Russell Simmons’ jewelry line, Simmons Jewelry Co. (as we mentioned, available at your local Kay Jewlers) is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Sponge Bob Square Pants with a limited edition 12 ct white diamond pendant valued at $75,000. The pendant also includes 18 ct of yellow and white gold and will be sold off at auction to raise money for a non-profit org led by Simmons.

Too bad Sean Kingston does not have another hit single. He is the ONLY person I could think of that would realistically bid on this. Via: ProHipHop

Andre Benjamin just launched his Benjamin Bixby clothing line a little over four months ago. Unfortunately for him, the high-fashion but high-priced concept was launched at the start of one of the worst economic recessions in U.S. history. Although Andre’s clothing line was for the most part accepted as fashionable and hip, in today’s tough times who is going to pay $275 for a Benjamin Bixby sweater vest when families can barely afford to pay the rent and feed the kids? And even if you CAN afford it…well now you think twice.

WoooHa.com exclusively reports that the Benjamin Bixby clothing line is facing severe financial hardships due to limited sales and excess inventory. Sources have revealed that because Andre Benjamin paid so much attention to detail, his clothing line was not cheap to reproduce on a mass scale. Instead, limited quantities of the collection were made and sold primarily online through luxury fashion sites such as Barneys.com. Sources also revealed that the problem is no one is buying the clothing line because of the high price point and no brand equity. As a result, the Benjamin Bixby clothing line has had to dramatically drop prices in order to move inventory and prevent retailers from shipping it all back to Mr. Benjamin.

As of last week, you can now find Benjamin Bixby clothing at Barneys for over 50% the original price. That $275 sweater vest is now $109. The $1,495 leather jacket is now $639. Over half of Barney’s inventory of the Bixby collection is now priced at over 50%. That’s not all. The clothing line is also using luxury online discount sites and clubs such as Gilt.com to move inventory as well. These sites specialize in selling deep discount off season luxury goods for a limited time. Benjamin Bixby also sold their collection on this site to all those who were members. It’s not a good sign to see your four month old fashion collection on these types of discount luxury sites, but the fact is selling the inventory at a low price is better than it sitting on the shelf and not making a dime.

WoooHa.com has always been strong supporters of Mr. Benjamin and his out-of-the-box thinking and fashion sense so we hope his clothing line can rebound. This is definitely another case of bad timing with the Recession and making sure you know who your target is and what they can afford. I guess the good news is for the consumer b/c now you might be able to afford it with these discounts.

Maybe Kanye West should take note though and think twice before dropping Pastelle on us and thinking the world is just going to buy up a $500 hoodie with a shark fin on the head.

MTV sent us the press release to T.I.’s new MTV show “Road to Redemption” four days ago so you can read all about it here. Show premieres on Feb. 10th at 9pm. Follow Clifford from community service to his final days before jail.

Always wanted to smoke a cigar like Suge? Want to plaster your office walls with Platinum Death Row Records to scare off (or impress) your boss? Want to buy the actual Death Row electric chair for your girl’s birthday? Now is your chance. Now that the once powerful record label has declared bankruptcy, all of its possessions will be auctioned off on Sunday Jan. 25 here in sunny Southern Cali (Fullerton to be exact). The public can view the auction items starting on Fri. the 23rd.

Most items were owned by Suge. Here are a couple of pics. For more auction details go to the official Death Row auction site. Looking at pics of this stuff is like a trip down hip-hop memory lane. My have the mighty fallen. Would you bid on any of this stuff?

 

 

 

Check out this video of Snoop Dogg’s manager Ted Chung as he opens up a package sent from Gatorade “G.” This package has a retail value of over a grand. Forget the soccer moms, Gatorade has a new target, hip-hop fans. Lil Wayne’s narrated “G” commerical was just the first phase of the rebranding and retargeting efforts.

Now the sports drink has stepped it up with a tastemaker campaign targeting hip-hop artists, record label execs, streetwear designers and anyone who is considered “cool” in the urban landscape.¬†Ummmm….Gatorade….I’m still waiting for my package!

Jim Jones and Suge Knight get denied for their reality shows but Ray J somehow lands a deal with VH1? Yup. We gave our readers a sneak peek of “For the Love of Ray J” back in November 2008 and now Ray J and VH1 have officially announced the contestants as the show kicks off on Feb. 2nd.

Format of the show is similar to “Flavor of Love” and even includes Ray J given nick names to the girls like Cashmere, Cocktail and Lil’ Hood. Bets on who is the craziest. I’ll go for Lil’ Hood. You can see a profile of each girl at the official site.

Last year all the buzz was around the pre-production news of the movie The Vapors which told the story of the legendary Juice Crew. Movie was going to star Keke Palmer as Roxanne Shante and all types of rumors were going around about who would play Marley Marl, Biz Markie, Kool G Rap, MC Shan and the rest of the posse.

Since then, members of the crew have been contradicting each other as to the status of the movie. KRS-One confirmed last year:

“The movie kinda collapsed,” KRS confirmed. “I spoke to Talib Kweli who was supposed to be playing Scott La Rock and I was gonna coach him through that but then the movie collapsed on his end. I spoke to Biz Markie yesteday ’cause the movie was supposed to be called The Vapors and asked Biz ‘What’s up’. I guess they didn’t get the response they wanted. A press release was sent out that didn’t have anything [confirming the production], but it got people hyped and support-but no money came with it. That’s the last I heard.”

Since then Marley Marl and others have gone on record saying the movie still was a go as they were desparately trying to find the financing to begin production for the Summer of 2008. After a closer look into the production company records, WoooHa.com can confirm the project is now dead.

All financing has currently fallen through, the actors who were rumored to star have all moved on and even director Furquaan Clover’s own attempts at financing have fallen through as well. Clover attempted to raise money on his own through his production company website Indie Film Xchange where ordinary investors could put their money in the movie. Now the official Indie Film Xchange website is dead as well. Production Weekly, which follows the production of all TV and films also has no record of the film’s actual production date. With movie studios trimming the fat and releasing dozens of production companies from their deals, the money simply is not there in today’s economy.

Does this mean The Vapors will never see the big screen? The reality is, the script is still there, the director is still there, and the crew still wants the story to be told. All they need is….the money. Maybe Barack can direct some of that Economic Stimulus plan money over to this production because this is a story that needs to be told! But for now it’s official…we will not be seeing The Vapors anytime soon.

Ok trusty WoooHa readers – I need your help! As you might have noticed, I have been messing around with two different layouts for the site. Both pertain to only the left hand side “news” section. The two layouts are as follows:

LIST LAYOUT: Is what I currently have up now where all posts are listed and “teased.” If you want to read more, watch the video or look at the pics you must click on the entry.

BLOG LAYOUT: (Shown below) All entries are listed out so you can see videos directly on the page and read more about it as well. This is a traditional blog layout.

Ok now….which layout style do you like and why? The LIST layout (current) or the BLOG layout shown below? (Just pay attention to the left side). If you could let me know what you think that would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

LIST STYLE (CURRENT)

BLOG STYLE