Jon Caramanica: The Roots Creativity "Threatened with Becoming a Relic"?!?

I don't want to get back into the blogger trap of giving somebody an excessively hard time about a single sentence but Jon Caramanica's take on The Roots as Jimmy Fallon's house band slowly built to a disturbing claim without really supporting it:

"In their expert reliability the Roots create spaces for other peoples’ creativity, even if their own is threatened with becoming a relic."

What, cause they got a good gig that doesn't quite suit Black Thought and they threw an open-ended show with a bunch of other people?

That just seems kind of odd but it does help explain why so many things not related to creativity were put in a negative light on the way to that conclusion.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Roots Picnic to Feature The Roots Backing Public Enemy

Breaking News: Clothing Important to Hip Hop!!!

Ever wonder if fashion can have a place in hip hop?

According to the Houston Chronicle, Yes It Can!

NPR Scraper Bike Coverage Includes Trunk Boiz Video

An NPR piece on scraper bikes includes a link to the original video for Scraper Bike by the Trunk Boiz.

Chuck Philips Exits L.A. Times, Still in the News

The latest Chuck Philips news reminds me that I should have pointed out that he was one of those leaving the LA Times as part of extensive staff reductions.

Clarification: Philips was not laid off but, instead, "requested and was given a buyout".

Unfortunately it's looking like Philips' failed work related to the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur will be what's he's known for in the world of hip hop.

In related news from a while back, Jack Shafer took a look at how the L.A. Times could have avoided that embarrassment.

Death Row Auctioned, TMZ Breaks News?

So it's the day after Death Row Records got auctioned for $24 million and TMZ is still the primary source?

I've long pointed out that mainstream media tends to relegate hip hop business news to entertainment sections but this got a lot of coverage prior to the auction.  Why wouldn't somebody who plays journalist cover the auction of a historically important record label?

Real Hip-Hop Network's Atonn Muhammad Makes Billboard

Atonn Muhammad, Founder and CEO of The Real Hip-Hop Network

We're suddenly seeing some decent coverage of hip hop business rather than the entertainment oriented themes of "how much did he make" and "buy the latest hip hop real estate as seen on MTV Cribs" and a lot of it is focused on the web game.

For example, Atonn Muhammad, founder and CEO of the Real Hip-Hop Network, is featured on the cover of Billboard's February 2nd issue.

I haven't gotten a chance to read the article yet but that's a good look for anybody and congratulations are in order!

Press Release:
Billboard Magazine Cover Features Hip-Hop's New CEO

Facebook President Hoax & the Limits of Journalism

TechCrunch has a great account of the Facebook President hoax which sucked in the French mainstream media like they were entertainment writers taking hip hop money claims at face value.

This story actually goes beyond what I was explaining recently to my youngest bro about the limitations of journalists' education and how that undermines mainstream media coverage.

The short version:
Working journalists typically cover a range of topics that far exceed their education and there is typically little time to make up for that lack of education so they then rely on a limited research system of checks and balances that results in deeply flawed coverage of most topics.

What's amazing in this case is that many major French news outlets didn't even bother to fact check combining insufficient knowledge with misuse of insufficient research methods.

This is quite relevant to ProHipHop because a number of false hip hop business claims that I've participated in exposing have gotten widespread transmission in the media after people saw something and passed it along cause it sounded good to them.  What's sad is that MSM journalists have been an integral part of this process and, when questioned, almost always have an explanation of how their methodology makes it ok even when they've obviously misled the public.

Forbes Turns Rumors Into Facts: 50 Cent's Glaceau Take

While you can probably find plenty of outlets that still say that 50 Cent got $400 million from his cut of the sale of Glaceau to Coke, most have moved on to the $100 million figure originally described by Forbes as an "estimated take" and now simply presented as a fact without any support whatsoever at any point.

Forbes never revealed how this figure was estimated or by whom though "Forbes" sometimes takes credit for the estimate.

Is this another rumor turned fact by simply repeating it multiple times in a mainstream media source that's trying to look hip by covering rap?

Or does it not really matter since we're talking about rappers and that's entertainment news?

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
50 Cent/Glaceau Ownership Figures to Remain Unresolved
Rumor of 50 Cent's 10% Share in Glaceau Likely PR Move

MTV's Tim Kash Going to War?

Tim Kash is training for war-zone reportage and all I can say is it sounds like a win-win situation to me especially if "CNN, NBC and Fox’s top producers" go with him!

[Just kidding, Tim!  Uh, but not about the producers.]

Real Talk TV: A Tale from the World of Hip Hop Business

JR Writer - Being Held Hostage For Bars

I decided to post the above video segment from a REAL TALK TV: DEAD ON ARRIVAL dvd in response to a comment by Malik Soliman who asked:

How does Hip Hop do business Clyde?

Perhaps it was a rhetorical question but, sadly, sometimes the above is the answer.

Hip Hop Cash Kings, Hot Rods & Dead Rappers @ Forbes

Hip-Hop Cash Kings
ProHipHop Executive Summary:
Famous rappers make money from lots of stuff that isn't music.

Hip-Hop Hot Rods
ProHipHop Executive Summary:
They spend some of that money on really expensive cars.

Mo' Money Blues
ProHipHop Executive Summary:
After they die, people often fight over their money.

For more such in-depth wisdom and examples of why hip hop is exciting cause it's so different than everything else, visit Forbes.com.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Are Stats Killing Hip Hop?

Hot Ghetto Mess to Offer Unity Through Humor

Thanks to BET's upcoming show Hot Ghetto Mess, which is losing sponsors left and right, we can now leave Katrina behind and once again laugh at poor black people.

Of course, like so many people have told me over the years, "it's just a joke."  No reason for anyone to be concerned.  We're just holdin' up mirrors and stackin' dollars!

And, if you don't like it, you can hold an ineffective burial ceremony and call it a day after reminding people that "We Got To Do Better."

About the Show:
Hot Ghetto Mess

Update:
The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at the situation including the pullout of advertisers:
It is Viacom, BET and even [BET Chairman & CEO Debra] Lee that have been savaged in debates raging on blogs, podcasts and even the Web site's own forums. Leading the charge is What About Our Daughters, a little-known blog and audio podcast addressing depictions of black women in popular culture. In recent weeks, the site targeted advertisers that appeared on a BET.com Web page advertising "Mess", including AT&T Corp., DaimlerChrysler and Target. Two advertisers, State Farm and Home Depot, released statements acknowledging that they withdrew both TV and online spots as a result of the boycott threat.

What About Our Daughters - BET Programming Chief Unrepentant about “Hot Ghetto Mess” - "It's so doggone goood-!"

50 Cent/Glaceau Ownership Figures to Remain Unresolved

Ok, all sorts of online sources are saying that Glaceau has denied that 50 Cent got $400 million and this is one version of the statement folks are reprinting saying it came from MSN, though I can't find that source at all:

While 50 Cent and many other world re-known celebrities have very lucrative and fruitful partnerships with our brand, any report stating personal figures of ownership in our company are erroneous at this time. Glaceau and Mr. Jackson have a deal in place that grants him partial ownership in his own brand. Both parties remain excited about the future of our relationship.

Assuming this is an accurate quote, they're not really saying anything.  This is the equivalent of saying, "he could have made more or less but we're not telling".

In fact, nobody's going to reveal that information in an official capacity, so the AllHipHop.com distributed rumor that 50 made $400 million will stand in the minds of the general public.  What will be interesting to see is how many MSM outlets pick this rumor up.  After seeing it on a newspaper blog and in a gossip column, the Guardian appears to be the first to run it in a news article as a straightforward statement of fact.

Thanks to Bruce Banner from Playahata for keeping me updated on developments.

Kanye West's Tantrums Becoming A Journalistic Cliche

I know Kanye was already a joke in many quarters but now he's becoming a media reference point of the worst kind.

The opening line from a recent Associated Press report on Faith Hill's supposed freakout at the Country Music Association Awards goes: "Faith Hill insists that she's no Kanye West."

Seemingly no big thing in the ever growing mass of Kanye West jokes, my point is that the writer is not discussing Kanye West, he's using Kanye West's name to signify "freaking out in an embarassingly public manner when one doesn't get an award". 

After watching the mass media spread the phrase "Pimp My Ride" to every nook and cranny of America, I think it's pretty clear where all this is leading.  Even when Kanye's on his best behavior, he's stuck with his nutty perception because now the journalists are turning the perception into a cliche, the kind of cliche that they will use over and over and over again until it simply becomes common knowledge.

Then again, maybe it was already common knowledge and now it's completing the process of becoming an everyday part of the language.  Lucky Kanye.  Now he might make the dictionary.

NY Times on the Smithsonian Hip Hop Press Conference

Ben Sisario of the NY Times reports on the press conference for the Smithsonian's hip hop collection plans.  Gee, I can't wait to see the reports from the New York and New Jersey based hip hop news sites that sent somebody over for this historic event.  They should be great!

It looks like the earlier AP report got some more facts wrong since Sisario reports that "Brent D. Glass, the director of the museum, said the project was begun in recent months with seed money from Universal Records."

Although I know I give Russell Simmons a hard time, I also have respect for many of his accomplishments and for his intelligence so I find it incredibly hard to believe that he actually said that hip hop is "the only real description of the suffering of our people."  Assuming he means African Americans, as opposed to rich men with expensive wives, he just dissed a lot of great black artists, including numerous writers whose work will tower over even my favorite hip hop lyricists long after they're dead.

Yeah, back that azz up, I'm suffering!

But, man, I wish I could have been at the conference.  I know I would have met some great writers from all the news sites we all follow on a daily basis.  I'll be sure to add their eyewitness accounts as soon as I track them down!