Jon Shecter: From The Source To Honeys
There is that final scene in Martin Scorsese's Casino, where an all-but-blind Robert DeNiro has walked away from his casino empire to become what he was in the beginning: a gambler. Perhaps there is a parallel there in the career of Jonathan Shecter.
Shecter was one of the founders of The Source magazine, the "Bible of Hip Hop," and he was instrumental in getting the magazine from dorm-room periodical to something that was carried at 7-Eleven, and back then, every significant record store chain. By 1995, when the purists say the music soured, Shecter left the empire, presumably with plenty of chips to cash in.
In the years since, Jon has launched numerous companies, many in the online space. Among them, Game Recordings, a single-specializing label that was instrumental in the careers of Royce Da 5'9" as well as Purple City's Agallah, in addition to Hip Hop Honeys, a DVD series that mixed softcore pornography with a Hip Hop edge. Today, he helps deejays including AM and Mark Ronson earn top dollar with Las Vegas gigs.
Today though, the '88er is a self-taught poker fanatic. As HipHopDX revisits some instrumental people in the Hip Hop publishing industry, Jonathan Shecter says that no matter what the hustle is, you've got to gamble smart.
HipHopDX: You started your career in traditional publishing with the Source magazine in 1988. The publishing game has had to change with the start of the Internet. How do you see the traditional publishing game going in the future? Will only a handful of magazines be able to exist?
Jonathan Shecter: You know its interesting In the early, heady days of the Internet, every commentator was predicting the fall of printed media. Whats funny is that many of the websites that were supposed to kill magazines ended up collapsing themselves, or changing business models (particularly in the music arena), while most of the major magazines have continued to publish.
So declaring the death of magazines may be premature. That said, I think its clear the web is a better vehicle for advertising, and thus it will continue to supplant printed media. A glance at any newspaper companys stock chart will show that pessimism is certainly the consensus of the market. The advertising support for magazines is declining, but I think magazines will continue to be a valid business for at least 10 yearsespecially for titles that have a robust web presence as well.
I do most of my reading online, although I still appreciate a good magazine with well-written articles and great artwork. Not much in the music space has been holding my attention lately, but I do love the new Conde Nast Portfolioa very high end business/money magazine. I think its clear XXL rules the Hip Hop space. The Source never really established itself online, but dont blame me, cause I left in 1995 before the Internet boom
DX: Do you have any regrets not getting into the .com space either as a content provider or as a business investment?
JS: Well thats not actually true. I have invested in and helped start a number of websites over the years. But I certainly could have done more to capitalize on the momentum of content moving online. At the moment, my company maintains a number of websites, and weve actually had success for many years making money online (especially in the sexy space). Our sites include: www.HipHopHoneys.com, homebase of the Hip Hop Honeys DVD series, www.MoneyForHoneys.com, an affiliate site, we offer 50/50 revenue share, www.UrbanDVDClub.com, great deals on the top titles in urban/Hip Hop DVD
www.hiphopsite.com/product/listByLabel/name/game, we are close partners with the long-standing HipHopSite.com, on this page you can download the entire Game Recordings music catalogue, www.KeithFromUpDaBlock.com, singer, rapper, comedian Keith From Up Da Block is a one-man entertainment machine-- the funniest parody artist since Weird Al, check him out.
DX: When we spoke a couple of months ago you described the deejay hustle in Las Vegas as the deejay/club scene on hyperdrive. Like the dot com era. What factors play into that? Is it because people don't worry about $ when their partying in Vegas?
JS: Its amazing out here in Vegas, and the nightclub scene is a big factor. The clubs here are thriving, mega-successful businesses, mostly located inside huge, luxurious casinos. In many cases, the clubs are partners with the casino and they have a mutual stake in driving as much traffic as possible into their venues. The stakes are very high and the clubs compete with each other to draw the best deejay talent, artists, celebrities, events, etc.
As a result, Las Vegas is definitely the deejay capital of the world, bar none. No other city treats deejays as well in terms of money, in terms of marketing support, in terms of business in general. Ive been lucky to be the Vegas rep for top deejays like DJ AM, Mark Ronson and Stretch Armstrong, so weve been on the cutting edge of the deejay business here. DJ AM in particular is at the top of the food chain, and his current residency at Pure (Caesar's) and LAX (Luxor) is one of the most lucrative deejay deals ever negotiated. But every weekend, theres big name artists performing up and down the Strip, popular but cheesy Hollywood celebs hosting parties, and deejays from around the world spinning.
The reason for this flood of money is, as you suspect, a healthy supply of tourists willing to go all out because theyre in Vegas. So-called bottle service is the normits typical for a group of guys to get a table at an upscale club, and be required to buy two or three bottles, ringing up a tab around $2,000. Sometimes customers drop five, 10, even $25,000 in a single night. The stories are endless, but one night recently at Blush inside the Wynn, Lakers star Kobe Bryant and a local poker pro named Antonio Esfandiari had a decadent battle to see who could buy more bottles of Cristal (each bottle delivered with sparklers attached by sexy waitresses). By the time the thrills were over, Antonio and his crew had bought 26 bottles, easily beating Kobes 15 bottles. Heres the kicker: bottles cost $1,600 each!
All this energy works on a creative level tooVegas is the gathering place for many deejays and a place where the art form is progressed. DJ AM set the tone by playing in a style now labeled mash-up, which is really being a Pop culture blender and playing everything from rap to Rock to House to Electro all in a single hour. But with so many venues open, deejays that specialize in one genre like Hip Hop or House can get deep into their style, while still working to please as wide an audience as possible. Most tourists are not musically sophisticated, so there is a general vibe from club owners to play the hits so they can keep bar revenue as high as possible.
DX: In an interview with Complex you said you "learned so much more about business and the entertainment industry, about the economy of the planet earth while in Vegas." Can you explain in more detail about your comments. What are some concrete examples/lessons you've learned or seen while in
Vegas?
JS: What I meant by that comment is that all the major properties on the Las Vegas strip offer a great window onto the business trends of our economy. Each of these huge casinoswith their gambling floor, their nightclubs, their restaurantsis an economic infrastructure that can test new products efficiently, support and build on whats working and weed out whats not working.
One major illustration of this is the thriving nightclub scene, as I described in the last answer. There have been many millions made from nightclubs out here, mostly by young guys in their twenties and thirties. I see this success as I watch many friends in the music biz in New York and L.A. losing their jobs, changing careers and struggling to make ends meet.
I used to think that entertainment businesses with a national focus like mine (marketing their goods to the whole country and world) had the upper hand on those with a local focus (targeting a specific community of customers). Now I see that when it comes to Vegas, the opposite is true. The constant flow of tourists from around the world with money to spend creates a bull market for the best goods and services in this town. And those who offer the best are thriving, even in a down market for entertainment and a down economy in general.
Im launching an artist now named Keith From Up Da Block; hes a brilliant parody artist from Philly, he writes and performs hilarious song parodies, which Im confident the world will find entertaining. Hip-hop especially needs a good laugh like never before. Were positioning Keith as a web-ready artist, using YouTube and MySpace to spread the word about his songs and videos. But our ultimate goal is to make him a headliner here in Vegas, where we can build a business around his live performances.
Not to be a downer, but one thing I always think about as kryptonite for Las Vegas is terrorism. Vegas can weather the bad economy (by luring customers from thriving economies like Asia), Vegas can survive the downswing in real estate values (by taking major investments from Dubai), but if another act of terrorism happens anywhere, especially here, all bets are off. Nobody wants to travel or gamble or party when their life may be threatened.
I was in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 but I was in Vegas a couple weeks after, and it was a ghost town. Many people lost their jobs, and it took about three years for traffic and revenues to catch back up. The recent ricin scares here certainly dont help matters, though it appears to be a lone nutcase, not organized terrorism.
DX: What are some simple rules that you use when playing high stakes poker?
JS: Okay, Ill focus on No Limit Hold Em, which is the game I play most often, and the game that people usually see on TV. Three key things to pay attention to are: starting hand selection, position, bankroll management. Theres not enough space here to go into detail about each one but Ill try to summarize.
Starting Hand Selection
Starting hands in Hold Em should be limited to pairs (AA, 10 10), suited connectors (6spades-7spades, 10clubs-Jclubs) and two big cards (AK, KQ). Some other hands are playable, like A-9 suited, but only in late position. Fold everything else.
Position
Position refers to when you act in a specific hand, as a dealer button moves one position each hand, giving each player an equal chance to play each position once per round. Late position is an advantage because you can see what everyone else does first, giving the player on the button maximum information. When youre in late position, you can loosen up your starting hand requirements and also try to steal pots by playing aggressive; when youre in early position, you need to tighten up and play much more selectively.
Bankroll Management
The most important skill to learn is managing your bankroll. Obviously, never buy into a poker game, or any gambling game, with money you cannot afford to lose. But a harder question is knowing when to quit, whether youre winning or losing in a particular session. I like to use this guideline: if you double your original buy-in, you should consider quitting. If you lose your first buy in and still like the game, have a second buy-in ready, but never exceed two buy ins for a single session.
For further information, I recommend the following books. Ive read more than 20 poker books, and continue to learn about the game daily. If youre just starting: Winning Low Limit Hold Em by Lee Jones. If you think you got skills: Hold Em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky.
DX: I have to ask you the current state of Hip Hop question. Putting on your historian hat how will Hip Hop music in the mid to late 2000's be perceived in 10-15 years? As a whole, has Hip Hop lost its edge that originally made it so original and exciting?
JS: I dont think Hip Hop will ever be as good as it was in the classic days. Im a die-hard old school head to the core. The only Hip Hop I really listen to is the classics from the 80s and 90s. And I love going deep with people like DJ Premier we talk about the most obscure early independent shit, like the original Geto Boys lineup doing Ya Gotta Be Down. When I want inspiration, I go to forgotten gems like Fresh by the Fresh 3 MCs, One Love by Whodini or Can You Feel It by the Fat Boys. To me, the best year was 88 no doubt about it! Classic albums from Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B & Rakim, N.W.A., Eazy-E, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Jungle Brothers, Ultramagnetic MC's, Stetsasonic all in on year! It was a great time to be a fan.
I hear all the stuff thats hot now and for the most part I think it sucks. Yes, Ill nod along to the catchy club hit of the moment, but there always were catchy club hits. Hip Hop of the present has definitely lost an edge and the edge is called talent or lack thereof. I may sound snobby or out of touch by saying that, but real heads know what Im talking about.
The days are long gone when a hip-hop album might be considered a work of art. Maybe Eminem was the last one to do that, and only a Dr. Dre comeback album with all the big stars could possibly make us feel that way again. Even as far back as the days of Master P and all those terrible albums that were going platinum, I felt this way, that the Hip Hop album was finished. How many of those dismal songs do you hear now?
The problem is, Im a fan of smart lyrics, intelligent rhymes, always have been. And smart lyrics are not in fashion right now. Im also a fan of technology so I understand that people consume their music differently now, in small doses, on computers and cell phones. Thats fine, but I dont think [Hurricane Chris'] A Bay Bay will give me chills if Im unlucky enough to hear it 10 years from now.
Shecter was one of the founders of The Source magazine, the "Bible of Hip Hop," and he was instrumental in getting the magazine from dorm-room periodical to something that was carried at 7-Eleven, and back then, every significant record store chain. By 1995, when the purists say the music soured, Shecter left the empire, presumably with plenty of chips to cash in.
In the years since, Jon has launched numerous companies, many in the online space. Among them, Game Recordings, a single-specializing label that was instrumental in the careers of Royce Da 5'9" as well as Purple City's Agallah, in addition to Hip Hop Honeys, a DVD series that mixed softcore pornography with a Hip Hop edge. Today, he helps deejays including AM and Mark Ronson earn top dollar with Las Vegas gigs.
Today though, the '88er is a self-taught poker fanatic. As HipHopDX revisits some instrumental people in the Hip Hop publishing industry, Jonathan Shecter says that no matter what the hustle is, you've got to gamble smart.
HipHopDX: You started your career in traditional publishing with the Source magazine in 1988. The publishing game has had to change with the start of the Internet. How do you see the traditional publishing game going in the future? Will only a handful of magazines be able to exist?
Jonathan Shecter: You know its interesting In the early, heady days of the Internet, every commentator was predicting the fall of printed media. Whats funny is that many of the websites that were supposed to kill magazines ended up collapsing themselves, or changing business models (particularly in the music arena), while most of the major magazines have continued to publish.
So declaring the death of magazines may be premature. That said, I think its clear the web is a better vehicle for advertising, and thus it will continue to supplant printed media. A glance at any newspaper companys stock chart will show that pessimism is certainly the consensus of the market. The advertising support for magazines is declining, but I think magazines will continue to be a valid business for at least 10 yearsespecially for titles that have a robust web presence as well.
I do most of my reading online, although I still appreciate a good magazine with well-written articles and great artwork. Not much in the music space has been holding my attention lately, but I do love the new Conde Nast Portfolioa very high end business/money magazine. I think its clear XXL rules the Hip Hop space. The Source never really established itself online, but dont blame me, cause I left in 1995 before the Internet boom
DX: Do you have any regrets not getting into the .com space either as a content provider or as a business investment?
JS: Well thats not actually true. I have invested in and helped start a number of websites over the years. But I certainly could have done more to capitalize on the momentum of content moving online. At the moment, my company maintains a number of websites, and weve actually had success for many years making money online (especially in the sexy space). Our sites include: www.HipHopHoneys.com, homebase of the Hip Hop Honeys DVD series, www.MoneyForHoneys.com, an affiliate site, we offer 50/50 revenue share, www.UrbanDVDClub.com, great deals on the top titles in urban/Hip Hop DVD
www.hiphopsite.com/product/listByLabel/name/game, we are close partners with the long-standing HipHopSite.com, on this page you can download the entire Game Recordings music catalogue, www.KeithFromUpDaBlock.com, singer, rapper, comedian Keith From Up Da Block is a one-man entertainment machine-- the funniest parody artist since Weird Al, check him out.
DX: When we spoke a couple of months ago you described the deejay hustle in Las Vegas as the deejay/club scene on hyperdrive. Like the dot com era. What factors play into that? Is it because people don't worry about $ when their partying in Vegas?
JS: Its amazing out here in Vegas, and the nightclub scene is a big factor. The clubs here are thriving, mega-successful businesses, mostly located inside huge, luxurious casinos. In many cases, the clubs are partners with the casino and they have a mutual stake in driving as much traffic as possible into their venues. The stakes are very high and the clubs compete with each other to draw the best deejay talent, artists, celebrities, events, etc.
As a result, Las Vegas is definitely the deejay capital of the world, bar none. No other city treats deejays as well in terms of money, in terms of marketing support, in terms of business in general. Ive been lucky to be the Vegas rep for top deejays like DJ AM, Mark Ronson and Stretch Armstrong, so weve been on the cutting edge of the deejay business here. DJ AM in particular is at the top of the food chain, and his current residency at Pure (Caesar's) and LAX (Luxor) is one of the most lucrative deejay deals ever negotiated. But every weekend, theres big name artists performing up and down the Strip, popular but cheesy Hollywood celebs hosting parties, and deejays from around the world spinning.
The reason for this flood of money is, as you suspect, a healthy supply of tourists willing to go all out because theyre in Vegas. So-called bottle service is the normits typical for a group of guys to get a table at an upscale club, and be required to buy two or three bottles, ringing up a tab around $2,000. Sometimes customers drop five, 10, even $25,000 in a single night. The stories are endless, but one night recently at Blush inside the Wynn, Lakers star Kobe Bryant and a local poker pro named Antonio Esfandiari had a decadent battle to see who could buy more bottles of Cristal (each bottle delivered with sparklers attached by sexy waitresses). By the time the thrills were over, Antonio and his crew had bought 26 bottles, easily beating Kobes 15 bottles. Heres the kicker: bottles cost $1,600 each!
All this energy works on a creative level tooVegas is the gathering place for many deejays and a place where the art form is progressed. DJ AM set the tone by playing in a style now labeled mash-up, which is really being a Pop culture blender and playing everything from rap to Rock to House to Electro all in a single hour. But with so many venues open, deejays that specialize in one genre like Hip Hop or House can get deep into their style, while still working to please as wide an audience as possible. Most tourists are not musically sophisticated, so there is a general vibe from club owners to play the hits so they can keep bar revenue as high as possible.
DX: In an interview with Complex you said you "learned so much more about business and the entertainment industry, about the economy of the planet earth while in Vegas." Can you explain in more detail about your comments. What are some concrete examples/lessons you've learned or seen while in
Vegas?
JS: What I meant by that comment is that all the major properties on the Las Vegas strip offer a great window onto the business trends of our economy. Each of these huge casinoswith their gambling floor, their nightclubs, their restaurantsis an economic infrastructure that can test new products efficiently, support and build on whats working and weed out whats not working.
One major illustration of this is the thriving nightclub scene, as I described in the last answer. There have been many millions made from nightclubs out here, mostly by young guys in their twenties and thirties. I see this success as I watch many friends in the music biz in New York and L.A. losing their jobs, changing careers and struggling to make ends meet.
I used to think that entertainment businesses with a national focus like mine (marketing their goods to the whole country and world) had the upper hand on those with a local focus (targeting a specific community of customers). Now I see that when it comes to Vegas, the opposite is true. The constant flow of tourists from around the world with money to spend creates a bull market for the best goods and services in this town. And those who offer the best are thriving, even in a down market for entertainment and a down economy in general.
Im launching an artist now named Keith From Up Da Block; hes a brilliant parody artist from Philly, he writes and performs hilarious song parodies, which Im confident the world will find entertaining. Hip-hop especially needs a good laugh like never before. Were positioning Keith as a web-ready artist, using YouTube and MySpace to spread the word about his songs and videos. But our ultimate goal is to make him a headliner here in Vegas, where we can build a business around his live performances.
Not to be a downer, but one thing I always think about as kryptonite for Las Vegas is terrorism. Vegas can weather the bad economy (by luring customers from thriving economies like Asia), Vegas can survive the downswing in real estate values (by taking major investments from Dubai), but if another act of terrorism happens anywhere, especially here, all bets are off. Nobody wants to travel or gamble or party when their life may be threatened.
I was in Lower Manhattan on 9/11 but I was in Vegas a couple weeks after, and it was a ghost town. Many people lost their jobs, and it took about three years for traffic and revenues to catch back up. The recent ricin scares here certainly dont help matters, though it appears to be a lone nutcase, not organized terrorism.
DX: What are some simple rules that you use when playing high stakes poker?
JS: Okay, Ill focus on No Limit Hold Em, which is the game I play most often, and the game that people usually see on TV. Three key things to pay attention to are: starting hand selection, position, bankroll management. Theres not enough space here to go into detail about each one but Ill try to summarize.
Starting Hand Selection
Starting hands in Hold Em should be limited to pairs (AA, 10 10), suited connectors (6spades-7spades, 10clubs-Jclubs) and two big cards (AK, KQ). Some other hands are playable, like A-9 suited, but only in late position. Fold everything else.
Position
Position refers to when you act in a specific hand, as a dealer button moves one position each hand, giving each player an equal chance to play each position once per round. Late position is an advantage because you can see what everyone else does first, giving the player on the button maximum information. When youre in late position, you can loosen up your starting hand requirements and also try to steal pots by playing aggressive; when youre in early position, you need to tighten up and play much more selectively.
Bankroll Management
The most important skill to learn is managing your bankroll. Obviously, never buy into a poker game, or any gambling game, with money you cannot afford to lose. But a harder question is knowing when to quit, whether youre winning or losing in a particular session. I like to use this guideline: if you double your original buy-in, you should consider quitting. If you lose your first buy in and still like the game, have a second buy-in ready, but never exceed two buy ins for a single session.
For further information, I recommend the following books. Ive read more than 20 poker books, and continue to learn about the game daily. If youre just starting: Winning Low Limit Hold Em by Lee Jones. If you think you got skills: Hold Em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky.
DX: I have to ask you the current state of Hip Hop question. Putting on your historian hat how will Hip Hop music in the mid to late 2000's be perceived in 10-15 years? As a whole, has Hip Hop lost its edge that originally made it so original and exciting?
JS: I dont think Hip Hop will ever be as good as it was in the classic days. Im a die-hard old school head to the core. The only Hip Hop I really listen to is the classics from the 80s and 90s. And I love going deep with people like DJ Premier we talk about the most obscure early independent shit, like the original Geto Boys lineup doing Ya Gotta Be Down. When I want inspiration, I go to forgotten gems like Fresh by the Fresh 3 MCs, One Love by Whodini or Can You Feel It by the Fat Boys. To me, the best year was 88 no doubt about it! Classic albums from Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B & Rakim, N.W.A., Eazy-E, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, Jungle Brothers, Ultramagnetic MC's, Stetsasonic all in on year! It was a great time to be a fan.
I hear all the stuff thats hot now and for the most part I think it sucks. Yes, Ill nod along to the catchy club hit of the moment, but there always were catchy club hits. Hip Hop of the present has definitely lost an edge and the edge is called talent or lack thereof. I may sound snobby or out of touch by saying that, but real heads know what Im talking about.
The days are long gone when a hip-hop album might be considered a work of art. Maybe Eminem was the last one to do that, and only a Dr. Dre comeback album with all the big stars could possibly make us feel that way again. Even as far back as the days of Master P and all those terrible albums that were going platinum, I felt this way, that the Hip Hop album was finished. How many of those dismal songs do you hear now?
The problem is, Im a fan of smart lyrics, intelligent rhymes, always have been. And smart lyrics are not in fashion right now. Im also a fan of technology so I understand that people consume their music differently now, in small doses, on computers and cell phones. Thats fine, but I dont think [Hurricane Chris'] A Bay Bay will give me chills if Im unlucky enough to hear it 10 years from now.
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