Ludacris’ Cognac A Hard Sell in the Hip Hop Community
Anyone who’s seen rapper Ludacris lately at an industry event can’t miss that long, odd looking bottle he carries with him. Ever since announcing a partnership with Conjure Spirits co-founder Kim Birkedal Hartmann, Ludacris has had a rough go of it selling the brand to the Hip Hop community.
“All the [Atlanta] clubs have it, but I don’t see anybody popping bottles or buying it,” said one industry exec.
The reluctance of the Hip Hop community to warm up to Conjure has forced Luda to ramp up his marketing efforts.
The rapper frequently displays the bottle on video sets and at photo shoots. In fact, insiders are so used to seeing Luda with his ever present cognac bottle, they joke that he spends more time with the bottle than he does with his lady.
Luda has even taken to using his account on social networking site Twitter.com to market the liquor.
“Send me twit pics of u holding your @ConjureCognac bottles & I will [repost] them,” wrote Luda in a “tweet” yesterday that was reposted by roughly 20% of his 285,000 followers, prompting one annoyed “follower” to tweet back, “stop trying to sell your stupid drink all the damn time!”
And just today, he released a track, “O Let’s Do It”, from his upcoming “Conjure mixtape.”
One Atlanta marketing exec we spoke with noted that Luda probably has a certain sales goal stipulated in his contract that he hasn’t met yet — which explains the more forceful sales approach. Others point out that music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs promotes Ciroc vodka, but you rarely see him photographed with the bottle in his hand.
In a post dated Dec. 31 on its stock market news blog, Scottrade.com noted that “preeminent Journalist Dan Dunn” named Conjure Cognac one of the Top Ten Spirits of 2009.
But hardly anyone in the Hip Hop community reads Scottrade.com — and it’s the Hip Hop community that Conjure and Luda wants so desperately to win over.
Mistress: Tiger Woods Was Bisexual
As if Tiger Woods doesn’t have enough problems, one of his 20 mistresses is set to release a tell-all book exposing the golf champ’s secret down low lifestyle. We just wonder why no men have come forward if this is true?
RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively that Loredana has claimed she saw Tiger having sexual relationships with other men. That shocking twist is something no other mistress has claimed and there has been no proof.
But Loredana recently attempted to sell her story for $1 million and graphically described group sex that included incidents of Tiger with other men, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
Loredana says she is planning to spill all about how she and Tiger “came about, his healthy appetite for arranged sex, threesomes, girls next door, girl-girl, and an answer to all the rumors surrounding Woods’ sexuality.” Read More…
When it rains it pours.
Mo’Nique Stylist Slain; Husband Drove Around With Body For 2 days
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Maureen Allaben, the spunky set stylist for comedian Mo’Nique’s talk show was killed by her husband who stuffed her body in the trunk of his vehicle and drove around with it for 2 days.
After killing his wife, Dennis Allaben drove from the couple’s home in Tucker to Virginia and told his relatives there on Monday about the murder. Allaben dropped off the couple’s two children at the relatives home before returning to the Atlanta area. It isn’t clear if the children were aware their mother’s body was in the trunk.
The AJC reports that Allaben walked into the Clayton County Police Headquarters on Tuesday and turned himself in.
“He just showed up at [Clayton County] police headquarters and said he’d killed his wife,” Police Chief William O’Brien said.
Police recovered 43-year-old Maureen Allaben’s body, which had been wrapped up, from her husband’s blue Ford pickup. Dennis Allaben, 46, who tested underground storage tanks, is now in custody at the DeKalb jail and charged with murder.
Celebs Out & About
‘Precious’ star and Golden Globe-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe is featured in the current issue of Harper’s Bazaar with teenager Miley Cyrus on the cover. Isn’t she HAWT! Do it big gurl! Give those skinny chicks a reason to hate! She is such a cutie. LOVES her.
American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and her singer boyfriend Steph Jones called the paparazzi to let them know that Rihanna isn’t the only celebrity in San Cabos, Mexico. Steph is still struggling to make a name for himself in the music biz. But at least he has Jordin’s cash to spend if need be. Jordin is caking off that “No Air” duet she did with convicted woman beater Chris Brown. Photo: INF DAILY
Socialite Kimora Lee has that satisfied glow on her face as she and baby daddy Djimon Hounsou stepped out last night for a bite to eat at the trendy Boa restaurant in Beverly Hills.
I realize U.S. president Barack Hussein Obama is not a celebrity, but people sure treat him like he’s one. Obama already has a musical named after him. Everyone’s singing his praises and he hasn’t done a thing to deserve it. When is he going to do something for black people like he promised? We’re still waiting. Too bad we don’t own banks or we aren’t terrorist prisoners, then maybe we could get some love from Obama.
Jimmie Wilson plays Barack Obama and Della Miles plays Michelle Obama “The Obama Musical Story’ held at Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The musical, which celebrates its world premiere on January 17, 2010 is about US President Barack Obama on his successful way to the White House.
Photos: Getty Images, INF DAILY and Faded Youth
New Music: Monica – Everything
Exclusive new music from the R&B Diva, Monica titled “Everything”. I listened to this track 3 times and I LOVE IT! Finally, Mo is back to revive R&B!
If you think the backing track sounds familiar, it’s because “Everything” uses a sample from Deniece Williams’ soulful hit “Silly”.
Just a few minutes ago, I received word from Monica that “Everything” will be the next single off Mo’s new album, ‘Still Standing’ which is slated for a March, 2010 release! The label was planning to go with “One In A Lifetime” until they saw the reaction that “Everything” received from her fans. “The label couldn’t ignore it,” said Monica.
“People want to hear me sing,” said Mo. “They do not want to hear any gimmicks They don’t want what everybody else is doing. Ever since I was 12-years-old I’ve just been singing. That’s really all I know.”
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LISTEN: Monica – Everything
It’s apparent that music runs in Monicas bloodline! Here’s a private home video of Monica singing a duet with her youngest son Romelo, who turns 2 tomorrow. Awww. Happy birthday to ‘Melo!
Because Some Of You Need Jesus…
Rapper-turned-Pastor Mason Betha, aka Ma$e, is still preaching from the pulpit despite reports of him returning to the sinful temptations of Hip Hop. Amen?
Ma$e’s website is still online and still requesting donations for his church which boasts a congregation of 40,000. Amen? Ma$e says God is able to use him to do something big — we don’t think he means winning a Grammy.
Ma$e still has a speech impediment that makes it difficult for him to pronounce such big words as “receptacle”, but it doesn’t matter because Pastor Ma$e is on a mission to save souls. Amen?
Essence Readers Outraged Over Reggie Bush Cover
If Essence editors weren’t aware before, they know now that the average, black, female demographic is fairly intelligent and not at all as gullible as Essence thinks they are.
I constantly tell my celebrity associates and industry execs not to underestimate my readers. My readers are not dumb and they tend to pick up on BS fairly rapidly.
Now Essence magazine is dealing with the wrath from their dwindling readership who are objecting strenuously to Essence putting NFL baller Reggie Bush on the cover of its “Love & relationships” issue.
Not only is the pic old (Essence can’t afford photo shoots at the moment) — but readers objected to the fact that Reggie could care less about dating black women. So why put him on the cover of a magazine that targets a majority black female demographic?
Here’s what blogger SisterToldja had to say about the controversy brewing over at Essence:
Kim Kardashian became famous for being the friend of Paris Hilton and for being in a sex tape with Brandy’s brother. She has a reality show [wherein] she portrays herself as a seemingly vapid, shallow woman. Kardashian is beautiful, and she’s also known for a body part that is largely associated with Black women. We all know that had Kim Kardashian been a Black woman, she would be considered damaged goods and it would be HIGHLY unlikely that she’d be wifed up by a man in the spotlight. The same men who write off sisters for what they perceive to be overly sexual reputations laud Reggie for having “a bad chick” like Kardashian by his side.
A lot of our ire about interrcial dating is about the seemingly different standards the Black men who date other women have for them as opposed to for us. On what planet would a Black 22-year-old domestic get to marry a Stanford grad who is one of the world’s most successful athletes? Or the Kendra woman from “Girls Next Door”: could a Black woman jump from Hugh Hefner’s bed to the altar with a handsome pro-baller? What Black female could escape a sex tape scandal only to become a telvision star with a gorgeous, succesful boyfriend? Read More…
