Diddy Opens Sean John Concept Store NYC

Diddy was on hand in New York this week to open a new Sean John concept store.

The Bad Boy mogul visited the Herald's Square Macy's where he joined Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren at a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Sean John has an exclusive deal with Macys that only allows it to be sold in their stores.

]]> http://hiphopwired.com/2011/10/28/diddy-opens-sean-john-concept-store-photos/feed/ 0 http://hiphopwired.com/2011/09/16/kelly-rowland-and-diddy-promote-empress-perfume-photos/ http://hiphopwired.com/2011/09/16/kelly-rowland-and-diddy-promote-empress-perfume-photos/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:34:52 +0000 Randy Roper http://hiphopwired.com/?p=115464

Diddy and Kelly Rowland Team Up For Sean John's "Empress" Perfume Launch

Sean "Diddy" Combs and Kelly Rowland were at Macy's in Lakewood, California to help promote Sean John's new "Empress" female fragrance.

Miss Rowland, the "Empress" spokeswoman, was looking good too and had this to say about the smell goods:

“It just really celebrates a woman being unique and powerful and beautiful in her own right, and celebrating all our idiosyncrasies,” Kelly said.

Hit the next few pages to view more photos from the Macy launch event.

As reported here recently, Rick Ross has picked up DC rhyme slinger, Wale, signing him to his Maybach Music imprint.

Maybach films captured Ross and Wale hanging out Super Bowl weekend at an appearance for Sean John at Macy's in Arlington, Texas signing autographs for fans.

Rozay talks on camera about the distribution bidding war he has going on, he reveals his new nickname, and is presented with a new Maybach Music "Super Bowl" chain from famous jeweler "TV" Johnny Dang.

Ross also had Dang design a $44,000 black-diamond Cartier watch for Maybach's newest signee as a token of appreciation for joining the "winning team."

"Same music, better energy."

In the video Wale also expressed his reason for switching from Allido/Interscope Records to The Bawse's label, stating that it was for "creative control."

According to Wale his desire to put out records like "Diary" or "Ambitious Girl" from his debut album as singles was not supported by the major label.

"...instead of having somebody say, 'Nah, black people ain't gonna believe that. That's not what they want from you,' I can be like, 'Rozay, my heart is in this record right now.' (He'll say) 'Let's do it.'"

 

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But according to Kristin Bentz, retail analyst and president of Talented Blonde, LLC, “the era of the celeb-designer is close to being over, if not already. When the recession hit, so many rappers/actors/personalities rushed to get licensing deals. So now we are overrun at retail with the remnants of rappers past.”

The Atlanta Post collaborated with Bentz to critique some of Hip-Hop's hottest lines that are still memorable today, not only for their sales, but also for their massive appeal to consumers and demonstrated business savvy on the part of the artist; as well as some of Hip-Hop's  less memorable brands due to high pricing points, an absence of solid promotion and mismanagement.

Here are Bentz's picks for fashion lines that have been leaders in the artist-designer arena:

Phat Farm

Russell Simmons was undoubtedly the pioneer of the celeb-designer phenomenon with the launch of Phat Farm in 1992, which combined the urban aesthetics of the streets and the preppy culture of the Ivy League for men.

Successful lines such as Phat Farm are “established by tier one rapper/artists that truly have the star power and financial backing to hire superior management teams and designers, as well as [finance] multi-million dollar ad campaigns,” says Bentz.

Another example the demonstrates Simmons' business savvy and why the brand has lasted for nearly two decades was his decision to sell Phat Farm to the Kellwood Company in 2004 for $140 million.

“Brands are sold to large publicly-held companies that know how to merchandise, manage and promote a brand much better than the celebs who own the company are able to.”

The Study Continues At The Atlanta Post

Employees at the Sean John Store were reportedly notified of the decision late last week that the store –the first of its kind when opening in August 2004 – is being closed, due to slow sales.

In May of 2010, Diddy inked a deal with Macy's to carry the Sean John clothing brand exclusively, making the need for the 5th Avenue flagship store obsolete. Yet, according to a rep for the label, the brand is looking for other spaces to open stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Sean Combs launched the signature clothing line Sean John in 1998, with revenues now reportedly exceeding $100 million annually.

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This time Fif is making Diddy his new prime target as the two have been having a war of words as of late.

As previously reported, Fif was quoted at a recent performance saying “F*ck Diddy” prompting Puff to subliminally respond to him after the BET awards saying,

“If you're hating, you're a sucka and your breath stinks… you know who I'm talking to you hatin' a** crab!”

Well in his latest jab, Fif fired more shots at Puff during a concert in Brazil this weekend and had a little fun over Diddy's "Hello Good Morning" before he spit his verse off the "Bitch (Remix).

Peep The Video After The Break!!! [More]

Fif stated,

"Hello, good morning, you like that s*it," Fif asked the concertgoers.  Well the next time you see Puffy, tell him I said 'N*gga don't act like a b*tch.."

I guess this what millionaires do in their free time.  Argue over nothing... SMH

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50 Cent Boycotting Diddy SIGN UP!!!

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Diddy changed the name because Murder Inc.'s Irv Gotti had already used the name for his clique.  Rick Ross tells MTV that the name change was the proper thing to do.

"Shout out to Irv Gotti and their whole movement, they've been repping the Supreme Team for a minute," Ross said. "We were caught up in the moment; it just fit the situation so good. We kinda just did our crew thing and ran with it. [The name] got hot in the streets. I think it was only right, us being entrepreneurs coming from the same place, representing the same game, being brothers."

More Of The Video Explanation After The Break!!! [More]

Launching their new half-hour series “Famous Crime Scene” on Friday, February 12^th at 9 p.m., the first episode will take an in-depth look at the murders of Pac and Biggie which are still unsolved.

The additional six episodes will investigate the untimely deaths of Biggie Smalls, John Lennon, Anna Nicole Smith, Selena, Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson.

Taking a different approach to the cases, VH-1 reveals while news accounts tell only part of the story, the network  has rounded up the witnesses and investigators who were there to give viewers the intimate details from the initial 911 call to the investigators' final determination to help piece together what really happened.

Using expert interviews and true-to-life reenactments, as well as advanced computer graphics, viewers will witness full recreations of these historic events.  They'll tour virtual crime scenes searching for clues and learn the science behind the investigators' findings: ballistics, fingerprints, DNA evidence, toxicology, profiling and more.

Hip-Hop Wired also previously spoke with an O.G. who detailed that the murders of Tupac and Biggie  was in fact gang related and had no ties to the East Coast / West Coast beef.  Click here and peep the story.

Speaking in anonymity, the West Coast O.G. stated:

“Initially when the East Coast/ West Coast beef started, Puffy and more or less Bad Boy… some of the big wigs from Bad Boy came out to California and they were performing at one of the shows out here.  It was one of those concerts when they were out here and the whole East Coast vs. West Coast beef was going on. When they got out here they recruited these dudes from the South Side Crips and a couple other local Crip sets to go out there and to come to the concert.

So they all go to the concert and they get backstage access.  So after using their backstage access they hooked up with the big wigs and they met them back at a hotel and the after party. So after they met them at the after party, they called some of the big wigs up and they were asking them how  much they were gonna charge them (the Southside Crips) to take out Death Row.

So they came to some kind of agreement.  It was something like $20-thousand a chain.  For every Death Row chain they snatched, they wanted like $20-thousand.

Also they said it was like a contract on Death Row's head because there was already a beef with Suge Knight running the West Coast industry and the Southside dudes wanted in and wanted to unlock the market out here.

So they made a deal.  There was all kind of war fare out here on the streets.  Baby Lane (Orlando Anderson/ Pac's alleged killer) had actually snatched that Death Row chain and that's why Pac had snapped when he seen him with it on.  Baby Lane had previously snatched that chain from some cat at Lakewood Mall.

And when they seen him with the chain on… all them Blood ni**as… all the dudes who wore Death Row chains were all Bloods.  They all was from Inglewood Family and from The Mob and part of Death Row.  They was all Suge's people who rushed him.

After they seen them with that chain that night and beat his ass… they ended up retaliating and killing Tupac… BUT THAT WAS THE SAME N**AS THAT KILLED TUPAC.  It wasn't nobody different… same ni**as that he snatched the chain from. The ni**as peoples was some hard core Compton motherfu%$ers.  So they ended up killing that ni**a.

So after that happened they wanted that money.   They raised the ante. Now you guys paying us $20-thousand for a chain.  F&ck it.  We got rid of your biggest nemesis so we want whatever you guys owe us.

So then they (Bad Boy) didn't pay up and was like we didn't tell ya'll to do that.  Biggie and them was trying to handle it the democratic way by not paying them up at first because it looked real-real suspicious and sh&t to move that kind of money so they tried to not be affiliated with that and just let is simmer.

Baby Lane

So Baby Lane and them was still beefing with the Mob and the Inglewood family so them ni**as still on the streets even after they won that settlement with Death Row for like $3-million dollars for that beat down.  Death Row settled out of court with that ni@@a and he was still in the hood serving dope and sh*t.

They say that he (Baby Lane) owed some Bloods some money and they saw him at the car wash where they served chronic at and that's when the Bloods got him. They ended up shooting him right there and they say it was over some money and then I heard later it was The Mob that ended up getting that ni##a after slipping up there.

They had a big ass shoot out, it was all over the news back in the day. He shot a couple of people and they shot him.  The feud continued and after he (Baby Lane) got smoked, the FEDS  or somebody…they was watching his uncle who they say is the dude that ran it…the whole ordeal when they smoked Tupac.

He was like the baller of the whole family.  His name is Keefy Dee.  He's locked up now.  They said the FEDS were on him so tough they just got him for conspiracy.  They couldn't get him for the murder or nothing like that.  I'm not sure if he's out or not after that.

After all that sh%t went down and Pac was smoked… in the meanwhile ni$@as still wanted their money from Bad Boy.  But Bad Boy didn't pay up. And Bad Boy probably was going to pay up but the Crips didn't have no time for that.

So they end up smoking Biggie when he came back out here. It wasn't nobody else that smoked him.   Everybody got a conspiracy theory but it was just some ni**as he was f#cking with. Compton ni&%as ain't no joke.

They wanted the money, I don't think Biggie and them ever paid up and that's why Biggie got smoked.

Ni^$a said something in his flow when I think back:

“Columbians tried to do me in, I ain't paid them yet.” He was probably talking about the Compton ni##as trying to do him in and he ain't paid them yet."

After shedding more light on the murders of Pac and Biggie, The O.G. stressed that it was never a coastal beef but some real live “street sh&t.”   He also said that it was a lesson people still haven't learned from as many MCs believe their own character in their rhymes knowing d@mn well they would fold under the pressure of real killers and gangsters.

Solid point as most fools believe the hype until hot lead tears through their ass. Biggie's words still ring true today as so called “gangsta rappers” refuse to listen.  But…You're nobody till somebody kills you!!!

Just in time for 2010, Puff is taking the landlord responsible for his Sean John flagship store to court.

According to a lawsuit filed by the operators of his Sean John clothing line, Christian Casey LLC, the landlord of the Fifth Avenue building in New York City where the store is located, is responsible for their recent poor sales.

The company claims that the landlord left sidewalk scaffolding in front of their operation causing their sales to decline 50%.

Puff's Christian Casey LLC is suing for $2.5 million.

Ummm…did it ever occur to them that maybe people just don't want to wear Sean John anymore?

Come on now, it's 2010….Sean John?

We off that…..