HustleKnockin'

Back In The Day...

I'm working on a project with Ahmad. Looks like I'll be helping promote his new project, The Death Of Me, which will drop in March 2010 on WeCLAP/Syntax.

So who's Ahmad, you ask?

That's who. Ahmad's a seminal MC from California who's drop classic songs like this. He's also done some amazing underground stuff as part of a now-disbanded crew once called 4th Avenue Jones...

Once I get back up and running in January, i'll tell you all about it. 2010's lookin' lovely already.

Give It Here: Aceyalone, Ahmad, Pep Love

Here's a little heat from one of the legends in the game... Ahmad. Enjoy....

Still On Vacation...

Okay so it's December 15th and I haven't blogged much in the last, oh... few weeks now. And you know what? I'm now officially gone till Monday, January 4, 2010.

I know I said I'd be back sooner, but it's just been brutal, folks. I still need a break. But the good news is, I'm working on new stuff—new banners, new designs and new books.

So, take some time folks, time for yourselves. Kiss your loved ones. Hug a stranger...  Pray to God... Get away from the laptops and desktops...

Live again. Back to life.

Meanwhile, you can check me out over at Twitter for the next couple weeks as 140 characters are easier than whole blog entries.

Until then, Merry CHRISTmas one and all.

Counting down 2009...

I'm not saying that this is how my day is going, but...

It's a hectic time for all of us, truth be told... I gotta go. See ya in a bit.

Woods, Iverson, Hustleknockin' Saturday

Happy Saturday, y'all.

I'm technically still on vacation, but I just wanted to stop in an say "hi".

My goal is to start fresh blogs in another week—figure Monday December 7th or so.

I'll be posting some long-delayed, Blog World goodies, some cool year-end lists, along with updates on the new Hustleknockin.com--yeah, we're going thru revisions.

I will also update you on plans for 2010. Hope all you guys who've been loyal followers can be a part of what's coming up. (Hint: 3 new books, 3 new sites... the time is now!)

Meanwhile, I tried to dodge the Black Friday madness--mainly laid low and gorged out on Turkey in SoCal. I so ate too much. I'm gonna explode. Hitting the gym Sunday for sure. that's when the big weight-loss mission starts up in earnest.

Meanwhile...

• Tiger... Tiger... Tiger... Dude...

I'm not judging, but but if you're gonna step out on your wife, do it like only an internationally-known billionaire athlete-icon can: get a woman in another country. Pay her enough to keep her mouth shut. A New York socialite and former reality TV chick? Rachel Uchitel looks freaky and all, but Dude might as well have slept with one of Harry Levin's interns over at TMZ—they'd have been more low-key about it.

Simple gist is:

Elin Woods went in on Eldrich over some homewrieckin freak-ish; and this ish (and Woods’ Caddy) hit the fan (and then a tree.)

Now in order to believe otherwise, you have to check your brain at the door accept the following account from the Florida police on the scene.

Tiger Woods went out driving—at 2.25am. On a Friday night, without luggage, in non-business, no-club attire.

Somehow Woods forgot there’s a fire hydrant near his driveway, and backed over it. This then causes him to skid into a tree with such force that it ruined his Escalade, yet didn’t cause a single airbag to deploy.

Now, Elin his wife, hearing this crash runs out to help her man. Seeing the wreckage, she runs back inside and grabs a golf club to try and save him.

Somehow all the doors are locked shut—maybe the locks got flooded from all the water damage that’s not mentioned by anyone including the police. So Tiger couldn’t free himself from the wreck.

Elin, now decides her only option is to smash out the rear window—the window that’s furthest away from Woods who’s in the driver seat. Apparently the windshield is smash-proof; and so are both the front and rear passenger-side windows; not to mention the as front and rear driver-side windows.

After smashing out the rear window Elin then crawls through the rear window over the back seats to the front seat, frees him and—at 5/7 140lbs, pulls out a semi-conscious grown 6’2, 220lb man out the back, drags him away from the vehicle then lays him flat on his back and stands over him tending to his facial lacerations and bruises as the police show up.

Yeah, that makes sense to me.

Anyway, Juanita Jordan will be calling Eli for support and attorney advice shortly. (Remember she got 250 mill from MJ.)

• Allen Iverson's getting a raw deal...

He can still score and still command a double team and help somebody win. He belongs on a squad. like now. you're not gonna convince me that there's 32 better guards than Iverson in the NBA right now.

• Charlie Weis still has a job?

           Based on my experience with Notre Dame grads and my few excursions to South Bend, IN, I'd say                ND got what it deserves with this guy. He's totally and completely one of "them." Take that how ever            you wanna take it. Folks in the know, know that I'm right.

• The Marcus Graham Project

If you care about cultural diversity in marketing, advertising and PR—as there's still little to none—check out what Lincoln Steffens is doing over at www.themarcusgrahamproject.org I'm a big fin of this kid's. Hopefully I can find some time to do more there and others can as well.

Black Friday...

Yeah, it's the most sacred of our secular holidays now. Thanksgiving should be renamed to Black Thursday or Black Friday's Eve. We so have no faith left. We love money, idols, commerce...

Well, that's about it. Like I said, check back next Monday the 7th and I'll have some freshness up and ready to go.

Until then, Jesus is the real reason for the season... Count your blessings. Save your cash. And watcher your ass.

Fresh Beancast Tackles Modern Warfare 2, Razorfish, Social Media Guru Hustlers

Fresh Beancast Tackles Modern Warfare 2,

Razorfish, Social Media Guru Hustlers and more...

This past Sunday, I had the chance to site down with Bob Knorpp of The Bean Cast—one of the better and faster growing podcasts out there. So on Monday I sat down with:

• Bill Green—art director extraordinaire, publisher of Make The Logo Bigger and host of Adverve [he tweets  @mtlb]

• Duane Forrester, In-House SEO Manager, MSN [Also for more on Duane and information on ordering his books, go to The Online Marketing Guy @SportsGuy]

• Aaron Strout, Director of Marketing, Powered (For more on Aaron, visit Stroutmeister.com, and check out his podcast Quick-N-Dirty  and twitter @AaronStrout)

We chopped it up on several topics including Google’s AdMob purchase, Modern Warfare 2, so-called Social Media experts, and more. It was a pretty intense and fun cast. Please check it out.

The cast is entitled “Episode Seventy-Nine” or “Episode 79”. So follow the links below and check it out. And feel free to subscribe to Beancast on iTunes—it’s worth it. (and it’s free.) Here's the links below:

http://beancast.us/profiles/blogs/episode-seventynine-the-wrong or

http://beancast.evanbooth.com/show/079_The_BeanCast_Marketing_Podcast_Wrong_Questions.mp3

The BeanCast RSS feed:
http://beancast.evanbooth.com/feeds/thebeancast.xml

The direct file link:
http://beancast.evanbooth.com/show/079_The_BeanCast_Marketing_Podcast_Wrong_Questions.mp3

The iTunes link for The BeanCast:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=277578731

The iTunes link for Fast Takes:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=317851952

The Fast Takes RSS feed:
http://beancast.evanbooth.com/feeds/fasttakes.xml

The BeanCast AudioBoo Page:
http://audioboo.fm/profile/TheBeanCast

Zune Link:
http://social.zune.net/my/ContentRedirect.ashx?mid=b07e1926-2d47-4c53-bab3-57bd1840c028&mtype=Podcast&CampaignID=1&affiliateID=

Shachah is back! Let the Light In!

I'm still on vacay, but I wanted to drop a quick note...

I swear Shachah makes some really dope music... I reviewed their first album ON THE MOVE last year —see review here...)

Come to think of it, I interviewed them on a whim a while back when the album dropped. Check that one out as well. (see here) It's good to see these cats avoid the sophomore/junior slump. Their latest is called Let The Light In. It's more cool funky rock hiphop which is better than I just described. But don't worry, I'll get an official review out the door soon. Meanwhile I rolled over to their site and copped this gorgeous widget player so you can sample their offerings.

You want some uplifting goodness? Shachah's got you.

Still On Vacation....

I haven't forgotten y'all... Will be back soon.
Just need a break. I'm extending my time off till Dec. 1.

I'm on Blogging Sabatical Until...

After Thanksgiving. I just need time to catch up on writing and pay some bills.

Meanwhile, I did squeeze in a a cool podcast for Bill Knopp over at the BeanCast. We talked about everything from Modern Marvel to Google's purchase of AdMob to assorted branding and marketing issues. And by "we" i mean, Bill, myself, Duane Forrester from Microsoft, Aaron Strout and Bill Green from MTLB.

Check it out here: www.beancast.us

I'm Gone Fishing...

Okay, so it's too cold to fish. Even out here in SoCal...

But the point is, Black Canseco's gonna take some time off from Blogging.

I've come to the realization that blogging isn't helping me write much these days. I've got all manner of half-started, half-finished books and columns that need tending to. And let's be honest: I'm a writer. (It may not seem like I'm a writer, but trust me, I am. I've got pay stubs and all manner of paper to prove it.)

Point is, writing and blogging ain't the same. And I've gotten addicted to one at the expense of the other. (Which wouldn't be so bad, i guess if blogging paid more.)

Personally I wish I could blog something great every day. (And write something every day.) Hustleknockin.com deserves that. (So does ProdigalPen.) But I just can't anymore. Hopefully, in 2010 I can farm out some of this—the Hustleknockin.com stuff, I mean. (Farming out my books and other stuff would be weird.) But yeah, the goal for 2010 is to bring in some new writers to breathe a little smoke into this HK thing. But that's another post...

Meanwhile, I'm gonna start by taking  a few days off. Eh, maybe a week or two. The goal is to get some serious writing done. (And some fresher blog posts.) And get out a little more. I'm starting to hear clicking keypads in my sleep. (Not good, people.)

Also, I need to clean out my harddrive. You have any idea how much music I've got on this thing? It's nuthin' nice.

On my to-do list is to salvage the KTH follow up—which is about 18 months behind schedule at this point... I think 2010 is doable for the followup. Might even be able to get more than one book out next year. We'll see.

And I do still plan on getting some BlogWorld stuff up much sooner than later. But I still gotta edit the footage yet.

I know it's Socal but, it's getting cold; it's November already; and putting a pen to a pad of paper's always kept me warm.

So duty calls.

Talk to y'all sooner than later.

Again, I'll be on Twitter (@blackcanseco); so pay me a visit there. Meanwhile, I'll be back—hopefully before Christmas. Probably by Thanksgiving to tell you the truth—i wanna hit you with some "year's end"  lists while it's still some year left. Until then...

It's been fun!

More to come.

Dear Paradise Gray...

An Open Letter to Paradise Gray:

Mr. Gray,

Recently you took offense at my post of your brother-in-arms JasiriX’s latest music video “Dear Debra,” and expressed your displeasure by flooding Twitter, Hustleknockin.com and other sites with assorted slams against me. So now it’s my turn to respond:

First off, you called my post a “lame attempt at journalism”.

Well Paradise, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m a professional writer, a published author and a long time op-ed columnist with national online readership. The one thing I am not is a journalist. I’ve never been a working journalist nor have I ever claimed to be a professional journalist.

Secondly, Hustleknockin.com is not a news site nor has it ever been positioned as a news site,;though it does feature discussions of news and current events. HK.com is first and foremost a promotional outlet for my book KNOCK THE HUSTLE. (The KTH book covers in the side columns, allude to as much.) HK.com is also an outlet for opinions, music reviews, and related topics that I and HK’s guest writers find interesting. Which brings me to Jasiri X:

I posted Jasiri X’s video as a favor to a friend—something I rarely do when it comes to musicians. Your response represents a big reason why I don't do it very often; but I’ll get to that in a sec.

Now when I was asked to post “Dear Debra” I wasn’t familiar with it. But I watched it, liked it and I thought my readers should see it. I qualified the video with my regret that Jasir X is not a nationally known artist, which was unfortunate because the song had a good message that would’ve benefited from a platform that a bigger artist could’ve provided.

Consider back when Nas said “hiphop is dead”: Was Nas the first artist to say this? Hardly.  He wasn't even the most recent figure to say it. But Nas was the most famous to say it; consequently hiphop's "death" became a cultural meme and a point of national discourse.  It’s not who starts a movement or who puts in the most work. It’s who can you get to join and champion a cause with you that makes the difference.

When I wrote, “If you want Debra Lee or anyone part of the hiphop music media establishment to hear this, you’ve gotta be part of the establishment." People have been criticizing BET for years yet the only folks BET listens to are major music outlets and advertisers. (Ask Aaron McGruder how his one-man war against BET was going until major outlets/figures joined in.)

Also, claiming that had I “googled Jasiri X I'd know more about him” only further cements my point: If people need to google you because they have no intuitive top-of-mind-awareness of you, then the lack of awareness is as much on you as them.

As for  sharing pics of Jasiri X with Obama, Russell Simmons, etc. as proof of his status:

So what?

I’ve taken pics with famous people and it doesn’t validate me as a writer. People don’t read my book or my blog because I’ve been photographed with Fortune 500 CEOs and famous athletes. They do so because they like what I write, which is why I don’t post those kinds of pics—I’ve got nothing to prove. I would imagine Jasiri X’s rep works the same—people like his music, not his photo-ops.

To that end, there’s no shame in not being famous or in being an underground artist as I called Jasiri X. It doesn’t make his work or his art any less artistic or of an inherently lower quality.  But you seem to think it does, hence your attacks.

And to your question: if Davey D or Jeff Chang had written KNOCK THE HUSTLE it would 've easily sold more books and gotten more press as those men have higher profiles than I; which again, you proved my point of how the messenger's status influences how the message spreads.

Mr. Gray, here’s a suggestion:

Instead of attacking bloggers who are actually interested helping spread Jasiri X’s music, try saying to those bloggers, “Thanx for posting Jasiri X’s work—here’s his latest project. Check it out. Also, we're available for interviews as we'd like to further engage your audience about Dear Debra and related subject matter."

You’d be amazed by the number of online outlets that would be willing to talk with both of you and share your work with their readership if you approach them without insulting them for no good reason at all.

Just a thought.

Meanwhile Mr Gray, despite your personal attacks,  I might post Jasiri X’s videos again—if I think they’re as good as “Dear Debra” because good music needs as many outlets as possible these days.

But make no mistake: your rants and attacks will do Jasiri's and your own message way more harm than good among the online music community.

How's your sense of smell these days?

Hey remember this stuff?

Well, I took this stuff just long enough to have gotten really concerned when they did the big recall this past June.

The only reason I'm mentioning this now—all of months and months later—is because it's fall and cold season kickin up; and iIgotta figure out if my diminishing sense of smell is because of my current cold or because of this crap I took which they found out can kill all your o'factory (you know what I mean) senses.

Anyway, if I can never smell again, these folks will be hearing from me. Not that I'd be able to find them or anything—as who knows what's next to go away—maybe my eyesight will be next.

I hate Over The Counter meds... This is payback from helping launch ALEVE years ago and working on those damn pharma clients. I can feel it. I think—not sure what i can feel actually as things are going numb on me. But ugh.

Such is life when you don't have health insurance. (that's another blog for another time.)

Tyler Perry Talks "Precious"

At some point tonight—soon as I beat this deadline—i'm gonna go check out Precious, the new Tyler perry joint. Okay it's not a TP production perse, but that's what's gettin' it this far. Point is I'm checking it out.

Meanhwhile, I wanted to share this letter from Tyler perry with you. It goes out to his online bas; and once again, it's straightforward, nothing too fancy... whoever writes these missives has got it down. byt the time you read this letter, a good two to three hundred thousand folks will have read this and spread it around and will be packing theaters over the next month no matter what critics and media say. (Tho in the case of Precious the praise has been big so far.)

So happy reading...

=========

All,

 
Okay, I want all of you to know that PRECIOUS is Rated R.  RATED RRRRRRR!! (for strong language, sexual content and soooo on) RATED RRRRR!!!  This ain't no MADEA movie....LOL.  Don't come out of the theater after seeing it saying, "Why didn't Tyler warn us?" HERE IS YOUR WARNING!  Pass this on please...

This is not a TYLER PERRY BRANDED MOVIE. I did not write it, I'm not in it, I did not direct it.  I want you to know that the language and subject matter are rough.

Some of you may say, "Then Tyler, why are you involved with it?"  Glad you asked.  It's certainly not for money, because I haven't gotten a dime, nor will I.  Anything I make, 100% is going to charity.  With that said, it brings me to my reason for wanting to get the word out about this film.

One word - POWERFUL! 

People think that this does not happen and these people don't exist.  Not true!  This is the most REAL film I've ever seen on this subject matter.

Seeing it, I realized that I was watching a lot of my childhood played out in front of my eyes, and by the end of the movie I was filled with so many emotions.  When I sorted them all out, the one that stood out the most was Gratitude!  I had to thank God that I made it through.  I know, for a fact, that if you have been through anything like this, by the end of this film you will have a flood of emotions.  I hope you leave feeling the same gratitude I did, thanking God you made it through.  For those of you who haven't been through anything like this, I hope that you still have that level of gratitude...being thankful for the parents you were born to, and also that it will make you want to reach out and help some child.  There are Preciouses everywhere. One word can make a difference in their lives.

Believe me, I know about that one word.

Also, PRECIOUS is opening on different dates around the country.

Click the link below to find out when it's playing in your city.
http://www.tylerperry.com/_Movies/preciousSchedule.php

Thanks.  Talk soon.

TP

Despite $320 Billion Bailout Citibank Screws Customers with 30% APR!

Despite $320 Billion Bailout Citibank Screws
Loyal Customers with 30% APR!

So I crack open my mail the other week to find a notice from Citibank.  And wait—before we go any further, I've come to the conclusion that Citibank isn't a real bank. They've bastardized the word "bank"—no one's money is safe with these people as they nickel-and-dime folks, left right and sideways. I don't know anyone's that's actually saved money in a Citibank. Or even made money with a Citibank for that matter.

We need a new name for them. How about "Citibank Robbers?" Their logo could look like this:

>>>Tada!!!!

There...

Nah, I dunno. On second thought, "CitibankRobbers" sounds cute, but I don't think Citi's actually stolen money from any banks.

Now, they've ripped off customers, taxpayers and even the government. They're good at that. But robbing banks? That'd be a step down for these Citiguys.

Hmmmm.....

I know! Got it. How about:

Citigank. Yeah, much better. [FYI: “Gank” is Chicago slang for to steal, rob or indiscriminately take.]

Anyway, Citigank sends me a letter the other day and the letter goes like this:

“We are making changes to your account terms… To continue to provide our customers with access to credit, we have had to adjust out pricing. The terms of your account will be changing. These changes include an increase in the variable APR for purchases to 29.99% and will take effect November 30, 2009.”

30 percent… That's right, these Citigank summabishes are raising my APR interest rate to 30%. Lemme repeat that:

Citigank is raising my APR 30%. Thirty percent… that’s my reward for being a loyal customer who always pays his bills on time. Thirty percent interest.

Folks, I’m from Chicago. And I know for a fact that the Chicago mafia doesn’t charge 30% for street loans. Seriously, they don’t. Leave it to an effin' "bank" to think a 30% APR is not only normal, but moral.

I swear, if could hit 30% I’d playing for the LA Dodgers… the Padres, at least. But nope... these guys hit me with 30.

And you know what bothers me more than the 30% rate hike itself? That Citigank raised the rates based on my outstanding balance. Not from anything going forward but beginning 11/30/09, I’ll be on the hook at 30% for whatever my balance is at that point. In other words,  pay my balance off now, or pay it off at 30% in a few weeks.

This is like a restaurant raising the price of your meal on you while you're eating it.

 
And if that’s not enough, Citigank is just 12 months removed from a $320 Billion bailout in Nov. 2008. (Remember that? Click here to refresh your memory.)

Taxpayers—against our collective will (thank you, congress)—bailed out Citigank to the tune of $320 Billion. But instead of using the money for loans and credit for customers what did Citigank do? Dole out a whole gang of executive bonuses.

Meanwhile customers like me and hundreds of thousands of others are watching our interest rates go through the roof. And the government does nothing to stop these greedy amoral crooks. It did nothing under Reagan. Nothing under Bush 41, nothing under Clinton or Bush 43 and is doing even less under Obama.

Citigank... these leeches… Nah, scratch that. I’ve seen leeches OD on the blood they suck till they get fat and die. Credit card companies like Citigank? They live forever.

Death, taxes and debt—the only 3 guarantees in life, these days. Might as well profit off of 'em, right?

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but greed is the roadmap.

Once I pay this card off, I’m canceling everything Citibank-related. And I mean everything. I’m cutting these bastards out of my life permanently. They can choke on their money and rot.

Citibank, you can kiss my big, black, APR.