I saw MGK perform live at one of the rowdy fests in Athens this spring.  He has a heck of a stage presence.  I'd argue his live performance ability exceeds his rap ability.  I hope he makes it big, absolutely love 'Cleveland.'  I think he is a lot more loyal to Cleveland than Kid Cudi is, but we'll have to wait and see after MGK really takes off nationally.

I think it's unrealistic to expect that Cleveland will ever be some sort of an entertainment hub with labels, studios, etc. setting up shop here.  There are a few gigantic cities that have an oligopoly on that industry, and that's never going to change.  Let's moderate our expectations a bit.  I'm just satisfied in seeing people who represent this city having success and continuing to shed a positive light on their roots.

I work in entertainment so I disagree, all it takes is one label, TV or media conglomerate.  However, with the shrinking of the CD/Recorded music and Publishing businesses and the plateau of TV/Movie home entertainment I dont see it happening.  We have the RnR HOF in which we are not properly leveraging that brand.

 

And industry can easily move.

 

I saw MGK perform live at one of the rowdy fests in Athens this spring.  He has a heck of a stage presence.  I'd argue his live performance ability exceeds his rap ability.  I hope he makes it big, absolutely love 'Cleveland.'  I think he is a lot more loyal to Cleveland than Kid Cudi is, but we'll have to wait and see after MGK really takes off nationally.

 

I think his DVD will be met with luke warm reception.  HipHop/Rap is not the HipHop/Rap it was a decade ago when it was intertwined into RnB and we dominate on Music Video programming.

I think it's unrealistic to expect that Cleveland will ever be some sort of an entertainment hub with labels, studios, etc. setting up shop here.  There are a few gigantic cities that have an oligopoly on that industry, and that's never going to change.  Let's moderate our expectations a bit.  I'm just satisfied in seeing people who represent this city having success and continuing to shed a positive light on their roots.

I work in entertainment so I disagree, all it takes is one label, TV or media conglomerate.  However, with the shrinking of the CD/Recorded music and Publishing businesses and the plateau of TV/Movie home entertainment I dont see it happening.  We have the RnR HOF in which we are not properly leveraging that brand.

 

And industry can easily move.

 

I saw MGK perform live at one of the rowdy fests in Athens this spring.  He has a heck of a stage presence.  I'd argue his live performance ability exceeds his rap ability.  I hope he makes it big, absolutely love 'Cleveland.'  I think he is a lot more loyal to Cleveland than Kid Cudi is, but we'll have to wait and see after MGK really takes off nationally.

 

I think his DVD will be met with luke warm reception.  HipHop/Rap is not the HipHop/Rap it was a decade ago when it was intertwined into RnB and we dominate on Music Video programming.

 

I completely agree. I also work in the entertainment industry locally. I understand the thinking of "there'll always be *insert city here* that will dominate the industry" because it used to be the truth. But the age of the internet has really cause a decentralization of the entertainment industry, much to the chagrin of some of the old guard in the business. I think New York will always be New York, Los Angeles will always be Los Angeles. But just like there's an NY and LA there's an Atlanta or a Nashville (both of which have pretty significant entertainment industry hubs). We don't have to be New York or Los Angeles, but there's certainly a place for us in the industry, no doubt about that.

 

I think the key to making it work is having a niche. Cities outside of NY or LA that have entertainment hubs did so because they had a niche. Atlanta's music industry exploded within the last 10-12 years (although historically, they always had some sort of a music presence, just like CLE used to) because of the growth of Southern Rap. Artists started their own record labels, got recording or distribution deals with the major labels in NY or LA, and when they became successful, they kept their record labels in Atlanta. Nashville of course is the capital of Country and Christian music. So we need a niche, something that we're really good at.

 

But finding a niche is not that difficult, considering that there's so much musical roots here. We just need to tap back into it. Everybody knows about our Rock N Roll background, but few know about our Gospel history or our Jazz history or our Pop history or even our Rap history. At one point, music was so strong in this town that the New York record labels had satellite offices in Cleveland. We were the test market. We were the place where the NY labels sent their artists to before they got to NY, because our cities were (and I'd argue still are) similar in terms of demographics. If you couldn't make it in Cleveland, you didn't stand a chance in New York City. People forget that. Having a thriving entertainment industry in Cleveland is not some pipe dream, its simply bringing back what we once had. And being someone in this field, I think we can do it.

And let me just say...

 

WHAT A RETARD!

 

Then again...this might gain him some national attention (regarding today's Strongsviille fun).

 

So i'll rewrite

 

WHAT AN A$$HOLE

This crap can take a hike...not what I would want to see promoting Cleveland...No matter how it is sugarcoated.... it is still c-RAP IMO... "the poets of limited vocabulary." (most of what is being presented in the mainstream today, in contrast to yesterday) Same selfish idiot ...in-your-face anti-social..."I'm entitled to do whatever the F*** I want" mentality/behavior that carelessly and often purposely drives by homes at 3:00 AM with their audio terrorist obnoxious noise making machines, robbing people of peace in their own homes. No thanks at 20....and no thanks at 43. Not everything has to be "Hip Hop-ified" Let's get creative and do something different for a change.

 

This crap can take a hike...not what I would want to see promoting Cleveland...No matter how it is sugarcoated.... it is still c-RAP IMO... "the poets of limited vocabulary." (most of what is being presented in the mainstream today, in contrast to yesterday) Same selfish idiot ...in-your-face anti-social..."I'm entitled to do whatever the F*** I want" mentality/behavior that carelessly and often purposely drives by homes at 3:00 AM with their audio terrorist obnoxious noise making machines, robbing people of peace in their own homes. No thanks at 20....and no thanks at 43. Not everything has to be "Hip Hop-ified" Let's get creative and do something different for a change.

 

I don't usually jump on this sort of thing, but yeah.  MGK does not represent the perception we want to create for young people or anyone else.  I don't think Eminem has done any favors for Detroit either.  This is not the way.

This crap can take a hike...not what I would want to see promoting Cleveland...No matter how it is sugarcoated.... it is still c-RAP IMO... "the poets of limited vocabulary." (most of what is being presented in the mainstream today, in contrast to yesterday) Same selfish idiot ...in-your-face anti-social..."I'm entitled to do whatever the F*** I want" mentality/behavior that carelessly and often purposely drives by homes at 3:00 AM with their audio terrorist obnoxious noise making machines, robbing people of peace in their own homes. No thanks at 20....and no thanks at 43. Not everything has to be "Hip Hop-ified" Let's get creative and do something different for a change.

Oh where to start? lol. First of all, this isn't a topic about whether you like Hip-Hop music or not. That's irrelevant. Second of all, I doubt you'd make the same argument about comparable rock artists, particularly 70s-80s drug induced Rock music. The only difference between the rappers of today and the rockers of yesterday is that rappers curse (and nowadays Rockers do). But there's only criticisms of Rap. Why is that? (That's another topic for another day). There is not one other industry in the modern history of the United States (and possibly ever) that has created more wealth among minorities than the Hip-Hop Industry. But yet that industry is still a pariah in at least your mind. People have more respect for the Porn Industry than the Hip-Hop business. I wonder why. (Again, another topic for another day).

 

Second, ask Atlanta what Hip-Hop has done to help their city. "Today, the city has more than 300 recording facilities and is the driving force in a commercial music industry that has a statewide annual economic impact of nearly $1 billion, according to a Georgia State University study". http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2005-12-01-mauldin-profile_x.htm

 

Third, as a result of the economic impact of Hip-Hop on Atlanta, its stupid to alienate that or not attempt to go for a piece of that pie, especially when its likely that a majority of the under 30 population of the city of Cleveland and, yes, the suburbs, listen to some form of Hip-Hop music.

 

Fourth, if anyone thinks that MGK was going to have a bunch of people rob stores at that mall, you're high. It was a publicity stunt to show how much support he has and how big of a crowd he can gather. He didn't get arrested for organizing a flash mob. He got arrested for refusing to climb off of a table. So to try to make this as some "violence inducing" event is ridiculous and pales in comparison to classy rock influenced events of the past such as "ten cent beer night" or "Disco demolition night".

 

And finally, since this has turned into a Rap bashing conversation, I'll leave you with a quote from a Rapper, Jay-Z. "Scarface the movie did more than Scarface the rapper to me. Still that aint to blame for all the s--- that happened to me. Are you saying what I'm spitting is worse than these celebutantes showing their kitten? Are you kidding? Let's stop the bulls---tin. Until we all without sin, let's quit the pulpitting."