Houston-based musical powerhouse gets into toy business

(7/25/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- Houston-based Music World has certainly put our city on the map, launching superstars like Destiny's Child, Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, among so many others. They've also proven you can create music, fashion and even movie magic far away from New York and LA. Now founder and CEO Mathew Knowles is once again going where no music company has gone before. This time he's targeting an audience that's literally taking their first steps into the music world.

If you build it, they will come. Especially if what you're building is a new line of toys aimed at urban toddlers. But these are not your daddy's playthings -- or even nursery rhymes.

"Think about it," said Knowles. "Old MacDonald has been the same since we were kids. So what if we change Old MacDonald and make it hip and cool?"

Matthew Knowles quest was to find...

"Toys that looked like us, that felt like us, that sounded like the music we live with," he said.

His answer is Baby Jamz -- toys with a hip-hop flavor. He was inspired by his grandson Juelz, who's about to turn three. He's also the model on every box.

Knowles enthused, "He's the first boy! I mean I have, you know, Kelly and Solange and Beyonce and my niece Angie, so I've been surrounded by women all of these years in the Knowles family. And finally, finally, here's this handsome, strong, smart, intelligent young man, and I'm ecstatic."

The rap nursery rhymes are sung by Knowles' youngest daughter Solange, Juelz' mother, and made just for kids.

"I have an obligation in Music World to give parents a choice, because I believe hip-hop is great, rap is great, but I think we all have a choice," Knowles explained. "If we don't want our kids to hear certain songs, there's a choice now."

But, back to the toys. There's a brightly-colored boom box, a cell phone that lights up and sings, a blinking mix master chair that lets your toddler learn counting as they become a mini-DJ and a mat that lets you make up your own music and dance. There's even a CD case that keeps playing music long after you've lost the CD inside.

Baby Jamz will go on sale beginning tomorrow exclusively at Wal-Mart stores. The toys and the CDs are available in both English and Spanish. And they're priced to be affordable for most families -- each toy costs under $20.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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