Went down to N.O. over the weekend to check out the Essence Music Festival and learn more about the marketing + outreach efforts of McDonald’s 365 Black (Mary, Ruby Dee, and Radio One’s Cathy Hughes + more were honored Fri at a banquet), Verizon and Coca-Cola. My recap here: Rolling Stone. TBOJ photo credit: Miles Ahead Ent.
#diddygethard went down on Friday as Diddy appeared on Chris Gethard’s improv show (13 months after the comedian launched the Twitter campaign to get him to the UCB, click for backstory). I enjoyed it (click to read). So did others (click to read).
Say Hello: To the alternate Jay-Z cover via Rolling Stone. It’s a “peel off” cover, so this image will be revealed after you pull back the original visual. A first for RS.
My Nine of ‘09: Was ran by Jay-Z. As a group we named him the Hottest MC, but this year he proved his meddle with more than just his words. What other rapper could take the culture to the heights he has? From the 9/11 show at the Garden (where the above flick was snapped) to performing before game two of the World Series between the Yankees and the Phillies to closing out the VMAs. He said it best (in 2002!): “Nobody in rap did it, quite like I did it.”
My Nine of ‘09: Was taken over by Drake. I met him for the first time back in March at mtvU’s Spring Break in Panama City Beach. I asked him if I could do an *interview with him and he said, Sure thing. We sat for about 30 mins inside the hotel lobby where he was candid, enthusiastic, and brimming with that newcomer spirit. Three months later, shit hit the fan when he took a *bite out of the Big Apple. A few weeks later I was there when *Kanye directed his video and it was lights out—*a (super) star was born.
My Nine of ‘09: Begins with Biggie. My return to MTV was kick started when I was asked to cover all things Notorious, from the movie premiere & after-party to Lil Kim fussin’ with the film’s producers to folks like Groovey Lew breaking down his style.
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