Khia, disqualified Miss Rap Supreme contestant and author of “My Neck, My Back,” has launched a busload of blog beef, occasioned in part by her leaving Big Cat Records two weeks before the release of her new album, Nasti Muzik 08. She claims that the label wrote her a bad check and gave her nothing in the way of promotion. “So guess what????? Say hello to my little Jewish friend…….. You know dat Im gonna laugh all the way to the bank dontcha??? Yall betta have all yall receipts, invoices and budgets together…. Cuz Im bout to sue the hell out yall assess!!!!!!” Khia also takes issue with those who haven’t signed her, like Jermaine Dupri, who claimed on Hot 97 that Khia was “ungrateful” for the attention she received from being on Janet Jackson’s 2006 flop “So Excited.” Khia, unsurprisingly, thinks the real problem is that Dupri’s gay and Jackson’s menopausal. “Now run and tell dat!!!!!! Nasti Muzik 08!!!!!”
There are two types of raps about sneakers: labors of love like “My Adidas” and corporate shilling, like The Game making sure to mention Nike on almost every track on The Documentary. “Stepped On My J’s” is probably the latter. Nelly’s rap (which rhymes “what now?” with “what now?” More »
Jermaine Dupri’s latest hair-brained scheme: He’s bringing together the collective power of Island Def Jam and Procter and Gamble to start Tag Records, a label that is branded with the name of the body spray and the delightful countenance of the pint-sized president. Dupri claims that Tag is where he’ll find new artists and “market [them] 10 times more” than they might normally be, unless they’re, say, Leona Lewis. It seems like kind of a raw deal for the artists, to be honest; they’re basically contracted out to be spokesmodels for Tag and active music artists with recording and touring careers simultaneously. Of course, the IDJ suits are calling this “a non-traditional approach that blends our most valuable assets: the artist and their music, with the power of brand marketing.” That’s almost as sexy as Tag’s nausea-inducing scents! The first artist contracted to this partnership will be announced in May, if Dupri’s charisma can convince anyone to actually go down this road. After the jump, he chats about the new venture while standing in front of a very expensive car.
Every year pop critics await the coming of January with a sense of trepidation and a healthy amount of schadenfreude, because it’s time for our own year-end analysis, Jason Gross’ annual rundown of year’s worst music writing. (Gross’ long-running look at the dregs of rock scribbling is actually part of a package of the worst and best music writing of the year. But c’mon, we all know which part we really care about.) And now that our trepidation has passed (nothing we wrote in ’07 made it to Gross’ “Bottom Of The Barrel” category!), we can get to the schadenfreude (which of our peers did make it to Gross’ “Bottom Of The Barrel” category?).
Thanks to soulbounce for reminding us of Jermaine Dupri’s assertion that the Jackson 5 would show up at his Atlanta club Studio 72 on New Year’s Eve. More »
At least, that’s what he claimed on his radio show the other night, in typically understated fashion. The hip-hop impresario counts among his holdings the Atlanta club Studio 72, and he’s throwing a Jackson 5-themed New Year’s Eve party this year. And the theme is so driving the party, Michael, Marlon, Jermaine, Tito, and Jackie–and maybe, just for good measure, Dupri’s girlfriend Janet–are all going to be there! (Maybe.)
“Is that Mickey fucking Avalon?” Maura asked when I showed her this photo. Why, yes it is! It seems the way-past-his-15 novelty “sleazeball” “rapper” has been tapped by Boost Mobile to irritate us on a variety of media platforms, along with his new friends the Snowman and some guy who hates iTunes.
Did you know shrimpy hip-hop mogul Jermaine Durpri was a blogger on The Huffington Post? Neither did we! Yet there he was yesterday with his second post already, wherein he praises Jay-Z for his “decision not to let iTunes break up his American Gangster album and sell it as single tracks.” And it seems JD is already taking swimmingly to the blog format, penning an impassioned (and totally bullshit) 1,300 word rant-cum-manifesto about how the record labels can (and should!) take back control of the industry from both evil Steve Jobs and his hypnotized minion, the music consumer.
You just started a new gig at a company that has had its share of problems lately–including underperforming releases, executive squabbling, and reported layoffs. So what do you do to really make your mark? Why, bring your girlfriend over to drop a record or two, even though her last album was an expensive failure:
Mini-mogul Jermaine Dupri’s exit from Virgin is now official, and he’s taken to his MySpace blog to let everyone know how he’s doing (stick a huge sic over the next few grafs): what up yall long time no talk as you probly herd i been goin to war with virgin over the lack of… More »
