No more ‘hos’ for Santa?

Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Santas in Sydney, the country’s biggest city, have been told not to use the “Ho, Ho, Ho” greeting because it may be offensive to women.

One wannabe Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm had warned him not to use the traditional expression, because it could “frighten children” and was “too close to ‘ho’, a US slang term for prostitute.”

He was instructed to use “Ha, Ha, Ha” instead.

Is this political correctness gone crazy?

Source: Yahoo.com

Exclusive interview with Mya!

This week I caught up with the beautiful and talented R&B singer, Mya.

The industry veteran opens up about a number of things, including her diverse style tastes and how extremely personal her upcoming album, Liberation, is going to be.

Make sure you check out Liberation (out through Universal Motown) when it releases on September 18.

Let me know what you think of the interview!

Songs of Freedom host YRB Magazine party

Last night in New York City, YRB Magazine had a launch party for their new issue at Retreat nightclub.

One of DrJays.com‘s strongest brands, Songs of Freedom, represented on the night, providing the goodie bags.

Make sure you check out Songs of Freedom, doing big things on an independent level!

Rick Gray, VP of Operations and Kevin Jones, Marketing & Advertising, Songs of Freedom

Bryce Boyd, VP of Promotion, Merchandising & Street Team, Songs of Freedom

Kimora Lee Simmons’ daughters launch clothing line

The Simmons family just keeps churning out style moguls.

Following in the footsteps of their cousins Vanessa and Angela Simmons, whose Pastry kicks are a runaway success, and of course their uncle Rev Run (Run Athletics), father Russell (Phat Farm) and mother Kimora (Baby Phat), Ming Lee and Aoki Lee launched their first collection today, called Ming and Aoki.

Keep an eye out on DrJays.com for all of the above lines.

Exclusive images from Young Jeezy’s new clothing brand

I was at the Rocawear offices the other day to meet with the guys behind 8732, rapper Young Jeezy‘s new clothing brand.

They gave me a disc of exclusive images from the photo shoot for the line’s first collection, featuring Jeezy and Weezy, a.k.a Lil Wayne.

As you can see from the photos, there’s a strong motorbike/tough guy theme, complete with sleeveless vests, sewn patches, dark denim and so on.

VIBE Vixen magazine closes

According to sources, VIBE Vixen has folded.

Its closure follows the early demise of Suede, a similar magazine targeted towards “women of color.”

Speaking of which, the term “women of color” can be so misleading. For instance – in the United States, it’s primarily used to describe black women, and to a lesser extent Latina women.

The definition, however, should include Asian women, Middle Eastern women, Polynesian women; basically any females that don’t fall under traditional European status.

Word Play: Panchira

Ashlee Simpson

n. Panchira: a glimpse of someone’s panties.

Hiiiiiiii…..T-Pain

T-Pain

Paging Alcoholics Anonymous – come get your boy T-Pain.

The Tallahassee, Florida singer has to have an undiagnosed drinking problem.

Check the resume:

His kick-off summer 2007 anthem, “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” leads into..

…his current hit, “Bartender”, which flows into…

…his future single, “Tipsy.”

These tracks feature on Pain’s current album, Epiphany.

After sippin’ on that good stuff for more than a minute, I’m guessing his epiphanies are as wacky as his style:

When keeping it real goes…right

T.I.

There are so few “real” artists out there these days.

An enduring artist is one who’s experienced their fair share of pain. One who’s come from “the bottom of the bottom/To the Top of the Pops,” as Jay-Z recounted, and expresses that eventful journey through music that soothes not only their own soul, but ours also.

T.I. is definitely a real artist. Here’s an excerpt from his VIBE magazine August 2007 cover story:

Are you at all interested in being the best rapper alive?
“No. I don’t care about making the best albums. Rapping? That’s like asking a football player, does he care about running. A basketball player, does he care about dunking? It’s something that you do in the process of. You have to know how to rap very, very good to be able to make a great song, which will enable you to make a great album, which will enable you to become prolific.”When I was rapping a whole lot, it didn’t equate to numbers. When I didn’t rap so much, it did equate to numbers. So I figure I split the difference and take the best of the two and combine them together.”

So perfecting your craft isn’t your focus?
“I’ve already done that. How long you think I’ma do it? I can do anything. I can rap slow. I can rap fast. I can rap simple. I can be complex. I can do whatever I want to do. The thing is, to sell records you have to reach everybody. If you notice, all the people who are really, really, really god at rapping never reach their peak until they learn how to apply their strengths where necessary.

“You can be the strongest muthafucker in the world, but if you don’t know when to use your strength, you gonna play yourself out.”

The Atlanta rapper, whose new album, T.I. vs TIP, is his fifth, sold 468,000 copies in its first week of US sales, is coherent, honest and to the point.

If his words above don’t illustrate the challenges faced by top MCs in the game, then what does?

So to premier artists like T.I, Keyshia Cole and Chamillionaire, keep on keepin’ on, because real music fans are out here appreciating you.