As an artist, I'd much rather have a fan than a donor.

Thanks to Gabriel and blackfilm.com's Wilson Morales for the news tips.

Bizzy Bone's Meltdown Reframed as "Spiritual Journey"

I haven't kept up with the Bizzy Bone saga but I think that reframing his descent into personal chaos as a "spiritual journey" is a smart move for kicking off the comeback:

It has been said that one of the best ways to understand another person's point of view is to walk a mile in their shoes. It's no secret that in 2004, Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum recording artist Bizzy Bone, suffering from drug and alcohol abuse, voluntarily began life living on the streets, giving up all his money and material wealth, and embarked on a journey that changed his life forever.

For several months, Bizzy walked on foot, trying to get from his hometown of Columbus to Cleveland. After many miles and blisters on his feet, Bizzy could walk no more. It was a long, hard road for him and not all the critics have been kind in his absence. Many were puzzled and confused at the bizarre behavior and sightings of Bizzy sleeping in bus stations and on the streets.

Much speculation has surfaced about this drastic turn of events. However, now clean and focused, Bizzy explains, “Wandering in my desolate state, I had an overwhelming desire to surrender myself. My journey then became spiritual and my relationship with God was personal, between me and him.”

As a twist of faith would have it, it was through poverty and the renunciation of his ego, that Bizzy crossed a spiritual threshold that turned his journey around to where he is now using his celebrity status to address the plight of the homeless crisis.

Now let's see what it does for his upcoming album!

Bizzy Bone at MySpace

Common Makes Newsweek's Who's Next 2007

Common is included in Newsweek's Who's Next 2007.

The Coup Seeks Your Help

Hip hop bloggers all over the place have been spreading news about The Coup's recent accident while on tour with Mr. Lif and their request for financial assistance.  You can find out more at The Coup's MySpace page with backstory on the blog and a donation request and button on the homepage.

No, Silly Web Kids, Little Brother's Not Breaking Up!

Though 9th Wonder still only has one beat on the next Little Brother album, Phonte's now talking nice, though he and Big Pooh didn't sound so happy not that long ago.

In fact, in an interview with HipHopDX, Phonte tries to flip it and make it sound like an Internet rumor:
I know the internet’s going to be running wild with ‘Them n-ggas breakin’ up. 9th don’t tour with them.’ Cats going to be sayin’ whatever they wanna say. That’s cool with me. Just keep tuning the f*ck in..(Laughs)

Notice he leaves out the fact that the rumors started with his own comments, at least, that was the case here at ProHipHop.  And he also leaves out any positive support from folks on the web, including myself, though I have to admit I'm thinking about tuning out at this point.

I should clarify that the issue isn't whether or not ProHipHop gets recognized.  The issue that concerns me is that many artists seem to take online support for granted and only acknowledge the existence of the Internet when something goes against them.  That's not very smart.

In any case, since Phonte seems focused on web negativity, let me point out that if you couldn't get your Minstrel Show video played, you didn't need to release a DVD.  There's a little thing called YouTube that's all the rage these days.  Really, I read about it in Business Week!

By the way, if 9th Wonder does leave the group, it still won't be a breakup as Phonte explains from his philosophical heights:
To dispel the rumors, no, Little Brother is not breaking up.  When one member leaves a duo, that's called a breakup.  When one member leaves a trio, that's called an evolution.  But no one has officially left the group.  We're still here, and we're still moving forward.

Sounds like 9th Wonder don't matter so much either way.  But that's the last quote from me cause I'm not tuning in anymore unless they actually sell some records.

HipHopDX article via The Rap Up

9th Wonder No Longer Integral Part Of Little Brother

I haven't read much about Little Brother recently so this may already be making the rounds but 9th Wonder is out of Little Brother as the core deejay for all practical purposes.  Currently Phonte and Big Pooh are working on the followup to The Minstrel Show, an album that didn't do very well given expectations.  The new album will redeem them if it does well and possibly force them off Atlantic if not.

Given the make or break nature of the situation, one would expect 9th Wonder to step up but, so far, only one of his beats have made it onto the initial album tracks. Phonte and Big Pooh had this to say to reporter Grayson Currin:

[Phonte] Coleman says the beats they've received from longtime Little Brother member and Justus League co-founder 9th Wonder haven't worked on that level. So far, he has landed only one beat on the album's first eight tracks.

"I don't know if he has them or not, but it just didn't grab us. We never had that feeling from the beats he gave us, and, for this album, we're not going to settle, whether you're 9th Wonder or Just Blaze. We have to be able to fit it into what we're doing," says Coleman.

It's an interesting position for Little Brother: Many critics championed 9th's simplistic, unadorned production as fervently as Little Brother itself. But while Coleman and Pooh completed a 24-date national tour last year in support of Little Brother, 9th spent the time away from the group, making beats for other groups. 9th has landed an impressive load of collaborative work outside of the Triangle, producing two full albums with Murs, one with Buckshot, the unreleased Jeanius with Jean Grae and tracks for stars from Jay-Z and Destiny's Child to Mary J. Blige and Memphis Bleek.

"9th decided to record beats for multiple albums with people. The uniqueness of what we had was gone, you know," says Pooh, at home in Cary. "We opened it up and made it a free ballgame and told him, 'You can get as many tracks as you want on this album, but you have to do it the way we want it done.' So far, he hasn't done that."

So, no, they haven't announced a breakup but what else would you call it?  I guess describing 9th Wonder as moving from Little Brother member to Little Brother affiliate would be the most accurate.

Of course, for long time fans, the experience of going to see Little Brother and discovering that 9th Wonder wasn't part of the package once you got to the show was a bad sign, especially since that has been going on for years now.

To be honest, I think this is Phonte and Big Pooh's opportunity to break out and I just hope it goes well for them.  What makes them distinctive as performers is totally separate in my experience from 9th Wonder's beatmaking so the emerging situation may also allow them to get out of 9th's shadow and on to the next phase, whatever that might be.

Update:
After the above Independent Weekly article was published, News & Observer writer David Menconi followed up with 9th Wonder who stated the following:

"I'm still part of the group and that's all I have to say. I'm big on what's in the group stays in the group. I've always said the same thing, I'm 9th Wonder of Little Brother and Phonte is the leader of Little brother. This is the direction the MC's have decided to take. I've only got one beat on the album for now and if I get more, I do and if I don't, I don't. They're looking for a specific sound. Am I getting it? Apparently not, but that does not make me not part of the group. If I get only one beat on the record, I don't know how that will affect the fans' perspective. It will be up to the fans, not me or Phonte or Pooh, to decide whether or not they'll accept a Little Brother record without 9th Wonder doing the bulk of the production."

Well, there you go, still in the group but sending up a bunch of flares, from what I make of this statement.

9th Wonder is also coteaching a hip hop course with Christopher "Play" Martin about which he said, "Trying to get hip-hop in education in universities around the nation, that's my drive right about now".

Sounds like a great focus except that The Minstrel Show bombed and the future of Little Brother is in jeopardy.  I still read this as a breakup.

Thanks for the N&O tip to Seth at DELINQ.com.

Updated Coverage:
No, Silly Web Kids, Little Brother's Not Breaking Up!

Lil Weavah Knows His Biz

I greatly enjoyed this interview with Atlanta's Lil Weavah that declares he won't rap about dealing crack after the following experience:
Two years ago, I was driving down Simpson Road which is in Bankhead. I saw two crackheads who looked like they didn’t even have faces. At that point, something hit me and I said, “I will never talk about sellin’ crack in a song no more. I will not talk about anybody else capitalizing off crack in a song.” It hit me like…this is my community. I’m not gonna brag on that right there. That’s somebody’s momma. That’s somebody’s momma who’s probably a classmate of mine.

Not only that, he knows his business:
With every product I do, I’m expanding the markets. I don’t see how anybody outside of Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama could’ve got the Home Team CD. Then on the mixtapes – boom, we hit MixUnit and others. We’re getting a bigger audience. With Underground Music, we’ve got national distribution on an underground title. Now, when I’m looking at the sales sheets, I’m seeing Idaho, Montana, Rochester, New York. Atlanta DJs have always been my backbone. DJ Drama, Burn One, DJ Scream & MLK, The Black Bill Gates and so on, they’ve always had my back and helped. Now you see me workin’ with DJ Envy, DJ Whoo Kid, and Kay Slay. That’s how you expand the market.

One thing though, and it may not matter to the artists (though I bet it does), once you start using that Lil, no one's ever going to spell your name right.  This interview adds the apostrophe, as in Lil' Weavah and, if you notice, Lil Jon's name gets screwed up all the time.  I even saw it mispelled Lil' Jon in the headline of a recent press release.  But at least it doesn't affect the pronunciation!

On the spelling tip, always try for the official website:
MySpace Page - Lil Weavah (check out My Rims)
Official Site - Lil Jon

Ice Cube Builds Without Losing Core Audience

Chartreuse takes:
A Look At The Career Of Ice Cube (Or How To Expand Without Alienating Your Core Audience)

Related ProHipHop coverage:
Marketing With Guns: Gnarls Barkley & Ice Cube

North Carolina Featured at AllHipHop

I almost just posted this at Hip Hop Logic but, since I'm back in NC and since ProHipHop did participate in some of the North/South controversy before the opportunists jumped in, I thought a quick note here was relevant.

AllHipHop has a series of interviews with NC hip hop artists, starting with the obvious:
Big Brother - old school entertainers with dj 9th Wonder.
Edgar Allen Floe - mc, part of the Justus League.
DJ Chela - very politically conscious female dj who's moving to New York to build on her rising profile and connects.
K-Hill - solid long term artist with some interesting Big Daddy Kane anecdotes.

They're all worth checking out if you're curious about the growing hip hop scene in North Carolina. You can also find out more about what's going on by checking out some of the folks listed at NC Hip Hop Online, though it hasn't been updated in a while. Not only will you find conscious artists like the above but you'll also find gangstas, hippies and a variety of other hip hop flavors, all in NC.

I don't want to revisit the high school debate club movement that arose out of the fact that certain Southern artists are charting and certain New Yorkers feel insecure about that but I do want to make it clear that if you're talking about the South without knowing about Southern artists like the above and you think you can sum it up by a reference to crunk or snap, then you are truly full of sh*t.

More generally, I stand with an old quote from Dr. Dre that appeared in yesterday's email newsletter from The Source:
“All this East coast/West coast sh*t has gotta be the most stupid sh*t I ever heard in my life.”
-- Dr. Dre - July 1996, The Source

D12's Proof Murdered

D12's Proof was shot and killed in a Detroit nightclub early this morning.

Apparently there was a rumor that Bizarre was also involved but he was in Georgia.

Immortal Technique: The South, The Industry, New York

XXL has Part 2 of their Immortal Technique interview up and it's well worth reading.  I find his notion of a higher standard for New York lyricists kind of laughable but I'll lean back on that for a minute and think about it next time I'm in the club (sorry, couldn't think of any Ja Rule references).

I find it weird that, considering he's not really a chart topper himself, he describes Southern lyricists in terms of those currently charting.  In fact, he puts them down for not getting levels of sales that he has never achieved.  Maybe if he looked at people who, like himself, aren't really that well known, he'd find more lyrical complexity as well.  In any case, he obviously doesn't know much about Southern music other than what charts.

Immortal Technique's point about how much money artists actually have compared to how much they pretend to have is well taken, but that certainly didn't start in the South, it started with the emulation of pimps and dealers, including dealers that became rappers and producers, who found it in their best interests to appear to have more wealth than was actually the case:

But the realest thing I’m gonna tell you about hip-hop’s Southern power surge: n*ggas ain’t making money like that. I don’t care what you wore in your video, what you showed up to the Howard homecoming in, what you floss in the streets, or how many independent units n*ggas sold out they trunk in Alabama or Atlanta. Let’s not sit here and pretend that the big companies aren’t the ones making all the real money. The Southern push doesn’t reflect the growing living standard of Southern people as much as it represents a desperate effort from record labels to salvage their sales, which are in the toilet. They found a loyal market and they will now exploit it to the fullest. Your imprint means nothing, n*gga. You own no masters, you split publishing. The dollar amount that the majors get from the distributor is the bottom line. You don’t even see that as an artist. We’re all still slaves, we’re just on different boats.

Of course, Howard is in D.C. which isn't the South to us, but whatever, it's south of Philly, right?

It's just funny listening to New Yorkers try to explain the dominance of the South or to explain why New York hasn't fallen off or why New York's coming back and so forth.  Part of the problem is that it continues to be difficult for New Yorkers to accept sharing the limelight.  But I think it's also indicative of a bigger problem in hip hop that's manifest in 50 Cent's "clear the strip" mentality allowing for only one individual or team on top.

At the first Bay Area Rap Summit, a music lawyer (whose name sli