Although Tyga released his debut album “No Introduction” in June, his manager Anthony Martini recently went on record stating Tyga’s bigger and better plans for the future. These plans include shunning major record label support and instead shopping a partnership between Tyga and a major consumer brands company.

“With Tyga, we have all the control,” Mr. Martini told brand trade magazine Ad Age. “We don’t have to go through the record label system.”

To Tyga and Martini, the future of hip-hop is not with Def Jam or Sony Records, it is with the likes of major brands such as Coca-Cola, RIM Blackberry or Ford Motor Company. Before the online age, it was every aspiring hip-hop artist’s dream to sign the record label deal, get the advance money, make a lavish music video and see your album sell millions of copies at Tower Records and The Wherehouse.

Those days are long gone. Tower and The Wherehouse have gone bankrupt, labels have cut back from funding million dollar videos and they have made contracts even more stringent reducing royalties on everything from tour money to merchandise. With the emergence of online distribution, the record label is becoming less and less attractive and artists and are turning elsewhere to find the funding necessary to launch and promote an album.

It’s no secret that the music industry and especially hip-hop has turned to the millions of promotional and media dollars that consumer brand companies possess in order to help underwrite album promotional costs. Recent deals where brands are footing promotional costs include:

TAG Bodyspray – The much publicized partnership with Jermaine Dupri and Def Jam to create an entire new record label called TAG Records. Under the deal, TAG will pony up the promotional and media dollars necessary to launch the new artists from the emerging label

Fila - Nas signs his first major promotional deal with a brand company in order to fund his multi-million dollar ad and tour campaign for his latest album. In exchange, Nas lends his likeness to promote the Fila brand in print and outdoor ads

Drinks America – Dr. Dre teams up with Drinks America to launch Aftermath Cognac which was planned to be timed with the release of his long-anticipated album “Detox”

Sears – In a fully integrated marketing campaign, LL Cool J will be releasing his LL Cool J branded fashion line at Sears in conjunction with the release of his new album. Sears will pony up the money for promotional dollars that will be split between promoting the clothing line and the new album.

Verizon – Hollywood hipster rapper Shwayze signs a deal with Verizon Wireless which has Verizon as the exclusive online distributor for his next single “Corona & Lime” and will pay for all other promotional costs in order to push the single

So does the future of hip-hop rest in the hands of Corporate America? Just as long as we don’t see a Charmin Toilet Paper Records or “Crest Toothpaste Presents Eminem” album…then perhaps this is not such a bad thing. After all, hip-hop has always been a tale of survival and in these trying times for the music industry it is definitely survival of the fittest. And what about Tyga? Considering his recent single “AIM” perhaps a deal with American Online is in his future.

More proof that Percy Miller (The Artist Formerly Known as Master P) and his son Romeo are actually starring in a horror movie about mutant pigs. I posted The Pig People trailer a couple weeks back but some people thought it was a joke or a fake. Once again I kid you not. The Pig People stars the MIller father and son duo along with R&B artist Colby O’Donis about a group of mutant half pig-half people who have an appetite for human flesh. Here are some exclusive pics that WoooHa, Inc. was able to get their hands on.

Jay-Z officially announced the sale of his 40/40 Club located at the Palazzo Casino in Las Vegas for an undisclosed sum. The 24,000 square foot sports bar will no longer operate under the 40/40 brand, and all association with Jay-Z and the club will be terminated as well.

“The sale is a great business decision, we are delighted. We look forward to expanding the brand even further to Chicago and Tokyo ,” Jay-Z said in a statement released yesterday.

While Jay-Z and his business partners will open more 40/40 sports bars in Chicago, Tokyo and Macau, the Palazzo 40/40 Club was mired with issues and financial troubles from the start. It almost failed to open for its New Years opening celebration due to failed health code inspections and there were numerous public complaints by employees of unfair treatment and termination. This included the over-hiring of staff once management realized how slow business actually was getting.

While the official press release spins the sale of the 40/40 Club as a good thing for Jay-Z, numerous business publications reveal that the sale was a necessity due to heavy financial losses that the Palazzo and Jay were both taking. The reality is that the Palazzo Las Vegas bought out the lease from the 40/40 so that they could finally turn a profit on the space and turn it into a restaurant and race and sports book facility.

When the producers of the movie Righteous Kill, which stars Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and 50 Cent, were trying to sell the film to major studios, they relied heavily on 50 Cent’s urban appeal to make the film more attractive to buyers. This included initial movie posters that featured DeNiro, Pacino and 50 Cent together, press leaks that portrayed 50 Cent as “one of the guys” with DeNiro and Pacino and a sales reel that showed 50 Cent as a club owner who assists in solving the murder case (which was quickly erased from the internet). This was an attempt by the producers to use 50 Cent to “young-up” the potential audience and reach the much coveted “urban” demographic.

But now that the film has been bought by a major studio and is set for release on September 12th, any semblance of 50 Cent in this movie has been erased. The new movie poster just features the two stars Pacino and De Niro, the new movie trailer (below) and the TV spots completley cut out all of 50 Cent’s scenes and even the website has no reference to Mr. Curtis Jackson at all. Why the case of the disappearing 50 Cent? The obvious reason would be that Curtis is small-time in comparison to the big stars of Pacino and DeNiro and that the focus should righfully be on the two of them.

However, our WoooHa, Inc. sources reveal that the real reason the studio cut Curtis out of the campaign is because their research and exit poll information showed that 50 actually was not the urban or young demographic box office draw they were hoping for. 50 basically can’t draw in the core demographic that used to buy his albums by the millions. The box office let down of Get Rich or Die Tryin’ should have been a hint of things to come.

It’s no secret in the music world that 50 Cent has lost some mainstream appeal, but in the film world you don’t necessarily need multi-platinum albums to have a successfull film career (Common, Mos Def, etc.) you just need to appeal to the urban demo. 50 clearly is losing that appeal. Now that the secret is out in Hollywood though, how will this affect Curtis’ long-term acting career? We shall see in his next movie Streets of Blood. And of course if his film career doesn’t do well, 50 can always fall back on his Vitamin Water, video games and his deodorant spray. 50 will be just fine. For now enjoy these two exclusive pics of 50 from the movie Righteous Kill and the current trailer.

Snoop has been busy the past year with his E! reality TV show, plans for a Snoopermarket and even attempts to be a Bollywood star. Now he plans to put all his extra-curricular activities to good use in order to launch the new “Rich & Infamous” clothing line which targets young men 18-35. Here is a closer look at the marketing and business plans Snoop has planned in order to launch “Rich & Infamous”:

• “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood”: Snoop will use Season 2 of his reality show as an introduction to the Rich & Infamous clothing line. Episodes will show Snoop and his partners developing and designing the line
• Product Placement: Snoop will leverage his on-camera time donning the Rich & Infamous brand in music videos and movies he is set to star in which includes the family comedy Coach Snoop which is still in development and is about Snoop’s Youth Football League.
• Album and Tour promotions: Snoop’s next album CD packaging will include the Rich & Infamous brand message and inserts showcasing the brand. Tour support for the album will include fashion shows of Rich & Infamous
• Online: Snoop Dogg will promote the line through an original Web series, distributed across multiple sites and iTunes, that will feature the artist and guests

Through these ventures, Snoop has positioned himself to leverage millions of dollars in free exposure and publicity. While many celebs strike fashion deals that call for a revenue split in exchange for promoting the brand, Snoop is leveraging his entire empire to ensure that the Rich & Infamous brand maintains longevity and is always current with the core demographic. Snoop Dogg will unveil the collection this week at the Magic fashion tradeshow in Las Vegas. Make sure to check out the official site for more details and here is a lookat the intro promotional reel to Rich & Infamous.

Now is your chance to own the jewelry of famed hip-hop artists from 50 Cent, Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. to Lil Jon. Auction house Phillps de Pury and Russell Simmons have teamed together for the first “Hip-Hop’s Crown Jewels” auction. Pieces of jewelry from the various eras of hip-hop will be auctioned off with proceeds going to SImmons’ charity Rush Community Affairs. The “crown jewel” of the collection is Lil Jon’s famed Crunk Ain’t Dead pendant.

And if you don’t feel like bidding for a chain, you can always join in the latest trend of jumping artists and jacking their chains. R.I.P. Yung Berg’s Transformers chain. The “Hip-Hop’s Crown Jewels” auction takes place on October 1st with more info. here. Artist jewelry up for auction include: 50 Cent, Biz Markie, MC Lyte, Missy Elliot, Notorious B.I.G., P. Diddy, Pharrell Williams, Slick Rick and Tupac Shakur

WoooHa, Inc. first covered Andre Benjamin in the upcoming drama Battle in Seattle a couple months back when the movie was looking for a studio to partner with. Now the film has distribution and will be coming to theaters on September 19th. Check out the new trailer that also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron and Ray Liotta and more exlusive pics of Andre Benjamin from the film.

Like many hip-hop moguls, Diddy owns his own plane. However because of rising gas prices, a trip from NY to Los Angeles round trip now runs Diddy a cool $250,000. This has “forced” even Diddy to change his flying methods and fly commercial like normal people. Moguls with their own Gulfstreams aren’t the only ones suffering in the music industry. Many smaller hip-hop artists who don’t have label support and rely on touring revenue streams are forced to stay home or alter their tours due to the rising gas costs of going cross country.