What’s up Guys?

It’s crazy to see this summer winding down but we got a lot of new stuff coming for the fall so I am excited to get into it. Thanks for all the feedback on the last post.

With the music industry changing in terms of the formats for the music we purchase and all of the new technology people are searching for what’s next. The advent of the ipod and mp3 players as not only music players but as places for digital storage has been the most successful source to store music and anything digital. I have been using a thumb drive or usb drive to keep all of my music and documents with me on the go and I love it. Do you guys use USB drives? What kind of storage devices do you use for music? Also with all of these cell phones being able to store mp3’s space on these devices become a real issue. Are you guys familiar with the micro SD cards that have storage space in the cell phones? Does anyone use those to keep the excess information and music on their phone? If the iphone is indicative of the future where we all carry one device do you envision being able to keep everyone on one device even if that means your phone has to be bigger than an ipod to have both phone capabilities and store 80gb’s of music? Music is going hand in hand with technology these days and it is really exciting.

What’s up everyone? I am a huge sports fan but my true love is basketball. I still play to this day and I coach my son Alex’s AAU team, the Del Ray Blazers. Needless to say I was one of the one billion people that watched the USA “Redeem Team” defeat China. With the Olympics upon us it is great to turn on the television and find sports on all day long.

Between Lebron and Yao the major American companies have a tight grip on basketball in the Olympics as far as advertising is concerned. Basketball is a global game at this point but with companies like Nike bringing the culture of basketball to China where does that leave music? Do you guys think China would ever be open to hip hop? Does having Lebron and Yao be such big stars make a better case for hip hop’s acceptance into the Chinese culture? Keep in mind one of China’s biggest artists, Edison Chen, has already collaborated with Kanye West and Just Blaze. I would love to know your thoughts.

What’s up everybody? I just got back from an overseas trip with Akon to play his new album, Acquitted, to the heads of Universal in Europe. Akon sold 3 million copies of his last album in the US but something that even surprised me was he sold 500,000 copies in the UK. To put that in perspective Jay-Z’s last album sold 70,000 copies in the UK. Akon is the highest selling urban artist over the past two years in the UK. It’s amazing to see what a broad fan base he has.

That being said the new album is shaping up to be another monster. Akon produces all his own music so it’s not the type of project we hear a song here or a song there. My first listen is always to a completed album. The two records that really jumped out to me are “Hold On” featuring Michael Jackson and “Holla Holla” featuring T Pain. I don’t know what the first single is going to be yet, but the album is coming in October.

On another note, I just got a Nokia N95 from Kyte. If you arent’ familiar with Kyte you can check out a video from Shontelle’s Kyte channel. I will be live blogging from all over with my new phone so make sure to look out for it.

First off I want to say congratulations to David Banner on the release of his fifth album with SRC records. The Greatest Story Ever Told is now in stores and it has been a tremendous experience watching him grow as an artist.

On another note I want to speak on something that has really got me bothered and that is the leaking of records. I understand people don’t want to pay for music and instead of buying a CD they would rather download the album off the internet. I would rather get something for free as well. What really gets under my skin is when we as record company are preparing to release an album that both the artist and the label have spent a long time planning and someone decides to put out songs or the album. The ramifications of this for both the artist and the label are tremendous and usually the leaks come from someone close to the artist or their camp. No one benefits from leaking of records not the artist, label, and not even the leaker.

Also we were judging Round 1 and I just want to let everyone know they need to step it up. Make sure your mix is good and sounds clear and make sure the record is good and can stand up to anyone else’s before you submit it to be judged. I am giving you the chance at a record deal and one hundred grand and all you have to do is rap. So do it right and get this money.

What’s up everybody? This is the first post of many for my new blog on Loud.com.  First off congratulations to Tha Crow, the winner of Loud.com’s one hundred grand and the now the newest signee to SRC Records.  We are launching the second contest July 1^st and this time I am very excited to have included a producer competition.

I am really excited about some new artists we have coming out this soon. David Banner comes out in two weeks and the album is phenomenal. His current single, Get Like Me, is a huge hit and the album has the perfect balance of grimy street records and big hit records.

Next up are two female pop acts that are going to make some major noise this year. Tami Chynn is an artist that I partnered with Akon to put out on SRC.  Akon and Red One handled all the production and Tami has a crazy voice and is hot.  Her first single Frozen featuring Akon is out and you check out more music from her at myspace.com/tamichynn.

The next artist is Shontelle, whose single T-Shirt is shaping up to be a big hit record.  Shontelle is from Barbados and her debut album Shotnelligence is full of big pop anthems. Her production is handled by, Sturken and Rogers, the same team that produces Rihanna.

I am also working with Topic from the West Coast. He is signed Drama Family/SRC and his first single, I Gotta Get It featuring Trey Songz, is out now.  Topic and Tha Crow will be teaming up on a track very shortly so be on the lookout for that.

I would love to hear you what you guys are thinking so comments and feedback are appreciated. I started in this game by listening to the streets and watching things bubble up to the mainstream. Now I am keeping my eyes on the Internet. Stay tuned to Loud.com because over the course of Contest 2 we will be transforming Hip Hop on the Internet.