I’M SO INFATUATED WITH THESE TYPE OF STORIES, THESE NIGGAS WAS GETTING IT!!!!!!!!! BUT THE STORY ALWAYS ENDS THE SAME, MY QUESTION: IS THERE ANYBODY THAT WAS GOIN THIS HARD THAT DIDN’T GET CAUGHT?
I KNOW NIGGAS WANNA READ THIS!!!!!! A QUARTER OF A BILLION IN DRUG SALES WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the early 1990s, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and his brother, Terry “Southwest T,” rose up from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in American history: the Black Mafia Family. After a decade in the drug game, the Flenorys had it all—a fleet of Maybachs, Bentleys and Ferraris, a 500-man workforce operating in six states, and an estimated quarter of a billion in drug sales. They socialized with music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, did business with New York’s king of bling Jacob “The Jeweler” Arabo, and built allegiances with rap superstars Young Jeezy and Fabolous. Yet even as BMF was attracting celebrity attention, its crew members created a cult of violence that struck fear in a city and threatened to spill beyond the boundaries of the drug underworld. Ruthlessness fueled BMF’s rise to incredible power; greed and that same ruthlessness led to their downfall.
When the brothers began clashing in 2003, the flashy and beloved Big Meech risked it all on a shot at legitimacy in the music industry. At the same time, a team of investigators who had pursued BMF for years began to prey on the organization’s weaknesses. Utilizing a high-stakes wiretap operation, the feds inched toward their goal of destroying the Flenory’s empire and ending the reign of a crew suspected in the sale of thousands of kilos of cocaine — and a half-dozen unsolved murders.
THEY NEED TO SHOW THIS ON SOME TV STATION, WHEN I WAS GROWIN UP IT WAS ALWAYS DOCUMENTARIES ON ABOUT HIP-HOP LIKE THIS. I LOVE IT!!!!!! R.I.P J DILLA
DAMN!!!!!!! WHAT A STEAL FOR WHERE THIS HOUSE IS, THE SIZE AND TWO POOLS
Over the past couple years we touched on the rise and fall of music producer Scott Storch. His Miami home was eventually foreclosed on as part of his financial meltdown. Now Russ Weiner, the CEO of Rockstar Energy drink has announced that he is the new owner of Villa Ferrari, Storch’s former 20,000 square foot home on Palm Island. The mansion has a 100 foot boat dock, 11 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, 3 guest houses and two pools. Last summer we learned that after Storch declared bankruptcy, SunTrust bank, which held two mortgages worth a combined $7.75 million against the property, bought the property back at auction on for $5.5 million. Storch had bought the home for $10.5 million but it had been listed for $13.9 million. Alex Shay found that SunTrust sold the property to Weiner Russell Trust for $6.75 million. According to Shay the house was, like many homes that have gone through a prolonged foreclosure, not in great shape and that renovation is needed.
DAMN!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL BE MISSED R.I.P
Lee McQueen, founder of fashion house Alexander McQueen and one of the most respected fashion designers in the world, has been found dead in his London home. Though the circumstances surrounded McQueen’s death have not been confirmed, it is believed the 40 year old fashion phenom may have taken his own life.
“On behalf of Lee McQueen’s family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that
Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand has been found dead at his home,” said a spokesperson for Alexander McQueen. “At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family.”
To be sure, McQueen had a remarkable career, having entered it at a very young age. In 1996, when he was in his late 20’s, he was appointed Chief Designer at the French Haute Couture House Givenchy. He worked there until 2001, leaving to launch his own company.
BIG LOOK FOR DONDRIA, LIVE!!!!! ON TNT
THE 2010 NBA ALL-STAR GAME
On Friday, Feb. 12, R&B newcomer Dondria will perform the National Anthem while Canadian R&B/pop artist Kreesha Turner will perform the Canadian National Anthem at the T-Mobile Rookie & Youth Jam at the American Airlines Center live on TNT at 9 p.m. ET.
HOW MANY OF YALL ARE GONNA GET ON THIS?
Google lobbed a salvo at Facebook on Tuesday, adding Google Buzz, a new social networking capability to its popular Gmail Web e-mail service. Though Google Buzz is somewhat integrated with Twitter, along with a few other services – Flickr and Picasa, most notably – there’s no integration with thesocial network of record, Facebook. And that’s a hole Google will have to fill.
For now, Google is rolling the Buzz service out to all its users over the next few days, so sit tight if you don’t have it yet. Check buzz.google.com to see if your account is activated. In the meantime, PCMag put the new service through its paces.
Once Google activates Buzz on your account, your Gmail will have a new Buzz icon right below the Inbox on the left panel. The icon is labeled as you might expect – “Buzz” – and sports the new social network’s colorful Chrome-like logo. Alternatively, you may get a full welcome page when you log in, touting the new feature. You can either try it out or ignore it and go to your regular Gmail inbox.
Social networking with Google Buzz
The first time you enter your Buzz-enhanced Gmail inbox, you’ll see the contacts Google has found for you. Alas, I only had one at first, my boss. Most users will likely see more proposed contacts, since I was using an account I use for testing rather than a personal one (I’ve stuck with Yahoo Mail for my personal email.)
Next, I got a chance to follow other users. Who better to follow than Google’sSergey Brin, and the product’s manager, Todd Jackson. Like Twitter, and unlike Facebook, Google Buzz lets you follow anyone you want and view their public posts. This is one aspect I really like about Buzz, and one that takes something good from both Facebook and Twitter: its ability to create a public, Twitter-like feed, and a private one like Facebook for folks you really know.
Is Google Buzz just a social version of Google Wave? Brian Heater weighs in on Google’s new opportunity.
Once I have my account and my contacts, it’s time for posting. The options aren’t as fleshed out as those in Facebook, but they are richer than a Twitter post, which isn’t surprising. I pasted a couple thousand characters into the posting area (a text box), so there didn’t seem to be any limit on the length of a text post. My absurdly long status update showed as a single line with an “expand” link. There’s also a collapse link.
Posting with Google Buzz
Choosing whether to post to your private social network instead of the public at large is a simple matter of clicking the big, obvious “Private/Public” dropdown right next to the “Post” button. Facebook has just added an option to post to “Everyone on the Internet”; most people expect that only mutually approved Friends will see their updates. Twitter is what people associate with public announcements anyone on the Internet can see. In fact, it gets annoying when tweeters you’ve followed to learn from their expertise engage in personal back-and-forths; in Facebook it’s expected. Buzz is trying to offer a two-in-one service – private and public.
The only post options aside from text at this point are “Link,” and “Photo”. I was disappointed to find that inserting a YouTube link didn’t add the video to the post, but rather just an image of the video. On another try, I did get a video entry with a play button, but a notice said embedding was disabled. But the third try was the charm; I saw the embedded video.
After you post, you have a few choices from a right-hand menu: you can edit your post, delete it, or email it. You can also create a link to it, which actually creates a standalone Web page for the post—neat! Another choice is Mute, which shows up whether you or someone else is the creator of the post. Hitting this makes the post slowly disappear from view. Other choices for posts not from yourself are “view all buzz from [User name]“, “follow,” and “report abuse”. Next: Can Buzz Top Facebook?
By Michael Muchmore
THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE TO ME BECAUSE IT PROVES WHAT I BEEN SAYING SINCE BLOG WORLD. COMPANIES DON’T UNDERSTAND WHERE THE CONSUMERS HEAD IS ANYMORE NOT JUST IN MUSIC. PEOPLE WANT REAL INFO NOT SOMEBODY THATS PAID TO SEND A MESSAGE. TAKE DELTA FOR INSTANCE WHAT OTHER INFORMATION ARE THEY GIVEN OUT ON THEIR TWITTER PAGE BESIDES WHAT WE ALREADY SEE IN THE COMMERCIALS AND IN THE AIRPORT? WHO ARE YOU TALKING TOO ON THE VERIZON PAGE? THAT’S WHY THEY HAVE LESS THAN ME AND ANYBODY ELSE WHO’S HANDS ON. THAT LAZY, OH WE CAN GET ANYTHING OVER ON OUR CONSUMER DAY IS OVER!!!!! WHY WOULD APPLE HAVE A TWITTER PAGE? WHAT ARE THEY GONNA GIVE THEIR FOLLOWERS THAT NONE FOLLOWERS WANT GET? I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT THIS, LIFERS WHAT DO YOU THINK? PS TODD HOLLA AT ME
Is Twitter the Next Second Life?
February 08, 2010 – Digital and Mobile
By Todd Wasserman, Brandweek
If you’re a marketer who has steered clear of Twitter, your (non)strategy may be paying off! It’s possible that this Twitter thing may just take care of itself.
In the middle of last year, Twitter’s growth slowed from 7.8 million new users a month to 6.2 million, according to a recent study from RJ Metrics. That report also found that only 17 percent of Twitter users updated their accounts in December — an all-time low. An earlier study by the Nielsen Co. revealed 60 percent of Twitter users do not return from one month to the next. Taking that into account, it’s tempting to conclude that Twitter is following in the footsteps of another social-media ghost town, Second Life.
In fairness, the raw data may be deceptive. Twitter’s proponents argue that its numbers appear low because so many people access Twitter via ways other than its Web site. But some marketers are ready to write the microblogging service off. “I’m not a big fan of Twitter,” says Joel Ewanick, group vp of marketing for Hyundai. “My Twitter meter has gone down.” Ewanick says he finds Facebook, which has copied most of Twitter’s best features, to be a superior platform. “[Twitter has] become the butt of a joke. You start seeing in popular culture people making fun of Twitter.” Geoff Cottrill, CMO for Converse, seconded that.
Twitter ‘Overrated’
“Twitter is a little bit overrated,” he says. “There will be a new media toy that will replace it in a year or two.” Meanwhile, according to VentureBlog, Procter & Gamble execs recently told venture capitalists that they didn’t think Twitter was “particularly relevant to what they’re doing on the brand-building and advertising side” and that “they do not believe that Twitter will ever approach what they get out of a Google or Facebook.” (A P&G rep declined comment on the report.)
Like Second Life, Twitter has become a wasteland for brands. Verizon, a company that spent more than $1 billion on advertising in 2009, has around 5,000 followers — about 0.3 percent the amount that Perez Hilton has. Coca-Cola has 15,000. Apple’s not even on Twitter. And some corporate Twitter accounts suffer from prolonged neglect. Delta Airlines’ Twitter page went from June 17 to Dec. 22 last year without a single update. Delta reps could not be reached for comment.
Sienna Farris, director of social media marketing strategy for New York agency Strawberry Frog, says that Twitter isn’t for everyone. Farris, like other experts contacted for this article, says that all marketers should be mining the real-time mentions of their brands on Twitter, but otherwise, there are just a few areas where Twitter makes sense for marketers — customer relations management, the hawking of deals and as a vehicle for promotions. (Twitter also seems to be a great venue for smaller, lesser-known brands.)
Success At Large Brands? A Look At Dell
When it comes to Twitter’s success among large brands, Dell is the exception that proves the rule. The PC maker not only has a large following on the platform, but also has some ROI to show as well. The brand claimed $6.5 million in Twitter revenues in 2009. About half of that came from @DellOutlet, a Twitter account dedicated to announcing deals at the company’s factory outlet (the rest of the revenues come from international Twitter accounts). Richard Binhammer, senior manager of corporate affairs better known by his Twitter name “RichardatDELL,” says that with its permission-based, real-time nature, Twitter makes sense for that brand. “At Dell Outlet, we don’t know what our inventory’s going to be from day one to day two,” says Binhammer. “It’s pretty unpredictable. It’s an outlet store, so it’s open-box specials.” @DellOutlet, at this writing, has close to 1.6 million followers.
@DellOutlet is actually one of dozens of Dell Twitter accounts. Some of those are dedicated to customer service, which raises the question: Is this CRM or PR? Binhammer says that’s irrelevant. The real goal, he maintains, is reaching consumers: “It’s not about us launching a customer support channel, and that channel happens to be Twitter. What happens is, we go wherever our customers are on the Web. Some of our customers happen to be on Twitter. Where they are is where we need to go.”
Dell’s success didn’t go unnoticed. Comcast, which suffered the same kind of blog-based complaints over customer service as Dell has, now operates a successful Twitter CRM program. In July, Best Buy also launched Twelpforce, a Twitter-based customer-relations management plan that was meant to blur the lines between customer service and marketing, according to company CMO Barry Judge. “Clearly, Twelpforce has the potential to be a resource for our customers in helping them do the things they aspire to with technology,” Judge wrote on his blog. “Secondly, I think Twelpforce can be a catalyst to think very differently across our company about customer service. No longer do we need to passively wait in our channels for people to come to us. With Twelpforce specifically and social media in general, we can actively seek out the conversations that increasingly are happening outside our channels.” Despite Best Buy’s commitment, though, to date the company’s Twitter page has only about 19,000 followers.
Personalities On Twitter
Looking at the astronomical follow rates of celebrities like Ashton Kutcher or Oprah Winfrey, it’s tempting to conclude that unless you’re peddling deals like Dell Outlet, the best strategy is to hitch your brand to a personality. That’s what Ford did with Scott Monty, a former advertising exec-turned-Twitter gadfly who is now the head of social media for Ford Motor. As a sort of living representative of Ford, Monty, who has about 37,000 followers, has appeared on the Adam Carolla Podcast and at BlogWorld Expo. “We’re getting a ton of listeners or attendees who wouldn’t think about Ford or a Ford product,” Monty says. Jim Tobin, president of Ignite Social Media, a Web 2.0 marketing consultancy, says Ford benefits greatly by the association with Monty. “He’s a Ford employee,” explains Tobin, who believes Monty has more credibility than a celebrity endorser. “Everyone knows that Tiger [Woods] is getting paid to promote whatever he’s promoting.”
But Monty appears to be an anomaly. Other brands that have tried to launch a persona on Twitter have failed to win many fans. Adam Denison, Monty’s counterpoint at Chevrolet, has 2,300 followers. Denison says the company decided in December to switch its Twitter focus to its Chevrolet account — which had about 1,600 followers at last check.
Chevrolet is having more luck on Facebook, where its official site has more than 62,000 fans. David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media and innovation for interactive shop 360i, says anemic Twitter accounts and robust presences on Facebook will be the norm. “For some brands, just maintaining their turf [on Twitter] with the occasional update might be enough,” he says. “A bigger danger is to go in and make it clear they’re going to get involved [in Twitter] and then ignore it.” Not too many brands are doing the former these days.
Music: Show Preview
Phatfffat’s revenge
Will Dondria — the Soulja Boy of R&B — have to check her personality at the door to translate YouTube success into record sales?
Published 01.18.10
By Rodney Carmichael
DEREK BLANKS
‘ROUND-THE-WAY GIRL: Phatfffat as Dondria
As one might imagine upon meeting the petite, 111-pound, 22-year-old known as Phatfffat, her weight has nothing to do with how she earned the sizable nickname.
“We were at CiCi’s Pizza and I had a lotta pizza on my plate,” recalls Dondria Nicole Fields, who was a freshman at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, at the time. “A friend said to me that I was not going to be able to eat all of it. And I said you just watch ’cause I will. I had pizza, pasta and some salad, and then those cinnamon icing dessert things, and I ate all of it and she was just surprised.”
In a similar fashion, Phatfffat’s been throwing her weight around online over the last few years. An angelic voice, pixie looks and her ’round-the-way-girl persona has helped her amass 2.8 million YouTube views, 25,000 MySpace friends, and 11,000 Twitter followers.
What started with a $15 webcam and the simple idea to post YouTube vids of herself singing a cappella R&B covers turned into an Internet phenomenon after her rendition of Ciara’s “Promise” garnered more than 1 million hits. That’s when Jermaine Dupri came calling. “I would get e-mails all the time from people claiming to be this or that,” she says. “But Jermaine persisted, so I called him up one day and the rest is history.”
After making a name for herself singing other people’s songs, Dondria’s been anxious to showcase her own musical identity since signing with Dupri’s So So Def label in 2007. Her current single, “You’re the One,” is their second attempt at a radio-friendly ditty. And while it’s garnering more spins than her 2008 single “Can’t Stop,” it still lacks the personality that made her Internet magic in the first place. Now that she has something to prove, there’s little room for screaming out silly stuff like “Hey Mama!” in the middle of a verse as she’s been known to do on YouTube. Her refined approach is also the inspiration behind the title of her upcoming album, Dondria vs. Phatfffat, due this spring.
“The girl that you saw on YouTube, the one that was eating her pizza and noodles, joking around, forgetting words, singing other people’s songs, Dondria is more than that,” she says. “She’s an artist, she’s motivated about her music, she sings her own songs, and she won’t be joking around, laughing and forgetting her own words on the album.”
Hopefully, she’ll save room for Phatfffat, too.
