By Steven Roberts
Charles Hamilton has developed a sort of a cult following around MTV News. I don't know why, but ever since we featured Charles in Mixtape Monday and as one of our MCs to Watch in 2009, people in our digital-production department (they've made it possible for you to read this) have come to tell me how much they love the rapper.
Our video game editor, Stephen Totilo, has been asking to have him in ever since I showed him Hamilton's "November 10" music video. Charles is quite fond of "Sonic the Hedgehog."
Brendan Kennedy, producer of "MTV Detox," has been obsessed with Hamilton since he heard "Windows Media Player." In fact, Brendan asked if the "Detox" crew could have Charles on as a guest. I figured we could at least ask. Thankfully, he agreed to do it. Charles showed up yesterday to film his appearance on "Detox," and the newsroom was abuzz.
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On the new Web show "MTV Detox," our pop-culture superfan Jim Cantiello recaps the wildest happenings from the network's prime-time programming. Stream the show on your mobile phone and on MTV.com. New episodes air Sunday-Thursday at 11 p.m. ET.
On Wednesday night's episode of "Detox," Jim was faced with the truly difficult task of having to make fun of events on "Real World: Brooklyn" that lived up to the show's motto of "when people stop being polite and start getting real." But to distract themselves from the story of Sarah and her sketchy-sounding dad, the "Detox" crew enlisted the help of Charles Hamilton, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Ryan Leslie. Read about how it all unfolded and watch last night's episode on the Remote Control blog.
By Steven Roberts
BROOKLYN, New York — Despite having existed for 60 years, Puma celebrated its birthday with a trio of young acts on Monday evening. Still young at heart, the German-based sportswear company threw a party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg featuring up-and-coming artists Charles Hamilton, the Knux and Chester French.
"If you look back on any old hip-hop DVD, all you see is Puma," Hamilton said. "It's a cornerstone in hip-hop fashion, and when they hit me up about it, I was like, 'Cool!' "
Clad in his trademark pink shirt, the 21-year-old Harlem MC performed a short set of tracks from the mixtapes he has released in rapid succession. Hamilton, who was featured in last week's "Mixtape Monday" for his Sonic the Hamilton, has already released another, newer mixtape, Intervention. He said he's been releasing so much music as part of what he calls his "Hamiltonization Process," a buildup to the release of his first proper album, The Pink Lavalamp.
"Basically I want people to see that I present work to the fans and the listener, so that they can feel where I am coming from, as opposed to listening and saying, 'Oh, that's cool music.' " Read more...
