ProHipHop: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News

Lady Boss Entertainment Begins w/Movin Music Platoon

Lydia Harris and Movin Music Platoon

Lydia Harris, who claims co-founder status for Death Row Records, whose husband Michael "Harry-O" Harris is said to have provided funding for Death Row Records and whose own litigation bankrupted the label and Suge Knight, is back on the music scene with the creation of Lady Boss Entertainment.

Lady Boss Entertainment's first signee is the Movin Music Platoon whose single Make It Flurry will be the label's initial release.

Offical Sites:
Lady Boss Entertainment
Movin Music Platoon @ MySpace

Singles: T.I. #1, M.I.A. #5, Kardinal Offishall #6

T.I.'s Whatever You Like is no. 1 on the Hot 100 singles chart for the second week after breaking records last week.

T.I.'s Swing Ya Rag debuts at no. 62 on the Hot 100 while Swagger, featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne, is the top debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at no. 55.

Top 10 Singles on the Hot 100:

1. T.I. - Whatever You Like
2. Rihanna - Disturbia
3. Pink - So What
4. Chris Brown - Forever
5. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
6. Kardinal Offishall - Dangerous feat. Akon
7. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
8. Ne-Yo - Closer
9. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
10. Katy Perry - I Kissed a Girl

Ludacris' What Them Girls Like featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett is the Hot 100's top debut at no. 59.

Hollywood Undead: Swan Songs Album Cover Art

Hollywood Undead - Swan Songs

Hollywood Undead's Swan Songs was released September 2nd on A&M/Octone.

MySpace: Hollywood Undead

MTV Opens Music Video API

If you're into data mashups and the like, you may be happy to know that MTV has made available a music video Content API, or application programming interface, that will give web developers access to MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo music videos.

Check out Programmable Web's API Directory for more music API's.

Wikipedia:
Application Programming Interface [API]

Ice Cube: The Essentials [Greatest Hits] Album Cover Art & Tracklist[s]

Ice Cube - The Essentials

Ice Cube's The Essentials, a greatest hits collection, is due September 16th on Priority Records.

Tracklist for Ice Cube's The Essentials

1. Go To Church (featuring Snoop Dogg & Lil' Jon)
2. A Bird In The Hand
3. Ghetto Vet (Background Vocals by Mack 10 and Mr. Short Khop)
4. Greed
5. Supreme Hustle
6. It Was A Good Day
7. Spittin' Pollaseeds (featuring WC & Kokane)
8. Rollin' With The Lench Mob
9. The Wrong N*gga To F*ck Wit
10. When Will They Shoot?
11. Why We Thugs / Smoke Some Weed (Live) (featuring WC and Crazy Toones)
12. Givin' Up The Nappy Dugout
13. A Gangsta's Fairytale
14. Check Yo Self (featuring Das EFX)
15. What Can I Do?
16. War & Peace
17. Dead Homiez
18. Cold Places

Ice Cube - Greatest Hits

Not to be confused with Ice Cube's 2001 Greatest Hits collection.

Tracklist for Ice Cube's Greatest Hits:

1. Pushin' Weight (Explicit) Ice Cube
2. Check Yo Self (Remix) (Explicit) Ice Cube
3. We Be Clubbin' (Explicit) Ice Cube
4. $100 Dollar Bill Y'all (Explicit) Ice Cube
5. Once Upon A Time In The Projects (Explicit) Ice Cube
6. Bow Down (Explicit) Westside Connection
7. Hello (Explicit) Ice Cube Featuring Dr. Dre And Mc Ren
8. You Can Do It (Explicit) Ice Cube Featuring MacK 10 And Ms.Toi
9. You Know How We Do It (Explicit) Ice Cube
10. It Was A Good Day (Explicit) (Album Version) Ice Cube
11. Bop Gun (One Nation) (Radio Edit) (Explicit) Ice Cube
12. What Can I Do? (Westside Remix) (Explicit) Ice Cube
13. My Summer Vacation (Explicit) Ice Cube
14. Steady Mobbin' (Explicit) Ice Cube
15. Jackin' For Beats (Explicit) Ice Cube
16. The N*gga Ya Love To Hate (Explicit) Ice Cube
17. Late Night Hour (Explicit) Ice Cube

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Ice Cube: Raw Footage Album Cover Art

Black Weblog Awards Winners

The winners of the Black Weblog Awards have been announced and you can find the complete list of winners at Hip Hop Press.

Extreme Niche Marketing: Bill Gates?!? Jerry Seinfeld?!?

Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeld - Shoe Circus Commercial

Technically speaking, this isn't a circle jerk cause it takes three to form a circle but toss in all the assistants and heads of this and heads of that all laughing their asses off cause everybody else in the meeting's laughing and you've got one big sloppy mess.

So basically they're marketing to each other's business entourage.

Via Street Knowledge Media.

Mohawk Marketing w/Future Stars' Mohawk Song

Future Stars f/The Olly Girls - The Mohawk Song

Building your name with a gimmick, or something that's actually a part of your lifestyle but reads like a gimmick, is always a problematic path.  But aren't they all!

Future Stars took the organic gimmick route earlier this summer by writing a song about their favorite hairstyle, creating a spontaneous feeling event and tying it all together in a music video.

Future Stars' J-Nez & Future w/Happy Client

If the gimmick, in this case Mohawks and free Mohawk haircuts, is authentic and folks get the right message along the lines of "fun but quirky band that's hip but not too cool for everyday people", then it can be a good move.

Judging from the footage and the pics, Future Stars has the right touch of sincerity and goofy populism to pull it off, though it doesn't seem to have swept the nation like they may have hoped.

MySpace: The Mohawk Song

NerdWithSwag: Cassette USB Hub, Sakiya Sandifer Interview

I don't think I've mentioned NerdWithSwag at ProHipHop before though it's a blog my dear readers should know about.

Recent posts include a look at a Cassette Tape USB Hub which is the kind of combination of outmoded and current tech that I totally dig.

Well worth reading is an interview with Sakiya Sandifer who collaborated with Kanye West on Thank You And You're Welcome.  The book turns out to be based on an earlier book by Sandifer who is a very interesting and insightful interviewee.

Check it out!

Underwarz Challenges Saggy Pants Ban w/Fashion Offering

Underwarz by CJ's City Clothing Company

As the whole stupid attempt to ban saggy/saggin' pants continues to gain steam, I'm not that surprised to see somebody finally pursuing the same idea I proposed last fall to create pants that are a traditional pair of jeans with boxers attached.

The above fashion offering is called Underwarz and the site ain't up yet and I can't find one for the company so you're now forced to read the raw press release.  If you hate that kind of thing, just imagine your favorite hip hop news site's banner above it and it's all good like usual, right?

Hip-Hop Theater Festival Returns to New York

The Hip-Hop Theater Festival is back in New York for a really interesting looking series of events September 23rd to October 11th including:

~ Marc Bamuthi Joseph's the break/s inspired by Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop

~ Danny Hoch's Taking Over

~ Voices: A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove

~ Style Masters art exhibit

Official Site:
Hip-Hop Theater Festival

The Foreign Exchange: Leave It All Behind Album Cover Art, Tracklist, Release Dates

The Foreign Exchange -  Leave It All Behind

This description I received from Nicolay Music of The Foreign Exchange's [Phonte and Nicolay] Leave It All Behind makes it sound a bit off topic but definitely an interesting step:

"Leave It All Behind" finds The Foreign Exchange...much further from their hip-hop origins. The duo's second full-length is a dark, multilayered affair that features Phonte showcasing his abilities as an exceptional lead and harmony vocalist, while Nicolay extends his musical palette to include sprinklings of jazz, downtempo, and house.

The lush, Darien Brockington-assisted "Take Off the Blues" picks up where Connected's sleeper hit "Come Around" left off, while the complex polyrhythms and dreamy synthesizers of "Sweeter Than You" are described by Phonte as "swing jazz for the next century." Marc Mac (of legendary UK production team 4hero), also contributes a string arrangement to the duo's glorious cover of Stevie Wonder's oft-forgotten 1991 gem, "If She Breaks Your Heart."

In addition to appearances from longtime FE affiliates Darien Brockington and Yahzarah, the album also features guest shots from producer/keyboardist Zo! and vocalist Muhsinah.

Track List:

01. Daykeeper
02. Take Off The Blues
03. All Or Nothing/Coming Home To You
04. I Wanna Know
05. House Of Cards
06. Sweeter Than You
07. Valediction
08. If She Breaks Your Heart
09. If This Is Love
10. Something To Behold
11. Leave It All Behind

Release dates:

DIGITAL ALBUM:
-Streetdate: OCTOBER 7 2008

CD ALBUM:
-Double disc digipak incl. the album on disc one and the full instrumental version of the album on disc two. The instrumentals are exclusive to the CD release!
-Streetdate: OCTOBER 10 (EUROPE), OCTOBER 14 (US) 2008

VINYL ALBUM:
-Limited to 1000 individually numbered pieces with gatefold artwork
-Includes two bonus remixes not available anywhere else
-Streetdate: TBA

Official Site:
The Foreign Exchange

Invincible: Shapeshifters Album Cover Art

Invincible - Shapeshifters

Invincible's Shapeshifters is due September 9th on Emergence.

MySpace: Invincible

Donda West's Home Headed for Price Cut

From the LA Times:

"Look for a price drop this week on the home that belonged to Kanye West's mom, Donda West, until her death in November. The Playa del Rey house, originally priced at $1,945,000, was dropped to $1,745,000 at the end of May. It is expected to be lowered to $1,595,000 this week."

The Game's LAX at #2 Thanks to Slipknots' Maggots

Slipknot and their teeming following of loyal maggots (aka Slipknot fans) have stolen The Game's crown and taken All Hope Is Gone to the top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart forcing LAX to second place.

"They out G'd you, G!"

Gotta love the power of a clear niche and a deep relationship with one's fans.

In a niche all his own, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter II rises to no. 6 again.

Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200:

1. Slipknot - All Hope Is Gone
2. The Game - LAX
3. Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus
4. Jonas Brothers - A Little Bit Longer
5. Soundtrack - Mamma Mia!
6. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
7. Now That's What I Call Country
8. Sugarland - Love on the Inside
9. Solange - Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
10. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
New Label May Provide Hip Hop for Maggots

Stoked Snowboarding Game Trailer f/Atmosphere Single

Stoked "Downhill" Trailer

The snowboarding videogame Stoked, due November 11th from Destineer, is being promoted with the above trailer featuring Atmosphere's Smart Went Crazy.

Game Coverage Continues in Games II

ProHipHop's coverage of games continues in Games II.

Hip Hop Fables: Animated TV Series by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Creator

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers creator Jack Olesker is the new president of Ken Creative Studio which is currently in post-production for the pilot of one of his projects, Hip Hop Fables, an animated tv series with a $10 million budget.

The Hip Hop Fables site is still under construction with some nice looking graphics but I guess we'll have to wait for more though a few clues can be had via this announcement for voiceover auditions back in June.

Official Site:
Ken Creative Studio

Husalah & B-Luv: The Tonka Boyz Album Cover Art

Husalah & B-Luv - The Tonka Boyz

Husalah and B-Luv's The Tonka Boyz was released July 22nd on SMC Recordings.

MySpace: The Tonka Boyz

Google Chrome Browser Webcomic Leaked

Google is launching a new web browser called Google Chrome today and there's a positioning document, in this case a geekcentric Google Chrome webcomic by Scott McCloud that is also drawing some attention due, in part, to its premature release.

It's a fun way for the geekily inclined to get some background on the new browser, see how common browser problems are addressed and talk yourself into checking out Google Chrome even if you're so sick of new web tools you could scream!

And the comic is a nice example of a marketing device that can be successfully "leaked" because people want the information/content.

Google Blogoscoped has more on the leak and the browser.

Official Site:
Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows

Garfield Minus Garfield: Genius Beyond Genius!!!

a garfield minus garfield moment

Current Mood:
Blown away by garfield minus garfield.

Messenger:
Garfield Minus Garfield: From Web Sensation To Book In Less Than A Year

Get it while it lasts!

Chartreuse on the Obama Merch Marketplace

chartreuse discussses his experience at an Obama rally in Detroit:

This post is about the fact that I have not see so many people profit off the back of a black man since O.J. Simpson...There's a huge underground of small business owners and entrepreneurs who will look back longingly at Obama's rise in politics and the profits it's bought them...

At the event I went to today there were stands with almost nothing but books about Obama. Not his books. Everyone already has those, but picture books and books for kids all talking about this man who isn't even (and may not ever be) president...

But even if you don't have something with Obama's picture on it there is still profits to be made.  While standing for hours unlicensed vendors were walking through the crowd with ice chests selling water for $3 a 8 ounce bottle.

When the guy in front of me complained about the price the seller told him that it was "Obama's sweat chilled and bottled to keep the crowd cool."

"You should've said that!" the guy in front of me said with a smile.

"I'll take two."

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Selling Hopes & Dreams: Barack Obama Merch

Andre 3000 Benjamin: Battle In Seattle Trailer

Battle In Seattle Trailer

Andre 3000's not a major lead character in Battle In Seattle, due for a September 19th release, but it looks like a good role for him, even in the turtle outfit!

It will be interesting to see how racial dynamics are or are not explored since protests like those against the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999 tend to involve mostly white people as does this cast.

I also am quite curious to see how anarchists are portrayed since they're typically treated worse by the media than are rappers.  In addition, the events in Seattle gave many U.S. television audience members their first glimpse of insurrectionary black bloc tactics that U.S. mass media had previously ignored both at home and abroad for the most part though in play since at least the mid '80s.

In case you're wondering where all that energy went, some interesting plans for protests in Manhattan were being developed when 9/11 changed the game and a lot of folks started toning down their activities in the States.

Check WoooHa for additional pics from Battle In Seattle.

H3 Enterprises Stock [HTRE.PK] Under Ben Chavis

An intelligently critical report on the currently dim outlook for H3 Enterprises and the HipHopSodaShop reminded me that I meant to share the stock chart covering the period for which Ben Chavis helmed H3.

Rev. Ben took the reigns in June of 2007 and left in defeat in July of 2008, just a bit over a year.

I'd love to embed a stock chart but financial websites have dropped the ball and the sites that do provide embeddable charts exclude charts for penny stocks like HTRE.PK.

So here's a link to a 2 year stock chart for H3 Enterprises Inc. at Yahoo Finance.

As you can see, Ben Chavis' new role as CEO boosts the stock in June '07 after a considerable drop.  Much of that added value disappears by October '07 and is then revived by an appearance on the Fox Business Network in December '07 from which it mostly declined till they kicked him out.

You can get more detailed and compare the history of press releases to the chart and see what helped move the price and what didn't.  Note, too, the lack of any mainstream coverage of this stock.  It's all press releases.

Today the stock continues to fluctuate and, as I write, has dropped to less than .04 cents.

One shouldn't blame all this on Ben Chavis but, if one looks at what H3 Enterprises was doing pre-Ben and post-Ben, you have to wonder what he added other than temporary bouts of media appeal though, to be fair, somebody made a little money off all that stock price movement.

Related ProHipHop Coverage:
Looking Back: Dr. Ben and the HipHopSodaShop

Hip Hop Chess Federation in Kung Fu Magazine

Cover of Sep/Oct Issue of Kung Fu Magazine

The Sep/Oct issue of Kung Fu Magazine has a report by Gene Ching titled Mind Over Matter: Chess & Grappling Exhibition by the Hip Hop Chess Federation which includes mention of RZA's involvement in the HHCF though the grappling aspect has been developed by Adisa Banjoko.

Official Site:
Knightmares: HHCF Blog