Before it becomes really old news, I wanted to round up some of the celebrity promotions, party sponsors and so forth from last week in relationship to MTV's Video Music Awards.
But let me start by giving big ups to Mos Def for his illegal performance outside Radio City Music Hall to raise awareness about New Orleans. I can't believe his camp is serious when they act like the cops overreacted in this case. They simply did what they do and I'm assuming Mos Def is smart enough to have seen that coming. In reality, it was a best case scenario for attention getting.
Last week was filled with sponsored parties including one for Common and Famke Janssen hosted by Sapporo, Maybach and Bombay Sapphire. Though I haven't run into any Gap related events related to the VMAs, I will be taking a look at the multifaceted campaign for Gap with which Common is involved later this week [I remind myself].
An MTV News article gives thumbnail sketches of many of the week's parties prior to the VMA show.
Cingular Wireless sponsored a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom with Ludacris as hosting performer.
Complex magazine threw a party at Milk Studio hosted by Nas.
Amp'd Mobile and Stuff sponsored an event at Marquee starring Jermaine Dupri and Janet Jackson.
Rocawear celebrated the opening of their first store, the Roc Pop Shop, with, who else, Jay-Z.
Jessica Simpson promoted her new album, A Public Affair, at a roller skating party at the Roxy.
Whiteflash.com threw an "extravagant" party for Missy Elliott and Ciara, though both appeared to be no shows.
Diddy boosted June Ambrose's upcoming book, Effortless Style, at Tenjune.
Jermaine Dupri showcased Johnta Austin at a party at Show.
Pharrell held court at a party sponsored by Absolut Ruby Red.
The week brought much talk of the alliance between LL Cool J and 50 Cent which LL used as a chance to slam Def Jam in an MTV News interview:
He said the company's music "gotta be a lot better." He also said that Def Jam has a fairly new staff that is running things differently from the old regime, and singled out the promotion department.
The NY Daily News reports that, backstage at the Awards:
LL Cool J used the opportunity to lash out at Def Jam Records. "I think Def Jam needs to be a better promoter of hip hop," he griped in the green room. So does he think Def Jam CEO Jay-Z has dropped the ball? "I think Jay-Z does a very good job...of promoting Jay-Z," he sniped.
LL's comments seem to fit what a lot of fans have been saying online for a while now. Increasingly, it's looking like Jay-Z took the Def Jam position as much to have control over his own career as to strengthen a record label.
I didn't actually see the awards but Henry Adaso makes the interesting point that Snoop may have been doing some image control when choosing not to join the Pussycat Dolls for their award for a video in which Snoop is a prominent figure:
Big Snoop Dogg was probably mindful of losing some street cred, as he sat still and shook his head as if he couldn't recall ever dropping a verse on that song.
Of course, that raises the issue of why he appeared in the video in the first place.
The official sponsors of the Awards were announced as Acuvue, Chevrolet, Dodge, Herbal Essences, JC Penny, Pepsi, Taco Bell and Virgin Mobile USA in an early press release touting the multiple platforms for viewing and sponsoring the show, in particular, the use of MTV Overdrive to provide "an unprecedented live view of the ALL the action behind the scenes and backstage viewers have never gotten to see."
Unfortunately for MTV, the Overdrive platform got mixed reviews with Jim Farber of the NY Daily News stating that the "'exclusive' backstage footage turned out to be just things like Paris Hilton dryly practicing her lines before going on or Pharrell Williams chatting on his cell phone."
The Associated Press said good and bad things about Overdrive:
At times, Overdrive offered candid, spontaneous moments, of which the regular telecast is now mostly bereft. More often, though, it was continuous, embarrassing VJ banter.
While MTV's multiple platforms, including mobile, may have gotten a lot of viewers, it sounds like the cooler promotions were the offsite parties during the week along with Mos Def's marketing for the people of New Orleans. If I was a real journalist, I'd make a closing pun at this point about the back of the truck on which Mos Def performed being the realest platform of all, but I'm just a blogger so I'll leave you with that thought.
Related ProHipHop Coverage:
MTV VMAs: OK Go Video, List of Winners
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