From todays paper
Richmond's own 'Hood Legend' tops the charts by taking success into his own hands
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Monday, December 12, 2005
K-Rob is a star only in his Richmond neighborhood. He doesn't even have CDs for sale outside his local record store. But his single sold enough copies out of the one small shop recently to top the Bay Area best-selling singles charts for five weeks.
How many singles did he sell every week out of tiny Harris and Jones Records to stay No. 1 on the regional retail charts?
All of 90.
He may have even sold more, but the official count by SoundScan, the Nielsen-owned company that tracks retail sales for the record industry, was 90 each week and that was not only good enough to keep K-Rob's "Rip the Club Up!" CD single on the top of the local charts, it even boosted him onto the national charts for a few of the weeks during his run last month.
"They already call him the R&B 'Hood Legend' in the streets," says his brother and business partner, who calls himself Flo Rocker. "They gave us the title."
K-Rob, who grew up Kevin Roberts, 26, and his brother, Floyd, 30, are curbside music entrepreneurs coming out of the hardscrabble Richmond neighborhood where they grew up, raised by a mother who spent 26 years working as a dispatcher for the San Francisco Police Department before recently retiring. They put out their hit single in January and sold a steady number of copies at two East Bay record stores. When one of the stores went out of business earlier this year, they transferred their entire stock to Harris and Jones Records, a store that has served the same neighborhood for 38 years. Owner Bill Harris has seen it all from behind the counter in the small shop, which is covered wall and ceiling with posters and autographed photographs of soul stars from the past 20 years. They have a place of honor right next to pictures of Little League teams he sponsored.
By selling hundreds of their CD singles at a bargain $1 apiece at Harris' store, buying many of them themselves, the brothers made the charts, first one week in June, and then, after running out of product for a few weeks, hitting the top of the Bay Area charts for five consecutive weeks in October and November, enough to also land the record on the SoundScan national charts for three of those weeks.
"I'm expecting SoundScan to call me and I'm going to tell them exactly what's going on," Harris says. "If they tell me, I'll stop it. But if people want to buy, what am I going to do? That was the idea behind this, as I understand it, to get attention. I think it's probably the best strategy I've seen out of any of the local artists."
SoundScan measures only retail sales in the record business and the weekly figures serve as a foundation to the Billboard Hot 100, probably the most influential record chart in the music trade. The K-Rob record has not appeared on the Billboard chart. According to Billboard chart analyst Geoff Mayfield, radio airplay and Internet downloads play a far more significant role in determining Billboard's charts these days than CD single sales. "Unless it's an 'American Idol' finalist or something," says Mayfield. "The digital downloads -- that's the driver now."
The once-mighty single has fallen on hard times. But it's been a long time since the little records with the big hole in the middle ruled the pop scene. Dealt a crippling blow by the CD revolution, its bastard child -- the CD single -- never really caught on. Sometimes the CD single offered a budget option on a hot hit song, especially for younger fans who didn't have the money for the whole CD. Sometimes there was a dance mix unavailable elsewhere or a live track included as an incentive. But digital downloads have delivered the coup de grace to the lowly, unloved CD single.
But the charts remain. No matter how few copies are sold, SoundScan will be there to count them and there will always be something at the top of the charts. Last month, the new Madonna single went to No. 1 on the national charts the first week of release. Her CD single included a dance mix, a serious inducement to many DJs and Madonna fans. It sold 7,300 copies nationwide. The previous week's No. 1 hit by teen pop hip-hopper Chris Brown sold 2,200. Nationwide. Changing technology has left the CD single, like the parrot in Monty Python's pet shop, pining for the fjords, still standing only because he was stapled to his perch.
The clock never stops for K-Rob and Flo Rocker. "Every day is a workday," says K-Rob.
His brother bobs his head in agreement. They have a polished act, finishing each other's sentences, speaking in slogans, staying unfailingly upbeat, on message. K-Rob wears a headband and pair of pink wraparound shades, his face beaming when he breaks into one of his trademark sunny smiles. His older brother talks the talk, while K-Rob serves as the amen corner, repeating his brother's catch phrases and urging him on.
"He's going to come at you from all angles," says brother Flo, leaning back behind the wheel of his well-used silver Lexus, as he heads out of Richmond for a restaurant in Concord to have a late lunch. "He's going to party with you. He's going to do slow ballads. He can go for all angles."
"It's all a blessing," says K-Rob. "I've got to stay humble, stay grounded."
"He don't think about how well he's doing," says his brother. "He needs to be thinking about new products, new ideas. He can't get caught up in that."
"It's all about the music," says K-Rob, nodding his assent.
"He's got ballads, party songs, club songs," says Flo. "He can go anywhere with it. The fan base is starting to grow."
At this point, however, the No. 1 selling R&B "Hood Legend" is all but unknown outside the Richmond city limits.
"I've never heard of him," says Stacy Cunningham, program director of the Bay Area's leading hip-hop station, KMEL. "We've had no phones, no requests, no e-mails."
Saeed Crumpler, urban buyer for the seven-store Rasputin Records organization, a chain that can sell as many as half the copies of a hit record in the Bay Area, hasn't heard of K-Rob either. Crumpler carries up to 100 different titles on consignment by local independent artists at any one time. "We pretty much know if somebody's independent and doing something in the area," he says.
This does not faze the Roberts brothers. "It's all underground," says Flo. "We're working so hard. When the stores are closed, we can't stop work. We're 12 to 12 every day, planning, coming up with new ideas, all day, all night.
"We haven't even reached Rasputin's yet," Flo says. "We're getting there."
"We're growing the neighborhood," says K-Rob. "A lot of people have companies pushing them. But they can't go where we can go."
They nod their heads in agreement when asked if they and their family and friends were the people who were buying all their records at Harris and Jones. "At first," says Flo. "But now it's spread to our fan base."
They admit to being inspired by the Sons of Funk, a vocal group they knew that broke out of Richmond in 1998, developed by rapper Master P, himself formidable Richmond lore. Master P started his own No Limit Records out of his small Richmond record store in 1990 and, within seven years, had scored a No. 1 album on the Billboard charts, moved back to his native New Orleans, written, directed, produced and starred in a hit underground movie and made several million dollars entirely outside the conventional music industry system. Well aware of the Master P story, the Roberts brothers have no professional affiliations in the industry.
"I'm my own manager," says K-Rob.
"We won't have any attorney until there's paperwork in front of us," says Flo. "The main thing is the music, putting that out there."
"We took things into our own hands," says K-Rob.
"
Richmond's own 'Hood Legend' tops the charts by taking success into his own hands
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Monday, December 12, 2005
K-Rob is a star only in his Richmond neighborhood. He doesn't even have CDs for sale outside his local record store. But his single sold enough copies out of the one small shop recently to top the Bay Area best-selling singles charts for five weeks.
How many singles did he sell every week out of tiny Harris and Jones Records to stay No. 1 on the regional retail charts?
All of 90.
He may have even sold more, but the official count by SoundScan, the Nielsen-owned company that tracks retail sales for the record industry, was 90 each week and that was not only good enough to keep K-Rob's "Rip the Club Up!" CD single on the top of the local charts, it even boosted him onto the national charts for a few of the weeks during his run last month.
"They already call him the R&B 'Hood Legend' in the streets," says his brother and business partner, who calls himself Flo Rocker. "They gave us the title."
K-Rob, who grew up Kevin Roberts, 26, and his brother, Floyd, 30, are curbside music entrepreneurs coming out of the hardscrabble Richmond neighborhood where they grew up, raised by a mother who spent 26 years working as a dispatcher for the San Francisco Police Department before recently retiring. They put out their hit single in January and sold a steady number of copies at two East Bay record stores. When one of the stores went out of business earlier this year, they transferred their entire stock to Harris and Jones Records, a store that has served the same neighborhood for 38 years. Owner Bill Harris has seen it all from behind the counter in the small shop, which is covered wall and ceiling with posters and autographed photographs of soul stars from the past 20 years. They have a place of honor right next to pictures of Little League teams he sponsored.
By selling hundreds of their CD singles at a bargain $1 apiece at Harris' store, buying many of them themselves, the brothers made the charts, first one week in June, and then, after running out of product for a few weeks, hitting the top of the Bay Area charts for five consecutive weeks in October and November, enough to also land the record on the SoundScan national charts for three of those weeks.
"I'm expecting SoundScan to call me and I'm going to tell them exactly what's going on," Harris says. "If they tell me, I'll stop it. But if people want to buy, what am I going to do? That was the idea behind this, as I understand it, to get attention. I think it's probably the best strategy I've seen out of any of the local artists."
SoundScan measures only retail sales in the record business and the weekly figures serve as a foundation to the Billboard Hot 100, probably the most influential record chart in the music trade. The K-Rob record has not appeared on the Billboard chart. According to Billboard chart analyst Geoff Mayfield, radio airplay and Internet downloads play a far more significant role in determining Billboard's charts these days than CD single sales. "Unless it's an 'American Idol' finalist or something," says Mayfield. "The digital downloads -- that's the driver now."
The once-mighty single has fallen on hard times. But it's been a long time since the little records with the big hole in the middle ruled the pop scene. Dealt a crippling blow by the CD revolution, its bastard child -- the CD single -- never really caught on. Sometimes the CD single offered a budget option on a hot hit song, especially for younger fans who didn't have the money for the whole CD. Sometimes there was a dance mix unavailable elsewhere or a live track included as an incentive. But digital downloads have delivered the coup de grace to the lowly, unloved CD single.
But the charts remain. No matter how few copies are sold, SoundScan will be there to count them and there will always be something at the top of the charts. Last month, the new Madonna single went to No. 1 on the national charts the first week of release. Her CD single included a dance mix, a serious inducement to many DJs and Madonna fans. It sold 7,300 copies nationwide. The previous week's No. 1 hit by teen pop hip-hopper Chris Brown sold 2,200. Nationwide. Changing technology has left the CD single, like the parrot in Monty Python's pet shop, pining for the fjords, still standing only because he was stapled to his perch.
The clock never stops for K-Rob and Flo Rocker. "Every day is a workday," says K-Rob.
His brother bobs his head in agreement. They have a polished act, finishing each other's sentences, speaking in slogans, staying unfailingly upbeat, on message. K-Rob wears a headband and pair of pink wraparound shades, his face beaming when he breaks into one of his trademark sunny smiles. His older brother talks the talk, while K-Rob serves as the amen corner, repeating his brother's catch phrases and urging him on.
"He's going to come at you from all angles," says brother Flo, leaning back behind the wheel of his well-used silver Lexus, as he heads out of Richmond for a restaurant in Concord to have a late lunch. "He's going to party with you. He's going to do slow ballads. He can go for all angles."
"It's all a blessing," says K-Rob. "I've got to stay humble, stay grounded."
"He don't think about how well he's doing," says his brother. "He needs to be thinking about new products, new ideas. He can't get caught up in that."
"It's all about the music," says K-Rob, nodding his assent.
"He's got ballads, party songs, club songs," says Flo. "He can go anywhere with it. The fan base is starting to grow."
At this point, however, the No. 1 selling R&B "Hood Legend" is all but unknown outside the Richmond city limits.
"I've never heard of him," says Stacy Cunningham, program director of the Bay Area's leading hip-hop station, KMEL. "We've had no phones, no requests, no e-mails."
Saeed Crumpler, urban buyer for the seven-store Rasputin Records organization, a chain that can sell as many as half the copies of a hit record in the Bay Area, hasn't heard of K-Rob either. Crumpler carries up to 100 different titles on consignment by local independent artists at any one time. "We pretty much know if somebody's independent and doing something in the area," he says.
This does not faze the Roberts brothers. "It's all underground," says Flo. "We're working so hard. When the stores are closed, we can't stop work. We're 12 to 12 every day, planning, coming up with new ideas, all day, all night.
"We haven't even reached Rasputin's yet," Flo says. "We're getting there."
"We're growing the neighborhood," says K-Rob. "A lot of people have companies pushing them. But they can't go where we can go."
They nod their heads in agreement when asked if they and their family and friends were the people who were buying all their records at Harris and Jones. "At first," says Flo. "But now it's spread to our fan base."
They admit to being inspired by the Sons of Funk, a vocal group they knew that broke out of Richmond in 1998, developed by rapper Master P, himself formidable Richmond lore. Master P started his own No Limit Records out of his small Richmond record store in 1990 and, within seven years, had scored a No. 1 album on the Billboard charts, moved back to his native New Orleans, written, directed, produced and starred in a hit underground movie and made several million dollars entirely outside the conventional music industry system. Well aware of the Master P story, the Roberts brothers have no professional affiliations in the industry.
"I'm my own manager," says K-Rob.
"We won't have any attorney until there's paperwork in front of us," says Flo. "The main thing is the music, putting that out there."
"We took things into our own hands," says K-Rob.
"
