Complete List of 2009 Billboard Women In Music Power Players: Special Honors for Beyonce & Lady Gaga

Billboard has announced the 2009 Billboard Women In Music Power Players List with Beyonce named Woman of the Year and Lady Gaga named Rising Star.

The 2009 Billboard Women In Music Power Players List:

1. Judy McGrath
Chairman/CEO, MTV Networks

2. Julie Greenwald
Chairman/COO, Atlantic Records

3. Jody Gerson
Co-president, Sony/ATV Music Publishing

4. Kathy Willard
Executive VP/CFO, Live Nation

5. Sylvia Rhone
President, Universal Motown Records

6. Debra Lee
Chairman/CEO, BET Networks

7. Alexandra Patsavas
Owner, Chop Shop Music Supervision

8. Amanda Marks
Executive VP/GM, Universal Music Group Distribution

9. Claudia Palmer
Executive VP/COO, Europe, EMI Music Publishing

10. Julie Swidler
Executive VP of business affairs/general counsel, Sony Music Entertainment

11. Marian Leighton Levy
Chairman, Rounder Records

12. Marsha Vlasic
Senior VP of contemporary rock, International Creative Management

13. Tammy Genovese
CEO, Country Music Assn.

14. Cynthia Sexton
Executive VP of music services, EMI Music, Worldwide

15. Brenda Romano
President of promotion, Interscope Geffen A&M Records

16. Amanda Ghost
President, Epic Records

17. Andria Vidler
President, EMI Music U.K. & Ireland

18. Lia Vollack-Friedman
President of motion picture music, Sony Pictures Entertainment

19. Kara DioGuardi
Co-owner, Arthouse Entertainment; VP of A&R, Warner Bros. Records

20. Linda Newmark
Executive VP of acquisitions and strategic projects, Universal Music Publishing Group

21. Melissa Lonner
Senior Producer, 'Today'

22. Rebeca Leon
VP of Latin talent, AEG Live/Goldenvoice

23. Kathy Spanberger
President of the Anglo American region, peermusic

24. Jennifer Schaidler
Executive VP of sales, Sony Music Entertainment

25. Cara Lewis
Agent, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment

26. Alison Smith
Senior VP of performing rights, BMI

27. Livia Tortella
GM/Executive VP of marketing and creative media, Atlantic Records

28. Marilyn Bergman
Former president/chairman, ASCAP

29. Liana Farnham
VP of marketing concerts/network integration, MSG Entertainment

30. Marilyn Santiago
Programming/operations manager for Miami, Spanish Broadcasting System

Over at Hip Hop Press:
MTV NETWORKS CHAIRMAN AND CEO JUDY MCGRATH TOPS
THE 2009 BILLBOARD WOMEN IN MUSIC POWER PLAYERS LIST

So In Style Black Barbies: As Cliched as the White Ones

The fact that the video accompanying a NY Daily News article uses runway models to illustrate the growing diversity of Barbie dolls pretty much keys into my response to the introduction of the new So In Style black Barbie dolls. They still don't represent real women's beauty and they tie into unattainable standards of beauty that contribute to social ills such as anorexia and bulimia.

I'm not on a crusade and I do believe there's room for all sorts of fantasy figures in people's lives, but I have to ask, where are the women I've known and loved, whether up close or at a distance?

The big girl at the club who dances better than all the skinny chicks.

The nerdy scholar whose thrift shop style represents a new cool for emerging generations.

The tattooed and pierced bad ass who shaved her head and has no regrets.

The paint spattered artist who doesn't mind dirt but cleans up real nice.

I think the discussion that's happening around these dolls is important and I'd like to think the Barbie cliches help open up space for various efforts at alternative dolls. I just hope that, in those discussions, folks don't forget that all these Barbies are cliched fantasy figures that have their place in women's lives but should not be allowed to become the sole definition of beauty.

Note: If you want to dig into deeper Barbie analysis, one thing you might consider in the video mentioned above is that, as the commentator describes a boombox, the violin actually seems more prominent and any serious critique should take such complicating details into account.

Over at Hip Hop Press:
Barbie Launches a New Line of Black Dolls Called So In Style

Murs on the Obstacles in Hip Hop for Female MC's

Murs on Why There Were No Female MC's At Rock The Bells

I think this is the most intelligent and, possibly, the only intelligent thing I've heard a male associated with hip hop say in a long time about the situation of women who want to be MC's. Or about women, in general, for that matter.

Murs is definitely operating on a higher level of consciousness than most, even most so-called "conscious" MC's.

McNally Smith Announces B-Girl Be Hip-Hop Diploma Scholarship

Very cool news from the Hip-Hop Diploma Program at the McNally Smith College of Music as they announce and share application info for the B-Girl Be Hip-Hop Diploma Scholarship.

As program coordinator Toki Wright states:

"Often in the media, the many rewarding aspects and innovations of women in Hip-Hop are overshadowed by their male counterparts...The 'B-Girl Be Scholarship acknowledges that women's contributions are important and essential to sustaining and expanding Hip-Hop culture. The work of MC Lyte, Tricia Rose, Queen Latifah, and countless industry representatives demonstrate the power, talent and tenacity it takes to make it in the culture and business of Hip-Hop."

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
McNally Smith Launches Hip-Hop Studies Program
Toki Wright: A Different Mirror Album Art

Over at Hip Hop Press:
Nation's first Hip-Hop Diploma Program seeks more female candidates

New Boyz: Tie Me Down Music Video ft. Ray J

New Boyz - Tie Me Down ft. Ray J

Noted Kardashian pornographer Ray J joins New Boyz in an adolescent celebration of the disposability of women, I mean, another fun, playful, lighthearted, youthful song about relationships!

"Cause my life is great and you ain't nothin' but a ho!"
New Boyz and Ray J love the status quo.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
New Boyz: Skinny Jeanz And A Mic Album Art
New Boyz: You're A Jerk Music Video
Vivid Buys Kim Kardashian, Ray J Sex Tape for $1 Mil

Black Barbie on Branding: Alfamega Covers w/Lies, Drake's Video Not The Best We've Ever Had

Black Barbie writes at The Rap Up about Alfamega's recent public denials regarding his well-documented snitchery.

It's a solid critical recap of a series of missteps though links out to some key pieces of the puzzle might help those who haven't been following recent developments in Alfamega's world.

BB also points to Drake & Co.'s cluelessness regarding the effects of the video for Best I Ever Had:

"Somehow, Drake and Kanye (the video’s director) managed to turn a cute love ode into a boob-filled, soft porn mini-movie. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against boobs...But the entire video took away from the song’s intended meaning. Instead of making women feel special and loved, which is why 99.9% of us loved the song in the first place, it made us feel objectified. And how could it not?"

For his part, Drake claims he learned a lesson from the negative reactions and admits he didn't really take into account the response of the women he had been winning over:

"I guess one thing I didn't consider is what the song personally means to a lot of women...To those women, I apologize. I do apologize. My intention wasn't to put anyone down. It was to make them laugh. I wanted people to see something visually different."

Given the focus of the video, I'm not sure what the visually different part was but it's a good look to apologize, despite what some folks in the rap game on and offline seem to feel.

Though Black Barbie doesn't explicitly frame her posts in terms of branding, I think they're useful discussions to consider regarding these artists' brands as well as the ongoing issues in hip hop business regarding lying about one's past and treating women as objects.

Señor Kaos: Girls Rock Too Music Video

Señor Kaos: Girls Rock Too

From the YouTube post:

"Music Video from Atlanta based Hip Hop Artist Señor Kaos. Featuring cameos from J Live, Slick And Rose, B Girl Severe, Dj Taj Anwar, Stahhr The Femcee, Tori Alamaze, and more."

"Directed by: Ericka Carter | Jay Quest | Mark Madison"

Blog: The Kaos Effect
MySpace: Senor Kaos
Merch: Vintage Imperial

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Señor Kaos: Adam's World Artist of the Week

Women DJs in Nairobi Facing Familiar Gender Barriers

An article on women djs in Nairobi, Kenya tells a familiar story of women facing men's resistance to their involvement in the music industry.  It also does a nice job of introducing a number of djs based in Nairobi.

WEEN on King Mag: Heightening the Contradictions?

It's kind of a trip to see this video about an industry-oriented women's empowerment event on King Mag's site.  I don't see anything about it on the Women in Entertainment Empowerment site but it seems to be another kickoff event of some sort.

Not to belabor the obvious but these are King's "Related Articles":

BALLIN’ OUT OF CONTROL
What’s the most girlfriends you’ve ever had at one time? The most—prob...

Dennis Rodman
Not the kiss and tell type, huh. That’s cool. Word is your years in Chicago were the peak of your...

King of The White Girls
If one expects revolution to, well, revolutionize then it cannot be passive. It must be aggressive...

Warning: These Girls Are Porn Stars
Wednesday’s Haps

- Kim Kardashian Stars in Sex Tape Sequel - C-Murder is getting another trial. - 'Nappy Heade...

Oh well, let's see what happens when WEEN really gets going next year with more concrete projects beyond the million name database.

[Note: any of you closet lefties get the joke behind the title?]

Idolator Live Blogs the [Incredibly Tedious] Congressional Hip Hop Hearings

Jess Harvell is live blogging the Congressional hip hop hearings.  I checked in around 12:30 or so and couldn't get sound out of the video webcast but Jess's account gives me a strong sense of gladness not to be watching that little screen.

Some excerpts:

10:29 a.m. The first 20 minutes of this thing have been one long, vigorous handjob for Bobby Rush from one Representative after another for being such a brave soul. Is this how these things normally go?

10:53 a.m. When I die, I will be forced to take notes on a congressional hearing where the opening statements never end. I just told Maura that if she hears my head hit the keyboard to come over and kick me a few times.

12:12 p.m. MTV's "stuff as much incomprehensible motion into three-hours as we possibly can" at the VMA's now makes a lot more sense, at least from a live-blogging perspective.

It sounds like a tedious show.  Maybe Jay Smooth was right but mostly because this is so boring that no one will care.

But there is a revealing note about music industry execs:

12:25 p.m. Man, all these m[deleted]s are so hot to distance themselves from their hip-hop content/product or otherwise play it down that it's kind of shocking.

I guess ol' Jess is stuck in front of that monitor for the rest of the day.  That's what you get for making those kinds of programming decisions!

It's really pretty today in Raleigh.  Sunny and a relatively mild temperature.  Think I'll go for a little walk while Jess keeps track of those hearings for us.

Update:
Here's the NY Times version.

Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network Launches

After initial news regarding their creation, the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN) held a launch event Wednesday night and you can see the pictures here.

Though Kimora Lee Simmons was announced as the spokesperson, Valeisha Butterfield is described as the founder and is clearly the lady in charge.  You can find out more about her and some other happening women that are involved in one unclear capacity or another at WEEN's new website in the About section.

Since this was simply a social event there's not much here to which to respond.  However a commenter on my initial post, in which I express my suspicious inclinations regarding this organization, had the following to say:

They actually started this WEEN thing way before the congressional hearings were announced. Things like this take planning; you can't just spring it up in that short amount of time. The first WEEN meeting (which a friend of mine attended) was held right after the Don Imus thing. Since then, they have been planning - creating a website, getting members, being strategic. This is just the formal launch.

Instead of being cynical, you should recognize that regardless of when the first meeting took place, that the organization is needed. That's why the first meeting - in which only 20 guests were invited - had over 200 guests respond and nearly 100 attend.

You're right, things like this do take planning and, since these issues have been fairly big for years now one would expect something to emerge at an industry level sooner or later.  That it began after the Don Imus controversy doesn't really say much about deeper concern since that was the point where it became clear that there was going to be a big backlash against business as usual.

How this group will actually function and what their true agenda is remains to be seen and will only be revealed by their actions.  Just because they claim to be responding to real social concerns does not mean that their organization's actions will ultimately address such concerns in a relevant manner.

Given the fact that this organization has come into existence so late in the game regarding the foul treatment of women in hip hop suggests that something beyond social concerns are driving this group.  The fact that external social pressures have been growing that could affect corporate bottom lines and that HSAN is involved should be enough to make anyone wonder why this group is gathering now.

I only said I was being cynical in a sarcastic manner.  I'm really just being realistic given everything I've seen to date.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
HSAN Creates Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network [WEEN] Just in Time for Congressional Hearings
Russell Simmons Helps Diamond Industry Get Ahead Of Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond Flick

HSAN Creates Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network [WEEN] Just in Time for Congressional Hearings

HSAN takes a stand regarding the portrayal of women in hip hop and Kimora Lee Simmons takes her rightful place at the helm:
Taking a stand on the issue of portrayal of women of color in entertainment, specifically in Hip-Hop music, women in the entertainment industry have joined forces to announce the launch of the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN).

Fashion mogul Kimora Lee Simmons, singer Joss Stone, Universal Records EVP and Motown Records President Sylvia Rhone and Executive Director of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Valeisha Butterfield are notable participants, which includes more than 80 influential women in the entertainment industry including corporate executives, recording artists and educators. The group has been meeting for the last several months to develop WEEN's mission statement, program and strategy.  Simmons has been tapped as the organization's national spokeswoman.

I know I'm an awful, cynical person whose deprived upbringing in the South means I will never understand the sophisticated yet selfless ways of the big city but I just love the timing of their appearance as Congress prepares for hearings on the representation of women in hip hop media to shore up their own faltering ratings.

Because, deep down inside, I know they really care and that it's not just another campaign to blunt the force of moral outrage as it threatens the bottom line of hip hop business.

Related Coverage:
Variety: Congress holds hearing on hip-hop

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network Launches
Russell Simmons Helps Diamond Industry Get Ahead Of Leonardo DiCaprio's Blood Diamond Flick

Carl's Jr. Flat Buns Commercial < Van Halen's Hot for Teacher

Flat Buns Patty Melt Commercial (30 seconds)

Remember Hot For Teacher by Van Halen? They were such a sucky band as were all the metal bands we endured in the 80s when I still periodically watched large amounts of MTV.  These Carl's Jr./Hardee's Flat Buns commercials totally brought me back to Van Halen and my main argument for rock fans regarding the current state of hip hop.

Most of my white friends in North Carolina still seem somewhat amazed that I listen to rap music more than any other genre out since most of them think the whole deal is bs.  Seriously, I still get people saying rap is not music as if that was an intelligible statement.  On the other hand, some of them have moved on to discussing issues related to rap that they've been hearing about cause I'll explain it to them in a manner they can understand.  So there are small glimmers of hope.

Van Halen - Hot for Teacher

What I've never gotten around to is using my argument that dismissing rap because of gangsta rap or whatever other subgenre is dominant is like dismissing rock in the 80s because you didn't like heavy metal.  The bottom line is that what's charting has little to do with the full range of musical activities within any genre of music.  But we rarely get to that because most of them would have to take it on faith that rap is anything other than racist, mysogynistic, homophobic noise that wakes them up when it rolls through their neighborhood.

Seeing these remind me so much of Hot For Teacher.  Don't know if any teachers complained back then but I understand why they're complaining.  When other people take control of representations of you and your kind, however that's defined, it usually doesn't work out so well.

About 2:20 into Hot for Teacher you get a shot of the teacher walking down the aisle from behind that may have been picked up for the ad.  In fact, you could argue that the whole thing is a ripoff of the Van Halen video.  But Hot for Teacher is actually much more demeaning with the teacher characters playing into fantasies of beauty queens and strippers.

And the little kid is a pimp at the end of the Van Halen video!

Rap Sessions Asks: Does Hip Hop Hate Women?

Kanye West - Throw Some D’s Remix

A lot of questions are being asked about hip hop these days.  Recently, Felicia Pride introduced Rap Sessions, a traveling panel and discussion event with the questioning title, Does Hip Hop Hate Women?

I don't know about hip hop as a whole but I do know that there's a lot of woman hating going on in rap music.

In the above video by Kanye West, a remix/parody of Rich Boy's song about getting new rims for his new Cadillac, Kanye humorously plays with the idea of upgrading various women with breast implants.  It's funny and it's catchy, yet it takes the commodification of women for granted to the degree that it's quite sick and hateful.

And hip hop's full of such things that both attract and repel, leading some of us to feel conflicted about our love of hip hop, especially when we find outselves drawn to music that has such objectionable elements.

In the coming week or so I'll be focusing on signs of life rather than signs of death in hip hop.  But I wanted to start off by saying that many of the problems in hip hop are quite obvious but what to do is not, that feeling conflicted is normal in such a situation, especially when one's concerns are dismissed out of hand by so many hip hop fans, and that those that can't understand or empathize with such feelings are not to be trusted when addressing serious concerns.

I don't claim to have the answers regarding social change within hip hop but I do think that coming together in dialogue with the intent of following through with action is inherently necessary and that includes projects like Rap Sessions.

Coming Soon: Hip Hop Signs of Life!

Change This: Open Source Marketing & BlogHer

A new edition of Change This is out including Co-Creation Rules! by James Cherkoff and Johnnie Moore that emphasizes an "open source" approach to marketing in which the company and the consumer engage in the creation of meaning.  Or something like that.

I couldn't get behind all of the broad opening statements but most of the manifesto presents a useful series of points designed to help companise understand the contemporary consumer's mindset.

Also worth noting is Elisa Camahort's Women Bloggers: Changing Their Worlds, Changing the World about BlogHer, a community of women bloggers.