By CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Buy Back the Block” Rick Ross Feat. 2 Chainz and Gucci Mane
Retail giant Amazon (AMZN -1.61%) has selected an upscale slice of the waterfront area in New York’s Long Island City to house one of its two new secondary headquarters, with the other location in Arlington County’s Crystal City. This is one of the largest economic development projects in recent history. Amazon may cause home prices to skyrocket in Queens where Long Island city is, and where black people have the second lowest homeownership rate, like they did in Seattle.
Why This Matters: Long Island city has a 10% black population and there are more than 20,000 less black homeowners in 2017 than there were in 2005, according to the 2017 Housing and Vacancy Survey for New York City. For the city’s part it gave Amazon up to $1.7 billion in state economic incentives to help secure the Queen’s location, an area where black homeownership is already on the decline.
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CBx Vibe: “Plugged In” Lecrae
Facebook (FB -3.00%) has laid 500 miles of fiber wires in northwest Uganda to provide millions of people with connectivity infrastructure. It’s expanded the isolated northwest of this East African nation’s network capacity by providing faster internet access.
Why This Matters: The Ugandan cable project is the largest one Facebook has helped construct on the continent, in partnership with Bharti Airtel’s Ugandan unit and Mauritius based Bandwidth & Cloud Services Group. Facebook has 131 million monthly active users in sub-Saharan Africa. Right now Ugandans must pay $0.05 per day to use Facebook.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Soco” Starboy Feat. Wizkid
The world’s largest music publisher Universal Music Group (UMG) is pushing further into Africa through a new licensing deal with Boomplay. This new agreement will cover multiple markets across the continent, which is widely fragmented but remains one of the last true music growth opportunities in the world.
Why This Matters: Boomplay is Africa’s leading music streaming service with more than 2 million songs and thousands of music videos, spanning genres like Afrobeat, Afropop and hip-hop. They have more than 36 million users and add nearly 2 million new users each month. Under the terms, Boomplay will distribute music from UMG’s labels through its streaming service in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
Read MoreBy Priest Willis
CBx Vibe: “CPR” Summer Walker
Don’t call it a comeback because its been here for years. Cannabidiol otherwise known as CBD has skyrocketed in popularity, big businesses and people looking for health alternatives are taking notice. This non-psychoactive cannabinoid is one of over 100 naturally occurring in the cannabis sativa plant with a myriad of health benefits.
Why This Matters: CBD works in harmony with the body’s natural endocannabinoid system, helping to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain. It’s estimated that some 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety, which is likely one of the reasons CBD has become so popular. Current evidence indicates that CBD has “considerable potential” as a treatment for multiple anxiety disorders.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “The Switch Up” Nick Grant
Sportswear titan Adidas (ADS.DE +1.44%) is struggling with lagging sales, after betting big on style icons while scaling back on athletes to help push its products. Have they been relying too heavily on fashion and not enough on actual sports, during a time when urban culture continues to be sewn into corporate strategy?
Why This Matters: The company cut its 2018 revenue forecast after third quarter sales fell in western Europe. Adidas was hit by changing fashions and Nike’s (NKE -1.83%) gains in soccer during the World Cup. CEO Kasper Rorsted noted they relied too much on shoes like its retro Stan Smith and Superstar that have fallen out of fashion.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Tune In” Massari
Disney (DIS +1.72%) is betting on Hulu’s future success by investing in more original programming and taking the streaming service into new international markets. With African Americans streaming videos more frequently on all devices than the total U.S. population, it will be important for the mouse house to create authentic black content.
Why This Matters: When Disney closes on its $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox, it will gain a majority control of Hulu. They will have a dominant interest of 60%, Comcast (CMCSA +0.10%) and Time Warner will be reduced to minority stakeholders, with 30% and 10% stakes respectively. Disney will need to use this greater control of Hulu to help its 20 million subscribers compete against Netflix and their 125 million subscribers.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Talk is Cheap” JMSN
Voters in San Francisco have won a battle against tech giants that have played a role in increasing the city’s homeless population. Proposition C is earmarked for homeless relief programs and will bring in as much as $300 million each year by taxing large businesses, doubling the city’s budget for dealing with homelessness.
Why This Matters: In one of the richest cities in the U.S., this new measure will force big companies to pay for a problem in which they’ve helped to exacerbate. In 2017, the San Francisco Homeless Count Survey found the differences between the city’s population and those experiencing homelessness were vastly distinct, with African Americans making up 34% compared to just 6% of the general population.
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![Changing the Game: Curafied is Your Personal Pinterest for Content]()
By CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe:“Rebel” G-Eazy
When Arielle Jordan wanted a better connection to content she was interested in and couldn’t find it on platforms like Facebook, Curafied was born. It’s a digital media platform helping individuals build their own online communities and profits through content curation. Users are able to store, share and save web links along with videos, all while chatting with like minded people in real time. “Curafied has the content curation power of Pinterest and a live chat like Twitch,” said Jordan. Content curators on the platform create different galleries, and then other users can subscribe to it for $2.99 per month. So if you have worthwhile content and the vision to monetize all of that, Curafied is the platform for you. “When you’re connected with an expert whose content you enjoy, Curafied lets you weed out the noise of ads and other distractions.” The platform can be a home for expert instruction in anything from arts and crafts, to auto maintenance or even martial arts and history.
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