Another one of the smartest marketing minds in hip hop besides Diddy, Snoop Dogg was in the house on the Jimmy Fallon Show to discuss his partnership with 7 Eleven Store Chain and Norton Soft Ware Security check it out.
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From the category archives:
Interviews
Busta and Gucci Mane discussing Swizz’s work-aholicness… Swizz Beatz going hard lol.. I heard a great saying which goes, “To get what others don’t have you have to do what others wont do.” Rest When Your Are Dead! I feel your Swizzy!
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(CNN) – Three years ago, Nicki Minaj was getting fired from jobs more often than she was paying her rent on time.
The Trinidad-born, New York City-raised artist has written lyrics about having an alcoholic father who once tried to burn down the house with her mom inside.
Certainly, Onika “Nicki Minaj” Maraj seems to be an unlikely candidate to become one of the most intriguing hip-hop artists of today.
After spending the early part of her childhood at her grandmother’s house, Minaj eventually landed in Queens with her parents. By the third grade, she already had an affinity for singing and acting and would later attend the famed LaGuardia Arts High School to study drama.
“I was thinking in my head I was going to be a famous actress,” Minaj says. “When I got out of high school, I didn’t really want to take time and go and audition, I just wanted to get a job and work and get my own place.”
Minaj quickly became bored with the nine to five and decided to give rap music a shot.
A friend in her neighborhood asked Minaj to write a hook for his song, and the young 20-something delivered a chorus and verse that left her collaborator in awe. Figuring if she really put her mind to it that she could succeed in rap, Minaj decided to quit her last job. And then she told her mother.
“I will never forget the panic and fear in her eyes,” she says. “My heart just frickin’ collapsed for a second. My mother was always like, ‘Yeah, you can do anything,’ but her eyes couldn’t lie …” That was then.
Today, Nicki Minaj is one of the most influential female artists in hip-hop’s male-dominated landscape.
She is signed to Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money label, has won two BET Awards and is up for best new artist at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. Minaj has also had eight songs land on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, including three in the Top 10. Her current single, “Your Love,” sits atop the rap charts, and she has collaborated with everyone from Mariah Carey to Kanye West.
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There’s been a lot of negative thing said about Lebron James and his lack of loyalty to Cleveland Cavs since his decision to sign with the Miami Heat. One thing that has yet to be said is that for him to put his closest friends in a position to manage his brand at such a young age and keep all the checks in the family, how much more loyal can you get. Here is an interview from Inc with Maverick Carter, Lebron’s friend and business partner discussing managing the Lebron Brand, check it out:
In 2006, NBA star LeBron James launched a marketing company, LRMR Innovative Marketing & Branding, and tapped Maverick Carter, a former high school teammate who was then just 24, to run it. The business helps James sign up and work with corporate sponsors such as State Farm and McDonald’s. Carter spoke with senior reporter Jason Del Rey about what it’s like to manage the brand that is LeBron James.
When LRMR was founded, some observers suggested that LeBron shouldn’t put a friend in charge. What was your take on that?
You know, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, they were friends, and they started their business together, and it wasn’t a big deal. But obviously LeBron is a high-profile guy, and the nature of the sports business is that when a young athlete turns pro, he hires an agent who’s been in the business forever, and if he does anything different than that, there will be an uproar.
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While trying to make a point about racism, syndicated radio host Laura Schlessinger said the N-word over and over during a call last week, setting off a firestorm of criticism.
This week she said, come December, she’d end her long-running radio show, “The Dr. Laura Program.” She spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday about the controversy and anything else that came up.
ARE YOUR SPONSORS AND AFFILIATES UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK, OR ONLY WHEN CONTROVERSY ERUPTS?
Laura Schlessinger: Only when things erupt. Otherwise, we’re all happy campers. I do good shows, I help people, and the sponsors get what they pay for.
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION OF THE SPONSORS WHO CAVE INTO THE PRESSURE?
Schlessinger: Sponsors are companies and companies are made of people. I totally understand. I don’t get mad. They’re supporting their families. That’s the problem — situations where companies, sponsors, affiliates are injured by special-interest groups that don’t want to debate an issue, they just want to eliminate a voice.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MEDIA MATTERS, THEN, WHICH REALLY GOT THE BALL ROLLING AGAINST YOU THIS TIME?
Schlessinger: An organization whose existence depends on the principle of eliminating opposing opinions is very dangerous.
DID YOU HAND THEM A VICTORY BY QUITTING?
Schlessinger: I didn’t quit because of this, per se. It’s a victory for nobody when a voice is silenced. But I have a million and a half other venues. I decided that I wanted to be able to express myself in a situation where I didn’t have sponsors and affiliates and employees threatened.
YOUR EMPLOYEES WERE THREATENED?
Schlessinger: I’m not going to talk about that.
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Russell Simmons: If you can’t focus on your craft and love what you are doing, what are you doing it for?
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Young Jeezy and Rick Ross got the net going crazy with this BMF ish. Jeezy sets the record straight in an interview with MTV for all the inquiring minds who are wondering if he’s going at Rick Ross or not, check it out:
“It’s not a dis,” Jizzle told MTV News via phone from ATL. “First of all, I’m not gonna get nothing out of dissing that guy. That’s one. What am I gonna get out of dissing him? I think sometimes people can read into things too deep. They trippin’, man. They crazy out there. Basically, if homie takes that as a dis, he’s insecure, and anybody else out there who does, they are insecure.
“When it comes to that [Black Mafia Family] situation, I’m gonna talk about it a little flyer anyway,” Young added. “I happen to know that situation very well. But basically ['Death B4 Dishonor'], it’s off a mixtape that’s coming out. My mixtape is coming out on Thursday, it’s called 1,000 Grams. I took all the records I liked and flipped them my way. It’s a gang of records on there like that. It’s like 12 joints, all records that I heard in the club that I like and flipped them my way.
While Jeezy doesn’t mention Ross by name on “Death B4 Dishonor,” one of the lines fueling the speculation questions: “How you Blowin’ Money Fast?/ You don’t know the crew/ Oh, you part of the fam?/ Sh–, I never knew.”
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“How you blowing money fast, you don’t know the crew.” Are you part of the fam, sh*t I never knew.”
Young Jeezy
Rick Ross told MTV he has yet to talk with Young Jeezy about the song but really doesn’t understand Jeezy’s thought process in making the song.
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