Thursday, November 13, 2003
Black Friday is here (& so is A Bathing Ape) and the hip hop don't stop.
In stores tomorrow: Jay-Z The Black Album. Not quite classic-status like The Blueprint or Reasonable Doubt but this is a quality album overall nonetheless. For you luddites who miss hip hop that sounds like early (Rick Rubin-produced) Run DMC, LL Cool J or Licensed to Ill, you need to peep Rick's work on "99 Questions" because this is some classic sh!t. Rick needs to get back into the hip hop game more frequently 'cos son still got it and the game needs him.
If you can believe this, word is that, after producing all those classic mid-80's Def Jam albums and dropping out of the hip hop scene completely, Rubin missed hearing albums by BDP and Eric B & Rakim and (I think) Dr. Dre until spoken-word artist Saul Williams, whose album he produced last year, played them for him.
Also available soon: "Reebok and Jay-Z Debut the "S. Carter by RBK" Black Shoe." Check out the S.Carter Black Shoe here (Source: EURweb) or on the Reebok website here (click the "Rbk" link). (Plans for a simultaneous release date for the album and sneaker were screwed up when rampant bootlegging of The Black Album forced the label to move up the release date for the album by two weeks.)
Also in stores tomorrow : G-Unit Beg For Mercy. This is not a bad album actually, just not a particularly groundbreaking one. But expect thugs, both suburban and urban, to bump this for weeks to come.
And the G-Unit invasion continues. Available this week too: 50 Cent's sneaker, the G6 from the G-Unit collection, debuted in stores Tuesday ("Hip-Hop's Hottest MC and Reebok Embark on an Integrated Marketing Campaign to Build a Buzz Around New "G-Unit Collection by Rbk"). Click the "Rbk" link on the Reebok website here for more details or order a pair here through Eastbay.
Premiering tomorrow on TV as well: Interscope Presents "The Next Episode" on Showtime. "Loosely described as a reality version of the rap contests in the movie 8 Mile, ‘The Next Episode’ follows the trials and triumphs of undiscovered rappers from across America struggling to become the country’s top MC." I'm mildly curious to watch this but skeptical as to how good this will be. Why aren't Anthony Marshall and Danny Castro from the "Lyrcists' Lounge" involved in this? They pioneered the industry MC battles (New Music Seminar's earlier contributions notwithstanding). I guess not selling 20+ million albums in the past 5 years probably has something to do with it.
Still not enough hip hop stuff for you to do this Friday? Again, remember that Tupac: Resurrection opens tomorrow as well.
OK, that's way too much shine for Interscope's Jimmy Iovine, Goliath Artists' Paul Rosenberg (manager/label VP for 50, Em, G-Unit etc.) & co. I'm now declaring a moratorium on any more Jay-Z or G-Unit news unless something monumental happens. Here's an advance sneak-peak at what will likely be next Wedneday's post now so I don't have to bother writing it then: G-Unit and Jay Z enter the Billboard Top 200 chart 1 and 2 selling a sh!tload of albums even though they've only been in stores a half-week. Who'll be #1 is a toss-up although I'm giving the nod to Jay based on all the hype surrounding this being his final album before allegedly retiring. Done, next.
If you're looking for a break from the corporate thug-rap dominating the charts and tomorrow's record release slate, consider giving emerging undeground hip hop crew Atmosphere and their Minnesota-based Rhymesayers record label and crew some love. Not really my bag but I saw them, and openers Brother Ali , the Micranots and Oddjobs, put on a solid show last night at SOB's in New York for a crowd that looked like they'd be more at home at a kegger during Head of the Charles than at a hip hop event. Related reading: See Slug from Atmosphere on the cover of this month's Urb magazine with Aesop Rock and featured in an article titled "The New Face of Indie Hip Hop."
Yes, it's truly become a "hip hop world" (Source: MSNBC.com). It's everywhere. Next thing you know, hip hop will be influencing Middle East politics (Source: USA Today).
Follow-up from yesterday's commentary on styles at the Source Awards. Dickies workwear may be becoming trendy but this is a company that knows how to stay focused and maintain, in marketing parlance, the integrity and core values of their brand: "Stodgy Dickies becomes trendy by appearing untrendy" (Source: Miami Herald). Maybe Burberry, who've taken a big leap into the youth fashion market over the past couple of years, could learn a lesson from Dickies because those moves seem to have backfired on them: "Burberry shown door as bars ban thugs’ uniform" (Source: The Herald).
And then there's BAPE (A Bathing Ape) clothing, run by Japanese artist Nigo and endorsed by James Lavelle (of UNKLE and Mo' Wax) and the Beastie Boys. BAPE has been one of the coolest streetwear brands on the planet due to the fact that, for years, it was frickin' impossible to find it unless you travelled to Japan. Now thanks, in part, to Neptunes super-producer and NERD vocalist Pharrell Williams wearing the gear, American stores like Alife Rivington Club and Premium Goods have begun carrying it and hip hop heads are starting to check for it.
This is similar to when Jay-Z started wearing Evisu jeans instead of his own Roc-a-wear brand. When the hip hop world crosses over to the "hipster" world covered by magazines like Fader, Dazed and Confused and Trace instead of (the more usual) vice-versa, it's some weird ish. It's unclear how all this new attention will affect BAPE's cool quotient but collaborating with Pepsi on a limited-edition can (huh?) seems like an odd next move (Source: Bandchannel.com). We'll know it's probably over when Macy's is finally carrying BAPE gear although that doesn't seem to have hurt Diesel and Ben Sherman too much.
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If you can believe this, word is that, after producing all those classic mid-80's Def Jam albums and dropping out of the hip hop scene completely, Rubin missed hearing albums by BDP and Eric B & Rakim and (I think) Dr. Dre until spoken-word artist Saul Williams, whose album he produced last year, played them for him.
Also available soon: "Reebok and Jay-Z Debut the "S. Carter by RBK" Black Shoe." Check out the S.Carter Black Shoe here (Source: EURweb) or on the Reebok website here (click the "Rbk" link). (Plans for a simultaneous release date for the album and sneaker were screwed up when rampant bootlegging of The Black Album forced the label to move up the release date for the album by two weeks.)
Also in stores tomorrow : G-Unit Beg For Mercy. This is not a bad album actually, just not a particularly groundbreaking one. But expect thugs, both suburban and urban, to bump this for weeks to come.
And the G-Unit invasion continues. Available this week too: 50 Cent's sneaker, the G6 from the G-Unit collection, debuted in stores Tuesday ("Hip-Hop's Hottest MC and Reebok Embark on an Integrated Marketing Campaign to Build a Buzz Around New "G-Unit Collection by Rbk"). Click the "Rbk" link on the Reebok website here for more details or order a pair here through Eastbay.
Premiering tomorrow on TV as well: Interscope Presents "The Next Episode" on Showtime. "Loosely described as a reality version of the rap contests in the movie 8 Mile, ‘The Next Episode’ follows the trials and triumphs of undiscovered rappers from across America struggling to become the country’s top MC." I'm mildly curious to watch this but skeptical as to how good this will be. Why aren't Anthony Marshall and Danny Castro from the "Lyrcists' Lounge" involved in this? They pioneered the industry MC battles (New Music Seminar's earlier contributions notwithstanding). I guess not selling 20+ million albums in the past 5 years probably has something to do with it.
Still not enough hip hop stuff for you to do this Friday? Again, remember that Tupac: Resurrection opens tomorrow as well.
OK, that's way too much shine for Interscope's Jimmy Iovine, Goliath Artists' Paul Rosenberg (manager/label VP for 50, Em, G-Unit etc.) & co. I'm now declaring a moratorium on any more Jay-Z or G-Unit news unless something monumental happens. Here's an advance sneak-peak at what will likely be next Wedneday's post now so I don't have to bother writing it then: G-Unit and Jay Z enter the Billboard Top 200 chart 1 and 2 selling a sh!tload of albums even though they've only been in stores a half-week. Who'll be #1 is a toss-up although I'm giving the nod to Jay based on all the hype surrounding this being his final album before allegedly retiring. Done, next.
If you're looking for a break from the corporate thug-rap dominating the charts and tomorrow's record release slate, consider giving emerging undeground hip hop crew Atmosphere and their Minnesota-based Rhymesayers record label and crew some love. Not really my bag but I saw them, and openers Brother Ali , the Micranots and Oddjobs, put on a solid show last night at SOB's in New York for a crowd that looked like they'd be more at home at a kegger during Head of the Charles than at a hip hop event. Related reading: See Slug from Atmosphere on the cover of this month's Urb magazine with Aesop Rock and featured in an article titled "The New Face of Indie Hip Hop."
Yes, it's truly become a "hip hop world" (Source: MSNBC.com). It's everywhere. Next thing you know, hip hop will be influencing Middle East politics (Source: USA Today).
Follow-up from yesterday's commentary on styles at the Source Awards. Dickies workwear may be becoming trendy but this is a company that knows how to stay focused and maintain, in marketing parlance, the integrity and core values of their brand: "Stodgy Dickies becomes trendy by appearing untrendy" (Source: Miami Herald). Maybe Burberry, who've taken a big leap into the youth fashion market over the past couple of years, could learn a lesson from Dickies because those moves seem to have backfired on them: "Burberry shown door as bars ban thugs’ uniform" (Source: The Herald).
And then there's BAPE (A Bathing Ape) clothing, run by Japanese artist Nigo and endorsed by James Lavelle (of UNKLE and Mo' Wax) and the Beastie Boys. BAPE has been one of the coolest streetwear brands on the planet due to the fact that, for years, it was frickin' impossible to find it unless you travelled to Japan. Now thanks, in part, to Neptunes super-producer and NERD vocalist Pharrell Williams wearing the gear, American stores like Alife Rivington Club and Premium Goods have begun carrying it and hip hop heads are starting to check for it.
This is similar to when Jay-Z started wearing Evisu jeans instead of his own Roc-a-wear brand. When the hip hop world crosses over to the "hipster" world covered by magazines like Fader, Dazed and Confused and Trace instead of (the more usual) vice-versa, it's some weird ish. It's unclear how all this new attention will affect BAPE's cool quotient but collaborating with Pepsi on a limited-edition can (huh?) seems like an odd next move (Source: Bandchannel.com). We'll know it's probably over when Macy's is finally carrying BAPE gear although that doesn't seem to have hurt Diesel and Ben Sherman too much.
