So on MTV.com, Juelz denies getting tricked out with this statement:

Three years without a new album? Sparse guest appearances in the interim? In this hip-hop climate, a lot of artists would be irrelevant by now. Juelz Santana hasn’t been silent in the time since he released his second LP, What the Game’s Been Missing. The mayor of “Santana’s Town” has been embroiled in behind-the-scenes contractual turmoil with his onetime mentor Cam’ron.

Now that he recently got out of his legal obligation to Cam’s Diplomat Records, the 23-year-old is signed directly to Def Jam. Cam actually broke the news to New York radio personality Miss Info, saying he’d sold Juelz’s contract over to the label for a handsome price.

“I was upset about the part of me being ‘sold for $2 million,’ ” Santana told MTV News, standing in front of his New Jersey studio on Thursday. “At times like this, nobody is trying to ‘sell’ me. I could have come out and said, ‘Oh, yeah, Cam got bought out.’ But I didn’t go that route. They just gotta watch me move. We gonna make it hot.” [MTV]

The bottom line, Cam’ron is short on cash and rough edge Hip Hop,esp NY hip hop is not selling like it used to. It is ironic that out of Dipset, the manager became the biggest star/artists of the group…..Jim Jones.

For me, I get a sense of annoyance and have to walk away. Not because the show is crap but because, many of the cast members are people I have had to deal with in real life. I can say, none of it went well and surprisingly the chick from California on the Downtown Team was more or so my recent turning point for a solid business relationship. But that is actually only as late.

The big fat sassy chick, who’s title is “entrepreneur.” I have had many of shares or run its with that type. In Chicago, they are pretty rampant, that loud and think because they talk proper, their ways are not hood-ratish. I personally hate the term entrepreneur because it signals me as a bullshitter with no capital. She was overly confrontational and in her mind, she is something more than what the has to offer. My thing, will she talk back at a knee jerk like that to Diddy? Once its in you, its in you. We saw what happened to Laurie Ann. Being bossy, on a group effort makes good for one thing, being able to point out other people’s fault and that might be the only contrabution. When you are not truly responsible for a final, final word…your not the boss. To me, in a group its friggin sad and the raving of a loser.

The cornball aka the church boy, I have actually lost money with a dude like that because he lacks one important quality, listening. But not just not listening, arrogantly deciding for you when they are not in control of the final decision. I basically call it hard headed.

The real estate chick reminds me of a druggie I did business with. I can tell she’s that or an alcoholic party girl. Either way, she is not a roll up sleeve type of girl and would be just fine answering phones all day and reaping the benefits of being solely in the know and on the scene.

The dude who looks like Jackie (Serena’s old flame) he is the typical paint by numbers businessman. He saw someone he wanted to emulate and is flipping through pages. But, he actually helps make my point about one thing….dressing up don’t mean JACK, if you cant get the job done.

As a matter of fact, everyone is hella suited up. Which is fine when you have a desk job but even Diddy, while starting Bad Bo was fresh to def and doing it sneakers, jeans and a tee …in a nice way though.

As they tried to attempt task, they eventually had to roll up the sleeves. In the clips throughout the show, you will notice, all the heels and the ties and mess, goes out the window because, your an assistant and when you are not suppose to be in a formal attendance…and sometimes not even then, dressing up dont mean jack…cause its not about you.

Capricorn actually steps her dress game because now, she is on tv but, she is not running ragged like before. She is someone’s boss now. If you notice, Diddy would come in suited and tailored up on Making the Band..and she would be in the back with her hair in a bun, w a hat sometimes, a teeshirt and shorts…maybe flip flops/sneakers. Not a total mess but, Imma run to the store swag.

This show is definitely a good boss look on her.

Overall, having personal/business experiences with the archetypes of the show, it would be fair of me to know who is good enough to be an assistant but, then again, my experiences were not assistant/boss they were co-boss/startup/collab. I can tell you from experience there about 3 potentials with a good mindset. I wouldn’t be surprised that ended up for the final.

The ironic thing, outside the temper tantrums of Diddy, I sit every day thinking about how easy it is to get demanding when you can actually ask for a bottle of ketchup if you run out, at 2am. If I could, I can honestly say, yeah, go get it…the tabasco brand esp, especially if I’m paying good and its there for the asking,

You can catch the first show on VH1, on August 4, 2008 [VH1]

Like I suspected Jay-Z’s “management team” for 40/40 has been running some Castro esp employment fairness. There have been reports one of his managers even threatened an employee if they joined the pending class action suit against the establishment and disgruntle workers. The problem is Contactmusic’s history of indulging but, going thorugh a similar EEOC style tactics, a lot is said when people think they can get away with it. [Contact Music]

Youung Joc pulls a [Bossip]

J Prince charges are dropped. I didn’t really follow this case but, it sounded too suspect to random to even speculate. Clearance of vocals and what not…thats pretty normal now days. [Allhiphop.com]

So little choices leave the few to feel great, solely based on album sales, not the pure creative risk. And if borderline creative risk, risk that others had failed that could use a slight rebooting. Either way, hip hop has lost its way in just making music but, now commissioned drama and album sales determine legacies.

So what’s an ailing music industry to do? Grab the few LONG staying super artists, not the fads and put all money behind them and sprinkle sub marketed acts in between. Hey, its the only way the small fish eat right?

Mr. Cohl had been at odds for weeks with Chief Executive Michael Rapino over how aggressively to pursue the company’s strategy of striking so-called 360 deals with superstar music artists, in which the company offers massive cash advances in exchange for financial participation in a range of revenue streams including concert tickets, recorded-music sales and merchandise-licensing deals. As head of the Live Nation Artists unit, Mr. Cohl oversaw such deals with Madonna and Jay-Z, who were pledged $120 million and $150 million, respectively. [Wall Street Journal]

360 deals are the new phenomenon, and the industries only way to stay afloat in a lack luster music era. Yes the expandable money is there, greatly in part to our newly diverse audience. I mean it does come at the expense of the Black communities image but hay, rappers getting paid, sadly is usually that a rapper getting shot.

Huffington Post said it best:

• 360 deals could work for both bands and labels — if the labels are are willing to make long-term bets early in the careers of many small bands, with the knowledge that most will generate little if any payouts.
• Big labels (and LiveNation) aren’t in the position to depend on long-term bets with modest payouts – they need to susbstantial payoffs in the near future, so they can satisfy public investors and/or debt covenants.
• The only way to get collect significant revenue from 360 deals in the near-term is to do deals with superstars who are already generating lots of revenue from tours, merchandise, etc. And they’re not going to give any of that up without huge advances, which means any revenue the labels (or Live Nation) will get will be at low or zero margin

Now these rappers can go back and forth about who is the new what ever, or better or no respect but, the money people over all of this, see nothing profitable about any of these dudes. They are merely employees and Hip Hop, outside of Jay-Z will be far and few in between as the 360 crowd. Half of them can’t captivate because of scared sponsors and the others, the maturing fan base will lead them to new artists to obsess over.

I mean, who wants to go down as not the dopest rapper but the hottest ringtone? I wouldn’t brag to much about that, I mean Chocolate Rain is up in charts for Youtube. Then again getting more money than most, in this bad economy, can you still keep it real?

A good read on the mind of Clive Davis:
Clive Inside the Record Business

Forbes.com reports:

…these kinds of bold investments when markets are in dire straits might seem reckless to many managers. But our analysis of more than 24,000 deals between 1996 and 2006 reveals that companies that acquired through the last downturn (2001 to 2002) generated almost triple the excess returns of companies that made acquisitions during prior boom years.

…We also found that executives who buy during good times and bad significantly outperform the opportunists. Think of it as “corporate-dollar cost averaging.”

I wonder how successful this “Got it For Cheap” deal goes for artists. I don’t recall too many M&A’s for boutique labels though. There was the joint venture bubble about 10 years ago. You know, when MAJOR labels played on every rappers need to be a “CEO”, flashed sexy distribution deals that didn’t work out as well as the last single. That and the industry’s then ignorance on thinking every artists was a selfmade brand, the way Roc-a-fella was becoming. Now, 100 plus dissolved labels later, Universal seems like they own everyone. Dang…If you think about it, really they do, which make me laugh with these album sale competition trysts. They get paid either way. Its like it was yesterday, you’d turn on a video and see 20 damn slashes for the album label and label-mate representation. Seriously, whole paragraphs would be on the screen.

The question is, where did he really go wrong? I mean, you have Alicia Keys who grew into the superstar we see now, Justin Timberlake who has reluctantly become an Pop soul icon, new sensation Chris Brown and now legendary Christina Aguilera. None who have gone under platinum, collectively kept the label going strong for over 10 years. It could be that his formula always worked but, there was just one involvement, the human element. That and his trust that people are willing to work hard.

Hoping a success come back for Whitney Houston, her album has been pushed back numerous times, swirling her “alleged drug use.” Or, his most recent, massive failure, the heavy promotion and over-hyped exposure of Jennifer Hudson. Though she got an Oscar out of the deal, Clive got no album in return, and his reputation questioned, if you ask me. I mean, she won two years ago, since then she hasn’t even been on broadway, released an album, not even a cameo on a sitcom. He had to drag her to the, now defunct Soul Train awards.

Fortune actually had a good perspective on the ordeal, writing:

(Fortune) Why did Davis and two of his longtime deputies Charles Goldstuck and Tim Bowen have to step aside? No matter how hard they try, SonyBMG and its major label peers — Warner Music Group (WMG), Universal Music Group and EMI — haven’t been able to fix the structural problems afflicting their business. CD sales continue to decline. Meanwhile, record companies can’t move enough digital music to make up the difference. [Fortune]

What’s amazing is that this old guy, has a timeless, diverse ear over many come and go label heads…I could say Diddy might be the closest for Hip Hop but, unlike Clive, there is no formula in Hip Hop, unless its a complete jacking, and faux proclaimed styles, pawned off to younger generations as, the truth, king or genius. Think, Whitney, as crackish her antics are, she’s still referenced by young and old. If rock fans didn’t LOVE Outkast, they would have been lost in the constant jacking of hip hop as one of those hodge podge groups. Esp, after Andre3000 & Big Boi outclassed and outsmarted most of the Hip Hop community as the precursor to the future of rap. When the Hip Hop community stop supporting, their label supported their decition to push on and it paid off.

Clive, creates icons, whether his decisions are still relevant, creating music superstars will always be his gift. The question, can that magic put in a bottle, saved, and just as a precaution, sprinkled on Hip Hop.

Jay-Z plans to depart his longtime record label, Def Jam, for a roughly $150 million package with the concert giant Live Nation that includes financing for his own entertainment venture, in addition to recordings and tours for the next decade. The pact, expected to be finalized this week, is the most expansive deal yet from Live Nation, which has angled to compete directly with the industry’s established music labels in a scrum over the rights to distribute recordings, sell concert tickets, market merchandise and control other aspects of artists’ careers.[NY York Times]

Now when Prince started this whole concert label stuff…people told me nah, it would never work. When Madonna did it, people said, well its Madonna. Maybe people will realize THIS is Jay-Z’s new label and its forum will be digital and concerts. The only way artists make real money now days. All $150 Million…wait….didnt I say it was really $150…well what do you know…shut yo mouth guess those $100 million demands make more sense now.

For me, it seems more so the potential of a Sean Carter Music Group than “Jay-Z,” being worth $100 Million. Excessive, maybe…presumptuous? Well, I’ll let his last album’s popularity determine that. In an era where, joint ventures or falling off, the $100 million deal could mean he’s raising the stakes of the new joint venture…the solo digital venture. I mean really, look at Master P. As profitable as he has been, he’s not really a trendsetter and borderline tacky in some circles……okay, most. Yet, it was enough to make him a groundbreaking mogul and brand.

Jay-Z, with all the hood poshness and purple label monickers, could he bring on a Rihanna or Ne-Yo or find replacements? Could he go Curtis and make his label the ultimate brand? It’s hard to think of Jay-Z and not go back and reference Rocafella, no matter how hard he tries to distance himself. He still throws up the Roc, his clothing label is named Rocafella, him and even Dame are still associated with the legacy. So, re-branding himself may not be as easy this go round. Especially with the low moral for BIG/corporate esq rap labels. Jay-Z now days, is a new age mogul role model but, sometimes, less is more and now days, no one really knows whats enough.

Other peep’s $ [Pagesix.com]