Lil Jon coined making “Crunk” cool in mainstream pop culture…too the point that parents and news reporters started using it and it became uncool. But it’s no joke the money and branding power that Lil Jon gained from the Crunk movement. He sits down with Forbes to discuss how it all went down and the keys to his brand power.

We have extensively covered 50 Cent’s film production company Cheetah Vision and its inability to bankroll a film that actually makes it into theaters. So far, Cheetah Vision films starring 50 Cent, Streets of Blood, Caught in the Crossfire, and the upcoming action flick Gun, all have or will get the straight to DVD treatment.

While movies that go straight-to-DVD usually have a bad rap, 50 claims in this interview that they are profitable for him as he gets almost $1 million per movie out of it. This might be true, HE might get paid but his production company  investors are the ones who are most likely taking the hit. These days with declining DVD sales, movie studios are rarely buying films for straight-to-DVD these days and if they are there is so much competition with A-List talent they can buy it on the cheap.

Regardless, hopefully 50 can break his streak with his most dedicated role yet in Things Fall Apart which is the film he lost over 60 lbs. for (see pics). Via: CaviNY

The liquor business is a serious business…especially Cognac. Cognac drinkers are so passionate about their drink of choice that there even are multiple blogs dedicated to Cognac. One of the largest Cognac blogs, Cognac Expert, had a field day with the announcement that T.I. would be Remy Martin’s new spokesperson. Check out the reaction so far from dedicated Cognac drinkers:

It’s safe to say that many of these commenters are not hip-hop fans nor understand the power hip-hop has to influence the urban marketplace. Considering Remy Martin sold 1.9 million cases of Cognac last year vs. Hennessy’s 4.2 million and it’s easy to see why Remy Martin needs to up their urban marketing game to gain market share. Will it all work out? Only time will tell. Until then…let the fine folks at Cognac Experts complain all they want.

Soulja Boy is back with a more mature look and sound in his next single “Pretty Boy Swag.” We have the ripped version for now but hopefully a clean version will pop up soon.

As part of the viral marketing for Wu-Tang Management’s Wu-Competition, the official competition to find the next nine members of the Wu-Tang family, Papa Wu spits his knowledge of what it really takes to be a member of the Wu-Tang family. Not too sure what he is saying but something about chambers and generals and justice. We need RZA to translate please.

Here is the complete Drake documentary “Better Than Good Enough” that aired tonight on MTV. Parts 2 through 7 after the jump. I have much more respect for him after watching this.

Continue Reading…

According to HITS Daily Double, Eminem’s Recovery is tracking above expectations and set to be the highest selling debut of the year. Projections are coming in at 590K-615K for the first week which would put it on par with last year’s Relapse which moved 608K first week units. If projections hold, Eminem will knock down Drake’s Thank Me Later to the number two spot on next week’s charts.

Nearly selling Gold in your first week these days is quite the accomplishment. Drake continues to ride the wave of his popularity and hype by asking his fans to check out his MTV documentary (see sneak peek) “Better Than Good Enough” airing today at 10pm ET/PT on MTV. Message is short so don’t blink.