MIKE JOOOOOOOONES!

Today’s focus is not really about the recording artist Mike Jones. No rappers with platinum teeth were harmed in the making of this blog entry. I simply titled it “MIKE JOOOOOONES” because I have found that the rapper’s strategy of free shameless self-promotion has proven to be very effective for me this week.

For those who aren’t familiar with Mike Jones the rapper, he made a name for himself literally by yelling out his own name on his songs. He even goes as far as to put his cell phone number in some songs, and wear shirts with it on there. It’s his real number too, because I know more than a few silly people who actually called it. In case you don’t believe me, check out this track from his first album. He is the first voice that you hear, and it only takes him approximately 7 seconds before he says his own name. Mike Jones also somehow manages to mention his cell phone number and website URL in his verse. Now that, my friends is the fine art of shameless self-promotion!

I subscribed to the Mike Jones school of free press a couple of times this week. The first was on Tuesday, when I got Naamua Delaney, co-host of NBC’s daytime show iVillage Live, to shout out the blog URL on-air. I basically went to their site to get her to look at the King Magazine blog I wrote about how I love black women with British accents, and it somehow led to her mentioning my blog on live television. Too bad the only people home to watch the show are housewives and folks with no jobs. Still, it was free national publicity, so Naamua, I want to thank you. With your fine self. You need a man with a sense of humor and nice haircut in your life…but I’ll save that conversation for later.

My second Mike Jones moment was writing about Don Imus. I was already quite tired of that story when I wrote the entry, but I figured that if I wrote something funny about him a lot of people would end up seeing it. I decided to write the jokes that I made about his hair in the barbershop earlier that day, since it would be an easy way to poke fun at the situation without rehashing the same debate that’s raged on for days. It worked, because The Washington Post Express Paper quoted the entry, and apparently, you all liked it too.

So you see, Mike Jones was onto something. So until my next shameless publicity stunt, I wish you all a great and wonderful day.

ListenToLeon

ListenToLeon

ListenToLeon

I’m like Beetlejuice, so go ahead and say my name three times today before you get off the computer!