As yet another year is poised to go the way of DMX's career (and personal freedom) and Diminutive Dwayne sits comfortably atop the hip-hop throne as the best rapper alive not married to Beyoncé or about to do a stretch for mistaking the ATL suburbs for Fallujah, I—a young, inquisitive, and handsome magazine editor—have been thinking about what exactly the Martian's accomplishment really means.

I was all set to hit you with a hot 16-part blog series on Wayne's inability to correctly complete a simile ("Abra cadabra, I'm up like Viagra/I just do this shit for my click like Adam Sandler") or make anything resembling sense ("Money so old it's growin' white hair/Young Money, baby") and how this is either a side effect of living on a diet rich in sizzurp and cannabis or a revolutionary act of linguistic (t)errorism aimed at lames such as myself who insist on reading things like books and magazines when the educational paradigm has shifted completely to start and stop with YouTube videos and blog posts, but, as an early X-mas present to all y'all, I decided to spare you that. For now.

So back to the point at hand: The Lilliputian's rare double of commercial and critical success—a million in first-week sales and best-of-the-year nods from sources as diverse as New York magazine and your mama—has truly made Wayne an alien in the music world. What sticks out about Wayne's accomplishment is how rare it is in today's game—to get both sales in the stores and plaudits in the press. And, yet, the fact that Wayne's two-headed success is still the exception and not the rule illustrates perfectly hip-hop's inability to deal honestly with how it figures achievement.

What I'm talking about is the way rap has become, and stayed, all about SoundScan numbers, and, more precisely, those for the first week. All we ever hear about is sales sales sales, as if the success of the label's pre-release marketing blitz and the traction of radio singles with Midwestern White sorority girls is what it's all about. Out of the other side of hip-hop's collective maw comes all that talk about niceness, about spittin' how you live it, all that Cornel West-type chuuch-ing about providing a voice for the voiceless, about refusing to be silent or silenced, all that lip-service to uplift and empowerment and repping the hip-hop culture and for us by us and…

Indeed, rap has been having it both ways for quite a while, with its expressed desire for g.o.o.d. music and its bewildering insistence that quantity has something to do with quality. That said, no one can stick to the narrative for too long, because it's not really possible. When you really stop to think about it, all this shouting out of SoundScan numbers makes about as much sense as Baby with a pack of gum in his mouth.
Take, for instance, the case of young civil rights activist Soulja Boy, on the one hand, and, on the other, Killer Mike. All this is fairly obvious, I know, but it still seems worth saying. The reason SB (and Kanye and Wayne and T.I., and whoever else is still caking up in these breadless times) sells is because he appeals to a broader audience than do the Plieses of the world. (Check Plies's first-week numbers Wednesday for confirmation of this fact. My prediction: 724. Note: Not 724K.) The reason Killer's last platter—which had some heads around tha office wanting to horseshoe an XXL-rating wreath around Mike's neck—had all the suction of Superhead with strep throat is because, when you really get down to it, the hip-hop audience as a whole is no more interested in complex, cultivated, or cutting-edge music than is the audience that buys records from four-leaf chancre Nickelback or Billy Cyrus's daughter/penitentiary enticement.
Or, rather, it's that the rap audience, whatever it might say with its jewel-encrusted mouth, tells the true, and different, story of what it wants and needs with its biker-chain, hipster wallet. Although the likes of Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye, Wayne, T.I., and 50 Cent are indeed hugely talented, high-quality artists, their true genius is their ability to make music that appeals to people who listen to music other than rap. Big SoundScan numbers reveal the breadth of someone's audience, not necessarily the quality of their music. The music may be remarkably good (Wayne, 'Ye, Em, Jay, T.I. [except T.I. vs. Tip, of course]), or it may be laughably bad (Soulja Boy, '90s Puff), but it sells big numbers for the same reason: commercial pop appeal, with the right marketing/imaging/branding push behind it.

Just compare the sales histories and the awareness by the larger, non-rap-head culture of Killer Mike and Mike Jones if you really want to blow your mind. That Killer has more years in the game than MJ has actual brain cells means nothing, in the end, when it comes to record-industry success. And if rap really is just about the by-any-means-necessary, get-rich-or-die-tryin' race to the paper, then how much smarter, really, is Mike, Killer than Mike Jones—or Soulja Boy, for that matter?

Unfortunately, Wayne's amazing year won't make rap fans any more honest about the way they talk about their favorite music; it won't make anyone stop equating big sales numbers with big quality, big achievement, and big success. In fact, it's likely to have the opposite effect. So just remember: Every time you bring up someone's SoundScan figures in an argument over this or that rapper, what you're really doing is laying the groundwork for the next Mike Jones, who, well, might actually be Mike Jones. And if that happens, not even Hova will be able to save your souls.—Devo

http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=32847

As if it's any surprise to folks who really pay attention to rap music, before this culture went completely pop it was sort of a rags to riches experience for people who made it in the music business. Even legendary author Tom Wolfe knows that.

For a guy as knee deep in the entertainment business as I am, I still keep things pretty ground level. So I come in contact with a fair share of street corner CEOs. These are the guys who read some article in XXL or Vibe about how such and such rap CEO (take your pick: Suge Knight, Diddy, Jay-Z, 50, Ted Lucas, J Prince) flipped some street money into an independent record label, which in turn became successful and them yielded them millions. Dudes come out of jail and the first thing they want to do is own a record label. That's just the way it is.

But if you do the knowledge to the music business, you'll know that the business of music has always had some aspect of street corner culture involved in it. This goes all the way back to MCA being tied up with Chicago mob connects, band booking, and things of that nature from the 1920s on. This is a seedy racket, no matter how you cut the cake.

So it was interesting, yesterday, when I was on the line with a rep from Sweetwater. Anybody who buys music gear knows about Sweetwater, they're one of the best companies in the business. They provide more than customer service, those dudes are your friends. (Could be criminals too though, hey ya never know)

Somehow, in the midst of our friendly conversation, we get to talking about fraud. He told me that with gear purchases, most of the incidences of fraud that the company experiences come from the production and DJing world. That people will make huge purchases on big ticket items like MPC 5000's. They'll make the purchase with stolen credit card numbers and then ask for overnight delivery, tell the sales rep that they need it ASAP for a session or something. He said a lot of these people won't have any sales history with Sweetwater (they've got past purchases on file), and so immediately a flag goes up. He indicated to me that there is a LOT of this type of fraud taking place, and the biggest sector, again, is with gear that is used for production and DJing.

Now how we got to this topic, that was from us talking about Sweetwater's marketing and advertising efforts. I basically asked why Sweetwater never advertised in Scratch when the mag existed, and he said because of all this fraud, they're not really sure how much they want to target that audience. I thought that was a decent explanation.

It got me thinking (and as you can see now, writing) about people's goals and aspirations in the music business, and the topic of conversation sort of jibed with Clover Hope's "Why Be A Rapper?" blog post from yesterday. I think on the whole, people look at the music business as as get rich quick scheme, or at the very least a viable business that can be used to "clean" money (see: BMF).

Now that's not to say every street corner hustler with a dollar and a dream is trying to flip stolen credit card numbers into a full-blown production studio. No, a lot of folks are legitimately taking the cash they have stuffed in between a mattress and buying music gear, trying to make something out of nothing. And even if I think on the whole that they're fucking up the game and don't really know how to do business, I've got to applaud their effort.

One could only imagine how well their efforts would go over though, had they invested their hard earned (or stolen) dough in a business that was actually experiencing some growth. Far be it to call the music business a place where people can get rich right now. In fact, if you're thinking about getting into the music business, you might actually want to reconsider, and possibly go back to selling crack or what have you. There is a strong possibility that you might make more money doing that. What with the country in such a depression and all, it's just a matter of time before folks– not just the hood– turn back to that rock to console them. Better yet, if you have a stolen credit card– fuck an MPC– right now you might actually want to just stock up on the essentials, like food.

But in all seriousness, I kinda sorta felt good when he told me that the frauds try to buy MPCs. In my twisted logic, the way I see it, this again reinforces just how popular hip-hop is. People wanna get in so bad that they're committing crimes to make hip-hop. How many people you know slanging rocks for a guitar or drum set? Ok then. I don't know that many folks just getting home from prison and talking about how their guitars going to get them out of their fucked up situation. In fact, it's all the rich suburban kids, who actually have garages, messing with that kinda shit. They've got garages, hip-hop has garageband.

It really just begs the question, this music, how bad do you really want it?

http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=32761

We just featured the Nike Air Max ‘95 - London City Pack and now we wanted to bring to you guys the Nike Air Max ‘95 Manchester which also sport an all black colorway with 3M specifications. The silver designs along the side panels represent the cityscape of Manchester, England. Other features include perforations along the side panels, as well as a visible air sole unit at the heel and front end. These are also part of the Nike City Pack which pays homage to certain well known cities worlwide. pics via JDSports.

http://www.kicksonfire.com/2008/12/02/nike-air-max-95-manchester-city-pack/

As part of the London City Pack Nike is scheduled to release this pair of Nike Air Max 95’s which have been dubbed the Londons. They sport an all black colorway constructed from leather along with 3M materials. They also feature silver streaks that run across the length of the shoe along with gold accents that are overlaying a small bit of London’s map. The inner lining even features the area code for London, England. They are definitely a unique design. pics via JDSports.

http://www.kicksonfire.com/2008/12/02/nike-air-max-95-london-city-pack/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/21/dodge-ev-seen-in-the-flesh-at-la-auto-show/

Nike Sportswear is proud to present this new pair of Nike Air Force Ones which are scheduled to release on November 28th. DJ Clark Kent personally designed them, so you know that they are official. On November 18, they are slated to release at several locations including Nike Sportswear at 21 Mercer in New York (on sale from 4am), followed by releases at Concepts (Boston) and Shoe Gallery (Miami) later that day. DJ Clark Kent should be at every location for the release so make sure you fanatics out there try your best to get hands on them! via NiceKicks.

Nike Sportswear x DJ Clark Kent - Black Friday Air Force 1

http://www.kicksonfire.com/2008/11/21/nike-sportswear-x-dj-clark-kent-black-friday-air-force-1/

Murdercap Records CEO Jerome Almon has accused Canada and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of trying to stifle a pending $900 million dollar lawsuit aimed at exposing Canada’s alleged racial/border profiling of US rappers.

Almon filed the lawsuit in January 2007 with assistance from the Detroit American Civil Liberties Union.

As we mentioned when we spoke of the Air Jordan 6 (Six) Rings - LA Lakers - Championship Pack, Jordan Brand is set to release a Championship Pack which will feature the Air Jordan 6 (Six) Rings in different colorways. Each will represent a different team that the Chicago Bulls faced during their championship run in the 90’s. This is the second colorway, and are inspired by their 1992 championship season in which they faced the Portland Trail Blazersin the 1992 NBA Finals. The shoes feature a predominantly white leather upper along with black and red details. Coincidentally, the colorway is the same as the Chicago Bulls, but they were actually intended to be modeled after the color scheme of the Portland Trail Blazers.The upper also sports some lasered details which summarize Michael’s 1991-1992 season. Via NT.

http://www.kicksonfire.com/2008/11/19/air-jordan-6-six-rings-portland-trail-blazers-championship-pack/

Once again, Nike has collaborated with Japanese MMA fighter Caol Uno. This time, the model of choices is the Air Max 90 Current which has been rising in popularity as of late. They have been dubbed the Mount Fuji and feature a white / royal blue colorway constructed primarily from mesh. The tongue has 10 AC written at the top, and overall they are just really clean. They are scheduled to hit retailers including Proper this Saturday, November 22nd.

http://www.kicksonfire.com/2008/11/19/10-ac-x-nike-air-max-90-current/

Nike Air Max Plus - White / Navy / Silver

The Nike Air Max Plus has always been a big hit with fanatics, and for those of you who care to know, sneaker shop RMK just got in a restock of the Nike Air Max Plus in this white / navy / silver color scheme. The shoe is most noted for the wavy lines which run across the upper, as well as the full length air sole unit.

Despite Lil Wayne's claims, fans of Vibe Magazine believe Eminem holds the throne.

Source

By Tai Saint Louis


Jay-Z has officially announced his new partnership with StarGate, the multi-platinum Norwegian production duo responsible for hit singles by Ne-Yo, Rihanna, and Beyonce, Cher, Lionel Richie and others.

The global partnership establishes the StarRoc label, which has been rumored about for weeks, as well as a new publishing company, StarRoc Music Publishing.

It becomes the first partnership for Roc Nation, Jay-Z's official venture with concert and global distribution giant Live Nation.

"Stargate were like a secret weapon," said Jay-Z of his new business partners."We had great success with Rihanna and Ne-Yo. In only 2 years, they've generated 10 singles in the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and 3 of those singles hit the # 1 position. This has been a rewarding partnership and it was time to take the creative venture to the next level."

The New York-based StarRoc will focus on finding new talent and developing artist through strategically planned global partnerships that include music distribution, publishing, touring and merchandising.

With the help of Roc Nation and Artist Nation, the company will manage artists' diverse rights, expand their fan bases, and provide a direct connection through the marketing and global distribution methods.


Source

Nelly's not #1 anymore, but close, as Plies gets his gold and DJ Khaled goes Top 10, while B.G. shows up on charts.

Source

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Record labels, music publishers, songwriters and online music services have reached an agreement on how to compensate music creators for online distribution of their content, they said.

The agreement is designed to settle how the industry calculates royalty rates for limited downloads and music that is streamed online, including when it is provided by subscription and....

Source

Just recently, Jay-Z made headlines after he and his partners sold their popular 40/40 Club in Las Vegas [click to read], calling it "a great business decision."

This past weekend, Jay-Z stirred up publicity again after The New York Times reported that he has added a new business project to his long list of corporate ventures by launching a new music label with songwriting/production duo Stargate (Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen). The Norwegian production team has produced hits such as Ne-Yo's "Closer," Beyonce's "Irreplaceble," and Rihanna's "Take a Bow," and will take part in a 50/50 partnership with Roc Nation, Jay-Z's entertainment start-up.

According to one spokesperson for Jay, The label, deemed StarRoc, will be located at the rapper's Roc the Mic studio in New York, and will produce its artists through a 360 deal. The deal will give StarRoc the ability to cover everything from record sales, touring, and other aspects of an artist's output. The contract is similar to the one that Jay signed with Live Nation earlier this year for a reported $150 million [click to read].

As former CEO of Rocawear and Roc-A-Fella, and present co-owner of the New Jersey Nets, Jay is no stranger to the business game. In addition to all of the business deals he is partaking in now, he is also expected to drop the Blueprint 3, his 11th and final album for Def Jam [click to read].

The Blueprint 3 will be out reportedly before the end of the year.

Reported by Salima Koroma.

Though 50 Cent’s first love may be music, deep down he is a businessman at heart.

Mirroring his Interscope-debut Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, 50 Cent will bring his much anticipated album Before I Self-Destruct to life with a film of the same name to follow, according to Rolling Stone.

Directed and produced by the G-Unit general himself, 50 aims to bring a different perception to the “urban life-style” that many films fail to connect to. “I showed characters under pressure in scenarios where they felt like there were no other options, even though there were,” 50 continued, “There are always options. People just usually start to see them while being incarcerated [rather than] seeing them in the first place.”

50 Cent will simultaneously release a soundtrack with the film, though none of the tracks from his album will be featured on it. “Interscope would automatically have the rights to it, when they had absolutely no ownership of the actual material,” 50 explained. Instead, he hired unsigned artists to record for the soundtrack that he reportedly wrote as well, an innovative move that will give it an organic feel similar to the film. Impressed by his own decision, 50 Cent let be known that he “kept the music up to standards.”


The album Before I Self-Destruct is tentatively scheduled for a December release, with the film and soundtrack coming soon afterward.



Source

To many fans of Notorious B.I.G., his biggest hit was his solo debut single "Juicy." The memorable verse was attached to a James Mtume-sample laced creation, with production credited to Diddy, as well as The Trackmasters' Poke.

After August saw the release of Ready to Die: The OG Edition, the debut album, released by DJ Semi, in the form of the album's demo, fans were able to hear alternative versions of the album that went platinum almost 14 years ago.

Included on the collection was a rare version of "Juicy," produced by none other than Hip Hop super-producer Pete Rock. The 20-year veteran's version, long mistakenly thought to be a remix, predated the Diddy version, which featured an alternate chorus and different melody. After a recent interview with Grandgood.com, Rock revealed that he may have been sample-jacked by Diddy for one of Hip Hop's biggest anthems.

"Biggie and Sean came to my house one day and ['Juicy'] was playing on my drum machine," revealed Pete Rock. "Biggie thought I was making it for C.L. [Smooth]. When I told him I was just making it for myself, he immediately wanted it. I said sure, but didn’t think much of it. Then, next thing I know, I heard it playing somewhere. I’m over it now though."

In the rest of the interview, Pete Rock explains more from that recording. He says that to him, the matter was settled when he was paid, for what was billed as a remix.

Asked further about his sentiments of the deal, Pete Rock, simply stated, "Really though, I just wish Biggie was still alive for me to work with him."

Source

This sh*t right heeere.....

From: Engadget