LOL @ the def jam street team

[Elano]

According to a City Room blog entry that appeared yesterday on NYTimes.com, a New York Times reporter was out and about in Manhattan on Friday, March 14, when he saw three young men hanging up posters for Rocko’s new album Self Made. Obviously this type of street promotion (which according to my knowledge, Steve Rifkind is the pioneer of) is an old school tactic that labels still use to build awareness for an album. The actual effectiveness of such a campaign is highly debatable in this era of digital record sales, but that’s a marketing and promotion conversation, and I don’t want to stray too far off topic here.

The reporter, knowing that hanging up posters on public property like lampposts is illegal in New York, sensed a story unfolding right before his eyes, and decided to start taking pictures of the signs with the Rocko promotional posters attached to them. The Times reporter, David W. Dunlap, writes,

“After about two minutes, one man asked me why I was taking pictures. ‘Because what you’re doing is illegal,’ I replied. He answered,Breaking cameras is illegal, too, but if you don’t stop taking pictures, I’ll break your camera.’He modified ‘camera’ with an adjective I am not permitted to repeat here. I identified myself as a reporter from The Times. ‘I’ll break your camera,’ he said, using that adjective again, ‘and you can print that in your paper.’ I distinctly remember thinking, ‘No, I can’t.’ Then, rather than antagonize him further, I started taking pictures of the poster-covered scaffold pipes across Broadway. The approach came so swiftly, I cannot even say whether it was from in front or behind. But I do remember a furious face inches away from mine as the man said he had warned me not to take any more pictures. The next few minutes are — as they say — a blur. I was suddenly on my back on the sidewalk, near the curb, trying to hold on to my camera and fend off my assailant, with my right leg pressed against his chest.”

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/illegal-signs-and-a-reporters-broken-camera/index.html?hp

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Album is good tho!