Crib Notes

'HEY MAN, SMELL MY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD': George Clinton (right) with BMI CEO Del Bryant

Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) functions much like its competitor ASCAP, collecting royalties on behalf of songwriters and publishers from radio and other outlets. But unlike ASCAP, which is owned by its songwriters and publishers, BMI is owned by broadcasters, the same people they license for royalties.

Shady, right? Still, it’s been ahead of the curve when it comes to representing black musicians, and today its artists include the majority of top-selling hip hop artists. The weirdness of these dynamics were on full display at BMI’s Urban Awards show September 10 in New York. Held at Lincoln Center’s jazz hall, the evening’s co-host was BMI CEO Del Bryant, whose tightly-buttoned suit, weird tan and strained attempts at street banter routinely caused a huge room of cocktailed-up rappers, producers and music industry types (one of whom was rocking a Gumby haircut) to fall into awkward silences.

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Funkadelic Parliamentarian George Clinton doesn’t have any substantial Atlanta ties that I know of, but he’s been enormously influential on local artists. At least according to Dallas Austin, whom I talked to recently about his new 8Dazeaweakend project. (Its DVD, which features Clinton, just became available on iTunes, by the way.)

“He’s been instrumental to all of our careers in Atlanta, me and Outkast and everybody,” Austin says, going on to describe his exhilaration at seeing Parliament’s spaceship stage show when he was younger.

Next Thursday Austin and other Atlanta musicians will have a chance to return the favor, as they are scheduled to appear at BMI’s Urban Music Awards show in New York City, during which Clinton will be presented with an “Icon” award.

Atl types scheduled to attend the event at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall also include Keri Hilson, Soulja Boy, Polow da Don, Cee-Lo, Bobby Valentino and Big Boi. Others promised are DJ Khaled, Plies, Rick Ross and Ray J.

In fact, pretty much everybody will be there except you. There are no tickets available to the public. But your trusty correspondent has submitted a press request, so hopefully I will be able to apprise you of the goings on.

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SOULJA BOY: Devourer of little children.

(Photo courtesy Interscope)

One recent afternoon, I was at a laundromat washing my clothes, and I saw these kids running around and generally being a nuisance. They kept repeating the phrase “Youuuu!” similar to how Soulja Boy chants in his ubiquitous “Crank That (Soulja Boy).” They didn’t bother reciting the whole chorus, just the “youuuu” part over and over again.

That particular sound is so memorable that Soulja Boy recycled it for his second hit single, the rising “Soulja Girl.” Near the end of last summer, I bet my boss Rodney Carmichael that Soulja Boy’s debut album would open high on the Billboard charts and then brick like so many others with a ringtone-certified hit have this year (Rich Boy, Mims and Shop Boyz can take a bow) … unless he could dig up a second single. It looks like “Soulja Girl” may be that song.

Musically, “Soulja Girl” is not much. It features a repetitive hook from i15, a boy band ATL producer Polow da Don is trying to foist upon the world, and that unmistakable “youuuu” sound kids seem to like so much. But that seems to be enough. “Soulja Girl” is ascending the Billboard singles chart, and its video is in constant rotation on MTV’s video channels.

Meanwhile, Soulja Boy has become an object of ridicule, much like D4L was last year. When I saw Psyche Origami open for Little Brother at the Earl last Tuesday, DJ Dainja, one of the group’s two DJs, cued up “Crank That.” The entire audience in the sold-out room booed loudly. “All that Soulja Boy shit is dead wrong, but we keep shit dead right,” declared Wyz, the group’s MC, as the DJs began playing the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Dead Wrong.”

Is Soulja Boy the nadir in the year of the ringtone? Perhaps. But you can’t stop the kids from bothering youuuu. For more on Soulja Boy as the pied piper of gullible children, read Mr. Carmichael’s story in CL’s Oct. 4 issue here.

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Polow da Don, the producer behind pop-rap hits like Fergie’s “London Bridge” and “The Glamorous Life” and Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s,” has always been feeling himself. (For some background info, check out Edward Garnes’ Dec. 27, 2006, story here.) Judging by a recent interview with allhiphop.com, however, Polow’s arrogance has reached new heights. This is what he had to say when the writer asked about his dating preferences:

AllHipHop.com: Now, you call yourself the “King of All White Girls.” Elaborate on that for me.

Polow Da Don: Just the “King of the White Girls.” I ain’t self proclaimed but I run with it. [Laughs] There was a stage in my life where I went crazy with dating white women. I have nothing against black women, but they’re raised differently. White women are raised to respect and serve their men. Black women are taught to question [their men]. Black women look at submission as being weak. White women look at submission as being a woman. And anyone who has a problem with this statement is ignorant. Just look at the divine order: it goes God, man, woman, child.

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