Bleek could be one hit away his whole career
As long as I’m alive, he’s a millionaire
And even if I die, he’s in my will somewhere
So he can just kick back and chill somewhere, oh yeah
He don’t even have to write rhymes
The Dynasty like my money last three lifetimes

“Bleek,” also known as Memphis Bleek (also known as Malik Thuston Cox), is one of the gents on Jay’s Roc-a-fella label who seems perpetually unable to crossover to mainstream success. Unlike most artists with such a problem, though, he has a fan (assumedly) in the form of one of the world’s biggest hip-hop artists. He’s featured on Jay’s albums, is featured on Jay’s tours, is featured in Jay’s videos, and is featured in Jay’s lyrics; all are great promotional vehicles.

However, the line seems to implicate the following:

• Bleek has never had a hit,
• Bleek is dependent on Jay for his success and wealth, and
• Bleek could bow out of the music game and it wouldn’t matter.

Granted, I’m reading into this a bit, but none of these implications, while possibly being factual, are what you (Bleek) would want to hear from a friend (Jay) or fan (also Jay). It makes the friendship appear as a pity party or a mercy friendship.

In other words, if all three of these statements I’m gleaning from the lyrics are true, why would you say this to your friend, much less your friend and all of the hip-hop listening world? Sure, Jay should be honest and constructive in his feedback to Bleek, but this doesn’t appear constructive to me. The first would appear petty, the second would appear obvious and demeaning, and the third would be downright hurtful and dismissive.

From the times where I met Jay while working at Def Jam, he always seemed like a personable, kind fellow. And artists on his label (now and past) seem to have a strong affinity to him (much in the same manner as his fans), which would suggest he doesn’t regularly demean his crew. So, again, why would he say this to someone with such loyalty?

• Could Jay not have recognized my interpretation of this lyric?
  I doubt it; Jay’s a smart guy, and constructs some very intricate ideas across clever wordplay. In other words, he shows all the signs of thinking through what he’s saying. His point of detailing how anyone (and anyone’s progeny) associated with him would be living large could be detailed in any number of alternative ways. That said, maybe he quickly wrote the verse, recorded it, thought about it, and figured it didn’t matter… it illustrated his point, and there were other lyrics to be recorded for other projects; you can’t live in the past.
• Is it tough love?
  Again, doubtful. Aside from this line, Jay appears to be a fan of Bleek, and (from what I’ve seen) hasn’t offered any other “time to fly from the comforts of my nest, young one” lines to Bleek.
• Is it hate?
  I can’t see how this is possible, as Jay has an incredibly large platform to hate from, and there isn’t any other evidence of him taking a shot at Bleek.
• Could Bleek have written the rhyme for Jay in some sort of bizarre homage to his patron?
  Possible, but strange. This seems the least likely answer yet.

As you can see, I can’t make sense of the line, but I wish that I could. And, while I would certainly enjoy the no-strings-attached patronage of someone like Jay-Z (you know, so I could “just kick back and chill somewhere”), I hope none of my friends would ever publicly call out any perceived lack of success on my part as a means to illustrate their wealth of success.

From a hater, it’s always welcome and expected; from a friend, it just seems downright confusing.

First, why would Kanye be defending (or “riding with”) Soulja Boy? And second, why would Kanye (who’s got something against everybody) say he’s got nothing against “nobody?” Neither made any sense to me. I had to read, and I’m glad I did.

Before I continue, I should note: the subject matter of the videos below is not for everybody. And by not everybody, I mean most anybody, particularly not for those who don’t enjoy hip-hop, braggadocio, considerable amounts of cursing, disrespect, and mockery. Also: laughter.

Back to the issue, Kanye fired off an opinion after watching some YouTube videos documenting the latest hip-hop Internet beef: Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy Tell Em. Turns out, Ice-T (the West Coast gangsta rapper once known for “O.G. Original Gangster” and “Cop Killer” and now known as Detective Fin Tutuola on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) decided to call out last year’s Internet and radio phenom Soulja Boy Tell Em (only known for last summer’s “Superman (Crank Dat)” dance and track) as the single-handed reason hip-hop is dead.

Ice-T’s Soulja Boy tirade

Bold words from T. Well, actually, bolder (and far more offensive) words were used, as well. Soulja Boy took some haranguing comments from Iceberg Slim on a mixtape drop promoting his new Urban Legends album. Soulja Boy heard the comments, grabbed a couple friends, hopped in front of their Mac’s high-resolution iSight camera, and responded as high school students do best: with incessant snaps about how irrelevant Ice-T was to anyone under the age of 50. Soulja Boy derides T for 7+ minutes, utilizing a Wikipedia article to fuel the flames.

He calls him out by name, references his East Coast-birthplace, 1950′s birthyear (in which he says folks were “still driving in wood cars”), and caps it with the classic “you should change your name to Lemonade cause you sweet” line. (“Sweet,” in this case, is suggesting that T’s image is a bit soft.)

Soulja Boy’s response

Ice-T, in turn, utilizes a 1980′s camcorder (likely VHS or Betamax) to capture his video retort. Unfortunately, the reply backfires, and for multiple reasons:

1. T appears in what could (at best) be described as a nouveau-riche-inspired retirement community,
2. T appears in a dated sports jersey (which was popular several years back),
3. T repeatedly apologizes and then berates SB (and others) in a passive-aggressive mess of thoughts,
4. T moves in and out of the camera’s viewfinder in a semi-nervous, “I’ve never done this before” posturing that doesn’t suggest a familiarity with self-published videos,
5. T repeatedly refers to “hip-hop” as being the one who will deal Soulja Boy justice for producing “garbage,” rather than himself.

Topping it off, Ice brings his son into the fray to talk trash at the end of the tape, too. All in all, an out-dated, out-gunned response using a medium he didn’t seem comfortable leveraging.

Ice-T’s response

So what does Soulja Boy do? Unleash the deathblow: a 4-minute, 55-second cartoon lambasting T as a “dinosaur-turned-gangsta rapper,” hypocrite, bad dancer, jealous has-been and crybaby. While crudely rendered, the animation repeatedly mocks T’s efforts at relevance to today’s market, and is highlighted a couple times with overdubbed, early 80′s Ice-T breakdancing footage.

Soulja Boy’s animated response

The animation, while juvenile and repetitive, proved Soulja Boy the clear winner. Having already lampooned T (particularly by having to look up T on Wikipedia to even know who he was) with 1.5-million-plus views of his video response, he upped the ante by having a cadre of folks write a script, animate it, and further shame one of the godfathers of West Coast rap.

Wanting to appear timely and relevant, Iceberg instead lived up to his moniker: slow, old, monolithic, and (in this global warming era) fading fast. SB took the beef from the rhyme arena (where Ice-T could have destroyed him in seconds) into a Web 2.0 world (where SB had already proven a grassroots, rags-to-riches success). And T sadly went along for the ride.

While watching that first Soulja Boy video, I was reminded of a wildlife documentary showing how prides of lions pass the mantle of leadership between generations. The elder lion is taunted by the younger upstart, who doesn’t quite seem to know his own power. The elder lion takes the taunts for a period of time, snapping at the young buck, but eventually hits a breaking point.

Of course, once he hits that point, he strikes, but cannot match the agility of the younger cat. Wounded, he is forced out from the pack, and left alone to die in isolation.

The saddest connection of this analogy is that Soulja Boy is hardly more than a flash in the pan, and many inside hip-hop culture would argue he’s not one of theirs (Kanye West respectfully excluded). Nonetheless, Ice-T got frustrated, picked on someone much, much younger than himself, and somehow managed to get schooled in front of the whole pride.

Certainly, he’ll retain some respect for his past achievements, but hip-hop is an entertainment-based industry… and the entertainment industry rarely focuses on or subsidizes once-was-hot artists. What today’s kids want is generally what today’s kids get.

With this beef now over, it’s pretty clear: if today’s kids didn’t previously know who Ice-T was (without checking Wikipedia), they certainly will now associate him with three things:

1. being old,
2. being sweet, and
3. being in possession of a museum-grade camcorder that used vacuum tubes to get its video out to the Internet.

Game over.

Def Jam Recordings, twenty years after its inception, is still the #1 name brand in hip-hop culture. Having developed artists from LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and EPMD (as well as more recent acts like Method Man, Redman, Ghostface, and more), the label was no longer representing its prestige with its online presence of 3+ years.
Starting from the ground up, the website was rearchitected to facilitate commerce and community features on every page. A gritty, underground hip-hop theme was developed to reflect the aspects of both the street and DJ cultures that continue to define the genre. Rather than follow existing conventions for label sites (and hip-hop sites in general), though, the new site takes a user-driven approach to the design, presenting a variety of mechanisms to access popular content and placing form squarely behind function.

In addition to overhauling the label site (and designing an as-of-yet to be released consolidated label site), my team produced dozens of artist sites, promotions, and campaigns, including the following gems:

	Thursday Island Records, original home of Bob Marley and U2, was looking to develop a site that captured the esoteric lyrics of their new rock act, Thursday, while integrating the album artwork from the new CD. Hidden sections were added to allow fans to investigate the band’s lyrics, and label, band, and fan response to the design was tremendous.
	Christina Milian Christina Milian, previously a favorite with the Radio Disney and teen R&B/pop crowd, was looking to reinvent her official site. Fan sites around the globe had provided her audience with the most up-to-date information and largest photo galleries, but this was intended to change with the launch of the new site. By redesigning and rearchitecting her online presence, the new site made a giant splash amongst her fans who were reintroduced to the new and more mature Christina. Breaking from her teen-themed imagery of before, the new site presented Christina as a modern, sophisticated, and sultry recording artist, ready to compete with the likes of crossover artists like Beyoncé.
	The Killers Hailing from Las Vegas but explosively popular in the U.K., The Killers were set to make a splash in the U.S. with their first full-length album debut on Island. To build on offfline and radio marketing efforts, Island Def Jam needed an online presence that extended the band’s brand imagery, allowed for quick and easy content management, and provided a forum for fans to communicate with each other and with the band.
	Everlast While Everlast’s latest musical sound crosses many genres, he wanted his website to target his long-time hip-hop followers. Heralding back to a golden era, this design solution uses graffiti and paintstriping to tie the Flash animation into the page content.
	Andrew W.K. game Andrew W.K. might easily be the most energetic performer alive. Known for his “Party Hard” anthem in 2002, the party metal singer was looking to create a buzz around his new album, “The Wolf,” amongst his online fans. Using themes common to his videos, albums, and performances (including the wolves, piano, and intense adrenaline-pumping racing sequences), this game captures the energy and quirky spirit behind Andrew and his ever-loyal fan base.

The MF Doom “I Hear Voices” music video was created to allow Sub Verse Music the ability to promote their artist at Shockwave.com. This piece was created by digitally “tracing” actual video and assembling these tracings frame-by-frame in Macromedia Flash. This one composition was then exported into a variety of formats, including self-running “projectors” that were included on the artist’s CD.

Check out a case study of the new site design in the Laaker.com Assorted Works section to see images and learn more.

(New York City) – After years of visual stagnation, Def Jam Recordings had it’s online ride "pimped" by Micah Laaker and the Fearless Concepts’ creative and development teams.

Known as the home of hip-hop’s earliest stars (such as LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Slick Rick, and Public Enemy), Def Jam Recordings has maintained its brand value of being the definitive hip-hop recording label. Now featuring stars such as Method Man, Ghostface, Jay-Z (via Roc-a-fella Records), and Ja Rule (courtesy of The Inc. Records), the label continues to define where the rap industry is heading. Unfortunately, the label’s website was not communicating the prestige of the music powerhouse.

Leading the development of the information architecture and visual design efforts for the site, Laaker focused on moving the music label’s content to the forefront of the site’s pages while providing a visual framework that suggested "street elegance." Instead of the grafitti-laden imagery and "blinged-out" decoration adorning other hip-hop sites, the new site was designed from day one to subtley suggest Def Jam’s DJ culture while being framed in a sophisticated, platinum-level grid structure. The design is also the cornerstone of Laaker’s focus on information design, serving as a strong example of creating a usable and useful resource for the entertainment industry.

Using the site’s users’ feedback to help guide content naming, organization, and design approach, Laaker and his group developed an entirely new website for the label featuring an integrated storefront, a user polling system, an entertainment/lifestyle focus, and integrated community features. Launched on Thursday, September 16th, the site now enters development for considerably more extensive community features.

Siding with the old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” Mr. Laaker decided to link up with current rap superstars The Hot Boys to create his mass Christmas card/present. By using his laptop, Mr. Laaker laced his vocals throughout the actual album. “‘A Hot Boys Christmas,’” he said, “is, what I believe to be, as close as truly possible, the Hot Boys’ original artistic aspirations. Obviously, politics at the record label prevented the Hot Boys from releasing tracks as rugged and hot as these.”

Others did not seem to share Mr. Laaker’s views on the beauty of the new tracks. “Man, you’re crazy,” “What could possibly make you think to create this?,” and “That dude’s really out there. I think he’s got issues,” were several of the many pained comments offered upon first listen. Many of the recipients expressed zero interest in downloading the musical files (which were distributed exclusively online), while others expressed regret for ignoring their similar initial misgivings.

Mr. Laaker was noted to be “very proud” of this endeavor, as well as his photo-manipulation efforts to incorporate his “mug” into the album cover’s artwork.

The cover of Mr. Laaker’s Christmas present. (View larger image.)

Having stood through a lackluster performance by the nevertheless incredibly talented musical duo known as the Handsome Boy Modeling School at New York’s Other Music record store, Mr. Laaker was in an obviously ‘not-to-be-tested’ mood when certain events transpired that resulted in said critique. Looking to form a rapport with the audience, Prince Paul, a.k.a. Chest Rockwell (half of the HBMS duo), asked the audience what albums they were listening to recently. An eager gentleman in the front of the audience quickly blurted out, "Willenium!," in reference to the latest of many subpar offerings by Will Smith, formerly a.k.a. The Fresh Prince.

Obviously intrigued by such an outcry, Paul inquired as to the quality of the album, only to be reassured by the pop-music-machine drone that the album was "hot." Hoping the audience would react positively to a hip-hop suggestion, Paul then asked if anyone had purchased the new Dr. Dre "The Chronic 2001" album. Again, the excitable youth in the front announced that his friend had indeed purchased the album and also enjoyed it thoroughly.

It was at this point that Mr. Laaker very maturely countered this opinion by loudly stating, "It sucks." Whereas Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, a.k.a. Nathaniel Merriweather (the other half of the HBMS duo), looked startled, Paul chuckled at the remark and began to ask who had made such a bold remark. Mr. Laaker, known for his shameless lack of embarrassment, proudly raised his hand declaring that he indeed had made the comment.

The event quietly defused as Mr. Laaker and Mr. Paul came to agreement over the quality inherent in Mos Def’s latest aural offering, "Black on Both Sides." Mr. Laaker and his party left soon afterwards, and Mr. Laaker was heard to conject that Paul’s lack of a contradictory argument equaled agreement with Mr. Laaker’s comment.

Mr. Laaker’s party seemed largely uninterested in his civic-driven public awareness campaign for the musically confused.

(Ed. – Mr. Laaker has the Handsome Boy Modeling School album, "So, How’s Your Girl?," listed as a Top Ten pick for the year.)