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Speech Is My Hammer...

Ketchums Wish List Summer/Fall '08: Motivation

July 24, 2008 | Tags: Blackberry, technology, gadgets, iPod, Dre, Bose, DOOM, ?uest

So as you all know or may not know, along with my MichiganHipHop.com, Global Grind, HipHopDX, Famous Firm and other part-time hustles, I'm looking for a full-time gig. Everyone says that finding a job is a job itself, and even though I've been showing up to work, I've called in sick a couple of times. And watching a friend of mine work hard at starting up her own business reminds me that no matter how dope I am, I've got work to do.

Fortunately, I've always been a hopeless consumer. Aside from hearing great music and a having a quality woman at the crib, nothing has ever made me feel better than a shiny new product - whether it's a fancy gadget or some gear to add to the wardrobe. Below, I'm posting five things that I want to cop before the end of the year. Whenever I'm not on top of my job, all I'll have to do is revisit this blog to give myself some concrete motivation.

1. Blackberry Bold

You know those new AT&T commercials, where a person is portraying their voicemail and talking about how they missed a really important call? Yeah, I've had two of those real life situations: one prevented me from going to the Glow In The Dark tour, and the other made me get some money late. So T-Mobile is a wrap. And what better time to switch to AT&T than to cop the newest Blackberry, the Blackberry Bold? 3G/quad-band network + GPS & Wi-Fi + new and improved browser + the email/UI I've grown to love = perfection. My homie tells me it doesn't come out till January or something? Fuck. We'll see, though.

2. iPod Touch

So I've decided that I want an iPod Touch as opposed to an iPod Classic - the fly factor and the Wi-Fi were too much for just an iPod with more room. Besides, I'm at my laptop every night anyway, so I can afford to keep most of my music on an external hard drive; I don't need 160GB on a music player. I'll probably just get the cheapest joint, so I can just get my music, my audiobooks and a movie or two and I'll be fine. P.S.: Is there any reason that they chose to have Macy Gray's picture on all these iPod ads? Who the hell listened to her in the first place, much less at all? Seriously.

3. Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones or Bose On-The-Ear Headphones

As fly as my Skull Candy Rasta headphones are, I've had a pair of Bose before, and there's really no substitute. And as a critic, I've really got to hear all of the intricacies in the music I listen to (snickers). These Dr. Dre headphones have really been hyped up, and I've seen mixed reviews: Sickamore said they were crazy, but another one of my homies said they're not worth that much. If I don't get those then its back to the Bose, because their quality is undeniable.

4. MF DOOM Dunks

Yes, MF DOOM is overrated as hell. Yes, these shoes are sorta old now. But that colorway is Kev Garnett-versatile, the designs on the inside and outside sole are crazy, and my partner-in-crime is giving me a deal on 'em. I plan on copping these sooner than later.

5. (h)Air Questo's

Yeah, they're way too gaudy. No, I don't have anything to match them with. But I've got love for ?uest: he embodies hip-hop more than anybody else in the industry, and I'd cop these for the support and exclusivity alone. And if I can get something to actually match these? [Pusha T] Iugh! [/Pusha T]

--
So, back to work. Today's GotDone List is so disappointing that I won't even post it, and tomorrow's ToDo List is pretty vicious, so I've gotta start working toward these joints.

-Ketch

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Armchair A&Rs, Sit Down.

July 22, 2008 | Tags: none

So some cat emerged this week saying that he's stolen Rhymefest's iPod, and that he's leaking dude's upcoming album El Che track by track until the ‘Fest and the label releases a single, a video, etc. Click here to read his manifesto; props to Eskay for posting this in his Nah Right Lite sidebar.

I'm definitely eager to hear new Rhymefest material, and I can sorta respect the bootlegger's intentions, esp. with him only leaking a song per week until the album's completely out there. But it's still disheartening to see cats bootleg albums online, add a tag of the crew that ripped it, and post a sentence in a .txt file that nobody reads to encourage downloaders to buy the album. If you're gonna bootleg, at least be real about it.

First off, it's not your place to determine what's "helpful" to an artist if it's obviously something that he doesn't want to be done. You're not their parents, loved ones or career advisors, so "tough love" doesn't apply. If they don't want something leaked, it's more respectful to let them do what they want to. And to those who'd want to trap me for my support of other major blogs, remember two things: A) Most of these sites work directly with the artists and record labels more than you'd think, and B) They rarely, if ever, give a link to an entire album that's going to be sold in stores. Otherwise, if it's a story like Rick Ross getting busted as a corrections officer or an artist getting sued for sample usage, then they're actually documenting/reporting on what's happening instead of directly helping them.

IMO, some of this blame falls on 50. Record sales were always somewhat relevant, but nowhere near how they were once Curtis started using them as primary ammunition for his beefs. Now that numbers are back in the spotlight--ironically, once they're less and less relevant due to this same bootlegging--fans feel like they know enough about the music business to effectively help artists out. Don't get it twisted: a lot of these record label cats don't know what they're doing either, but these artists have entrusted their careers with these people. The last thing artists (ones that I've spoken to, anyway) need is for these armchair A&Rs to take matters into their own hands when they don't even know the artists' plans anyway. Besides, most of these cats are just using this as an excuse to boost their e-cred and spread music to their friends, anyway.

And the latter two reasons are actually half-decent justifications to bootlegging. If you just want the world to hear incredible music, then spreading links makes sense. If you want to bring more hits to your web site or be an e-god in a message board/forum, then this method is effective. Hell, even if you're doing it to get money in your pocket somehow, that's an authentic reason. I'm not here to tell people to stop bootlegging; I'm here to tell people to stop bootlegging and trying to make it seem like you're some music industry vanguard while doing it. I wonder what this guy would say if Rhymefest approached him, like, "Yo fam, I don't want to direct my career this way. Please stop leaking my album." *Update: Actually, that's essentially what Rhymefest did.* Will dude respond like, "Nah 'Fest, it's for your own good!" Riiight.

Want to help? Contact these artists/labels and ask how. When I talked to G-Unit/Talib Kweli/etc. producer Nick Speed, he asked me to spread around he and rapper Danny Brown's new album, Hot Soup (download here). Incredibly talented KOCH Records emcee Niles (formerly known as Alias, I've blogged about him before) has asked me to spread around his YouTube page to people, so I do that. Start a blog dedicated to the artist/label. Apply for an internship somewhere, so you can get a glimpse of how the industry works.

If you want to help the artist, help them legitimately. Otherwise, help yourself. Either way, just be real about it.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

Amanda Diva: A Tribute

July 12, 2008 | Tags: none

Whattup doe?

I'm wide asleep right now. After working on this bio for a Famous Firm artist for literally all of Thursday night, I essentially slept all day Friday. Since waking up @ 1 A.M., I've just been shooting the shit - talking to the one of the best magazine editors in the game, fooling around with Blackberry applications, etc. I just started watching some of Amanda Diva's YouTube videos, and with A) her inspiration being heavy right now, B) her birthday just recently passing a couple weeks ago, and C) one of my readers (shout out to Rish) complaining that I needed something new up here, I decided it was time to pay homage.

Homegirl is literally my career goal. She's a multimedia mogul in her own right, and every area she's gotten at, she's murked.

Journalism: She's written for widely-circulated print and online publications, interviewing everyone from Jay-Z and Outkast to Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.
Radio: She had her own show, "Breakfast At Diva's," on Sirius Satellite Radio from 2003 till this year.
TV: She was a host on MTV2's Sucker Free, and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) she was a VJ or something before that.
Internet: She has her own blog on OkayPlayer, and she has a really dope video series, "DivaSpeak TV," on her YouTube page.
Music/Poetry: She's Def Jam Poetry alumni, and she's got a few dope projects under her belt (I copped The Life Experience EP on iTunes and lost it when I reformatted my computer; haven't heard her new Foreplay mixtape yet). She's also part of the Aphilliates Music Group (shouts to Drama and Young Mase), and was temporarily a replacement member of Floetry.
Art: She also sells self-made paintings and handbags on her MySpace.

What I respect about her the most is how she's found a way to make everything that she loves part of her hustle. She loves hip-hop, art, poetry, journalism, etc., and they're all involved with how she makes a living. She brings to mind my favorite Lil Wayne quote right now: "I don't fantasize. I just mastermind, then go after mine." And that entire mindset is really important for me right now, as a multi-talented (journalist/blogger/radio personality) college graduate myself that's searching the job market, and hopefully being able to do so with hip-hop as a primary part of that. I've already got some crazy things in the works, along with what I'm obviously already doing, but seeing her hustle let's me know that it's real. I got to pick her brain a little bit when I interviewed her for HipHopDX's Fashion section, and I've since chopped it up with her via MySpace a little bit. Real cool peoples.

Not to mention she's fine as hell. So she's both my career goal career-wise, and my career goal life-wise. If I can get her success and the courtship of a gorgeous hip-hop chick like that, I'm set.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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Speech Is My Hammer...

Ketchums Wish List Summer/Fall '08: Motivation

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Armchair A&Rs, Sit Down.

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Amanda Diva: A Tribute

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