“Rockstar lifestyle ain’t gone make it, too many black men locked in cages
If I get wasted and you get wasted, what we gone do about the next generation” ~dead prez

The downpour of rain wasn’t going to keep me from hearing Steve Stoute speak at Howard. Shoot, I’d taken a chinatown bus from DC to NYC before JUST to hear him speak. I knew about his stint as Nas’ manager and about him currently managing Mary J Blige, but I was more impressed with the deals he had brokered for Will Smith, Jay-Z, and 50cent .  As an artist and an entrepreneur myself, I’ve always been interested in the merging worlds of commerce and art. I see branded entertainment as an emerging field; an area that will continue to expand as businesses explore new ways to create content that engages their audience. So it was a given that I’d brave the rainstorm and catch the discussion between Steve,  Dr. Gregory Carr, associate professor of Africana Studies at Howard University, and the audience.

The highpoint, for me, was hearing Steve tell the story behind “Jay-Z Blue” and GM. “Jay-Z Blue” at one point, was just a name and an idea in Steve’s head. It then became a color, a brighter blue, that he had created. The part that I found brilliant, from a branding and straight ‘hustlin’ perspective, is what Steve did next.

He sought out the family in New Jersey who owns Pantone Color and pitched and sold them on the idea to include “Jay-Z Blue” as a Pantone chip. Since Pantone is a dictionary of color, Steve was able to make “Jay-Z Blue” into a universal language that anybody, anywhere, can select and purchase.  Now that the color was available, Steve then offered it as a color option to GM in its line of cars.

And while people tend to get caught up on the caliber of artists he has worked with, Steve pointed out that the more important thing to focus on is the thought process behind the things he has done, not the headlines.

I look forward to reading his book The Tanning of America.

I got a chance to go to my first Roots picnic this year thanks to Gina Paige and African Ancestry, who had traced Black Thought’s Ancestry and were going to reveal his results at the event. We weren’t able to film the reveal but had a great time, nonetheless….see the images below

…Shout out to the folks at OkayAfrica for hooking me up w/ the photo pass…

Check this footage I had been sitting on for months due to life getting in the way. It’s part of a series I’m working on with AfricanAncestry.com titled “We Are Africa” which will explore the varied ways people of Africa and the Diaspora celebrate their connections to the continent.

In this episode, Blitz discusses topics such as his introduction to hiphop and his feelings about people wanting to trace their roots and visit Africa. If you know of people who we should highlight for this series, feel free to drop me a line. Until then, check out Blitz’s first CD “Stereotype” and his new CD “Native Sun” which dropped May 2nd and is now available on iTunes.

And if you’re in the area, come see him perform this Thursday at Liv (Washington, DC), cinco de mayo!!!

…so i’m back from cameroon (pics soon come)…since i’ve been back i’ve been trying to recuperate from being sick…made it out despite the cold to see little dragon perform…to tell you the truth i wasn’t really excited to see them live…i was the same way w/ thievery corporation as well…thought the electronica vibe wouldn’t translate well live and onstage…glad to say i was wrong on both accounts…despite the low-key vibe of their albums, their stage show had a lot of energy and shooting it brought back those good feelings of falling in love with music again…like that d’angelo song ‘i found my smile again’…oh, and the opening act, billygoat was really good too…reminded me of radiohead but w/out much singing…told one of the members that their sound reminded me of the soundtrack to a michele gondry flick…he saw it as a compliment…i meant it as one too…even purchased a cd afterwards, which i recommend…here’s a montage piece i put together for the promoters @shineonmedc…