Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.c0m

You don’t have to be a big name producer or a media mogul to see that things have changed in the music game. Gone are the days of spending millions to push a new artist. Hell, it’s hard for an established artist to get that kind of promotion now. And with the stations that were formerly music television turning into barren wastelands of reality shows, the video stars that hunted the radio star into extinction are also going the way of the dinosaur. Music needs a new business model — stat. Read the rest of this entry »

By Sherri L. Smith, BlackWeb20.com

As the music industry works feverishly to discover a new business model that will repair its rapidly decaying orbit, the creative side of the business suffers. With less money being put into promotion and A&R, it’s become increasingly difficult for artists to be picked up and promoted effectively. As a result, up and coming artists are forced to use grassroots tactics of get their product in front of the right set of ears. In recent years, the Internet has replaced standing in front of a record label executive’s office, hoping to get lucky and get a demo into a famed starmaker’s hands. Nowadays, it’s all about the grind and making enough noise in the trenches to reach the corner offices belonging to music bigwigs.

Recent examples of sucessful of Internet noisemakers including the polarizing Soulja Boy and the world’s former most sought after free agent, Drake. The latest artist to step into the spotlight via the viral power of the Internet is Priscilla Renea. To quote the words of the late, great Notorious B.I.G., it was all a dream. The 18 year old built a rabid following through straight hustle, posting videos of herself singing covers of popular songs on YouTube. At the height of her YouTube assault she had posted 3oo videos and while she built up a healthy following through grassroots promotion it was her guerillla tactics that really got her noticed.

“I went and I searched and searched for the YouTube editor’s email. Then I pretended to be someone else and sent them an email. It was like, ‘yo, you need to check out this chick, she’s dope!’ (laughs) It worked and they put my video on the front page. That’s when I really started getting a lot of attention. There was a lot of self-promotion going on.”

The self-promotion will continue for the release of her upcoming album Jukebox set to release in October. The campaign definitely has some more juice behind it since she’s been signed to Capitol Records. But it’s more than promotion to Priscilla Renea. ” It’s not just a tool to promote my success, it’s also something I really enjoy. I like expressing myself. I like editing and posting the videos on YouTube. Now you’re going to get a lot of behind the scenes footage as well as the videos of the things I do with the label that’s all going on YouTube.” In addition to YouTube, Renea recently released an EP of three songs to whet fans’ appetites. Available on iTunes and Amazon, the EP includes the wildly popular single “Hello My Apple.”  She also has a new website (www.priscillareneamusic.com) where fans can catch up with Priscilla’s latest happenings.

In addition to her new site, fans can also connect with the artist via her twitter page (www.twitter.com/priscillarenea), where she likes to get a little more personal. “I definitely love being able to keep everyone in the loop of what’s going on. I guess it’s a little bit of both – what’s going in my life, letting fans feel like the know me on a personal level, but at the same time I’m keeping them informed.”

Clever promotion tactics aside, Priscilla Renea is the real deal. Her upcoming album promises to be a  “more organic” presentation of the quirky, heartfelt style her fans know and love.

BlackWeb20.com covers website and application launches; culturally relevant Internet industry news; and mainstream Internet industry news from an African-American perspective.  They also analyze emerging web trends and how they apply to web properties that target African-Americans or African-American culture.

By Angela Benton, BlackWeb20.com

Would you Donate Cash to Soulja Boy?

If you haven’t been following Soulja Boy’s use of Web 2.0 techniques, some dating back as far as 2007 and earlier, you could be clueless to the kind of money he is getting using it. With many of his endeavors centering around the web, his cartoon and the various dances that accompany his records to name a few, he is clearly no novice at marketing. In fact one may consider him an expert and even follow his many tips that he dishes via YouTube on how to sell a cool milli online.  Read the rest of this entry »

Behind The Scenes
Soulja Boy prepares his next single, “Gucci Bandana.” See all the photos from behind the scenes. Click here.
 

Eminem Looking For #1 Stan
Rapper Eminem and Vibe magazine are partnering up for VIBE Verses Presents No. 1 Stan, a rap competition that will be open to emcee’s across the globe. More.

The Evolution Of Bow Wow Watch as Shad Moss goes from Lil Bow Wow to Mr. 106 & Park in BET.com’s photo timeline. See pics.

Andre 3000 Arrested Andre 3000 was arrested for going 109 mph in a 65 mph zone in Henry County early Saturday morning. Read more.

Soulja Boy Supports Chris Brown Soulja Boy explained to Entertainment Weekly that he was shocked upon hearing about the incident and believes that Chris Brown should focus on “fixing” things. Read more

Young Jeezy: O’Reilly’s ‘Ignorant’ Young Jeezy responds to Bill O’ Reilly’s comments about his song titled “My President” and calls O’ Reilly ignorant. Check it out.

Soulja Boy Talks About His Robbery After remaining mum on the recent robbery, Soulja Boy finally reveals some information on Big Boy’s radio show. Read on.

Reports are true about men invading the home of teen rapper Soulja Boy and robbing him and several of his close friends on News Year’s Eve, a representative for the entertainer said this weekend. On New Year’s Day, a video surfaced on the Internet showing two masked men who claimed responsibility for the crime, AllHipHop.com reports. The shows the two men bragging about how they had stalked Soulja Boy and followed him home after his album-release party. The purported assailants described the robbery in detail, but rejected earlier reports that there had been six gunmen armed with AK-47s. They said they had done it between the two of them, using only one gun. The video was so dramatic and overproduced that it was widely perceived as a hoax. But AllHipHop.com says the rapper’s rep said that an incident definitely took place, declining to go into detail. The crime was a “serious situation,” he told the Web site.

Soulja Boy says he’s sorry for his filthy mouth.  Soulja Boy, the 18-year-old rapper, says he’s sorry for his vulgar words. Last year, he rocketed to success with his Grammy-nominated hit, “Crank That,” but the language and subject matter he uses is less than savory. Even his YouTube offerings are rife with dirty words. But, in an interview with The Associated Press, Soulja Boy apologized to parents and says he is going to try harder to set a positive example for his young fans. “Over the past few months, I’ve had a chance to meet a lot of my fans face to face, and it made me realize that I got a large fan base of kids that look up to me,” he said. “I have a greater responsibility to the kids that want to be like Soulja Boy, (and) I need set a positive example for them. …I wouldn’t say a role model because I think parents or a guardian should be a kid’s main role model, but from now on, I’m going to make sure that every kid that looks up to me will get a positive image that the kids and parents can trust,” said the rapper who just released his new CD, “iSouljaBoyTellem,” this week.

Soulja Boy shouts out his personal “slave master”: bling. Message boards and chat rooms are filling with venom toward performer Soulja Boy, since his comments on a BET show. The celeb was among stars recently interviewed by “Black Carpet” host Touré, who asked random, thought-provoking questions of those stopping to chat with the network. Soulja was asked: “What historical figure do you most hate?” Perhaps pausing to break down all the syllables in “historical figure,” the 18-year-old appeared stumped, so Touré prompted, “Others have said Hitler, (Osama) bin Laden, the slave masters…” SB then chimed in, “Oh, wait! Hold up! Shout out to the slave masters!” The reportedly college-bound entertainer added, “Without them, we’d still be in Africa. We wouldn’t be here to get this ice and tattoos.” Touré later blogged about his own shock at the moment, pointing out that diamonds – “ice” – come from Africa and that many slave masters were known to beat and rape folks who looked like Soulja’s ancestors, long before Black wealth or “Black Carpet” were conceivable. To which one might also add that African tribal markings pre-date modern “tattoos,” that is, if Soulja was interested. No word on whether SB’s pre-requisites to computer animation studies will include a history course. It’s enough to make Marvin Gaye wanna holler and throw up both his hands.

Def Jam boss reportedly shot himself. Police have confirmed the death announced by Def Jam Recordings of its executive vice president on Saturday as a suicide. Cobb County, Georgia authorities said on Sunday that Shakir Stewart’s body was found in the bathroom of his home near Atlanta. Stewart, 34, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The gunshot wound that killed him reportedly was self-inflicted. Stewart stepped into the executive slot vacated by rapper Jay-Z at the end of 2007. Get more details on the tragedy at BET.com/Music.

Common had been at the barber shop where five were shot.

Rapper Common had just received a hair cut at a New York salon hours before a man was killed there, according to Allhiphop.com. Two gunmen shot at a 19-year-old man in Brooklyn before the man ran into the salon and was killed there early this week. Four other bystanders at the shop were reportedly wounded, including an off-duty cop. The suspects fled the crime scene in a blue Chevrolet Tahoe, according to reports.

Soulja Boy disses ex-assistant, promotes new CD.

Having disposed of actor and rap great Ice T in a war of Web words, Soulja Boy has responded to a YouTube attack from his ex-personal assistant. “Q,” as the former aide identifies himself, recently posted a video claiming he’d been threatened at gunpoint to take $45,000 of his old boss’ cash, so he complied. Q insists that his story is true, explaining that he always had access to Soulja Boy’s account and that he could’ve emptied it on many occasions if he chose to. The rapper, however, isn’t buying Q’s story, and says that Q could’ve simply explained the threat on his life and asked for the cash. “I don’t care if I got $10 million lying on the floor,” Soulja Boy says. “You don’t touch one dollar without asking me. …I’m 18 years old, and I’m glad that I learned this lesson at an early age.”