Enjoy Hip-Hop Responsibly

If you want a fresh hip-hop podcast, check out the Sphere of Hip-Hop podcast at iTunes. I’ve been listening to episodes all morning.

Looks like high gas prices are finally changing how most Americans look at travel. I know that I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not to make certain trips even just around our city. We’ve taken fewer long trips in the last 12 months and haven’t planned much driving outside our state for months to come.

Check the article on CNN.com.

Scooters are becoming more common here in Rochester. Our weather doesn’t help matters as our winters are plenty cold and snowy. At least 5 months of the year it wouldn’t work out for the scooter type of person to whiz around the city.

I had a funny thought this morning… it used to be that people in vehicles like Hummer’s and other gas guzzlers used to be the envy of many… and the apple of the car thieves eye. Now if you have a Prius or something, you might think twice about not locking those doors. Comical how high gas prices could potentially affect what people would be willing the steal.

We’re eventually going to need a second car and hopefully it will be something that gets 35 mpg or higher. Maybe we’ll see some breakthroughs now that oil has been predicted to go as high as $250 a barrel. It’s almost a self fulfilling prophecy by the commodities speculators. Yech.

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is how companies make claims about services they offer.

“We’re the best” or “We were the first to do this” and so on. Really? Especially in our scene when folks who “battle rap” or (as some put it) have “boastful” rhymes… when did this type of marketing get a free pass? Especially if it’s untrue, at least in part.

It’s pretty hard not to have an axe to grind with this sort of thing if it is happening to you. What if you were the first to do something and someone else claims that they are/were? How would you react? Would you call their shot? Publicly? Privately? What if you have called them on it privately and it continues to happen? How would you handle it?

In studying marketing and how people view such marketing strategies, I’ve learned that:

• most consumers/public take their word for it

• those companies rarely are challenged on it

• if you don’t claim things like that… people don’t always connect the dots that it was YOU not them!

• you can be left behind in the wake of over-promising and under-delivering people

It’s a shame that sometimes people need to be told what you’re about and reminded about the legitimacy of what you’re doing for them to really know what you’re about! Strange isn’t it?

I’d love to read your questions and comments. Drop a line in the comments for this post if you have any. I know you do

When I saw this earlier this morning, I knew it had to be my “Thing of the Day”.

Leona Helmsley passed away last year after 87 years. She and her husband made billions of dollars in real estate. She was quite fond of her dog (a nine year old Maltese) named Troubles. Apparently this dog has no real troubles as Leona left the pup $12 MILLION dollars in her will. Seriously?

I guess I cannot really speak on how folk spend their cheddar but, that much for the care of a dog? Haha, apparently today the court helping to oversee the fortune and the trustee’s of Troubles agreed to reduce the amount to a measly $2 MILLION. The annual expenses are reported at approximately $190,000 to care for the pooch.

What does the dog eat? At Ruth’s Chris steakhouse every meal? What about what it wears? Armani dog sweaters?

The level of absurdity is staggeringly hilarious. It is June 16th 2008’s “Thing of the Day”.

This is crazy funny stuff. “Sometimes I’ll blow you up but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”

Evangelism Linebacker

I’m digging on this new album right now (a lot). It just arrived in stock for the Sphere of Hip-Hop Store from Illect Recordings.

One of the reasons I enjoy this one is because I’ve always been a fan of Ajax and his crew Future Shock. It’s fresh to see the artistic progression and to see artists taking creative risks. There is a lot of safety (and sales) in just doing X,Y, and Z to make that record you know everyone will gravitate towards. I find myself gravitating to most of the songs on the album because of the level of transparency in the lyrics. Fresh beats certainly don’t hurt either.

I am excited to see this record reaching that listener that may need to hear the message delivered on songs such as “Great Depression” and “Lazarus Man”. Touching stuff for sure. It’s also encouraging to see Ajax personally and musically persevere. Pick up the record and I think you’ll agree.