Who Wants To Be a Rap Star?

Damn. I am so on the wrong press-release lists, y’all, seeing as I missed out on this one from local hip-hop house Rap-A-Lot Records:

Fresh off the heels of a #1 Rap/R&B album, Bun B and Rap-A-Lot Records are looking for the nation’s next rap superstar and have teamed with Microsoft Zune to launch the ultimate contest for aspiring artists to win a chance at stardom. Through July 1, entrants can download an exclusive Bun B instrumental Mp3 track from Zune Marketplace, record their own original rap over the track, and submit their demo to Rap-A-Lot Records. At the completion of the contest one winner will receive an expense paid trip to Houston, TX where they will record the track in a studio with Bun B and have a chance at an exclusive recording contract. The winner’s track will also be featured as a free download on Zune Marketplace in September.

Props to HandStamp, who I unfairly left out when listing local e-pubs doing good things (Sara & Joey: y’all always rock, so I couldn’t call you out for something in particular, right? That’s the story I’m gonna stick with…), for putting this one up, because it’s made my day.

I dig Bun B and have a lot of respect for all that Rap-A-Lot’s done for H-town rap, but still… Beyond the inherent silliness of an “expense paid trip to Houston, TX” — Ooh! Can I get some free tix to Poughkeepsie, while you’re at it? — it’s hard not to find this funny. The best part, though, is Sara’s writeup & vow/threat to submit her own, um, “unique” rap. Which, frighteningly, could actually work.

There you go, indie-hipsters: the gauntlet has been thrown. Spit some verses & show the world what H-town’s scenesters are made of!