A couple of entrepreneurs with a love of hip hop would meet up and each would try to stump the other with trivia questions. Like playing the dozens, their impromptu game soon became addictive and before long, Maurice Thompson, Michael Dothard, and Ron Young realized they had something. “After a few solid days of doing this, we looked at each other and said, ‘someone else might enjoy this,’” said Thompson, 30. According 2 Hip Hop (A2HH), a trivia game based on hip hop lyrics was born.

A joint venture between Drip Entertainment and ClickArtist Media, A2HH, available for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, is a tough trivia game for hip hop aficionados–but it’s also accessible enough for those of us who know a lil’ something. The app launched in December 2009 and currently has roughly 10,000 downloads (iTunes; $.99). The company expects to reach 80,000 downloads by year-end.

According to Dothard, 28, the game is no trivial matter. “We saw this as an opportunity to pull together different generations of hip hop culture; two or three generations can sit down and enjoy [the game],” he says. “But we also wanted to make sure we were giving a respectful representation of what hip hop is.”
Indeed, one of the noticeable features of the game (and according to user feedback) is that it’s challenging. No softballs here. The team is working on Version 2, which will make the game a bit more accessible in terms of providing answers and scoring options for players. This includes the ability to share scores on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and even purchase the music through iTunes. Version 2 is set for a September release.

In addition to the download, the company hosts an A2HH  Monday night trivia game on Twitter (live at 8 p.m.),where sometimes, an errant hip hop artist might pop in to play.

Stressing that they are a “hip hop company embracing technology,” Young, 27,  says, “We also wanted to create something that would help people connect and appreciate older music in a new format.” “Technology and hip hop culture go hand in hand,” he notes, adding that the app development process has given the company great perspective on how the mobile marketplace is moving; it’s knowledge they plan to use going forward.

In addition to the mobile platform, the company is currently exploring options as diverse as board games, a TV trivia show, and multi-player gaming on the iPad and consoles.

This is what happens when you ask a question about a Ghostface Killah lyric?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Q & A: Afrika Bambaataa Spins Hip-Hop Knowledge (huffingtonpost.com)
• Iara Lee: Hip Hop as Global Resistance (huffingtonpost.com)

Over the years, companies like salesforce.com and InfoStreet have been re-imaging the software AND services landscape for small businesses and entrepreneurs, essentially leading the way as larger firms turned a critical eye on them. Those same big companies are now playing catch-up.

At the risk of dating myself, here’s a story I’d like to share:

When I was about 13 years old, I begged my mom to take me to see David Bowie in Ziggy Stardust—The Motion Picture. The rock-n-roll pic fed my fascination, nay, obsession with all things Bowie. As I gazed in rapture at the screen, my mom recoiled in shock at the twisting, gyrating, androgynous Ziggy’s antics. In that moment, had I been asked why I was so enraptured by Bowie, I would have been hard-pressed, in my tweenage brain, to find a coherent answer. Needless to say, mom had a long talk with me that night (this was the woman, by the way, who alternated my bedtime readings with the Psalms, Revelations, and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler).

Over the years, I have nurtured a strange fascination with and admiration for the artist who, beginning life as David Jones, created more identities than Sybil and has managed to reinvent himself to relevance for nearly 40 years: from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke to the Berlin Era, and from “Let’s Dance” Bowie to collaborations with Queen and Tin Machine (with a little Luther Vandross in the mix) and roles in film and on Broadway, it’s safe to say that Bowie has challenged our conception of the static identity as the only way to succeed.

He pushed our notions about identity even further when in 1997, he listed himself on the New York Stock Exchange as a corporate entity. The only thing that has remained constant is Bowie’s ability to recognize shifts in the creative and business landscape—and reinvent himself as that landscape has altered. At times, he has been responsible for those alterations. Change, then, is the Bowie brand. At the core, Bowie is the same talented artist he was when I first started listening (although some would argue that “Laughing Gnome” isn’t necessarily the best expression of that talent). But he has kept me listening and watching by proving not just talent, but versatility, while keeping the integrity of his identity.

My guess is that what we are now seeing in social media are small landscape shifts that are moving some businesses toward greater relevance. Companies that can recognize what they have—strong customer base, solid readership, great product offerings, and so on—and correctly and effectively engage new media to help them make that transition to greater relevance, with integrity intact—will reap the benefits of change. If not, I’ll let Bowie tell you what will happen:

“I watch the ripples change their size

But never leave the stream

Of warm impermanence

So the days float through my eyes

But still the days seem the same.” (From "Changes," By David Bowie. Lyrics courtesy of www.lyricsfreak.com)