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REASONABLE DOUBT: a critical round-up of the week's hip hop headlines
They call him RUSSELL MYRIE, and he's got more blog roll than Charmin. Our indefatiguable newshound picks through the interference to sniff out the most intriguing hip hop stories of the last seven days
Published: April 17, 2009
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Kenna
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| Photo © Paul Hampartsoumian |
The importance, or not, of sales figures within hip hop has always been a hotly debated topic. Not in record company boardrooms - in those places the bottom line is the only thing that matters - but decent people (with hopefully at least a few morals) who love hip hop probably have a strongly held opinion on the subject. Of course, big sales do not in themselves make a good album. But ever since 50 Cent did all those numbers with Get Rich or Die Tryin' (872,000) and then The Massacre (1.1 million), all eyes have been on every major artist's first week sales figures - especially if you happen to come from New York. So it's definitely good news that Jadakiss has sold just over 134,000 copies of his latest album The Last Kiss in week one. If his second album, 2004's Kiss Of Death (which sold just under 250,000 straight out the gate) had done those kind of first-week numbers he may have been dropped, but in the age of downloading, those are some big digits - kind of the equivalent of doing about 350,000 units in 2004. Props to Maino: that video showing him buying two copies of The Last Kiss probably convinced lots of people who were going to visit their friendly local bootlegger to change their minds. I hope this trend bodes well for other New York artists with history such as Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe and Raekwon. And new dudes like Maino, Saigon, Cory Gunz and Jae Millz will hopefully benefit from their reflected shine.
Corey Williams, the guy who is at least partly responsible for all of T.I.'s legal troubles, is to get a year and a day in jail, much like Tip. After helping him buy all those big guns, T.I.'s former bodyguard struck a plea deal with the powers that be in order to avoid some long jail time. This led to T.I. getting some very expensive lawyers to negotiate the deal of a lifetime. Instead of doing a ten-year bid, he used his celebrity to help at-risk youth as part of 1000 hours of community service. Who else are the kids gonna listen to? Really, who? The whole thing led to some predictable accusations. We at HIPHOP.COM definitely recognise the many complexities of the no-snitching hoopla. Even before things like Sean Bell and the G20 protests we've all had many reasons to be, shall we say, annoyed with the boys in blue over the years. But, generally, if you see something, say something. As Chuck D said, this whole 'no snitching' business is something that springs from black revolutionaries, not brothers on the corner. Sometimes, those two things exist in the same person: that's one of the many complexities. Anyway, even if Tip did snitch, and I'm not for one second saying he did, think about one thing: if you are a grown man with a family to take care of, is your first priority going to be to your family or to your bredrins? I'm just saying. The same goes for Williams. To re-iterate, I have absolutely no idea whether The King of the South sang to the Feds or not. How would I? I interviewed T.I. when King dropped but he'd walk past me in the street tomorrow. If I tried to chat to him, or get in his space, his bodyguard/homies would have something to say about that. But, real talk, people: what would you do?
They say you've got to climb every mountain, and it looks like Lupe Fiasco and Justin Timberlake have been listening. The unlikely pair are taking some time off from their respective careers to help Kenna climb ...wait for it... Mount Kilimanjaro. "Who's Kenna?" I hear a few, and I hope it's only a few, of you lot out there in internetland asking. If you need to get to know, Kenna is that 'alternative' (the term applied to every black musician who isn't thugged-out) singer who was down with The Neptunes for a minute. As an Ethiopian, albeit one who has lived in north America for many years, conquering the motherland's highest peak is a great way for Kenna to raise some money for charity. It's also not a bad way to get some much-needed publicity for an artist who has to struggle through the bullshit in the music industry. Anyone who wants to chat rubbish about black music not being innovative - and that's a lot of fools - needs to check out my man very quickly. And even if you are hunting publicity, the worldwide water crisis is a good cause to support while hunting. Who was it that said that the 21st century wars would be over water and not oil? I don't know but I think they were probably right.
Talking of genre-bending, props to Kid Cudi who has just signed a deal with Motown/Universal. It's approaching a year and a half since Day'n'Nite originally dropped so it'll be interesting to see what he has coming up for his album. Super Boo is pretty good, definitely above average, but it ain't that killer killer shit like his debut single. The deal is complicated: Motown will distribute Dream On, Cudi's new label which is also a partner of Kanye's G.O.O.D Music label. Confused? Let's just hope the music is g.o.o.d..
With Kanye in mind, we gotta give up the props to 'Ye (or whoever writes his blogs for him) for taking the whole South Park 'gay fish' thing with good humour. He even had the good grace not to mention how it wasn't the funniest South Park episode. Those recent editions about the recession and the one they dropped after Obama was elected were much better.
Lastly, big up Snoop for getting that ultimate seal of celebrity approval, the Madame Tussauds waxwork figure. These honours are only given to the biggest, most well-known personalities and it's a testament to Snoop's achievements in the game. You know it's gonna be the coolest figure in the place, too.
If you missed last week's news, catch up HERE.
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