As usual, as always, Hugh Johnson delivers another classic @rapinsider exclusive… these things just get slid under the door of my Upper West Side Penthouse and BAM here they are. It’s great being “THE TRUTH.” follow me on twitter @rapinsider and yes I still love myspace for all its sexy models and dope rappers. Really.
We here at the rap insider are not scared to ask for free shit, including quality time with former high dollar escort / video vixen / twitter sex kitten Milani Rose aka @sexymilani. Baby the Hugh wants to meet you asap, you can see Ohio from my penthouse in the trump tower.. twitter me baby @rapinsider
Congratulations Vanessa Satten, She is now the Editor and Chief of XXL Magazine!!!
After Elliot Wilson was fired and Datwon Thomas resigned…. it’s clear a man couldn’t handle the job.
Cassie you can forget it, I’m buying Rhianna’s album now!
According to inside sources, Vibe Magazine is almost on the way out. Vibe’s long-run in the game looks to be coming to an end. Sales and subscriptions have been at an all-time low for the past couple of months.
Vibe Magazine used to be a staple in the hip hop community, but ever since Editor-in-Chief Danyel Smith took over, the ship has been slowly sinking. I think we could say that she is single handedly responsible for Vibe Magazine falling apart.
Recently, a story was published in Vibe which listed the Top 50 Hip Hop Blogs out today. If you look at their list, it’s clear to see that Vibe has NO CLUE what the kids are looking at. Ever since Danyel took over it seems like Vibe is detached with what’s going on in the entertainment world. A magazine that started out as something that hip-hop fans could be proud of has quickly turned into a magazine hip hop fans are ashamed of.
It’s a sad day when Vibe Magazine has approximately 130 pages and 70 of those pages are advertisements. As a loyal reader of Vibe magazine, who has followed it and watched the magazine grow for the past couple of years, I hate to say it, but Vibe is on the way out.
On the bright side, hopefully when Danyel Smith is out of a job, she can work with her husband over at Wak Radar. Good luck Elliot!
Looks like men lie, women lie…and numbers do too. For years, there has been speculation throughout the music industry that Def Jam Records purchases records to manipulate the Nielsen Soundscan Charts. Although it was never proven, a former employee at Def Jam thought so.
Back in 2004, the LA Times reported:
A former music executive is accusing a unit of Universal Music Group and a promotion company of distorting the pop charts by persuading independent retailers to falsify album sales.
Veteran sales executive Theressa Rossi said in a lawsuit that she was induced to become the “front man” for a company hired by Universal’s Def Jam label to inflate sales figures reported to the tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan, which compiles the industry’s influential sales charts.
Independent retail stores were provided with free CDs of Def Jam artists by Giaco Entertainment, a New York marketing firm retained by the label, the suit said.
Giaco enlisted the merchants to repeatedly swipe the CDs across scanning machines to boost sales figures, distorting Nielsen SoundScan’s computerized reports, according to the suit, which did not specify which albums were involved. Giaco threatened retailers with delays of regular album shipments if they did not falsify sales data, the suit said.
The complaint, filed Monday in New York state court, names Universal, Def Jam, Giaco President Joe Giaco and Def Jam executives Kevin Liles and Mignon Espy as defendants.
Universal Music, a unit of Vivendi Universal, said it hadn’t reviewed the lawsuit and declined to comment. Def Jam is one of the nation’s largest rap labels, with acts such as Ja Rule and DMX.
In the past, representatives of the five major record companies have denied knowledge of any attempt by their labels to manipulate the data.
Giaco’s attorney, Steven K. Meier, called the claims “patently untrue,” according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Nielsen SoundScan officials couldn’t be reached for comment. Previously, executives with the New York-based market research company have said they have installed safeguards to uncover and remove false CD sales reported by record stores.
According to the complaint, Universal had moved to sever ties with Giaco in 2001 after a Los Angeles Times article described potential inflation of music sales data by independent promoters.
The suit alleges that Liles and Giaco colluded to create a new marketing company — Entertainment Marketing Services, with Rossi as a principal — to conceal from Universal executives that Def Jam and Giaco had not severed their relationship.
Giaco refused to open his financial books to Rossi and later forced her out while withholding her share of the profits, according to the suit, which seeks $22 million in damages.
For the music industry, Rossi’s allegations could have a wide ripple effect. Nielsen SoundScan’s figures, used to compile Billboard magazine’s sales chart, are widely considered the most trustworthy measurement of consumer tastes.
Before SoundScan’s arrival in 1991, the industry’s charts were based on verbal reports made by retailers.
SOURCE: LATIMES
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Fast forward to 2007 when the several year-old case made it’s way to the New York State Supreme Court, the parties settled, and the court tossed out the case. Oddly Ms. Rossi then acknowledged that the claims and allegations against Mr. Giaco were without basis and untrue. She then agreed that she WOULD NOT “DISCUSS, PUBLISH, OR DISSEMINATE TO ANY PARTY THE CLAIMS AND ALLEGATIONS.” [Vibe Magazine]
With big names like Kevin Liles, record labels like Def Jam, and a 3 year time span, its amazing that they kept this under the radar but in this new age of the internet, the truth is never too hard to find! I am not accusing Def Jam of any wrong-doing, but you can draw your own conclusions…
On April 7th Jadakiss dropped “The Last Kiss” which debuted at Number 3 on the Top 200 Billboard charts with 135,000 records sold.
2 weeks later, on April 21 Rick Ross dropped “Deeper Than Rap,” which debuted at Number 1 on the Top 200 Billboard charts with 158,000 records sold.
Both artists debuted with good numbers but let’s take a look at the breakdown of services offered to each artist:
Rick Ross Video Budgets: $600,000
- Mafia Music
- Magnificent
- All I Want
Jadakiss Video Budgets: $350,000
- By My Side
- Can’t Stop Me
- Who Run This
__________
Rick Ross Promo Tour:$300,000
-3 month run w/ 8-member entourage
Jadakiss Promo Tour: $50,000
-2 week run w/ 1-member entourage
__________
Rick Ross New Media: $100,000
Jadakiss New Media: $ 25,000
__________
Rick Ross Single at Radio: Magnificent (peaked at #5 on Urban Charts)
Jadakiss Single at Radio: Can’t Stop Me (didn’t spin outside of NY)
___________
Rick Ross Radio Promotions: $100,000
Jadakiss Radio Promotions: $25,000
___________
Rick Ross Trade/Magazine Promotions: $50,000
Jadakiss Trade/Magazine Promotions: $50,000
____________
Rick Ross Beefs: 5 (50 Cent, Trick Daddy, LLoyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Eminem)
Jadakiss Beefs: 0
_____________
Rick Ross Total Budget: $1,150,000
Jadakiss Total Budget: $500,000
______
Difference in Records Sold First Week:
Rick Ross: 158,000
Jadakiss: 135,000
DIFFERENCE: 23,000 units
________
After reading the breakdown it’s clear to see which artist is in the red with their company. The moral of the story is, in the climate that we’re in with the music industry major record labels should not be spending so much marketing dollars based on hype, beef, bad energy, and bad decisions made by record executives. Let this be a lesson learned…
Rick Ross Interview - Trey
BIG SHOUTOUT TO BLIZZARD
I’d like to welcome all you rat bastard miserable bloggers fuck faces to the real side of the neighborhood. The fact that you are splitting pennies in a recession isn’t really the comedy of your lives. The comedy is that you have to say outlandish things and put your face out there on your blogs (like Byron Crawford) in order to go get that recycled video vixen puss while at the same time making yourself a possible victim of an ass kicking by all the people you pissed off.
