Hip Hop Blogs

The Evil Corporate Influence on Hip-Hop Myth

Jeff Chang says that the machine is deaf, meaning that the corporations that fund the hip-hop industry don't care what type of content their creative arms cook up. I agree. Companies like Viacom, Clear Channel, and Universal Music Group only care about profit, not artistsic performance.

And that's a good thing. It means artists and the lower level managers can produce and promote whatever they want, as long as it sells. This is also revealing, because despite this freedom of expression, it seems that we still overwhelmingly choose to push violent, misogynistic, and ignorant junk out to the world.

Now Ice Cube has beef with Oprah

Luda, Fiddy, and now Ice Cube have voiced their unfavorable opinions on TV's most powerful chick.

"For 'Barbershop,' she had Cedric the Entertainer and Eve on, but I wasn't invited," says the 36-year-old rapper, referring to his 2002 movie. "Maybe she's got a problem with hip-hop."

Cube adds: "She's had damn rapists, child molesters and lying authors on her show. And if I'm not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?"

2nd Annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival

If you're in the NY area sign up for tickets now before they're all gone at Brooklyn Bodega.  It's FREE, so no "I'm too broke to go to hip hop shows" excuses.

Also on the billing but not on the poster are The Procussions, one of my indie rap favorites.  They just signed to Rawkus (yes, backpacker nation stand up!) and dropped a new joint with Talib Kweli.  Surprisingly, Kweli's flow is on point: 

The Procussions feat. Talib Kweli- Miss January [stream via Okayplayer]

Smooth the Hustler - "Broken Language" Video

Smooth the Hustler's "Once Upon A Time In America" is one of my favorite albums from the 90's hip-hop era. I remember hearing "Broken Language", his second single featuring his brother Trigga being played on Hot 97, and how I would get hype and rap along, waving my hands in front of me like the emcees I admired.

Smooth was special because behind his typical NY drug and gun talk, his metaphors, concepts, pop references revealed a really bright dude. I think Grafh and Stat Quo also rep that same intelli-thug ethic. Hopefully their style will be the only thing like Smooth, and not their careers.

For all non-believers, here's the video for Broken Language:

The End of the Hip-Hop Gravy Train

What happens when hip-hop ceases to be the #1 music genre in America? What happens when companies no longer see rap music as a way to effectively market their products to young people?

This week, as others have already noticed, there are no hip-hop albums in Billboard's top ten. Also, Reebok has dropped their hip-hop centered campaigns even after crediting it with their amazing brand turnaround. Sprite has done the same, so says Micheal, which is a big deal since I remember them using rappers in their commercials a good ten years ago. In the comments of the Sprite post, Lazarus aka the CEO of Urbanomics is quick to notice that this may be the signal of a larger trend.

I wonder though - will declining sales and less corporate marketing equal more artistry in the music? Hopefully so.

R.I.P. Miles Thirst

Miles Thirst is no more.  Sprite has decided to end its "Obey Your Thirst" hip hop campaign in favor of a teen-centered strategy featuring sumo wrestlers and subliminal taglines. As a result, your favorite afro wearing soda pusher has been replaced by a green and yellow yin yang logo.

At least he got that cameo in that Dem Franchise Boyz video.

This doesn't mean that Sprite has completely abandoned its connection to hip hop, it just means that hip hop will no longer drive the overall product marketing strategy.  The soda giant will continue to sponsor events and organizations such as the Sprite Street Couture Showcase at Guastivino's New York and the Snoop-backed Hip Hop Gaming League. 

Pictures from the Hip Hop Gaming League World Championship

Method Man and Eric V (of the Baka Boyz) battle for NBA 2K6 supremacy. The Hip Hop Gaming League World Championships were held in LA on May 13, 2006.  More after the jump.

Lupe Fiasco live performance disaster averted thanks to iPod

I was fortunate enough to get an invite to last night's BPM/Best Buy E3 after party at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.  The atmosphere was great, the go-go dancers had it on and poppin', and the crowd of 300+ was diverse and in good spirits.  There were performances from a couple of pretty good bands, an insanely sick DJ set by Z-Trip (Nas acapella over a Maroon 5 beat? yes!), capped off by a hype electronic set by BT.  Tony Hawk showed up to talk about his new video game and Lupe Fiasco slipped in to drop some lyrical knowledge.  Too bad his DJ fucked up.

"A Picture is worth about $50 Billion Dollars"

... or a thousand words, depending on how you look at it.  You could write a sociology/anthropology paper on the cultural significance of this photograph:

"Bill Gates and Def Jam Recordings CEO Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter were among the highlights of MSN’s Strategic Account Summit, a gathering of top Internet advertising industry notables that is taking place this week in Redmond, Wash"

via eskay at Nah Right:

MySpace Ethers BlackPlanet

Well, not really.  But C-Side sonned BP with the line, "BlackPlanet? Nah n*gga, MYSPACE!"

It was only a matter of time until MySpace joined Air Force Ones, Grey Goose, White tees, and the Nextel "chirp" (what else am I forgetting here?) as a product so culturally pervasive amongst the hip hop set that it earned its own self-titled song.  Word to Tom.

Check it out on XXL (which has excellent streaming audio in their Bangers section I might add):

C-Side (feat. Paul Wall)- MySpace Freak

I'm not a big fan of snap music, but I'm gonna roll with this one.  Now someone has to make a Tmobile Sidekick song over a hyphy beat, and the circle of life will be complete.