David Bowie Continues To Take Over U.K. Charts

English recording artist, producer, signer and songwriter David Bowie passed away last week on January 10 after an 18-month courageous battle against cancer. Often honored for effortlessly combining genres and sparking creative minds, Bowie is widely and rightfully held on the highest of musical pedestals. He created a solid foundation for glam rock, influenced major faces of heavy rock like Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, and notable metal bands like Guns N' Roses and even more modern industrial rock bands like Nine Inch Nails. But the London crooner's influences don't stop at the many sub-genres of rock, Bowie has also been a major influence to electronic music, R&B and hip-hop.

Let's backtrack to 1990, when Vanilla Ice sampled Bowie's "Under Pressure" in his only notable song "Ice Ice Baby"

And then in 2001 we heard a sample of Bowie's 1975 "Fame" on Jay-Z's "Takeover"

Just two days prior to his passing, Bowie released his 27th studio album, Blackstar. The album quickly became his 10th number one album in the U.K. and the fastest selling release of 2016 with 150,000 copies sold in one week. But Blackstar isn't Bowie's only project doing numbers this week. After the news of his death surfaced, many people went on to discover (or rediscover) many of Bowie's past work, which caused several of his older albums including The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Hunky Dory and Nothing Has Changed to be re-charted and created sales of more than 620,000 (albums and singles combined) just this week. 

Run DMC Set To Be First Rap Group To Receive Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Run DMC is widely recognized as being one of the most iconic hip-hop groups. Their list of notable firsts in hip-hop history is quite lengthy; some of their accomplishments include being the first hip-hop group to:

• Earn a gold album (Run-D.M.C, 1984)
• Earn a platinum single ("King of Rock", 1985)
• Earn a multi-platinum album (Raising Hell, 1986)
• Cover Rolling Stone magazine
• Have their video ("Rock Box") played on MTV

The list goes on and on. However, Run DMC was not the first hip-hop group to win a Grammy. In fact, they've never been awarded one at all-although they were nominated in 1987 for "Best R&B Vocal Performance by Duo or Group" for "Raising Hell". Though this might strike some as surprising, the hip-hop community has always had "beef" with the Grammys, as most believe that the Grammys continuously fail at acknowledging some of the major contributors to the hip-hop scene. Run DMC may have been snubbed by the Grammys in the past, but they're headed toward another major hip-hop first as they're set to be the first hip-hop group to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Rev Run, D.M.C and the late Jam Master Jay are due to be honored at the 58th annual Grammy Awards.

Has Any Hip-Hop Artist Become A Billionaire?

Many people have been saying that Dr. Dre is a billionaire but I have been second-guessing this since there has not been much news on this topic on TV or the Internet. For those of you who do not know, back in 2008 Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, The chairman at Interscope Records founded Beats Electronics and in August of 2011, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine sold 50 percent share of their company to HTC for $309 million. Later Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine bought back 25 percent of HTC’s stake for $150 million, making Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine 75 percent owners of beats. Carlyle group later bought HTC’s 25 percent stake and also bought 25 percent from Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine giving Carlyle group 50 percent owner ship and Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine both ending up with 25% each.

As many of you already know, Apple bought Beats for $3 billion. Because of this deal, people are assuming that that Dr. Dre has become not only Hip-Hops first billionaire but a multi billionaire. Lets not forget That Dr. Dre only owns 25 percent of the company so his cut of the deal was only $750 million before taxes, which is still a lot but not a billion. Out of this $750 million roughly 33 percent will go to taxes, that about $250 million, actually leaving him with a little over $500 million out of the $3 billion. If Dr. Dre were never part owner of Beats by Dre, his net worth would only be $200 million due to 3 decades of selling music, producing music, selling merchandise and touring. 

Therefore, no Hip-Hop artist has actually become Hip-Hops first billionaire, but Dr. Dre and Diddy come closest to it with a net worth of over $700 million each. Maybe in the next few years we will see if any Hip-hop Artist will become Hip-Hops first billionaire.

Hip-Hop's Wealthiest Artist's

Many People think that successful celebrities in the entertainment industry are successful and very wealthy because of what they are most known for doing, such as being an actress, actor, rapper, singer, or athlete, but in reality, the wealthiest people in the entertainment industry are those who have invested their money in other business ventures.

Today’s post is about famous celebrities in the music industry and how they really became so wealthy. Lets start out with Sean “Diddy” Combs the CEO and founder of bad boy records, This man is Hip-Hop’s wealthiest artist according to Forbes with a net worth of a about $735 million. Although Combs was already a wealthy man from bad boy records, in 2007 Diddy signed a deal with Diageo’s Ciroc (Other products from Diageo you might be familiar with are Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan and Smirnoff). The Deal stated that if Combs represented the brand, he was entitled to eight-figure annual payouts and if Ciroc were ever to be sold, Combs would receive a nine-figure payout. After Combs agreed to be Ciroc’s brand ambassador Ciroc’s sales went from selling 40,000 thousand cases a year to selling 2.1 million cases as of 2012. Other business ventures Combs has that have contributed to his wealth are his clothing lines Sean John and Enyce, and his marketing firm Blue Flame.

Another Successful Artist in the music industry and Hip-hops second wealthiest man is Jay Z. According to Forbs magazine Jay Z’s Net worth as of 2015 is $550 Million. Just like Combs, it was not just his music that has made him so wealthy, but having other business ventures such as his clothing line Rocawear that he sold in 2007 for $204 million, also a deal he made with Live Nation in 2008 for $150 million. Jay Z also owns a percentage of the Jersey Nets and the list goes on.

According to Forbes.com, “It's only a matter of time before one of hip-hop's richest becomes a member of the Forbes 400. “

Fun fact of the day: Jay Z and Beyoncé’s combined net worth is over $1 billion and according to www.ibtimes.com Jay z and Beyoncé’s divorce could cost upwards of $1 billion

Fetty Wap Hits Billboard Record Set By The Beatles Over 50 Years Ago.

Artist Fetty Wap from Paterson, NJ recently released his debut studio album which opened at No. 1, crowning the Billboard 200 albums chart, but this post is about another milestone for Fetty Wap, he reached a landmark that no one other then the Beatles can claim. Fetty Wap's first 3 hit singles where in the top 10 of the billboard hot 100 chart, "Trap Queen which peeked at No. 2, "679" peeking at No. 4 and "My Way" peeking at No. 7, (these numbers where at different points in time, not simultaneously), All which were recorded and mixed here at So Amazin' Studios and "679" being produced by our in house Producer and Engineer, Brian "Peoples" Garcia.

According to Billboard, at one point in time, Fetty Wap's "Trap Queen," "My Way" and "679" where all simultaneously in the top 11 of the billboards hot 100 chart, something that has not been done since the Beatles back in 1964, thats over half a century ago! The only 2 artist's to come closet was Lil Wayne back in 2011 with "She Will" & "How To Love" and Eminem back in 2013 with "The Monster," and "Rap God", but these 2 artist's only had 2 simultaneous singles in the top 11 of the billboard hot 100 chart while Fetty Wap had 3 simultaneous singles in the top 11. Since the Beatles were a band that consisted of 4 members (George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Star), it is safe to say that Fetty Wap is the only solo artist in history to have 3 hit singles in the top 11 of the Billboard hot 100.

What Many do not not know is that on April 4, 1964 the Beatles simultaneously held the top consecutive 5 spots on the Billboard hot 100 for their singles "Can't buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me." on top of that they had 7 other songs in hot 100, giving them a total of a dozen hits simultaneously on the BillBoard hot 100 chart!

How was it possible that the market was this flooded? Well, after they made it big in England, the Beatles didn't hit America until more then a year later. At that point the "Fab Four" were already well known with a very long song catalog containing many hits. When they finally hit America, their entire catalog came along with them, flooding the American market and over whelming Americans with hits on top of hits.

50 Cent Files For Bankruptcy, Has He Gone Broke?

By now, many people have heard of the rumors that recording artist and entrepreneur Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 cent has gone bankrupt. Many people believe that he has gone broke, this is not true. 50 cent is a very smart man and he would not have let himself go broke over night.  To clarify these rumors, yes 50 cent filed for bankruptcy but he definitely did not go flat broke. Here is the story,

3 days prior to 50 cent filing for bankruptcy protection, he was ordered to pay $5 million to Lastonia Leviston (ex-girlfriend of recording artist Rick Ross) who sued him for releasing a sex tape of her online for the public to see.

As I said before, “50 cent is a smart man”. He did not file for chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means liquidation of assets or having to sell his business to pay back creditors. 50 Cent filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy which allows him to reorganize his financial affairs in order to pay back any debts. I believe this is beneficial for 50 cent because instead of having to pay $5 million in one shot, he now might have more time to pay his debt since he filed. In addition, he is now given a chance to come up with a payment plan, an option he probably would not have had if he did not file for Chapter 11.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 50 cent says in the bankruptcy filing his debts and assets are worth between $10 million and $50 million, so he is definitely not going broke, but this could also protect his businesses as he is dealing with problems and debt. I believe that if 50 cent could, he would have filed for chapter 13, which allows individuals to restructure their debt. According to Michael Venditto, an attorney and partner at Reed Smith, 50 cent does not qualify for chapter 13 since his debts exceed $10 million and limits are set at $383,000 for unsecured debt and $1.1 million for secured debt. 

Sources:

http://www.businessinsider.com/50-cent-files-for-bankruptcy-2015-7

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/07/14/is-50-cent-really-broke-why-a-millionaire-would-file-for-bankruptcy/