My Global Hustle

YG Chats w/ Sickamore

This young man has been getting a lot of press for the past couple of weeks. I won’t front I threw a few softball questions @ him. I’ll do a follow up interview with him in a few weeks. I still have a lot of unanswered questions. Shout out 2 Joe Colli… -!YG

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YG: Hey Sickamore! Thx for taking the time out of your schedule 2 meet with me. I know that your phone & bberry must be ringing off the hook, since your announcement. What has the feedback been like? And are your surprise @ how many people took notice?

Sickamore: I’m shocked at the level of response, actually. The feedback has been mostly positive. There must’ve been over 500 passionate e-mails regarding the resigning blog. I think people are just as frustrated as I am with the current state of things. There needs to be a change.

YG: I have known (and still know) many A & Rs who just take the check & rape the budget with no regard for the artists or “the game”. How hard of a decision was it 2 walk away?

Sickamore: Not as hard as you think. What’s the worst that could happen? People would think I got fired? Who cares what people think. I’d be jobless? It was my first job! I know how to make money without a position. Those 2 reasons aren’t worth losing my soul.

YG: Now everyone and their mama knows that the current business model in music is f’ed up. Why are execs. sitting on their hands & not working on ways 2 reform the model?

Sickamore: They make a lot of money. I’m talking millions a year in salary, bonuses etc. It’s a sinking ship, but instead of trying to save the boat, they’re just looting it. Stuffing all their bags with the money and giving all their employees buckets.

YG: You mentioned that you will take more of a consultant role with Atlantic & Columbia. What kind of impact do you think you can have as a consultant working in the same f’ed up biz model?

Sickamore: A lot more freedom. They don’t have anything over me this way. they’re hiring The Firm to make a change. They know it’s a f’ed up model and they want to make some kind of effort. But it’ll never do a complete 180 without new people.

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YG Chats w/ Dan Kim – CEO of Red Mango

YG: Hey Dan! Thanks again 4 taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me. I’m sure you are still on cloud 9 with the successful Grand Opening of your 14th St. location in NYC. I definitely took the opportunity 2 try out your fro-yo. How has the response been so far in NYC with the Village & 14th locations?

DAN: THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN FANTASTIC! NEIGHBORHOODS SUCH AS THE VILLAGE AND UNION SQUARE WEST HAVE DISCRIMINATING CUSTOMERS WHO DEMAND QUALITY IN BOTH THE FOODS THEY EAT AND THE TOTAL RETAIL EXPERIENCE. RED MANGO IS FOCUSED ON PROVIDING CUSTOMERS WITH THE BEST-TASTING YOGURT IN AN INVITING AND COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT, WHICH I BELIEVE IS WHY THE RESPONSE TO ALL OF OUR NY RED MANGO STORES HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY POSITIVE.

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YG Chats w/ Rik Cordero

I got a chance 2 chat with my dude Rik Cordero. We talked about videos, movies, politricks and Y he is the hottest Video Director in the game right now. You know he’s the homey… he throwing out my government….. lol! -!YG

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YG: Hey Rik! Thx 4 taking time from the editing suite to meet with me. Did you catch the Giants whip ass in the Super Bowl? Who did you have your $ on?

Rik: Hey Larry how are you? Thanks for having me, you have an amazingly diverse blog. I did catch the Giants win, what a great game. Of course my faith was with my home team. This will be a great week for New Yorkers.

YG: So lets get right into it.. 2007 was a breakout year for your career as a Director. Your worked with artists from Jay-Z to Ghostface and this has made you one of the most sought after Video Directors in the game. Do you feel pressure to continue to raise the bar? Moreover, what motivates you churn out videos @ such a frenetic pace?

Rik: Honestly, I don’t really feel any pressure to raise the bar. I’m not even sure that I raised it. I think I simply adapted to this digital age of filmmaking and applied a combination of stories about real life struggles with my love for Hip Hop. Since I did a lot with the internet last year, the assumption is that I’ll receive bigger budgets and have more expensive items on screen. That’s not really where my interest lie. It exists in capturing the human condition and finding inspiration everytime I step outside. The moment I stopped thinking about success in terms of budgets and money and more about how successful I could make myself to others is when I became extremely motivated. Naturally I do have to make a living off of this so my business has to be straight. But my movement is a much bigger picture and my goal is much deeper than trying to get more money to make a Hip Hop music video. I could very well take the typical budget of a mainstream director and create quality feature films. 😉 We’ll see…

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YG Chats w/ Colin Munroe a.k.a The One Man Band

YG: Colin I would like to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet with me. I know ur busy having one of the hottest songs on the net right now. 🙂 How do you feel about that?

Colin: Think nothing of it.. I enjoy answering questions actually! It’s obviously amazing that the track has had this kind of response. I thought it might get a little attention but nothing like this. I don’t know how I feel about people saying they like it better than Kanye’s version… I fell in love with the original which is why I wanted to do something with it. I’ve got nothing but the utmost respect for him and obviously my version would never have existed without his version first. But I appreciate the fact that people seem to really identify with my version.

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