The news that struck me as fairly entertaining until I considered an email from Freddy Loc who enthusiastically represents Carson, California.
If I may be allowed to translate, Freddy's core insight is that Suge isn't trying to affect Snoop's album sales or ego by taking a cheap shot, rather, Mr. Loc feels that Suge is sending a message to the streets that Snoop is a snitch so that, a) if Snoop goes to jail he'll have enemies waiting for him inside and b) if Snoop gets off his current array of charges, it will appear to confirm Suge's claims and Snoop will have enemies outside.
Have to say it makes sense to me, especially since I'm currently reading The Architect, a most excellent book about Karl Rove, a man who understands how to connect the immediate and the long term.
Posted by Clyde on November 30, 2006 in I was talking to Adisa Banjoko about the process he's been going through putting together street teams for . The conversation raised a lot of questions for me about how one evaluates companies whose work you don't see and what happens when you take a technique developed for spreading music and adapt it to other products.
If you have any thoughts or experiences related to street teams or applying music marketing to other products, whether inspired by successful or failed campaigns, please comment below or send them in: Since Adisa raised the topic in relation to a current InFreeDA campaign, you can call 1-866-388-5838 for free 411 and local info services after a brief ad. I don't use those kinds of services myself but it sounds like a great deal, especially for mobile users.
Posted by Clyde on July 5, 2006 in Though I generally resist the equation of guns/violence/drugs = urban/hip hop, which is why I find the attempt to market ghetto fiction as hip hop lit truly offensive, I am fascinated by such topics as the .
Though putting brands on drug packaging is nothing new and many of my older baby boomer readers may fondly recall the dancing bears stamped on their tabs of acid, the description of how a business operates in a market in which knockoffs and copycats emerge as soon as a product becomes popular might be of interest to those same baby boomers turned corporate board members as they attempt to navigate bootlegger infested markets:
Dealers selling a popular brand of stamp bags have to stay a step ahead of copycats, Capt. Young said. The problem is there's no copyright laws, so as soon as you put a good product on the street, people will copy your stamp, he said.
A good dealer will let his customers know and say, 'Hey, next week we're coming out with a different stamp on our bag. We only sell from this corner or this house, so only buy from me.'
If you're wondering what constitutes a good heroin brand, consider the case of Get High or Die Trying , an obvious reference to 50 Cent:
When a new batch of especially potent heroin appears on the street -- such as the fentanyl-laced heroin in bags labeled Get High or Die Trying that has caused a spate of overdoses and at least six deaths locally -- it's not long before demand skyrockets.
..
The forces of the drug market are even felt inside Gateway [Rehabilitation Center], where Dr.
Capretto had to persuade a recovering addict to stay at the center after the man received a call from a friend informing him that their dealer was selling the bags stamped Get High or Die Trying.
He wanted to leave. We actually had to talk him into staying, Dr.
Capretto said. His first reaction was, 'I want that. I want to try the new stuff.
' Fortunately, he was here, but if he was out on the streets, he would have been drawn to it.
And you wonder why they call it dope. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on those hip hop lit folks but I still won't run their press releases.
Posted by Clyde on June 19, 2006 in Hashim Warren maintains that the tendency towards has spread throughout hip hop culture, in part because it leads to credibility. Unfortunately, Hashim fails to point to the important corollary: for weak hustlers without game, beef is the only means of recognition.
In an interesting post on street biz, Hashim with his take on bootleg street sales as an opportunity for folks to move from dealing drugs to a form of merchandise that provides cheap products for their customers and lower legal penalties for street vendors.
Hashim also offers . I should note that his comments on selling 50 Cent bootlegs appear to be a joking way to bring his main point home, good business practices hold true on the streets as in any other business. Like the man says, "Have some honor about your hustle.
"
The case is made for as the "new standard in kicks."
[Ed. Note: ProHipHop and Hashim Warren continue to define our relationship.
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