Oprah’s Lemons May Make Mel’s Lemonade

Oprah’s lackluster XM debut may be the key to the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger.

How We Do It Over Here
Local Show Gives Shine to Bay Area Hip-Hop

While Lil Jon’s felt the need lately to proclaim that ‘Crunk Ain’t Dead,’ and no new East Coast artist has emerged to truly Bring New York Back, out West, the hyphy movement continues to quietly bubble. Although it doesn’t sell as many records as the South or garner the press coverage that the Big Apple does, hyphy still has folks going dumb in the Bay Area. And for the past three years, a locally produced and broadcast television program called The Hipnotik Show has been at the forefront of documenting the burgeoning homegrown culture.

The Hipnotik Show is the brainchild of Bay natives Josue Leon a.k.a. A-1 Sway and Eric Barnoski a.k.a. Booyowski. The pair started the weekly show to give the insider’s view they felt was missing from national coverage of their local hip-hop scene. “Let’s say E-40 has a concert,” explains Leon. “BET will do the [textbook] stuff—video 101—and just get a rapper interview. Same with MTV. On The Hipnotik Show, we will get them talking shit, we will get behind the scenes, talk to them prior to the event and after the event.” Since its debut in 2003, Hipnotik has documented Keak Da Sneak’s extravagant 28th birthday party, E-40’s FatBurger franchise opening, and a concert from San Quentin prison featuring Messy Marv and Dem Hoodstarz.

The show got its start when Leon, a self-taught filmmaker, began recording parties and concerts he attended. Soon friends were requesting tapes and Leon and Barnoski, who runs a painting company, went to Comcast channel 29 in San Francisco. “They said we have an open slot, but we need your first show in three days,” Leon recalls. “I’m like, ‘Of course,’ [but] we had nothing [good] on tape!” The pair quickly scored some new footage, and began holding down their 11:30 PM Tuesday time slot.

Hipnotik has not only proven popular with viewers—in 2004 the show expanded to the Los Angeles market—but with its subjects as well. “I see a lot of bootleg DVDs and a lot of muthafuckas try to put shows together, but none this professional,” says Traxamillion the producer of Keak Da Sneak’s ubiquitous anthem “Superhyphy.” “It’s really helped artists like me and Keak and [Mistah] F.A.B. get a chance to shine.” Adds the Federation’s Goldie Gold, who’s hosted a new artist segment on Hipnotik since 2004: “The show gave Northern California some type of outlet to be seen by their own, like ‘What’s going on with us?’ It helped us take pride in our own right.”

With the success of The Hipnotik Show as proof, that’s no idle flamboasting. —Damon Brown

Lil’ Kim Interview

Most MCs talk about how they’re going to mash their opponents, and Electronic Arts, along with Def Jam, is trying to make that a reality with the wrestling game Def Jam Vendetta. Now you can use Ludacris to clothesline Method Man or DMX to piledrive Scarface - all in the convenience of your own home.

Part of the EA Sports Big line (which includes SSX Tricky and NBA Street), Def Jam Vendetta has many of Def Jam’s most popular rappers going at it in the ring. With up to four players simultaneously and more than 1,500 different moves available, the fighting combinations seem nearly endless.

As far as music, you can expect the real deal from Def Jam artists. Through a partnership called EA Trax, Def Jam is providing 18 real songs in the game, six of them new. “We’ll have new DMX, Meth, CNN and Keith Murray,” says Def Jam President Kevin Liles. “We’re trying to use a lot of different artists that have brand recognition and also some new artists.”

Aside from the multiplayer game, a Story mode is available to play solo. Evidently you are a retired underground fighter, but are forced to return to the ring after your boy Manny asks for help against kingpin D-Mob - the person who retired you in the first place. You work your way through the ranks Mortal Kombat-style, fighting more than 45 different characters (including lots of Def Jam artists) in the ring and on side missions. The game’s fast pace is closer to a fighting game than most of the wrestling games out now, with characters jumping, flying and slamming around the ring at crazy speeds.

“I played the demo and I was like ‘Oh shit!’ I had to be down,” says NORE, one of the wrestlers who provides beatdowns in the game. “I’m a gameaholic, be at the crib playing games all the time. It’s a great fighting game.”

NORE also says that his video game counterpart has an uncanny resemblance to himself. “My dead arm in the game is serious, man. They got that out of real life. I swear they were following me around getting footage or something.”

Conspiracy theories aside, Electronic Arts did hook up all the rappers to motion capture equipment. A computer documented the motions as they did their wrestling moves in real life and animators used the information to make, for instance, the video game DMX look like the real Earl Simmons.

Redman, another playable rapper, agrees that the game captures all the rappers well. “It shows our look, our clothes, the details are great. And the action is tight, man. Ain’t nothin’ corny. It’s action packed.”

“Besides,” Redman adds, “I love starting fights and shit.”

Video game music has improved since Ms. Pac-Man, but no one has mistaken those sophisticated bleeps for their favorite radio station. At least until now.

Gaming giant Electronic Arts has created EA Trax, a music department that licenses exclusive cuts for EA games and consults producers to make sure the sound is authentic. One of the first EA Trax-aided games is NBA Live 2003 which features songs from Fabolous and Busta Rhymes, and in-game music by hip-hop producer Just Blaze.

Though licensing music for video games isn’t anything new, actually having music made exclusively for video games is, said EA Worldwide Executive of Music Steve Schnur. “Before it was more like catalog music. I looked at a competitor’s title where they were bragging about having DMX and Luda on there… but all of it was released between 1999 and 2001, songs we’ve all heard before and wore out.”

Luckily EA is working with the various labels to release game music compilations so you won’t have to play to hear the music. Participating labels include Electra, Capitol, Atlantic, Interscope, Dreamworks, MCA, Lava and Island/Def Jam. EA also is looking to do label-driven games including a wrestling title featuring Def Jam rappers.

Just Blaze, a hardcore gamer who once considered making them instead of playing them, thinks that authentic, original game music is a step in the right direction. “I respect [EA], since most companies might license a couple of hip-hop songs, but the music in the rest of the game sounds like techno or some guy in Iowa trying to sound like hip-hop,” he said.

This fall SongPro, Inc. is bringing the noise to GameBoys everywhere. The African-American company is releasing SongPro MCE, a $99 device that lets GameBoy Advance and GameBoy Color users play visually-enhanced MP3s, allowing gamers to peep the album cover, lyrics, and other items while listening. SongPro has partnered with music download giant RioPort, so there should be thousands of songs available, and SongPro will sell enhanced memory packs to save songs on.

For co-founders Mark Bush and Ronald Jones it’s been a long two years from product idea to completion. Jones, an engineer, came up with the SongPro device idea and met with Bush in early 2000 to help with the business side. Unfortunately, the timing couldn’t have been worst: by Spring 2000, because of the economy, people had stopped investing in tech companies. It didn’t help that GameBoy creator Nintendo, not liking the original SongPro MCE design, took them to court. “We persevered, without any money, living on like five dollars a day,” Jones said.

Perseverance paid off: within months SongPro and Nintendo agreed to work together, microchip powerhouse Cirrus Logic came aboard to help with production, and they were able to attract powerful people to their company, including Silicon Graphics co-founder Dr. Marc Hannah.

Furthermore, they’ve gotten Nelly to endorse the product. He’ll be doing commercial spots for the device and, in turn, the company will be sponsoring him on his upcoming tour. “If I would have had the chance to [get involved] in Microsoft when it was first introduced, I wouldn’t be rhyming right now,” Nelly says. “I’m glad to be in on the ground level!”

Twista Interview

For the average hardrock, it’s always a task to express yourself to ya shorty. Sometimes a song can say everything ya thinking but can’t seem to say. So we put together a few hip-hop cuts that’ll get the job done. we let you know who to play these songs for and who not to play ’em for. The rest of the date, though, is up to you.

—DAMON BROWN

“I NEED LOVE” by LL Cool J

TYPE OF CHICK: Ya high school sweetheart who you’ve been wit’ since Kangols and shell-toe Adidas.

WHUT IT SAYS: “See what I mean/ I’ve changed, I’m no longer a playboy on the run/ I need something that’s stronger/ Friendship, trust, honor, respect, admiration.”

SHORTY’S REACTION: “Let’s make out on my parent’s couch like back in the day.”

DON’T PLAY FOR: A woman you just met or someone who only knows LL from In the House.

“ME AND MY B**CH” by The Notorious B.I.G.

TYPE OF CHICK: The pit bull in a skirt who ain’t sacred to take off her earrings and bust the a** of any girl who looks at you.

WHUT IT SAYS: “Moonlight strolls with the h**s/ Oh no, that’s not my steelo/ I wanna bitch that like to play cee-lo and craps.”

SHORTY’S REACTION: “My baby-daddy has my son tonight. You wanna come over?”

DON’T PLAY FOR: A glamour chick who’s more worried about her hair and makeup than you.

“YOU’RE ALL I NEED (TO GET BY)” by Method Man feat. Mary J. Blige

TYPE OF CHICK: Ya homey, lover, friend. The kinda girl who feels right at home chillin’ with ya peoples.

WHUT IT SAYS: “Back when I was nothin’/ You made a brother feel like he was somethin’/ That’s why I’m with you to this day, boo, no frontin’.”

SHORTY’S REACTION: “I’m f**kin’ you tonight.”

DON’T PLAY FOR: A bougie sister who can’t see past your flaws.

“THE LIGHT” by Common

TYPE OF CHICK: The Afrocentric sister who loves to burn incense and write poetry.

WHUT IT SAYS: “I never call you my b**ch or even my boo/ There’s so much in a name and so much more in you.”

SHORTY’S REACTION: “If I’m your light, then you’re my sun. Let’s make the Earth move.”

DON’T PLAY FOR: Any woman who bounces to Biggie or Jigga.