Death of Hip-Hop part 2

Rap sales have been waning over the last several years. For instance, 107 million hip hop albums were sold in 2000, but by 2006, sales had declined to 59.5 million. Insiders know the industry is in trouble.

Before 2007, big name rappers like Jay Z, Ludacris, and The Game were able to sell a respectable quantity of albums. But in 2007, not only have the lesser-known emcees (Ray Cash, Lupe Fiasco, etc.) been unable to push units; even the top-selling rap artists have had a hard time moving albums. There were no platinum rap albums through the first eight months of last year.

A new book, The Post Hip Hop Generation: 20 Things You Should Know, takes a closer look at the decline of hip hop and answers three critical questions ... (1) What will come after hip hop; (2) How will the decline of hip hop affect the next generation; and (3) When hip hop artists like Jay Z and TI leave the scene who will be the new icons?

Authored by gospel rap activist Kymo Dockett, "The Post Hip Hop Generation: 20 Things You Should Know" should hit stores across America in the summer of 2008.

Mr. Dockett also wrote the e-book "Lost Generation" about why today's urban youth don't go church as much.

Post Hip-Hop website

Don't think hip-hop will entirely die, it's the bling, hoodies and guns stereotypical culture that will. Time takes care of things, fads, trends and movements come and go on their own.

Related Post:

Hip-Hop is Dead, numbers are in.

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Hip hop is dead, numbers are in

It's official! Expect to see less and less of bum rappers flashin' their rented cars and borrowed villas, faux pimps and ho's, pole strippin' and all on TV and radio.

Hip-hop will have to go back to its roots to survive and its pioneers are all for it.

The rumors have been swirling since last year, the numbers are now there to prove it.

Even kids are tired of the genre, hip-hop is not cool anymore but don't tell that to the music moguls... , they'll suck hip-hop dry as long as they can, hip hop on the mainstream lived so long only cause it was oh so profitable.

USA Today has published an in-depth article complete with record sales numbers.

Read "Can rap regain its crown" on USA Today
"Who killed hip-hop" also on USA Today

Classic hip-hop (re:1979-1996) will evidently gain a new following, generation "Y" are discovering that there's more to the genre than what they've been accustomed to in the last 5-10 years.

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Japanese dj watch hits market

The Japanese brought us The Datsun 240Z, The Technics SL-1200, The Sony Walkman, Yamaha NS-10 studio monitors and countless other innovations.

So it's no surprise they added a beats per minutes counter in their now famous and highly coveted line of retro futuristic watches.

As a bonus, the BPM watch has its own mini-torch. No words to describe whether the mini-torch is a flame ejector or a light.

The BPM watch and others in retro future style are available here

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Ford Fusion commercial, a record, a song or a car

It's all that!

Here's a cropped screen capture of a Ford commercial banner I clicked on last week while reading the news on a Canadian newspaper site. When you click on it, you end up on a Saturday Night Fever style dancefloor, 4 djs spinning turntables in unison and you have to figure out what you have to do next. It caught my attention, that's what effective advertising is all about.

So for those who think the only way to get attention is to show the female form, not that there is anything wrong with that, well, the reality is, that for some of us, cars are sexy, turntables, vinyl records, flat screens are sexy, you know material things. But not sexy in a reproductive sense, more like appealing.

No word on whether that vinyl record exist for real.

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Musicovery: Jukebox or radio ...

Musicovery is an interactive jukebox. Some will call it a radio but there's no point in calling an apple a pear. None the less Musicovery lives up to its name, making you discover songs by selecting a mood, a preference, an era or more precisely a genre.

There are 2 interfaces; the first one shown looks sort of like a TV remote. Make your selection and enjoy or not, at that point another graphical interface will materialize like a threaded amoeba on the right hand side. Hover your mouse, titles and artists names will be displayed alongside the thread that now looks like a stretched DNA strand -the graphic designer might have a biochemistry background -. Occasionally, the relations don't make sense and that's exactly when the wow surprise factor enters. You're tired of interacting? No problem, it'll play the tunes along the thread like some recite their prayers one bead at a time on a rosary.

Musicovery is fun and a great way to find out about new songs even if it don't match the sophistication of Last FM. Its visual appeal and instant accessibility makes it worth a visit, or two.

There are US, UK and France versions, all can be accessed from the main URL at:


Musicovery.com

No signing up or registration required, no commercial pop up ads annoyances either.

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The wall ain't standing tall

Everybody has heard Eric Pryd's Proper Education, the dance floor friendly remix of Pink Floyd's The Wall. There's also a website mimicking the wall on the web that has yet to gather serious attention. So what's the point of the music wall? If you're into music and have at least 200 dollars to spare for a virtual brick, make the website owner richer like it did for the instigator of the Million Dollar homepage and cross your fingers someone will click on your banner. See for yourself...

www.greatmusicwall.com

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Girl deejaying and Borat, find the link!

My first impulse to an all girl dj mixing seminar:

It's not good! They have to get used to working in a boys environement, it's not helping them.

After much reflexion, it's actually an excellent idea. Girls are empowered in an all female environment, they can stumble all they want and be ready for the real thing when the time comes. Networking is essential in the dj world and networking with men ain't easy for female djs. Club owners expect female djs to do more than mix, they either have to dress provocatively, show skin and look like models. In turn, getting no credibility from their male counterparts. In America, ironically, the gay male club circuit always has been (and still is) more receptive of female djs, this is fact.

Lucky girls in the UK may get info at Point Blank Music School in London, where it was first offered last month.

Borat's brother Erran Baron Cohen who wrote music for the soundtrack to "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" also teaches songwriting at Point Blank.

We don't know if Erran borrows Sasha's good looks. That's for the lucky UK girls to find out.

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Melissa Etheridge on the dance floor

The latest victim in the 70s/80s music recycling madness happening in Europe
is Melissa Etheridge.

Once a again a dj remixed an old hit, made it dance floor friendly, and voila! An old hit ressurected.

The recipe is working pretty well, and we're not talking white vinyl bootlegs here, The Way I Do by "2-4 Grooves" reached number 1 in the German Club Charts, Get Ready's record label representative Sandra of Pulsive Media: "Melissa Etheridge herself is so happy with this rework that she has confirmed everything and is crossing her fingers for the nice guys...".

U.S. release on Tommy Boy beginning of 2007 will contain additional RMXs by Junior Vasquez

We've observed many rock classics getting the dance floor treatment in the last 18 months. Let's not forget what rock music was initially in the 50s, music to dance to. People love to dance and groove to rock, the latest hit by BodyRockers "I like the way" prooved that indeniably! Back in the 80s, Van Halen, Phil Collins and ZZTop (among others) had dance floor ready rock hits!

Pictured here is the original album, not the 2006 remix

Listen to clips here

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Podcasting popularity stabilized

According to a report published on BBC News, the popularity of podcasting has plateauded (my own words), and coincidentally, another report barely a month ago also concluded most of the music contained in IPods and portable MP3 players are CD transfers, not downloads from the net, including the much hyped I-Tunes store. People buy CDs, transfer them to their computer, share their CDs with others (cause they're overpriced), that's how it goes. People want the images that comes with the music as well, downloads don't provide that.

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Rock trippin' to funky house

One misconception about disco heads like us is that we don't dig rock.

Don't dig trance and techno, but 70s classic rock, yes, baby!

70s classic rock is groovy and contrary to most of today's rock, it has rhythm and soul.

The point I'm coming to is those remixed bootlegs available on vinyl at the dj shops.

Some of them are by Dirty Funker, Dirty Funker has remixed The Knack's "My Sharona", Led Zeppelin's Immigrant song and lately, "Back in Black" by AC/DC among others.

So if you love rock classics AND funky house, check Dirty Funker at MySpace or your dj shop.

I have purchased Immigrant song and Back in Black is in my next purchase list.

Dirty Funker did a brilliant and amazing job remixing Back in Black, it's so good, it makes me laugh every time I listen to it.

Other rock classics getting the remix treatment lately (not necessarily by Dirty Funker) are...

Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze and Foxy Lady, some Jim Morrison.

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House music on its way out

Have you heard the latest Hed Kandi compilation, the "disco" one...

What they did is remixing last year's hits electro style.

I almost fell for it, I'm digging electro a lot lately.

Hed Kandi are recycling last year's "categorized as house" records and repackaging them with an electro sound, whether we like that or not proves one thing. House will be dead soon.

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