Gotta give LeBron some credit, he has surpassed Kobe Bryant – not in championships or MVP titles, but in being the most hated player in the NBA. And with that special title comes special images to ’salute you’. With signing with the Miami Heat, LeBron is leaving Cleveland and heading to Miami to join Chris Bosh & Dwayne Wade – while leaving the city and region of Cleveland, Ohio very upset. I can’t wait until The Heat play the Cavs in the 10-11 season – LeBron better have some extra security.
Yes, they do exist, and have existed since the 1960’s or so – the first popular black super heroes such as ‘Falcon’, and ‘Black Panther’ were introduced to cater to different audiences that were emerging. Jumping forward, the most popular adaptation of a Black Superhero would have to be Will Smith’s portrayal of Hancock released in 2008. And with Hollywood’s fascination of imaginary worlds and characters, the releases of the Iron Man series, X-Men, Avatar, and Transformers, have resurged the comic book industry – whom we once thought was dying, but is surging as they are adapting their content to new mediums (such as Apple’s iPad).
Prior to 2001, Apple was a struggling computer manufacturer, trying to deal with Windows based machines and software; many have written them off, but they dropped the iPod in 2001, and it has to be one of the defining items of the 2000’s. Since launching on October 23, 2001, the iPod has sold over 240 million units worldwide as of January 2010. Here are some creative iPod digital art renditions.
Sourced from Adweek:
“Social media specialist Vitrue, which aids brands in building their customer bases on social networks, tried to put a media value on such communities.
The firm has determined that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year.”
This translates to the fact that the more followers and/or fans that you have on social networking sites, the more leverage or value one possesses. Which in turn suggests that advertisers should pay more for an ad on a profile page with 1 million followers, than a profile page that has 5,000 followers – creating an advertising economy of scale based on influence. Seems like we are in high school all over again, but this “Influenced Economy” may be a viable way for social media companies to actually start making money, and have a real business model.
Breaking conventions of the day – a blueprint for hip-hop
Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and ’50s. Each in their own way, free jazz musicians attempted to alter, extend, or break down the conventions of jazz, often by discarding hitherto invariable features of jazz, such as fixed chord changes or tempos. While usually considered experimental and avant-garde, free jazz has also oppositely been conceived as an attempt to return jazz to its “primitive,” often religious roots, and emphasis on collective improvisation.
Free jazz is most strongly associated with the ’50s innovations of Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor and the later works of saxophonist John Coltrane. Other important pioneers included Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon, and Sun Ra.
Starting in bebop and hard bop, Coltrane later pioneered free jazz. He influenced generations of other musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history. He was astonishingly prolific: he made about fifty recordings as a leader in his twelve-year-long recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis.
Here are some classic compositions from Coltrane and Davis:
I say all this to state that hip-hop is in a similar state that jazz was in; and hip-hop is in dire need of something to break it from the current dismal convention – luckily, we have a few artists that are defying limits like Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, but we need more or I fear that my little baby nephew will think that stringing a bunch of similies together and shouting on the track is ‘hip-hop’ …. (I shudder the thought).
Sometimes funny, often condescending, but always real from the heart, Life in B Major is my expression of emotions & thoughts through the lens of the Nerban - the Techie Nerd with some Urban Swag and Hip-Hop Culture. Meaning, I know the lyrical differences between a Lil Wayne & Jay-Z, and I also know how to setup a dual boot OS with Vista & Linux. That's fly.
Anyhow, I got a mounting task as I manage to bounce back from a failed business partnership, dealing with WACK people, re-igniting my techie hustle, loving hip-hop music, but having an opinion on the turds and the system that tries to mess it up, AND lifting up and helping others to realize their own potential - while also refining and crafting my own.
.:: LiBM::.
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