The Jigga man is unemloyed

The title of this post is the most false true statement I have ever written. As you have heard from your homeboys or read on sohh or nahright, Jay Z stepped down as head of the house Russel built on Christmas Eve.

How cruel to fire a man right before 6lb 8oz baby Jesus' birthday. LA Reid, thou name is Ebineezer (sp?). I mean the man needed to buy Kwanzaa gifts for his nephews and former business partners. What the hell is he gonna do now?

A 30 something year old Black man with no college degree and a criminal record. The system will chew him up. Not long before his name is added to the rolls of the unemloyment list. Before you know it he will be on drugs. Comitting petty robberies and end up on Rikers. What a shame.

But seriously, his tenure at Def Jam was much better than I anticipated. Who had more hits? Not Interscope, really. Their run ended with dissapointments from The Game, Will.i.am and 50 (numbers wise 50 was no dissapointment by any means but PR/branding wise that record was a mess).
Jive had their hits but Jive as a brand does not hold the same cache as Def Jam. I think has to do with the diverse and un-connected roster. Britney, The R, Justin, UGK, Chris Brown, Clipse. All earners but what binds them is simply the money and the hitmaking ability. No real artistic thread connecting them.

Anyhoo, the Carter admin produced 1 great Jay record and 1 overhyped but decent record. A very good (but not his best) Kanye record, Rhianna's weird ass, Ne-Yo's short ass. And didn't Luda get a Grammy under Jay?

On the 'not so stellar sales but good record nonetheless' side there was Fab, Rick Ross, Freeway (personal fave), and 3 Starks records.

There were duds - Redman, Meth, Bobby Valentino.

And no shows - Joe Budden et al.

Not a bad three year run. As anyone who has put out records can tell you three years is not a long time.

The biggest knock would have to be that outside of Rhianna I believe all of those acts were there when Lyor and Liles left. That does not diminish his accomplishments very much for me. Finding the talent is most certainly a tell tale sign of a great exec but not f@cking it up is just as valuable.

Think of all the talent that never reached its full potential - Rakim, OC, Kool G Rap
And think of all the talent that could have (and on paper should have) flopped - Missy (overweight female artists are not suposed to win) , Kanye (stick to making beats), Prince (androgynous Black man from MN?)

Anyway, polish up that resume Hov. I am sure you can find something to do with yourself.

President Obama

I was listening to CSPAN Radio on the way down and they played the Obama 'Fired Up, Ready To Go' speech. I can't front I was tearing up. I am making my donation today. Believe it people. We are going to have a Black president.

A Black man running the free world. Do you realize the message that will send to our youth? As a parent it is enough to make you cry.

For hundreds of years Black men have been told they are nothing but criminals and deadbeat dads. My industry has done the most to reinforce that image. In a matter of years and through one huge event that image will be dealt a death blow.

'Fired Up, Ready To Go'

and a note to Hilary. The more you attack Obama and laugh at him in debates the more Black folk you push away. People like me.

I'm Greg Nice and he's MC Smooth B

Just want to take a second to shout out Nice and Smooth. The history books will undoubtedly forget them. At best they will be underepresented in the archives. So while I have a chance to spit my sh@t I will make sure they are remembered.

I am not sure if there has been a group like them since.

So go out today and download 'Hip-Hop Junkies', 'Sometimes I Rhyme Slow', 'No Bones in Ice Cream', and 'Funky For You'.

I guarantee you'll have a better day.

And remember Dizzy Gillesie may not play the sax but I still like max. And after Nipsy Russel does the hustle remeber to flex your muscles. I kick rhymes, however I am very different from a fortune teller.
Holla if you drive a red Sterling and the seats recline.
Ever tried to hail a cab on 125 and St Nick? It sucks

I can go on for days. What a nerd

I am...The Legend of the Fresh Prince and he's the DJ

Just saw 'I am Legend.'
highly recommended. Nice combo of Will Smith blockbuster with a compelling story.
Definitely some tinkering with the story that I would have liked to see. I won't spoil the flick with my unsolicited two cents.

Who would have thunk it. 'Girls Of The World Ain't Nothing But Trouble' to Hollywood's #1 supplier. Love it. That my friends is the power of our Hip-Hop. There is nothing we can't do.

Other randomness:

-next movie on my list- The Golden Compass
-football is boring unless it is someone trying to topple the Pats
-can Isiah last? Not sure anymore
-not sure about the timing for 'The Cool'. I still need to give it another listen
-I am fine downloading old goodies myself
-film and publishing, my next 2 frontiers
-got mad recipes on deck for Xmas in NC

Be good

You wanna talk money call Chris Lighty

A line from the great Dilla/Busta album that Mick Boogie mixed and posted up on his site for a free download (thanks Mick!)

As a former artist manager I love it when artists shout out management or anyone on the business side. Why? Because I feel like we are underappreciated. Everything from politics to film to television to music is based on the cult of personality. Very little credit is given to those who provide the infrastructure. Well maybe until the artist wins a Grammy or Oscar.

I also love the fact that after all these years Busta is still in business with Chris Lighty and Violator. I love that their fundamental relationship has remained fruitful and functional after all these years. It is a rarity in Hip-Hop.

Often times the spirit of entreneurship breeds self reliance which often mutates into arrogance. That arrogane often leads the artist to take on responbility they are simply not trained to handle. Responsibilities like booking, marketing, contracts, merchandising, etc.

An artist who does all the aformentioned duties loves to fancy himself a renaissance man. I call him or her naive. Your primary job is to write rhyymes and songs. Inspire and be inspired. Be the icon. The candidate. Of course you must have a working knowledge and/or supervise the nuts and bolts but that is not what you are built for. No more than I am built to kick 36 bars to a crowd in Dusseldorf.

In theory it is just as silly to see Chris Lighty on the Ayo Technology remix as it is to see 50 at the Glaceau final negotiations.

Play your position.
Let the plumber fix the pipes and let the exterminator kill the roaches.

And maybe you can last in the game as long as Bussa Bus.

You wanna talk money call Chris Lighty

A line from the great Dilla/Busta album that Mick Boogie mixed and posted up on his site for a free download (thanks Mick!)

As a former artist manager I love it when artists shout out management or anyone on the business side. Why? Because I feel like we are underappreciated. Everything from politics to film to television to music is based on the cult of personality. Very little credit is given to those who provide the infrastructure. Well maybe until the artist wins a Grammy or Oscar.

I also love the fact that after all these years Busta is still in business with Chris Lighty and Violator. I love that their fundamental relationship has remained fruitful and functional after all these years. It is a rarity in Hip-Hop.

Often times the spirit of entreneurship breeds self reliance which often mutates into arrogance. That arrogane often leads the artist to take on responbility they are simply not trained to handle. Responsibilities like booking, marketing, contracts, merchandising, etc.

An artist who does all the aformentioned duties loves to fancy himself a renaissance man. I call him or her naive. Your primary job is to write rhyymes and songs. Inspire and be inspired. Be the icon. The candidate. Of course you must have a working knowledge and/or supervise the nuts and bolts but that is not what you are built for. No more than I am built to kick 36 bars to a crowd in Dusseldorf.

In theory it is just as silly to see Chris Lighty on the Ayo Technology remix as it is to see 50 at the Glaceau final negotiations.

Play your position.
Let the plumber fix the pipes and let the exterminator kill the roaches.

And maybe you can last in the game as long as Bussa Bus.

Steroids are grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

I don’t like baseball but I am all wrapped up in this Mitchell Report
Here are some thoughts

-And the winner is…Barry Bonds. Please get off my man’s back
-So Marc Ecko when are you gonna to spend ¾ of a million bucks to public embarrass The Rocket?
-warm up the asterisk branding irons Mr. Rhinoceroses
-I love how the Player’s Association doesn’t cooperate and then catches feelings that weren’t in the loop
-For the record I still vote for Barry and Clemens. Juice or not, they are 2 of the best.
-The juice is not magic people
-What do Barry Bonds, Clemens, Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Kirby Puckett, and George Brett have in common? A negative test for steroids or HGH
-And FYI unconscious racism is still in full and total effect. Bonds and Clemens have essentially the same evidence against them but I love how the defense of Clemens was almost immediate while the defense of Bonds still hasn’t materialized. And for the few journalists who have seen the light defending Barry is a footnote at best
-The head of BALCO snitches to save his skin and drops dime on Barry and the nooses are being strung
-Clemens’ trainer does the same and he is called a ‘sewer rat’ by Peter Gammons
-Barry gains muscle mass at a late age and people are measuring the circumference of his head
-The Rocket just works out real hard
-Now Tim Kurchin on ESPN is talking about ‘how many people in the hall were on speed.’ A point I made a while ago
-To perform on that level you have to be on something. Just call it a wash and don’t be too flagrant with it

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is...O.C.?!?!?

Just got O.C.’s Word Life of one of these lovely copyright infringing blogs. Love them!
Am I late to the game or did we already realize that the intro to ‘Point O Viewz’ is the same sample as ‘My Name Is Hov’?

Joe Doofus

I was watching ‘Morning Joe’ on MSNBC this morning and caught a brief segment about the New Yorker’s claim that crime in NYC began to dip during the Dinkins administration.

This fool Joe Scarborough appears to be a minor Congressman who washed out and parlayed whatever fame he had into a nice gig at MSNBC. After Don Doofus got bounced out this cat Scarborough was put into the morning slot. He used to have a show in the evening MSNBC line up. After Chris Mathews and Keith “Exactly how did you get these political credentials from doing SportsCenter” Oberman. He always seemed like MSNBC’s version of Bill O’Reilly. Opinionated white male whose shtick was bullying and talking over guests. Was never really that impressive.

Well this morning his co-host was reading an article about how Rudy does not deserve all the credit for the decline in crime. That the trend actually started with David Dinkins. For anyone who lived in NY during the Dinkins era knows this has a lot of truth to it. The reality is that Dinkins blew it with the Crown Heights riots. Rudy seized upon that flub and rode the law and order horse into City Hall. Outside of that incident Dinkins and his Chief of Police had a great record on crime. This is an empirical fact that has been researched and reported on for years.

Scarborough who is as much of a legit journalist as Perez Hilton has apparently taken the blue pill and chose to laugh at this claim without offering one iota of evidence outside of the supposed liberal bias against Rudy. And something to the effect of Rudy was a tough guy from Queens who never played ball with the Times crowd.
Dude, you’re from Florida what the hell do you know about tough guys from Queens or for that matter the intelligentsia of the NYTimes crowd. New York is not the Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Sex In The City film strip people swallow like so many cans of Diet Coke.

He also claimed that because Rudy was elected twice New Yorkers have forfeited their right to criticize. Outside of being a juvenile and naïve argument … well that’s all it needs to be discounted. Election #1 – see above and Crown Heights. Election #2 – he exploited a lack of Democratic harmony that lead to Ruth Messinger and Al Sharpton rather than Mark Green as his opponents. Blame Mark Green for his attack on Rev Al that destroyed his Black and Latino fanbase. And I say again seeing how Rudy ran the city ask NY’ers if they would vote for him again. Ask the firefighters. The school teachers.

And news flash Joe, there are several two term politicians who you would not give the same pass to. One’s name is Clinton and likes interns. And I know one who used to sniff coke and whose daddy was also president.

To sum it up, Joe Scarborough is an idiot who just lost a viewer.

Mobb Deep ft Rapper Noyd-Give Up The Goods(Just Step)

Today is M-O-B-B Day

Mobb Deep - Survival of the Fittest

Mobb Deep - Burn

Love Noyd!

Mobb Deep ft. Nas - It's Mine

totally tricked out video

The Obama Winfrey Show

I heard clips from Oprah at the Barak rally on WNYC this morning on the way in. Now I need to listen to more but it gave me such a good feeling. Finally a Black celebrity throwing their weight around for a real cause. I think most of the readers of this blog cannot fully understand how it feels to see Barack actually in the race. My dad told me my whole life you can be whatever you want in life. But as life progressed you become aware of how many people disagree with dear old dad. The wicked black and white devils out there who would love to see another black man get flushed down the drain.

I remember how my pops was when Jesse Jackson won the Illinois primary back in ’84. We were in the car and he said to no one in particular that ‘a Black man can really be president.’ It was like he was finally believing what he had been feeding his kids for years. Now with Obama (also from the Chi oddly enough) I am saying the same thing to Miles, but now where Jesse never had a chance Obama really does. I am not completely in love with his position but I do like it more than Hilary. So far as I believe Hilary’s position is far too malleable. She will change if the wind blows. So will Obama and any politician but I feel he is less likely to compromise himself. I wish he was a bit more radical but I know the deal.

I tell you what disgusts me are these institutional politicians who bend over for the Clinton machine. I heard Andrew Young (former mayor of Atlanta) say that Bill Clinton was blacker than Obama. For a Black person to say that is simply moronic. To question his blackness in and of itself is equally silly. How can such a thing be measured. But if it can, I know one thing is for sure there is no way a white dude who was governor of Arkansas and gave less money to Africa as president than George Bush is blacker than a bi-racial State and US Senator who represented the South Side.

I do know that Andrew Young, Charlie Rangel, Al Sharpton, and even Jesse himself have more to gain by having the Clintons in the White House. Obama represents a whole new generation. A generation of Black people that thinks Adam Clayton Powell is a street in Harlem. David Dinkins is the dude from a ATCQ song. These are white and Black people who went to private schools and major universities. They weren’t regulated to Bronx Science and City College. They went to Hotchkiss and Maryland and got their law degree from Harvard. They have worked and lived side by side with women, white folks, Asian, gays, lesbians, and Jews since 1st grade.

The old guard has little sway on their opinion. Unfortunately Big Perm (The Rev. Al) is nothing but a rabble rouser and media hound. For the record that is not my position. The bottom line is the checks from the Obama office will not be as meaty as the Clinton checks. Obama is more likely to put his Jewish homeboy from Harvard in that key position than the Percy Sutton designate.

These old Black politicians are great. I love them. They got the dogs off our ass so Obama could go to Harvard without a cross being burned. But I believe they are more concerned with power these days. The struggle and how the struggle can feed them. I hope someone pulls Andrew Young’s coat and tells him to shut up and remember why you are in the game. So that young Miles and Savannah can grow up and laugh at the devil who attempts to hold them back.

Be like Oprah and realize this is the time for us to change the world.
(do so and I am sure you can talk to someone about beefing up that check, lol)

Free-wizzle is cool

SOHH had an interview with Beans where they (and framed it as if Beans did) took a shot at Freeway’s 1st week sales. I believe the quote mentioned a disappointing 36,000.

I find it hilarious how people who have never released their own album can minimize another person’s efforts. I am not sure who the writer was but I would be surprised if they had ever sold 36,000 records as an artist or executive. Now the reality is that 36,000 on Def Jam is indeed terrible. But 36,000 as a number itself is awesome. It’s not like Free was a top priority like a Jay or Rhianna. Anyone who expected him to do six figures was bugging from the jump. He is not that type of artist. That is why he got pushed around in that system. Free would do better on Koch, Imperial or RED. But he could pull a Kanye and force the machine to push him to the top of the agenda.

It’s hard to go to the CFL after you 5 years in the NFL, know what I mean? A mid level artist on Def Jam gets a lot more perks than a starter for Koch. No offense. They are both great machines.

Back to my point. These people who comment and want to belittle this artist or that have probably never built a co-op plan, wrote a bio, taken them to Kinko’s at 1 am, stayed up all night making promos for press, driven a van from Edinburgh to Brighton for a show, trooped up to NY from DC on a work night to rock for 10 minutes with Kweli, spent their life savings, ate potato chips for dinner, gone to the plant and loaded up 4,000 records in your whip just to save shipping costs, slept three deep in hostel, threatened a distributor to get their check, done a sales presentation for a room full of uninterested sales people, spent 23 ½ hours in the studio to mix one song, gone to the emergency room, paid royalties out of the rent money, cried after listening to the final mix in a rent a car back from LaGuardia, stood in Tower Records for 45 minutes to see who bought your record, and wish they could have moved 36,000 copies.

They probably have sat on the sidelines and thrown stones for years, lounged in comfy offices while legions of people they have and will never see do much of the dirty work, dismissed an underperforming artists and moved on to the next news cycle, wrote reviews without listening to an album, focused on their career rather than the art, watched a lot of TV and mastered the art of mimicry.

Freeway, your album is dope. Be proud brother.
And to all you critics as they say, walk a mile in that brother’s Gucci Mocs before you pop too much sh*t.

Explain to me the Guliani thing again?

So why do you folks in Iowa feel safe about Fool-iani?

- He was in charge when the WTC was attacked - both times
- After the 1st time he was such a leader he put his Command Center...exactly where the attack happened. Brilliant.
-It's like the Sec'y of the Navy putting his office at Pearl Harbor, after the attack
-That is why he has that lovely scene of walking through the streets with the NY1 mic. His office was blown up!
-What exactly is his foreign policy experience?
-Did he ever serve in the military. Say like a John McCain
-He is a lawyer. Hardly the dude I want to go to war with
-Let's ask the real heroes - FDNY, the 1st responders, those who were actually in downtown NY on 9/11 (like my wife) and see if he is their hero
-Bottom line, he helps fix the radios, more firefighters live


And for you other demographics

Homophobes - FYI, he is pro Gay Rights and lived with a gay couple. I know that just make you folks feel icky!

NRA - don't believe him. check the stats

Arts and Culture - Ask the Brooklyn Museum if Fool-iani is a supporter of the Arts. the NEA and all that is screwed

Law & Order folks - you guys are the only ones who should be happy. Although a lot of stats say the decline in crime started with Dinkins

Bible Thumpers - didn't you kick out Slick Willie for getting some head in the Oval Office. This dude used tax dollars to protect his jump off when he went to the Hamptons.

Fiscal Conservatives - Last time I checked he handed over a debt ridden government to Bloomberg. And don't blame 9/11. 9/11 happened a few months before he left office. He was f*cking up way before the planes hit.

Elect this dude and just be prepared to bend over and take it.
For Dems and Repubs he is the worst thing out there

Randomness

Busy day today

- I hate the Patriots, can I just put that out there

- Pittsburgh, it's on you

- Mercury Morris needs to shut up. He looks like such a fool. Griese looks embarassed to be paired with him

- Stephon is having a rough season. For real

- Poor Shaq. I hope he pulls it together

- So Jill Scott has a knew album, who knew!?

- And what is the offical status if Little Brother

- only one more Lupe album left. Brace yourselves

- Untold number of 50 albums despite his promises

- Is it true that Common is with Serena. Say Word!

Doug Morris is going to destroy the music industry...and rebuild it...

...even if he doesn't realize it.


Alma put me up on the article about Doug Morris in this month's WIRED.
Great piece with the usual insightful writing from the WIRED crew. Among many things they seized upon was the fact that the music business’s insistence on a DRM gave Apple their dominance. To paraphrase, they allowed Apple to make a Walkman that only played Apple cassettes. Just imagine if Sony could have pulled that off in the 80’s.

While the industry led by Universal and Doug Morris’ dominant market share tried to control a technology Morris readily admits he never understood, they gave Steve Jobs the rope by which our industry is dangling from. The irony is Shakespearean.

Now Morris is trying this Fair Play which we all know won’t work. Subscriptions will never beat the $0.99 model. Why?
1) Apple brand loyalty is something that businessmen have wet dreams about. You don’t just yank that away. Even if the subscription is a better model.
2) The iTunes/iPod hard/software model is something that all the competitors miss. One without the other will never topple the Apple model.
3) THE DAYS OF SELLING RECORDED MUSIC IS OVER. As ubiquitous as it is iTunes is a loss leader. Wake up and smell the Double Tall Soy Latte. But no worries Doug you still are the biggest dog in the game.

Universal is the biggest content producer around. Apple does not produce ANY content. And we all know content is king. Hard and software may be the princes, though.
Universal billings surpass Apple’s. People may not realize it but the Universal is more prominent than Apple. 50, jay, Kanye, Gwen, NIN, Snoop, MJB – all part of the Universal brand.

Recorded music is over but content will never die. Figure out another way to leverage your content:
360 deals (look at Live Nation)
Film/TV (cross pollination)
Publishing (your existing cash cow)
RETURN TO RETAIL under your own rules (I know a great entrepreneur with a killer idea for this)

Doug Morris and Universal are responsible for the current mess but once he gets his ass kicked he is smart enough to rebuild. And just as we all followed him off the cliff we will follow him to the Promised Land.

Ghostface - World According to Pretty Toney

A genius. Plain and simple.

"Yeah B$@#^h"

this is what I was looking for when I posted 'Mighty Healthy'. This song shows Ghost in all of his non linear splendor. As bugged out as this is, how the hell can one write this. Even if you are skeed out of your mind. How can you write this down and remember it. The man is a genius.