Thank you to everyone that came out to our September series of Prince vs Michael parties in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. Thanx to those who were kind enough to fill out the voting ballot. After the votes from all three cities were added up Prince won by just 22 votes over Michael, even though MJ seemed to have a slight advantage on the dancefloor. To view photos from the parties CLICK HERE
Here’s something funny we made in college in the late 80’s… enjoy
Forbes has compiled a Top 20 list devoted exclusively to rap music entrepreneurs. These numbers are based solely on 2006 income… wow, that’s some heavy scrilla these folks are raking in! Cars, half a million dollar chains, clothing lines and sneakers – too bad the majority of the youth believe that’s hip-hop culture.
Jay-Z – $34 million
50 Cent – $32 million
Diddy – $28 million
Timbaland – $21 million
Dr. Dre – $20 million
Eminem – $18 million
Snoop Dogg – $17 million
Kanye West – $17 million
Pharrell Williams – $17 million
Scott Storch – $17 million
Ludacris – $16 million
T.I. – $16 million
OutKast – $14 million
Lil Jon – $14 million
Ice Cube – $13 million
Jermaine Dupri – $12 million
Swizz Beatz – $12 million
Chamillionaire – $11 million
The Game – $11 million
Yung Joc – $10 million
While everyone is talking about how the Common album Finding Forever is all over charts and everyone’s waiting for 50 Cent – Curtis and Kanye West – Graduation, I’m digging hip-hop music from New Zealand…
My friend JC (aka Wordperfect) was in town over the weekend on his way to Germany. He was schooling me on the scene in New Zealand. Even though there are only 4 million people in NZ and the hip-hop community is small they have some pretty cool hip-hop coming out of there. Scribe is the biggest act in New Zealand, peep two of his music videos below. Other rap acts to peep are PNC, Mareko and Nikki Montana. On the non-rap tip check out Ladi6, Chong Nee, Batucuda Sound Machine and Fat Freddy’s Drop.
Scribe – FRESH
Scribe – STAND UP
Looks like there’s a lot of talk about Rick Rubin being named co-head of Columbia Records. Peep the The New York Times’ Sunday Magazine article by Lynn Hirschberg. But I seriously doubt he can save the music industry. Here’s how you save the music industry – all CD’s priced at $9.99! That’s how you do it. Believe me if cd’s were ten bucks a pop people wouldn’t have a problem buying music. Same price as an album download and you get the artwork and something that sounds way better than a MP3. Especially since the quality of MP3’s are only about 10% the sound quality of what’s on a Compact Disc. When will major labels and retailers learn?!
Check out our stand alone Bomb Hip-Hop Sampler. Just click on the player above. You can listen to 14 tracks from Bomb releases. Songs from Z-Trip, Peanut Butter Wolf, Paul Nice featuring AG, DJ Babu and Gennessee, DJ Static, Ultra X featuring Big Trip, DJ JS-1 featuring L.I.F.E.Long & Immortal Technique, Azeem, J-Zone, Tommy Tee, Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf, Nac One, ‘89 Skratch Gangstaz (DJ Pone & Snayk Eyez), Blackalicious and Jak Danielz.
Paul Dateh on the violin and Inka One on the turntables.
For those of you that like Prince (the artist formerly known as… the symbol, then back to Prince) check out these Purple drink recipes;
Sexy MF On The Beach:
Archers, Vodka, Fresh Orange & Cranberry Juice
Day’s Of Wild:
Vodka, with Grapefruit and Cranberry Juice
Tick Tick Banger:
Vodka & Galliano with Orange Juice
Purple Pimms:
Traditionally served Pimms & Lemonade, heavy with Fruit
Sweet Baby:
Brandy, Red Wine, OJ and soda
Scarlet Pussy:
Vodka, Tomato Juice – traditionally spiced
Scandalous:
Gold Label Tequila, Grenadine and fresh Orange
Kiss Koolade:
Vodka, Amaretto, Midorri and Cranberry Juice
Darling Nikki:
Vodka, Gin, Bacardi, Triple Sec, Tequila, lime Juice and Coke
Avalanche:
Smirnoff Vodka, crushed ice, limes & brown sugar
Black Album:
Vodka, Tia Maria & Coke
Continental:
Vodka, Triple Sec, Lime & Cranberry Juice
White Mansion:
Vodka & Tia Maria, with Milk
Poom Poom:
Vodka, Archers & Cranberry Juice
Kiss:
Archers, Midorri, Orange Juice,Cranberry Juice
Chocolate:
Ice cold Vodka, shaken with Creme de cacao
Shake:
Ice Cold Gin, shaken with a whisper of Dry Martini
So Blue:
Ice cold Blue Label Vodka, shaken with a whisper of Dry Martini
Glam Slammer:
Layers of Tia Maria & Baileys, with Grand Marnier float
Orgasm:
Layers of Peach Schnapps & Baileys, topped with whipped cream
Hot Thing Remix:
Tequila, a splash of hot tabasco and a whole chilli
Hot Thing Original:
Sambuca & Tequila split by a line of tabasco
Shockadelica:
Vodka, float of Lime Cordial, float of Triple Sec , lime wedge
Dirty Mind Blower:
Vodka with a dash of Dry Martini and an olive
Emancipation:
Vodka & Galliano, with a burst of Grenadine
Temptation:
Sambuca and roasted coffee beans, don’t burn your lips!
Underneath The Cream:
Layers of Sambuca & Baileys, with a drop of Grenadine
Irresistible Bitch:
Creme de Cacao & Baileys
Insatiable:
Layers of Creme de Menthe & Baileys
Erotic City:
Layers of Midori, Malibu & creamy Baileys
Head:
Layers of butterscotch schnapps and Baileys
This is a work in progress. It’s about touring for my “hip-hop music industry” book that I am working on. Figured some people might find it interesting…
INDIE RAP ARTISTS : Shows & Touring – how much will you make?
You have to ask yourself, “why do I want to tour and perform”? Touring is gruelling – lots of time spent travelling, not a lot of sleep and so forth. It’s not all fun and games. So when you are establishing a hip-hop music career don’t expect parties, girls, hotel suites and lots of money at the beginning. It’s all about building up a fan base.
Unless a promoter happens to be a hardcore fan of your music, has money to burn, or it’s an event with sponsorships dollars (Scion, Red Bull, Puma etc.) you may not get what you think you deserve in the beginning. But it’s not about what you deserve, it’s all about what you’re worth. There are many different aspects that determine what you can be paid for a show but the main one is how many people can you draw to a show. Why should a promoter/venue book you, how many patrons/customers will your name and performance bring to the event?
Do you have a full length album or albums out with distribution throughout the states? Is the album selling? Do you have press in magazines (URB, XLR8R, Source, Scratch, XXL, Vibe, Spin) and is your music being pushed to hip-hop dj’s at college radio? Do you have 20,000+ friends on MySpace or did you guest appear on anything of note? Because in the end it’s all about how many people you can draw that will determine how much you can get paid for performing at an event.
As a rule of thumb, I always like to ‘guesstimate’ how many people in San Francisco will come out to see an artist if that artist in the only performer on the bill. I use SF because I’m from the city, I’ve produced many shows in the city (successes and failures) and the city has a lot of open-minded music lovers. If with a decent amount of marketing & promotion, people don’t come out in SF for a show then they probably won’t in Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles or any other cities. For example, if the ticket price is $10 at the door how many people would come to a venue and pay that $10 to just see you in San Francisco? If you can draw 100 paying people then “maybe” you can charge between $300-$500 and if you alone can draw 200 people paying $10 each then “maybe” you can charge between $600-$900.
I’ve seen many hip-hop groups over the years build up their fan base by touring and releasing music on a regular basis. Most if not all of these groups lost money or didn’t make any money the first few tours but they built up a solid fan base by having a great stageshow, selling their music on the road, doing radio interviews and visiting retailers. Fans that would return to future shows with their friends and those new fans would buy their music and merchandise. These groups listed have all done this – Zion I, Jurassic 5, Ugly Duckling, PUTS, Atmosphere, Blackalicious, Living Legends, Mr. Lif to name a few.
Please be realistic when setting your asking price and your minimum price. Be smart and don’t price yourelf out of the market.
Here’s a listing of Bay Area hip-hop artists that we’re feeling on MySpace:
myspace.com/celsius7
myspace.com/theloyalists
myspace.com/motionman
myspace.com/unifiedschooldistrict
myspace.com/youdeaf
myspace.com/melinajones
myspace.com/theinsomniaddicts
myspace.com/gmcouncil
myspace.com/deepdickollective
myspace.com/dublin
myspace.com/theshotgunweddingquintet
myspace.com/feloniousonelove
myspace.com/zephandazeem
myspace.com/mcazeem
myspace.com/jbillionhufset
myspace.com/chepomusic
myspace.com/constructcrew
myspace.com/natekrooks
myspace.com/geesoulmyspace
myspace.com/cantfindavillain
myspace.com/mixedmessengers
myspace.com/infinitemusicdonkeykongproductions
myspace.com/bicasso
myspace.com/instantmessengers
myspace.com/benflowz
myspace.com/eddiek88
myspace.com/boac
myspace.com/conceit
myspace.com/topr
myspace.com/theearthlings
myspace.com/sacredhoopsters
myspace.com/sonicbloom
myspace.com/theattik510
myspace.com/pwesquire
myspace.com/veraclique
myspace.com/keelaycom
myspace.com/saafir
myspace.com/boredstiffmusic
myspace.com/heightsmen
myspace.com/40lovehiphop
myspace.com/katastropherap
myspace.com/therealrasco
myspace.com/thebashbrothers
myspace.com/soulsofmischief
myspace.com/delthefunkyhomosapien
myspace.com/dnae
myspace.com/jerneye
myspace.com/lyricsborn
myspace.com/lateefthetruthspeaker
FLASHBACK VIDEO CLIP
Invisibl Skratch Piklz at our Bomb party in 1994
