April 10th, 2008
We’ll no longer have to wonder if artists are getting paid to name-drop products in their songs (a la Busta Rhymes “Pass The Courvoisier”). Today, Def Jam and Proctor and Gamble’s TAG line announced that they are forming a record label, which will be headed up by Jermaine Dupri, who will serve as the label’s President. Jermaine says,
“Today, we make history in the music industry with TAG Records. This label is going to provide new artists with a chance of a lifetime. New artists will receive ten times the typical marketing support - a first in the industry. I’m hand selecting and molding these artists to make history in hip hop.”
Alex Keith, general manager P&G Deodorants says: “We’re very excited about our partnership with IDJ and the broad platform it provides for creating artistic opportunities within the urban community. We’re confident the partnership will make a positive impact and bring opportunities to undiscovered urban creativity and vision.”
Geez, times are rough for the music biz. It used to be that there was actually some debate about whether or not a certain rapper was a sell-out. Now they’re just selling out from day 1.
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April 9th, 2008
Check out Lil Man’s suit….ha!
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April 8th, 2008
On Monday, April 7, Brian Urlacher, David Ortiz, Adrian Peterson, Dwight Howard and 50 Cent were together for a Vitamin Water commercial shoot in Queens, NY. The commercial features the stars in a futuristic space setting,outfitted in cosmonaut space suits.
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April 8th, 2008
XXL keeps coming with the hot covers. Plus the great articles (which I wrote a few of lol)…
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April 8th, 2008
In an interview with Digital Spy over in the UK, when asked about he feels given the fact that critics have literally trashed his music since the day it hit the airwaves, Soulja Boy said:
“….[T]he media think they can control what sells. They think if they say Kanye West or Lil’ Wayne or 50 Cent is the best rapper, everybody else will think they’re the best rapper. But it don’t work like that. If the public buys three million Soulja Boy records and the media’s saying Soulja Boy’s garbage, something don’t add up…. They’ve said my music sucks and I’ve been successful without them, and that makes them mad. People in the media, it makes their day when someone they say is a five-star artist goes platinum.”
This is one rare occasion where I’m going to have to agree with young Soulja Boy Tell Em. I think the media and critics right now are so out of touch with what people- not just young kids- want. I see this particularly with hip-hop. There’s so much emphasis on these artists who’ve been out for years, and the public isn’t really all that interested in them like that. Why? Because even though they may be bankable personalities and what you might call “stars,” at the end of the day their influence in pop culture stems from them making records that people love and embrace. If they’re not doing that, then their relevance fades. You’re only as hot as your last hit. And I don’t mean hit in the sense where it’s a song on the radio or a video on TV every couple minutes. I mean a hit that people want to hear just for the sake of hearing it. Something organic, that doesn’t need a push. When you think of a homegrown hit (a phenomenon, if you will) you couldn’t really find a bigger one than “Crank That” was. That was the “Macarena” for the new millennium. I don’t know that any of these rappers that routinely make critic’s top10 lists could do that.
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