Donald Trump tried to strike a match in Tulsa this weekend but it completely backfired thanks in part to the power of TikTok and the fans of K-pop sensations such as BTS and Blackpink. Those pesky “TikTok teens,” as media outlets called them, RSVP’d for hundreds of thousands of rally slots in an effort to inflate the projected turnout. It worked like a charm. The arena was emptier than Trump’s promises.Originally, Trump scheduled the rally for Juenteeth, the holiday commemorating the end of U.S. slavery. After tremendous outcry, he moved it to the next day. Since the George Floyd protests began, many major cities and companies have declared Juneteenth an official holiday. If Joe Biden wins the election in November, I believe it will become a national holiday next.Tulsa is a particularly controversial spot for a Trump rally, especially during an intense period of racial reckoning, because of its place in civil rights history. It so happens that right before the pandemic hit, I was in Tulsa. What an eye-opening weekend it was.Tulsa was once known as the “magic city” for its ability to make people rich off oil in the early 20th century. But the past 100 years have been marred by horrific injustices. The 1921 massacre of Black Wall Street (known more cryptically as the Oklahoma Race Riot) weighs heavily on the city. The scars of the tragedy may never fully heal.There’s a hip-hop movement happening in The Town (as it’s referred to in Oklahoma), built on love, community, and the legacy of ancestors who paved the way. During our visit, a handful of reporters and industry movers were immersed in the Tulsan culture. Over that weekend, the stems of Fire In Little Africa were made.Fire In Little Africa is a groundbreaking album and multiplayer media project coming out of Tulsa in 2021. The project has two central goals: 1. Mark the centennial of the tragedies of 1921.The Greenwood District where Black Wall Street once stood, although not the same, has since been rebuilt. But Black Wall Street is a mentality. The FILA album is built off its ethos. 2. Highlight the local Tulsa hip-hop sceneThe common wisdom for artists not born in one of the established hip-hop meccas is simple: leave your hometown and get to Atlanta, Los Angeles, or New York as fast as you can. So Fire in Little Africa is the story of the artists who stayed in Tulsa to claim what is rightfully theirs. The project will feature rappers, singers, musicians, and visual artists who are not afraid to be themselves and to celebrate their hometown, scars and all. They want to turn the wound of an atrocity into motivation and empowerment.I had the privilege of meeting a lot of this local talent. The executive producer of the album is Dr. Stevie Johnson, PhD, who loves hip-hop so much that when he got his doctorate last May and handed in his dissertation, he turned it into a mixtape as well! In Stevie’s words, the goal of the album is to use his resources to hold people accountable while uplifting the human race.I’m very excited to have Dr. Stevie Johnson and an all-star Tulsa hip-hop team on Beats & Bytes Live this week. The show will start at 6pm ET on my LinkedIn page.
We’ll get a first-hand account of one of the best redemption stories in American history and you’ll hear all about Fire in Little Africa. RSVP here. On top of that, Friday we’re partnering with DEW to host a conversation about Tik Tok. Join me, @jacobpace (CEO of @flighthouse), and @hope.schwing to discuss the pre-eminent social media platform on “What's Hot, What's Not, and Where Things Are Going Next.” Link to RSVP here.
BEATS
TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump RallyPresident Trump’s campaign promised huge crowds at his rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday, but it failed to deliver. Hundreds of teenage TikTok users and K-pop fans say they’re at least partially responsible. (NY Times)
Teyana Taylor Album Listening Party Draws Cardi B and Offset, Lena Waithe, More Out of QuarantineTeyana Taylor is set to release “The Album” on Friday, coinciding with Juneteenth, the day marking word of emancipation reaching enslaved African-Americans in the outermost territories in 1865. (Variety)
The Live Nation MemoLive Nation has leverage, but not that much leverage. In truth, their leverage only applies to acts that are not guaranteed arena sellouts. And why should acts help Live Nation through this Covid-19 era, Live Nation is not helping the acts! (Lefsetz Letter)
After Paying $100 Million for the Joe Rogan Experience, Spotify’s Market Valuation Has Grown Over $13 BillionFor Spotify, the tremendous financial impact of the Joe Rogan Experience is indicative of investors’ considerable confidence in the high-growth podcasting segment, which has attracted millions of stateside and international fans in recent years. (Digital Music News)
A&R in the Time of Coronavirus: Five Executives on the Records Breaking ThroughA silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic: it’s revealed the resilience of artists and executives alike in continuing to push out new music. You could even look at this time as a sort of A&R boom — with songs benefitting from captive audiences and creators finding themselves with solitary time on their hands. (Variety)
Netflix, Pharrell Williams In Talks to Develop a Juneteenth Musical – ReportJune 19, 1865, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States when the last slaves were freed in Texas. That move came more than two and a half years after Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation. The holiday originates in Galveston, Texas, where Juneteenth celebrations kick off all over the city. (Digital Music News)
Unreleased Travis Scott Song Appears in Ad for Kendall Jenner x Kylie Cosmetics CollabAfter teasing “Butterfly Effect” last year, Kylie Jenner recently revealed her Kylie Cosmetics collaboration with Kendall Jenner accompanied by an unreleased Travis Scott track. Taking to Instagram, Kylie posted a promotion video for the team-up, showing her excitement for the project with her sister and a June 26 release date. (Hypebeast)
Normani Doesn’t Want Your Performative Posts—She Needs ActionNormani is joining Urban Decay as the brand’s newest UD Global Citizen. The singer joins Urban Decay’s new class of Global Citizens alongside Riverdale star Camila Mendes and Hong Kong singer G.E.M for the brand’s Pretty Different campaign, which celebrates these women for their individuality and unapologetic nature. (Elle)
Colin Kaepernick Joins Medium Board Of Directors And Inks Partnership Publishing DealThe online publishing platform Medium said that it has added former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and civil rights advocate Colin Kaepernick to its board of directors. The company also said it had inked a partnership agreement with Kaepernick to develop projects focused on race and civil rights in America under the Kaepernick Publishing imprint — Kaepernick’s personal publishing company founded in 2019. (Tech Crunch)
Ja Rule Defends Viral Restaurant Ad: ‘I’m A Marketing Genius’Ja’s “cheesy” ad for an LA Greek deli called Papa Cristo’s went viral and was boosted when Fiddy commented in a since-deleted post: “This what happens … I’ll have you and your whole label selling gyros.” The pair’s had beef since the ’90s. (Page Six)
Twitch’s Streaming Boom Is Jolting the Music IndustrySince starting his Twitch channel in March, Blume has amassed more than 100,000 followers. Every time he goes live, thousands of people tune in to hear him talk about his artistic process and to observe how he interacts with musicians and fellow producers. (Bloomberg)
Look Up! Weekly: Social MoneySocial Money is a branded digital token that individual artists and creators can issue to their online communities. It allows creators to own, control, and coordinate the value that they create across media platforms. (Look Up! Weekly)
Coronavirus Halted L.A.'s Biggest K-pop Festival. Now Fans Have A Digital AlternativeIf any music genre was going to thrive in the era of quarantined livestreams, it was K-pop. While events like KCON and massive concert tours like BTS and SuperM have become fixtures in SoCal’s music calendar, K-pop’s life here began online and flourished in digital spaces. (LA Times)
EVERYONE'S POPPING MY BOTTLES...Wine Flying Off Shelves!!!The "Better Now" rapper officially released his own French rosé, Maison No. 9, and it's already in high demand ... we're told Posty sold 50,000 bottles in 2 days during its pre-sale, wiping out the first round of inventory in a flash. (TMZ)
4 Months Into Lockdown, Eventbrite Ceo Julia Hartz Sees ‘Exciting Signs Of Recovery’Hartz, who co-founded the company with her husband Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage, joined ExtraCrunch Live recently to discuss moving forward when your core business isn’t just threatened, but wiped out completely. “You never as a founder — at least I never — ever wondered what would happen if the whole basis of our mission was tested,” she said.
Music Clearance Maven Deborah Mannis-Gardner on Navigating Song Rights in an Increasingly Digital WorldThe Internet has always seemed a bit like the Wild West, and never more so than now, during the COVID-19 pandemic. With live performances temporarily halted for an unspecified period of time, more and more performers are getting their acts together and taking them online. But just because it feels like there are no rules right now doesn’t mean that it’s true. (Playbill)
BYTES
Since Horovitz and Rubin hadn’t spoken in more than 20 years (not out of anger, but just because they simply hadn’t), it not only has the joyfulness of reuniting with an old friend, it almost amounts to an oral history of the group’s early years.
This episode is focused on art as activism and how artists and creatives use their platform to speak on topics that are sometimes really hard to swallow. Shout out to @museummammy, our first evaaaah “Kitty’s World” guest.
Cove was developed for all ages and abilities. It was designed to enable everyone to express and capture a mood or emotion. It primarily uses music instead of words to express a feeling or mood, and so may be helpful in conjunction with talking therapies and counselling.
Today (June 19), in tribute to the power of Black music during Juneteenth and Black Music Month, Slick Rick has released The Ruler's Storytelling Mix, exclusively on Audiomack. Blended by DJ Kaos, the sprawling, 38-track mixtape features six unreleased, never-before-heard tracks, along with some of the artist's most acclaimed remixes and featured verses from collaborations with Missy Elliott, Mos Def, Raekwon and more.
This week's newsletter was carefully curated by the Nue Agency staff and our editor Rachel Meisner If you think we missed something this week or have any suggestions/comments for next week's newsletter, let us know!