Ludacris & Shawnna Battle on Harleys for RIDES

Ludacris & Shawnna on Harley-Davidson Motorcycles

Ludacris and Shawnna appear on Harleys in the October issue of RIDES magazine. The feature includes an interview with both mc's as they build to the release of their collaborative album, Battle Of the Sexes:

"The Disturbing the Peace labelmates talked about their first collaboration album and the constant battle that takes place between the sexes, on and off the road. Ludacris and Shawnna both received a Harley, courtesy of NYC Choppers and Harley-Davidson, to customize and reflect their individual personalities."

Official Sites:
Harley-Davidson
RIDES

Carlyle Motor Club Commercial f/Raekwon

Raekwon in Commercial for Carlyle Motor Club

Over at Hip Hop Press:
Luxury Auto Dealer The Carlyle Motor Club to Participate
in 2009 BET Awards Extravaganza Hosted by Billboard

Scion Sponsors Kongregate Collabs: Indie Artists/Musicians + Flash Game Developers

Scion is sponsoring Kongregate Collabs, a service from Kongregate that is said to offer a "venue and tools that let game artists and musicians link up with programmers to collaborate on creating games":

"The launch of Kongregate Collabs is sponsored by ongoing promotional partner Scion...As part of its second eight-week promotion with Kongregate, running through July 31, Scion will be the sole sponsor of Kongregate Collabs, including Scion's Artistic Intersection, a contest that will recognize and award weekly prizes to winning participants who upload the best entries."

"Winners will be determined by ratings from Kongregate players. Anyone can post their game art and music to get feedback, interaction and collaboration from the Kongregate community."

Well worth a look for indie artists and musicians on the come up.

Current Contest: Scion Artistic Intersection

Porsche 911 Hood Paintings by NY Graf Artists

Porsche 911 Hood Painted by Daze

Porsche Cars North America, Inc. sponsored five street artists to paint on Porsche 911 hoods as part of the Whole In The Wall: 1970-Now art show. The sale of the works will benefit New York's CITYarts, a "charity dedicated to engaging city children in constructive public art projects":

"The artists, native NY graffiti writers, born between 1957 and 1966, commissioned for the Porsche collaboration, include:
-- BLADE: The godfather of the scene, often called the "King of Graf";
-- JonOne: Whose work has evolved from '70s train tagging to abstract painting;
-- Sharp: Whose style is inspired by comic strips and ancient scripts;
-- Crash: An NYC graf pioneer who now has works in the Museum of Modern Art; and
-- Daze: Whose work today is a continuation, on canvas, of the graffiti movement."

The NY Times has a feature and slide show about the Whole In The Wall exhibit that runs through June 27th at 529-535 West 35th Street in Manhattan.

The exhibit was organized by the Helenbeck Gallery.

[Photo: PRNewsFoto/Porsche Cars North America, Inc., Brian Butnick]

Kia Soul's Hip Hop Hampsters: A New Way To Roll

A New Way To Roll: Kia Soul Commercial

Via Advert Fan.

Nelly's Ford Flex: It's a Gas Guzzler! It's a Birthday Cake!

Nelly's Branded Birthday Cake

Nelly's work with Ford results in A BRAND NEW CAR or, in this case, a customized Ford Flex.

Nelly Unwraps His [Highly Anticipated] "Gift"

I may poke a bit in the photos captions but I'll have to admit that this is a fun form of marketing.

Nelly and His Ford Flex Go Vegas

Happy Birthday, Nelly!

Shwayze in New Pontiac Vibe Commercial

Pontiac Vibe Commercial Featuring Shwayze

Here's a new Pontiac commercial featuring Shwayze with some nice postproduction work.

An earlier commercial earned Patrick Poulatian and Robert Sethi of Brickyard VFX nominations for Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) Awards in Outstanding Compositing - Commercial.

Brickyard VFX also did postproduction for the TAG "Ghostride" commercial among others.

Unique Whips: 50 Cent, Diddy, LeBron James

LeBron James & His Customized Ferrari F430

This fall, SPEED cable tv's Unique Whips show, featuring Will Castro and his Unique Autosports team of customizers, will have three special episodes:

"The first special, scheduled to premiere Nov. 4 at 10 p.m. ET, will feature NBA star LeBron 'King' James and his Ferrari F430, along with a special Toyota Sequoia Platinum NBA All-Star Game project with Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning..."

"For the second special, Castro joins...50 Cent inside his Connecticut mansion, as the pair work on a special project with Pontiac. Powered by a 500-horsepower LSX 427 engine, 50's one-of-a-kind Pontiac G8 performance sedan gets some 'Unique' treatment at Castro's New York headquarters..."

"For the third special, Castro and his team got to do a little retro work on a pair of 'fraternal twin' Jeep Wranglers for Sean 'Diddy' Combs...'Diddy wanted us to make Wranglers like the ones Wesley Snipes drove in the movie New Jack City,' Castro said. 'We delivered one with a merlot theme and the other was platinum.'"

Official Sites:
Unique Autosports
SPEED

EPMD & Big Gipp Featured on Upcoming Scion A/V Remixes

Scion A/V Remix: EPMD's Run It

Scion's record label, Scion A/V, is releasing a new series of remixes including:

"Scion A/V Remix - EPMD brings you the track 'Run It,' laid out by the legendary New York rap duo EPMD and remixes by London-based DJ/producers Sinden, Hervé and Duke Dumont (all of whom have gained worldwide notoriety within the electronic and dance music scenes)."

Tracklist:
1. "Run It" (Hervé's Got His Hands Up Remix)
2. "Run It" (Sinden Remix)
3. "Run It" (Duke Dumont Mix)

Scion A/V Remix: Big Gipp's Hot

"Scion A/V Remix - Big Gipp features southern rapper Big Gipp of Goodie Mob fame, providing his traditionally smoothed out, eccentric rap style on the uptempo track 'Hot.' Scion contracted Atlanta-based DJ/producers Rob Wonder, Klever and Treasure Fingers to each produce their own dance remix of the track."

Tracklist:
1. "Hot" (Treasure Fingers Remix)
2. "Hot" (Klever Remix)
3. "Hot" (Rob Wonder Remix)

Check the Scion A/V website for previous projects with such artists as Ghostface Killah and the daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra.

Automotive Coverage Continues at Automotive II

You'll find more ProHipHop Automotive coverage in our Automotive II category.

Smart Car Appears in Redman's Run My Block Video

Redman Flossin' in a Smart Car [Foul Language Alert]

The Smart Car makes a huge appearance in this segment from what is apparently the upcoming Ready Or Not Mixtape edition of DJ Scoob Doo's Streets Talk DVD series.  Probably not the placement for which the folks at Smart Car would have hoped but it definitely has the makings of a great guerrilla marketing campaign.

Redman - Run My Block

The Smart Car also plays a starring role in Redman's Run My Block video that I assume would follow the above segment.

Run My Block video via RealTalkNY.

At MySpace: Redman

Lowrider Nationals Feature Three 6 Mafia, Gemini

Lowrider Nationals Poster

The Lowrider Nationals, an "urban car culture and lifestyle custom car show, live concert, and hop competition", takes place August 3rd in Bakersfield, California.

Scheduled performers:
Three 6 Mafia, Gemini, Mr. Capone-E, Omar Cruz, Mr. Criminal, Kafani, Far East Movement, La La and Akwid with host Noe G. and official Lowrider Nationals DJs The Mixaholics.

Sponsors include:
Dr. Pepper, Budweiser, MetroPCS, Kragen Auto Parts and CFL TV [urban car culture and lifestyle TV show].

Media sponsors:
Hot 94.1 FM, La Caliente 94.6 FM, Pirate Radio 93.1 FM, MAS Magazine and Bakotopia.

Official Site:
Lowrider Nationals

Baseball Managers Lou Pinella & Ozzie Guillen Rap

Lou Pinella & Ozzie Guillen Car Dealership Rap

Cubs Manager Lou Pinella and White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen appear above in a Chevy car dealership ad rapping their little hearts out for a campaign whose theme is "Best Friends Forever"!

Scion's Jeri Yoshizu on Advertising w/Hip Hop

Adam Bernard has an interview with Scion's Sales Promotions Manager Jeri Yoshizu.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Jeri Yoshizu on Scion's Hip Hop Marketing

Too Short Joins Scion's "Live Metro" Tour

Too Short joins Scion's "Live Metro" May concert tour in Minneapolis, Columbus, OH, St. Louis and Chicago.