Why Rap Rules And Rock Is In A Rutt

With 2011 sales polls being compiled and analyzed, the results are that Rock music is fast losing favor with the record buying public and Rap music is continuing its reign as the popular music format.
If you have ever walked along Venice Beach in California, an aspiring Rapper would have undoubtedly approached you. Armed with a CD player in one hand and a pair of headphones in the other, his first aim is to get you to listen to his music, right there on the beachfront; his second is to secure a sale. This microcosmic corner of the music industry is why currently Rap music succeeds and Rock music falters.

HUSTLE AND FLOW

If you want to succeed in music today you have to hustle. Not social media hustle, meaning randomly friend requesting and spamming your way through facebook and twitter. This is an unchallenging and ineffective roadmap for acquiring new fans. It quite simply reeks of desperation, or far worse, entitlement. Succeeding in music is about hustling because if you don’t, you wont survive.

Rock music has quite simply lost its balls, not sonically, but emotionally. It has become about rich kids playing at being fucked up, because they having nothing better to do than bash out mimicked guitar riffs on the brand new, latest edition, Les Paul, that Mommy and Daddy bought them at Guitar Center.

Working hard to achieve success, because Rock and Roll is the only thing that will save you from oblivion, has slowly been replaced with buying the right clothes, the right songs, and the right hairstyle.

And those in the record selling business encourage this because they see Rap artists partaking in the same activity and equate this to a strategy for success. However they don’t understand that for a Rap artist who has hustled their way to the top, buying the best beats and showing their worth on their wrist, is a Rock and Roll, “fuck you” to the environment that kept them down. It remains strangely real and oddly in keeping with their rise to the forefront.

When Rock artists buy songs and overtly commercialize themselves, wearing carefully stylized threads, or use money and excess as a disproportionate means to exposure, it just doesn’t hold that same credibility. The audience is responding by not buying it.

RELOCATING ROCK

Rock music has moved from the streets to the suburbs, it has lost its edge. The pursuit of fame used to be about the have-nots risking everything to achieve the goal. Now it is about entitled kids believing they embody Rock and Roll because their parent’s credit card enables their coke habit. True emotion has been lost en route through whiney Emo, shallow Hipster quirks and self-centered acoustic drones.

The cost of being a Rock Musician is high, it is a risk it all business. It can either be achieved by living in the gutter to make ends meet, or have someone finance it for you - invariably this is done in an attempt to vicariously recapture the investors never fully realized youth. Sadly it seems the latter has become the norm. Rock has become music’s spoiled child, and cry as it might, people have their own real problems to deal with and are gravitating towards what makes sense to them in the here and now.

REALITY BITES

Mimicry, expense accounts, entitlement, and faux fame platforms like social media and reality TV have created a generation out of touch with Rock and Roll. Though wounded as it may be, Rock certainly isn’t dead. Somewhere there is a kid with in a desperate situation with a guitar in his or her hand, coupled with the hustle and creativity to battle their way out. But this time they will have an old Mac with iMovie, Garageband and a new set of tools with which to create.

The recession and all the pitfalls it throws in front of the next generation of artists should be a breeding ground for the expression of reality - in the Robert Johnson devil dealing sense of course, not the feigned existence of the Kardashians. However, as Tyler The Creator has demonstrated, the word on the street may sound like a different language to the old school, but that is what will give it back its edge. And like Lil Wayne and TI, these new Rock stars might find their way into jail now and then, but wasn’t that what made the Beatles and the Stones so vital?

Robin Davey is an Independent Musician, Writer and Award Winning Film Maker. Follow him on Twitter @mr_robin_davey

Android Double-DIN Car Stereo & Rear-View Mirror, Hands-On

I thought these two gadgets were kinda cool. I know i definitely want one of those mirrors in my ride lol

Beats By Dre Parting Ways With Monster After End Of Contract In 2012

Beats opted not to renew its five-year contract when it expires at the end of 2012.

After striking success over the past few years, Beats By Dre is splitting from Monster Cable Products when its five-year contract expires at the end of 2012.

According to Business Week, Beats, which held a 53 percent stake of the $1 billion annual headphone market in 2011, has decided to terminate its partnership with the electronics brand. While each company says that there is no animosity, the publication reports that there was ill will over financial terms, “with divergent views on which side deserves the most credit for the line’s success and Beats balking at its share of the revenue.”

Monster is planning on putting out eight lines of headphones to compete with Beats. Jimmy Iovine, Interscope Geffen A&M Chairman, isn’t sweating it. “We have very big ambitions for Beats beyond headphones,” he says. “Music has got to succeed on the phone or else the record industry will never thrive.”

All Industries Should Note the Increase in Digital Music

The fact that once great company Kodak is reportedly considering filing for bankruptcy in the next few weeks, as reported by the Associated Press, should catch the eye of record stores across the U.S. Since Kodak was unable to adapt the changing digital marketplace of photography, news from Singersroom.com that digital music sales topped physical music sales for the first time should be a sign to get their houses in order because a reckoning is coming.

Digital music downloads accounted for 50.3 percent of music sales in 2011, as reported by CNNMoney. The article mentions the increase over 2010 totals was 8.4 percent, while the decline in actual albums was 5 percent. Those are pretty big swings for any company that specializes in selling CDs or albums to ignore.

Sure the digital music revolution is not exactly new. Like the CNNMoney report states, since the early days of Napster, digital music has been a hit with consumers. However, the increase in digital music popularity will eventually transfer to movie and television, which is another industry grappling with the shift of streaming video versus selling DVDs.

Here in Pennsylvania, in 2002 the likes of National Record Mart fell to discount stores like Wal-Mart as far as album sales were concerned, as indicated by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Actual brick and mortar stores are no longer necessary for the music industry, as social networking and apps help new artists be discovered.

The real surprise is that it took until 2011 for digital sales to top physical sales, and now that the scale is tipped the digital share of the music market will continue to rage along until the CD goes the way of the cassette tape (remember those?) and the LP. Users are demanding access to content across a variety of devices, and the purchase of an actual album is being replaced by clicking a few buttons. All the other industries should take notice in order to avoid going the way of Kodak.

Author: Jason Gallagher, Yahoo Contributor Network

Rick Ross (Feat. Drake & French Montana) - Stay Schemin (Video)

This song is one of them ones i must admit. I don't agree wit ross but he do make great music.

Protest Helps Half Court Shot Winner Claim His Prize

When Kentucky freshman Vincent Swope sank a half-court shot to win a halftime contest during Saturday's game against South Carolina, he did a victory lap around sold-out Rupp Arena and began dreaming of what he could do with the $10,000.

Little did he know what it would take to make sure he received his money.

One of the organizers of the contest approached Swope in the midst of his celebration with a copy of the contract he'd signed and a video replay of the shot. The man intimated to Swope that the supermarket chain Kroger might not be willing to pay the $10,000 since Swope appeared to take the shot a few inches beyond the mid-court stripe.

"They said when I released the ball I was over the line," Swope said. "There are some pictures where it looks like I touched the line and some where it looks like I didn't touch the line, but that didn't even cross my mind when I shot it. I was just thinking, 'I'm $10,000 richer."

Word that Kroger's might not pay Swope reached Kentucky Sports Radio founder Matt Jones during the second half of Saturday's game, so he wasted little time in organizing a movement on the freshman's behalf. Jones offered to bring Swope on his postgame radio show and encouraged his 37,000 Twitter followers to tweet in protest with the hashtag #OccupyKroger.

























Not only did hundreds of Kentucky fans follow Jones' advice, some also took the movement a step further. Two Wildcats fans made #OccupyKroger signs and stood with them in front of the Kroger's in Ashland, Kent.

To Kroger's credit, the supermarket chain didn't take long to realize the PR folly that not paying Swope would be.

A representative of Kroger called Jones within an hour of the game ending on Saturday and asked him to tell Swope that he would receive the $10,000.

"That's the Big Blue Nation for you," Swope said. "They supported me, and I really do appreciate it."

Swope is supposed to call Kroger's on Monday to find out how he'll receive his money. He plans to put most of it toward paying for school.

The entire episode was surreal for a freshman whose greatest claim to fame before that was dressing up in a referee's costume for Kentucky games this season. Swope first did that for the North Carolina game in December and he's stuck with it ever since after he received positive feedback from his fellow students.

"It's definitely become my trademark," Swope said. "I think I'll have to do it for the rest of my college career."

Author: Jeff Eisenberg, The Dagger

12 Year Old Baby Girl Loses Fight With Cancer

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California girl who became a nationally recognized face of child cancer with a blog that chronicled her fight against brain tumors has died. Jessica Joy Rees was 12 years old.

Jessica's family announced her death on her Facebook page, stating that her 10-month battle with brain cancer ended Thursday. Tens of thousands of people responded by posting updates to the page in a show of support that includes "likes" and prayers.

By Friday afternoon the outpouring surpassed Jessica's goal to get one "like" for each of the estimated 50,000 American children with cancer.

The Orange County seventh-grader, called "Jessie" by family and friends, began her blog and Facebook page after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in March. A second tumor was discovered in September.

While some of her posts discussed her struggles as she underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments, others urged readers in dozens of countries to support pediatric cancer research and to pray for other children with the illness.

She always signed her posts with the acronym "NEGU" (NEE'-goo), short for "never ever give up."

Also, she and her parents started The NEGU Foundation, a nonprofit organization to raise awareness of pediatric cancer, support sufferers and raise money for research.

The foundation sold and provided thousands of "JoyJars" stuffed with candy and toys to sick children. More than 3,000 were sold and distributed in 27 states last year, according to the NEGU website.

After her diagnosis, Rancho Santa Margarita youngster received tickets to "American Idol" and arrived with signs that read "NEGU Casey" to support contestant Casey Abrams, the Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/yJwyF3) reported.

Co-host Ryan Seacrest also allowed her to announce country singer, and eventual winner, Scott McCreery.

Jessica wrote on Facebook that her mission was "to encourage kids fighting cancer to Never Ever Give Up by spreading hope, joy and love. A cheerful heart is great medicine."

A celebration service was scheduled for Wednesday at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, where her father, Erik Rees, is a pastor.