Hi everybody. Damn.. ha ha ha. The amount of fire! Whooh. I guess applied for this hot seat and now Im sittin on it. My name is Mizi.
Ya. The Jigga cover.
The Jay-Z cover seems to be a good strategic move because of the fact that he is in the country at the moment. That is the mag at face value and if this is all that is looked at, that is what it will remain. - a big picture of Jay-Z with no thought and no relevance to the SA market.
However, looking at the editorial piece, it will bacome clear that this issue is mainly about hip hop as a business. I speak directly to indy record label owners such as those of BBE, Unreleased and B.U.K.A. We speak about how the hip hop economy works ie: how many copies they press, what they spend on the product and marketing etc, how to make a profit.
When looking at making money out of hip hop, Jay-Z is a prime example and in this case, somebody heads can look up to. If you are to take pointers from the Jay-Z cover story, you will know how he has built himself, not as a rapper, but as a businessman. By the way thats why he wears a suit on the cover.
People in the industry can learn a lot from the content in this issue. I know that I learned a whole lot about how to run a record label. I just hope the issue will teach heads something that will help them uplift the artform.
Local vs International Cover stories. HYPE is on it's 15th issue. Ten of these have been local. In an attempt to cover the local and internationl artists, thereby placing them on the same platform, HYPE has taken the decision to have 30% international and 70% local. To the publishing team this makes sense because the international covers make money. Kanye West cover sold out wheras some local covers have sold less than 50%. This means the people are buying the international covers. We will, however do two local covers in a row from now on but we will have to balance things out with an international one somewhere along the line.
One observation: The Kanye issue sold out. This issue contained a lot of local info. Because the cover was topical, current and recognisable, the mag was copped and the local content inside reached a whole lot more people (+-300 000). Tough the cover was not local, that issue gave a lot of local cats the exposure they needed.
Local Cover:
Honestly, the past 6 months have seen few notable releases. It is not like the time when Pro-Kid, Salwin, Wikid, Amu, ProVerb, Zubz and Skwatta were all flooding the market with fresh material. Everybody is dropping in December, which I think is a poor strategic move from their side.
Yes I see TearGas and it is great that the album is out and getting air play, but I feel that they have not yet settled into the local hip hop scene. This is because I dont see them at shows so I cannot conform that they are well rounded representatives of the hip hop scene. I simply want to see them doing more in the scene. (Hey, Justin Timberlake gets airplay but he is not part of the local scene... if he came out to State Theatre and Slaghuis I would then consider him part of this scene. feel me?)
Ya the past 6 months have been quite dry. Rappers!! Make more moves and I'll come through for that cover shoot playa!!
So ya, If cats want to see local covers every single time, lets support the local covers when they come out so we can keep pushing them.
There is so much to be discussed and I would like to hear comments after the mag has been copped and read. I will try my best to please the AG heads and at times I may not please everybody (ie: rappers who dont make it on the CD, publishers, Crunk lovers, NY hip hop lovers, PTA cats, JHB underground, rural cats, teeny boppers, OGs etc etc)
Peace Nyambo. Peace Uno... for the defence. Id take a bullet for you
Ya cats listen to Left Field, eat food and be happy.
