Yes, sorry I’ve been gone so long. Look, it was the holidays and I had stuff to do. Speaking of which, damn Jay-Z for announcing his official resignation the day before Christmas. Shit! His news busted up my shopping schedule. In any event, now that I’m back, I did an official list of who should be Def Jam’s next president on BET.com. But I figured I’d give you the unedited version.
1. IRV GOTTI – I mean, seriously, he was probably a better choice than Jay-Z was in the first place. I.G. has the history with Def Jam and has a pretty good meter for what’s hot. Who has brought more hits (as an executive…not an artist) to the label in recent years? He has shown that he can spot new talent (ex. Lloyd) and break both R&B and hip-hop acts. Irv has the celebrity status that they were looking for by hiring Jay-Z to be the figurehead. I’m not taking anything away from Jay, who gets his money, but I just want Jay to stop soaking up too much of the music industry’s budget with his dual roles. Anyway, the Irv Gotti thing is probably a moot point because he already has a deal with another label (is it Motown??…look, I don’t even know these days). Only I need him to not make Ja Rule’s seventeenth album the first release on the schedule.
2. JERMAINE DUPRI - Wouldn’t this make everyone at IDJ’s life easier? What is his title there now anyway? Wasn’t it a slight to Jay when J.D. was hired? People on the inside claimed they co-existed well, but I don’t believe that for a minute. But I’m kinda leary of anyone at that level who would accept the position alongside Jay when they themselves had a better track record as an executive. Unless the plan was always for him to takeover. If so, good move, J.D., good move. Now get Janet’s career in check.
3. DIDDY – Who wouldn’t want to come to work to drink Ciroc Vodka all day? Only, they may start to get queezy from smelling too much cologne. Maybe a new big label would revive Diddy’s musical career and Bad Boy label. Bad Boy is hip-hop and I really can’t take another Making Da Band without that hip-hop element. Diddy would make a good president too, but then I’m sure the label would have to downsize to afford him. All Diddy really needs is two assistants and a computer to upload video to Youtube.
4. CHUCK D - It’s about time that we start considering the veterans who we know have no other motive but to preserve the culture. This would be an interesting move on Def Jam’s part and guess what, it would probably costs nothing less than a honest decent salary. Hell, they may be able to give some jobs back to people.
5. NAS – For argument’s sake, it’d be interesting to see what Nas would do as president. I’m thinking smoke breaks every half hour and company retreats to the motherland. Okay, kidding.
6. JIM JONES – Okay, now that I’ve started joking around, I’m going to go full speed ahead with it. Jim Jones would fire the whole office and have his goons running the label, and it might make for some interesting office fights.
7. LL COOL J – He had issues with Jay-Z being President, so what do you think would happen if he took over. It would be 1988 all over again, that’s what. Not that that’s a bad thing, at least EPMD could get into awards shows. Then if LL’s album flopped this time, he couldn’t blame anyone but his damn self. LOL.
8. KEVIN LILES – Would a skinny Kevin Liles be able to come back and run Def Jam? His new skinny self seems so R&B-ish. Hip-hoppers are fat and unhealthy. Look at all the good hip-hop DJs.
I’m gonna keep adding, but I gotta take a break…
–KIM O.
