#NowReading “The Tanning Of America” [by: Steve Stoute]

September 12, 2011 Music, Solutions 3 Comments

For all you, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business” men, Steve Stoute writes a book that shares all his marketing secrets. It’s called The Tanning of America and it’s already interesting from the preface, where Stoute explores his fascination with the partnering of Run DMC and Adidas! This book is all about how America isn’t just white and hip-hop isn’t just black!

If you didn’t know, Steve Stoute is responsible for a lot of marketing decisions made on behalf of Jay-Z, an artist that’s known to be all about his brand. A successful brand at that. In essence, this is Steve Stoute’s Decoded.

Get your copy at Amazon.com

Posted by:

DJWillieShakes

Do Young People Need a History Lesson?

July 7, 2011 Front Page, Problems 3 Comments

Does the date July 4, 1776 mean anything to you? Obviously it should; it was the day that the United States declared its independence. However, a Marist poll released recently has shown that only 58 percent of Americans know when we declared our independence. What is even worse to me is that only 31 percent of adults under 30 years old say that 1776 is when we declared independence. About one in four Americans also don’t know what country we declared our independence from. Only 67 percent of those under the age of 30 know that it was Great Britain.

Posted by:

Justin Burkhardt

Lupe Fiasco: “the Biggest Terrorist is Obama in the United States of America”

June 8, 2011 Front Page 5 Comments

#WordsINeverSaid:

“In my fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama in the United States of America. For me, I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s actually causing the other forms of terrorism. The root cause of the terrorism is the stuff that you as a government allow to happen and the foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists. And it’s easy for us because it’s really just some oil, which we can really get on our own. I don’t vote. I don’t get involved in the political process because it’s meaningless, to be honest. I’m a real big believer if I’m gonna vouch for someone, then I’m gonna stand behind everything that they do. So politicians aren’t gonna do that because I don’t want you to bomb some village in the middle of nowhere.”

Idk, Lupe is one of the most respected faces of hip hop and I think, while his opinion is well-thought out and articulate, it’ll confuse people.

See Video HERE

Posted by:

DJWillieShakes

Egypt Is NOT The United States! And Give Yourself More Credit!

February 3, 2011 Front Page, Power, Problems, Solutions 3 Comments

Over the last several weeks, I’ve seen a number of articles and Facebook status updates asking why our nation’s youth aren’t in the streets protesting corruption in the same way that our generational counterparts are in Egypt. After all, the dedication that we are seeing broadcast live on the Internet highlights how committed our young African counterparts are to their futures.

But I don’t think it’s healthy to compare our generation’s struggles here in the United States with those in Egypt. While Color Lines highlights how similar the socio-economic realities of young Egyptians are compared to that of young people of color, specifically young blacks, I think we are denying our own movement history if we go too far with the comparison.

More after the jump.