January 2006 Archives

Soft porn hip-hop magazines like King, Smooth, Feugo, Black Tail, Eye Candy and others have gotten a lot of attention lately. Now that we've thrown out the thin European-style model from our music videos, and have embraced the thicky-thick girl as our standard of beauty we can now have men's mags that differentiate themselves from the general competition.

While I'm glad these magazines celebrate Black beauty as our communities define it, I wish that we could borrow some of the editorial standards of a Playboy and Maxim. It's an old joke, but people do read Playboy for the articles. The mag has a long tradition of having top writing talent break down the most important issues of our day.

Second tier television networks UPN and the WB have announced a merger that will create a new station called CW. This is strange news. UPN is home to a bunch of Black sitcoms (Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, Eve) while the WB focuses its programming on young women (Gilmore Girls, Everwood, Charmed).

This is like kids from the mall hanging out with kids from the swap meet. It just doesn't mix.

Unless you've been rock living, you heard about Kobe Bryant's brilliant 81 point performance against Toronto this week. Now the same press that was calling Kobe selfish are now singing his praises and egging him on to go for the NBA record of 100 points in a single game.

You don't have to wait for VH1, because I'll tell you now- Kobe is having the best week ever. In a day his image went from being a former rape defendent, former emcee, former teenage NBA player, former Shaq teammate to being called the saviour of the Lakers' season. But he's carrying more than that team on his back. He's taking the whole image of hip-hop in the NBA with him.

Cam’s claim has to be put into proper perspective. First, there’s nothing in Jay’s past, present, or future that would make him put out a hit on a rival rapper. Also, the diamond gesture, if it ever did happen, was probably just a taunt from the shooter that was not meant to be seen as a connection to Jay-Z.

Despite Fabolous' multi-platinum selling status, he's not a rap superstar. You won't find Fab's face carrying the sales of a magazine or his name selling out a major concert.

But why is that?

Your boy has the flow. He makes pop songs for the ladies and still reps hard on the mixtape scene, which maintains his cred with the hood. What F-a-b-o is lacking is a good backstory.

We all know 50 Cent was shot 9 times, and Eminem gained pre-fame respect through the battle ranks. Those backstories are not just good enough to sell magazines, it was good enough to make into movies. Fab's couldn't stand on its own on a mixtape DVD.

New York City is the capital of racial diversity and also magazine publishing, yet the two don't go together. A recent survey has found that most of the big mag publishers don't employ many people of color.

For instance, Conde Nast, which puts out GQ and Vogue, has 29 top editors yet only one of them has any color in their skin (I guess that would explain how the infamous 50 Cent photo shoot got ok'ed).

More trouble for The Source (I think half of my chin-checks start with those 5 words)...

SOHH reports that the magazine's minority stake holders have created a new board of directors and are trying to force Dave Mays and Benzino out. I predict that the Mayzino^TM duo will be kicked to the curb, despite their legal wrangling that's delaying the inevitable.

Expect a new staff at The Source by March. Also, be ready for Mayzino to focus on other projects under The Source brand, like the awards show, compilation CD, etc.

Isn't that the best for everyone? Benzino's thuggery and character assassinations are better suited for the obscurity of XM satellite radio, not a music magazine. And Dave Mays' credibility as a magazine founder would make him a big draw on a MySpace blog. He could probably get twice as many testimonials in his guestbook than I have.

I love the Christmas version of Kanye West's "Heard Em Say" video where he plays a homeless father who gets one night to let his kids romp through a magical version of Macy's.

I wonder- did America's most famous department store pay to be so heavily featured in Kanye's video, or did 'Ye choose the store because of its symbolic significance? I'd put the smart money on the deal going both ways.

Kanye's not shy about pushing products in his music- he was paid for his mention of Seagram's Gin and was one of the top "Name Brand Droppers of the Year". And Macy's practically invented the art of product placement with Miracle on 34th Street. Sounds like a match to me.

Months ago I broke up with BET before our relationship could turn sour, and my heart become bitter with unmet expectations.

Like Luda, I want a lady in the street, but a freak in the bed. However, BET seemed only interested in booty shaking- in the morning, at night, and even in the afternoon in front of the kids getting out of school (again, Marques Houston's Naked video should not be on 106th and Park!)

I needed someone who could light my mind up, and BET wasn't cutting it.

Well, now I hear that ol' girl has been getting couseled by Reginald Hudlin, the media maven who produced "Everybody Hates Chris" and "The Boondocks". Hudlin has brought in Touré, Selwyn Hinds, and Nelson George who share credits across a clusterbomb of Black film, TV, and print (too bad he has beef with Aaron McGruder, or Boondocks might have been on BET next season).

We need some new rules for rap writers in the duece-double-oh-six. Let's start with the "underated" label given to every rapper who's record sales and hood respect don't match up to their skills.

Some of these artists have been deemed "slept on" so often that they can no longer honestly be called underrated. They've have passed on to a special category I call "Overrated Underrated".

Here are the top overrated underrated rappers:

Beanie Sigel. Yup, yup. I agree that his lack of sales has been in part because Jay-Z's yearly album drop schedule always overshadowed his protégé's work. But in the same breath, Beans' boosters also admit that Jay is the one who gave their boy fame in the first place. You can't have it both ways. Sigel also has three solo albums, two group albums, a clothing label, and starred in two movies, even though he's gone gold once. Truth be told, he's not hurting for more props from anyone.