Bi-Weekly-ish newsletter of Marcel A. Wiebenga - Issue #7
Hi, one and all!
Welcome to yet another edition of the Bi-Weekly-ish newsletter on music, tech, advertising, more music, culture, and even more music by me, Marcel Alexander Wiebenga. This time around with fun, serious, money-related, and funish-ly weird things. Go check!
As always:
Sharing is caring! Feedback is appreciated! Have a great Friday!
Meet the Island Boys!
1. (DO NOT!) Meet the Island Boys!
During a Youtube deep dive last week, I ended up in a dark internet place called: the Island Boys. The Island Boys are Franky Venegas and Alex Venegas, identical twins from Florida (no surprises here), born on July 16th, 2001, that go by their rap names Kodiyakredd and Flyysoulja, respectively.
They have become an internet sensation after their freestyle rap song “Island Boy,” that they sang in a pool, got millions of views and likes on TikTok.
The Island boys perfectly showcase two things:
1. You don’t need any real musical talent to become a musical internet sensation.
2. There is great power (and therefor great responsibility) in a great top line.
This freestyle rap is both insufferable and insanely catchy, so be very warned before pressing play.
Flyysoulja - I’m An Island Boy (ft. Kodiyakredd)
Omar Souleyman has been arrested.
2. Omar Souleyman has been arrested.
On a way more serious note, the Guardian reports that Syrian singer Omar Souleyman has been arrested on terrorism charges in Turkey and was taken into custody by Turkish officials on Wednesday.
The singer that has worked with the likes of Björk, Four Tet, Damon Albarn, and Diplo, and I’ve once had the privilege of booking for a Cannes Lions event, has been arrested for the alleged membership of the Kurdistan Workers’ party PKK. Souleyman’s son denies the terrorism charges, saying his father has no political affiliations, and someone filed a “malicious report” against him.
This all seems part of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s crackdown on alleged followers of Fethullah Gülen, who, amongst other things, are blamed for the 2016 coup attempt.
I wish all the best for Omar, his family, and his manager Mina and hope they can put this ordeal behind them soon enough.
*Just in. Omar is set to be released.
Young Whitney Houston!
3. This Bi-week in NFT!
You can now exclusively own an unheard Whitney Houston song. OneOf is a NFT platform built for the music community to connect fans and collectors at all levels with their favorite artists. The company has partnered with the Whitney Houston Estate to create, what they call, an authentic piece of music history. An NFT collection built around a never-before-heard, unreleased demo Whitney recorded when she was an aspiring 17-year-old upstart and before becoming “The Voice.”
The Whitney “1 of 1” NFT will be unveiled at OneOf world during Miami Art Week. If you’re interested in obtaining this, you can “pre-qualify” by clicking here.
Equally interesting. Tarantino and Miramax are suing each other over proposed copyright infringements by selling NFTs based on the screenplay for “Pulp Fiction.” All this begs two questions. 1. How does copyright work in this physical goes digital domain of NFT, and 2. Is there anything that can’t be minted during this NFT gold rush? The answer to question number two seems no; for question number one, I suggest staying tuned.
Who's house?
4. Tour the Drake House / Mansion / Store
You can take a digital stroll through Drake‘s new Toronto mansion, aptly known as “The Embassy.” The estate also acts as “a one-stop-shop for everything Drake-related,” where you can obtain anything from Drake apparel collections to WET, his upcoming line of colognes.
I can do nothing but stand in awe of how creative Drake and his crew are regarding connecting with fans and creating revenue streams.
* Apparently there’s also a lego version of the house.
It's ssooooo festive!
5. Mariah Carey wants you to try the Mariah McDonald’s
Per McDonald’s corporate website: “Mariah Carey Takes the Holidays Up an Octave with 12 Days of McDonald’s® Deals.” The Mariah Menu is an advent calendar of sorts, exclusively available through the McDonald’s App and specially curated to kick-start the holiday season.
Yes. Mariah Carey “curated” McDonals fast food, not only inflating the term “curation” but also attempting to even further weird out this bizarre year. Thanks!
Mariah Carey Wants You to Try The Mariah Menu | McDonald’s
Well, that’s it for this edition. If you can’t, get enough of me. I recently did an interview with Fonk Online, outlining the ambition of my company, Howl, to help brands contextualize and use music in a meaningful way to create more purposeful communication.
Enjoy your Friday and a la prochaine!
Marcel