Give Hip Hop Credit for Anti-War songs

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Give Hip Hop Credit for Anti-War songs
by Davey D

daveyd-raider2The other night ABC News did a special report on the growing popularity of anti-war protest songs. The report focused on how all these musicians were now coming out and providing a sound track to the growing discontent many of us are having with the war in Iraq. It talked about how people are more accepting of such songs and how major record labels were loosening up in the aftermath of the Dixie Chicks who got lambasted and later boycotted for speaking out against George Bush and his policies in 2003.

The report also brought to light the impact anti-war songs had on fueling the Anti-war movement against Vietnam in the late 60s and the question was raised as to what sort of impact todays rash of songs would have.

I cant remember all the singers they profiled, but I did recall seeing country singer Merle Haggard, Rock-N-Roll icon Bruce Springstein and pop sensation Pink. What surprised me was not seeing any mention of Hip Hop especially with the exception of KRS-One, since it was artists in the rap community that up to date have released more anti-war songs and were the first to unabashedly do so right after 9-11.

If we take a short walk down memory lane, folks may recall that the day after 9-11 Bay Area Hip Hop activists from organizations like Lets Get Free, The Ella Baker Center and Minds Eye Collective put together a rally that was held in Snow Park in Oakland. Close to 500 people attended this event which focused on the loss of human life and questioned the foreign policy missteps of the Bush administration. It was at this rally that many of us heard our last poem from the late June Jordan.

We also heard an incredible song from Michael Franti & Spearhead calling for healing and peace. A couple of months later, Franti appeared on Conan OBrian and performed the anti-war song Bomb the World to Pieces only to find that his sentiments angered producers who threatened to censor the song when the show aired. Community outrage lead to OBrians people eventually showing the performance.

Early on we heard anti-war songs from acts like the Beastie Boys (World Gone Mad), Nas (Rule), Wu-Tang Affiliates Known Associates (World So Cold), Talib Kweli (the Proud), J-Live (Satisfied) and Mr Lif (home of the Brave). All in all there are more than 150 anti-war songs that have been recorded by Hip Hop artists.

The song that really made heads turn was by Bay Area artist Paris who came out of retirement and released a 6 minute missive called What Would You Do? that went into great detail about The Caryle Group, Bushs relationship to the Bin Laden family and the hawkish action plans of the Neo-cons serving in Bushs cabinet. Paris gave the song away for free and then followed it up with an entire antiwar album called Sonic Jihad which went on to sell over 200 thousand units.

Another stand out effort came from San Francisco based Freedom Fighter records who released the first anti-war compilation featuring Bay Area artists called War Times Report From the Opposition. A year later LA based Hard Knock Records followed up with a critically acclaimed anti-war compilation called What About Us.

The most visible anti-war effort to date came from former San Jose resident Fredwreck who has produced tracks from everyone ranging from Eminem to Snoop Dogg and Ice Cubeto name a few. Using the name STOP Movement he gathered up a number of popular artists including Mobb Deep, WC of the Westside Connection, Daz of the Dogg Pound, RBX, Defari, Soopafly, Cypress Hill, Mack 10, KRS-One and Dilated Peoples just to name a few and released two anti-war songs called Down With Us and Dear Mr. President.

Fredwreck like Paris gave away the songs for free and even held a press conference only to find local commercial stations would not touch the record in spite of the big name artists he had assembled. In fact sources inside one popular station in LA, KKBT, noted that their deejays were instructed not to play those songs because they were too controversial. Whats even more ironic was Fred was supposed to be profiled in the ABC story. He was flown to NY but not shown in the report that I saw.

The other irony was after ABC aired the report one of the anchors decided to comment and naively noted that she never heard any of the songs from the artists they profiled on the radio therefore they must not be hits. We could do an entire column on what goes on behind the scenes and what it really takes to get records on the commercial airwaves, but suffice to say if what happened to Fredwreck is any indication of how key power brokers at radio get down, then of course we would not hear any of these songs on radio. However, it does not mean those songs or those artists are not popular or that people are not appreciative of their songs.

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Whatever Happened to Vote or Die?

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Whatever Happened to Vote or Die?
By Davey D

original article-July 18, 2006The crowd roared with approval and P-Diddy repeated his remarks to make sure his point was not missed.

daveyd-raider2I have this nagging question, that won’t go away regarding Mr. Sean ‘P-Diddy’ Combs. It’s the eve of the second annual Hip Hop Political Convention, so I’m in a political mind set and hence I keep asking myself; ‘Does anyone know what the hell happened to his Vote or Die Campaign and his organization Citizens for Change?

I mean I already know the obvious, he shut that shit down a while back and he’s been running around throwing lavish parties, doing Making The Band’ for MTV, he was in a play Raisin of the Sun’ and now he’s gearing up for his new album in October of this year.

On the surface, most people are gonna be quick to say, ‘Dude was phony and all his ‘Vote or Die’ campaign did was help sell him a bunch of T-shirts’. Others will say he was never really serious about politics in the first place and he was on some sort of ego trip when he jumped into Hip Hop and politics arena.

Maybe it’s me, but I don’t think it’s as simple as that I remember when Diddy spoke at the Patrick Lipert Awards in February of 2004, before he started Citizen For Change or launched Vote or Die, he caught everyone by surprise when he jumped on stage to accept an award and told the packed audience he wanted to ‘Get Bush’s ass out of office’.

Startled officials from the non-profit, non-partisan Rock the Vote organization who put on the event got nervous real quick and moved toward Diddy as if to hurry him up. I guess he realized that by making such an overtly partisan statement he could get RTV in trouble so he backed off just a little and tried to recast his remarks.

But then Diddy came back harder by talking about how Bush was a lousy President who failed to comfort grieving mothers who lost their sons to the War in Iraq. The crowd went nuts and Diddy restated his opening remarks about ‘Getting Bush’s ass out of office’. Nobody including myself thought we’d hear such biting remarks form Mr. Party Central aka P-Diddy directed at the president

After he left the stage I tried my best to get a copy of the remarks, but RTV held on to their copies and wouldn’t release them. Although there were a number of press outlets present including MTV, you didn’t really see or hear a lot of coverage regarding Diddy’s remarks. It wasn’t until several months later I got a tape of his speech

Which you can hear here:

http://odeo.com/audio/1508557/view

In the meantime Diddy went out and started his Vote or Die campaign and showed up everywhere including the couch of Oprah to extol the values of voting. When I finally caught up with him, it was at the Democratic Convention that July. He was definitely passionate but avoided talking about his remarks about Bush when I brought it up. He kept saying that he was non-partisan and hadn’t made up his mind. It was like a mantra. I figured he was just being careful because Citizen Change was a non-profit and he didn’t wanna get hemmed up the way Russell did when he campaigned to end the Rockefeller Drug Laws the year prior.

Now after the 2004 election we all know and heard the blowhard talk show pundits like MSNBC Chris Mathews who tried to take aim at Diddy and claim that the youth/ Hip Hop vote never materialized. That was in fact a lie. The goal was to get 20 million people to the polls. More than 21 million showed up marking an increase by 11% of voters between the ages 18-25.

With respect to Bush’s opponent Senator John Kerry, the only demographic to vote for him in the majority and with record numbers was the Youth/Hip Hop vote. Sadly his spineless punk ass never bothered to show any gratitude. It was the older critics of the youth vote who voted for Kerry didn’t pull their weight in the last election

But back to P-Diddy. Here’s a guy that often states that he hates to fail. If he does have an ego, it’s one that pushes him to look and sound good at all times. I can’t understand how he just slide off into the sunset without a word. Regarding his campaign. That’s not a good look. Why not continue the momentum? Was it really about selling t-shirts? Was it really about jumping on a trend? If Diddy was so passionate and so much against Bush’s politics in 2004, why wouldn’t he jump at the chance to weaken the president’s grip in these 2006 midterm elections? Forget the ‘Vote or Die’ campaign; I just wanna know why he’s been so silent about any of these issues.

Sometimes I wonder if he pissed some folks off in high places who saw him as having the potential to really wreck some political havoc and as a result he got unceremoniously got shut down. I mean it’s not like P-Diddy has always been spiffy clean. There’s had to be few times he was ‘ridin’ dirty’. It’s hard not to when you get to certain levels in the music biz. It’s hard not to when you get high up there in politics. On certain levels in both these professions people play hard and they play for keeps. Positioning, market share and power are the end games.

With that in mind, how can I not put it past folks who roll in that infamous Neocon circle of Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearle and the rest of the gang that have all but hijacked the government and led us to War, to sit idly by when their position is challenged.

Think about it, if you were a high ranking political type trying to make power moves and you looked out your window and saw a guy like Diddy telling people to vote your ass out of office, you don’t think you wouldn’t dig up some dirt on him and shut him down and make him be quiet?

You don’t think you would find some sort of angle where you could literally make him an offer he couldn’t refuse? We’re talking about the music biz folks, where its always dirty. We’re talking politics here folks which has long been the dirtiest and grimiest business you can get into. Vote or Die had the potential to unseat some folks who many believe went out and stole a couple of elections and lied to us so we could be led us into a war for fictional reasons. In short the guys in power don’t play.

If you think this is far fetched, look at the vicious attacks that regularly go on during campaigns. Look at the Swiss Boat ads that sunk decorated war hero John Kerry. Look at how war hero Senator John McCain got taken out by the Neo-cons in their character attacks on him. Remember this was a guy who was a Prisoner of War during Vietnam and he stayed in prison and endured all sorts of torture to save the lives of his men.

When he ran against Bush in the 2000 primaries he looked perched to maybe win the GOP nomination, but Bush’s team took him out with the vilest attacks. Nowadays John McCain has totally changed his tune and wholeheartedly supports the president after he once proudly stood against him. He must’ve gotten some ass kicking to have changed up like that.

For a boisterous guy like Diddy to suddenly go silent, one can’t but think that something went down behind the scenes. Listen to his remarks in that February before the election. Ask yourself, how do you go from saying all that to not saying anything? The silence is glaring. The absence is more than noticeable. Diddy said he wanted to get Bush’s ass out of office and apparently, somehow, someway, somebody got his ass out of politics. How did that happen?

During the recent BET Awards, Diddy showed up to the press gallery about 20 minutes after boxing promoter Don King came through and lit up the place by telling everyone why George Bush is the greatest President ever and how he’s been real good to Black people.

Politics was on everyone’s mind when Diddy came to field questions and several reporters including myself and Andreas Hale of HipHopdx.com along with a woman from another newspaper who’s name I forgot, raised our hands to ask P-Diddy the 64 thousand dollar question; ‘Where did ‘Vote or Die’ disappeared to? ‘Do you agree with Don King and think Bush is a great President for Black people?’ etc etc

In typical BET fashion, the press monitor avoided picking anyone who he thought would ‘go there’ and instead chose three people who asked Diddy simple questions like ‘what kind of outfit he was wearing and how does he like working with Yung Joc’. He answered those three or four questions and bounced with the wind.

So anyway, P-Diddy involving himself in the 2006 election or politics in general is not be all, end all. This weekend in Chicago, there will be others who are fully prepared to engage that arena and they’ll stick I through no matter what. It’s like I said 20 years from now some of us will have grand kids and they’re gonna come across a video or an old Vibe Magazine cover or read about this campaign and they gonna have a few questions. It’d be nice if we one day got a full explaination.

Is Hip Hop’s Audience Really 80% White?

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Is Hip Hop’s Audience Really 80% White?

By Davey D

original article-July 15, 2006

daveyd-raider2In recent days a debate has ensued on my website daveyd.com, around one of Hip Hop’s biggest myths. It started in 1991 when Newsweek Magazine did a cover story on Gangsta Rap and in their article they put out an un-researched statistic that said 80% of Hip Hop’s audience is white and that its reflected in record sales. That stat has been bantered about ever since as an undisputable stone cold fact.

Adding to this myth was a conversation that took place at the Gavin Convention in San Francisco around the same time when Ice T during a panel discussion stated that anything above his average 750 thousand record sales was attributed to white kids.

But is this really true? Granted if one goes to a Mos Def show or even a Wu-Tang concert you will see a majority white audience in many cities, but does that translate to that 80% white audience? How does an all white Wu-Tang show in Northern Cali compare to a sold out predominantly Black T.I. or Yung Joc show in Atlanta or in Oakland? How does that compare to a sold out predominantly Latino Psycho Realm or Sick Symphony show in East LA?

Back in 91 when this 80% first surfaced, there was no study or methodology that that kept track of race when it came to album sales. About the closest one could come was by estimating based upon record stores in a particular area, but that would yield far from accurate results. To start in many areas, folks from different ethnic backgrounds would frequent stores that were in sections of a city dominated by one race. For example, if you came to Berkeley in Northern Cali,  you found three main record stores up near the UC campus in an area that was statistically majority white. Folks from all over including predominantly Black South Berkeley and majority Black Oakland shopped at those stores. How were statistics based on purchases by race kept?

The truth of the matter is that this 80% white Hip Hop fan myth has long been a nice marketing tool used by media corporations to justify ad revenues for Top 40 radio stations. Here’s a little background on this.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, many rap artists complained how the urban (Black) radio stations did not play rap except on the weekends and even then it was only in the mix late at night. Chuck D highlighted this concern in his song ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’. He goes into further detail about this lack of support by Black urban programmers in a song called ‘How to Kill a Radio Consultant’.

According to Black radio programmers they avoided playing rap, because it was affecting their advertising. In spite of Hip Hop’s cross over success with groups like Run DMC and the ‘positive, vibe that existed within rap at that time-(it was the Golden Era), many companies associated Hip Hop with violence done by Black people. Hence a Black radio station playing Hip Hop was likely to have difficult time getting money.

The Showdown Between Urban & Top 40 Radio Over Hip Hop

Around this time several prominent Top 40 radio stations were starting to aggressively play Hip Hop. Most notably was KMEL in San Francisco which became very successful and quickly moved into the number one spot over its urban competition KSOL which had been number one for years.

This sparked a lot of controversy and resulted in a big face off in 1992 at the Gavin Convention in San Francisco between Black urban programmers and white Top 40 stations that were starting to play Hip Hop. The packed panel discussion was hosted by Lee Michaels an African American editor at Gavin who interestingly had laid down the groundwork and started Top 40 giant KMEL which went on to win Best Rap Station in the country 5 years in a row. He posed the question as to weather or not Top 40 stations should be playing Rap or were they exploiting it?

The argument put forth by Black programmers was that they were playing the music but not getting both the ad dollars and promotions benefits from record companies. They talked about how the industry had a dirty secret which two sets of rules and budgets, one for Black urban stations which were small and one for Top 40 stations which in some cases were 3 to 4 times bigger. These budget disparities were also reflected in the Black music departments of and the Crossover and Pop music departments of the record labels

They went on to talk about how major labels would come to town and show support to these urban stations by giving them a bunch of tapes and later CDs for giveaway to the audience while across town these new pop stations playing rap were given huge prizes like tickets and all expense paid flyaways to music awards and album release parties.

Black programmers contended that they were responsible for breaking a lot of the urban music into the market place only to see their cross town Top 40 rivals reap the benefits.

The biggest point of contention was that these Top 40 stations were being allowed to keep their Top40/ CHR classification in popular industry trades like Gavin, Billboard and R&R which kept them in a higher budget class. 

Hence Top 40 stations could walk into an ad agency and even though their playlist was 90% identical to their urban counterparts they could walk away with a higher ad rate even if they were not number one in the marketplace. Plus they wouldn’t have any negative stigma attached to them for playing rap. A white Top 40 station playing rap weighed differently in the minds of ad buyers compared to a Black station playing rap.

The top 40 programmers countered by saying that many of the urban stations were missing the boat by not playing rap. I remember it being said that the urban stations were not staying close to the streets and paying attention to what was going on with their own kids who no longer wanted to hear slow jamz and sappy R&B songs.

They also insisted that they keep their Top 40 classification. What they emphasized was that Hip Hop was the new Top 40 and that was what was being reflected in the playlists was what the mainstream (white audience) now wanted to hear. The compromise to this particular point was the creation of a new classification called Churban which meant Crossover-urban. However it got applied to the Top 40 stations playing rap and not to the urban stations so in many people’s mind they were still seen as Top 40 crossover entities

They also pointed out that like their urban counterparts their sales departments had a difficult time convincing ad buyers to purchase time on a station playing rap. One of the Top 40 programmers pointed out that this was a competitive field no matter how you sliced it and that it was up to the urban programmers not only to put together a strong programming team, but to also have a strong sales team as well that could successful convince skeptical advertiser to purchase air time.

What wasn’t stated and this is where this 80% myth comes in, is the fact that the Top 40 stations had this Newsweek quote along with their CHR status that they could present to ad buyers. Essentially they were able to say, ‘yes we’re playing Public Enemy, NWA and 2 Live Crew’ which we (KMEL) was doing at that time, ‘but this is what the mainstream (white audience wants). Look at this Newsweek article. It’s proof positive that 80% of the people who like this aggressive music are the main ones purchasing it. I recall specifically seeing sales kits with that page and quote highlighted.

The bottom line whether we like it or not is that many advertisers have a hierarchy of who they want as consumers. It may be as follows depending on the product; White males between 18-34, White males 25-54, White women 25-34. Women of color 25-34, white teens etc. Last on the list is often time Black males. The pervasive belief is that white males have the most disposable income and can afford to purchase expensive appliances, cars and computers.

Women are desirable because they not only have income of their own, but usually influence the purchasing in households if they are married.

Black men, especially young males are seen in many instances as unwelcome. We all got a glimpse of this several weeks ago with the Cristal debacle where their spokesperson dissed Hip Hop artists for supporting them. He said all the mentions by artists like Jay-Z and P-Diddy was ‘unwelcome attention’. Author and former ad agency executive Hadji Williams in his book ‘Don’t Knock the Hustle’ underscores a lot of what I’ve written and goes into greater depth about all this in his book.

So it’s with all this in mind that we can better understand how and why this 80% myth was sold over and over again.  It was if people’s lives depended on it or in this case, people’s livelihoods depended upon it.

Now the real question was weather or not Top 40 stations KMEL and later stations like Hot 97 in New York and Power 106 in Los Angeles which followed suit a couple of years later really had large white listening audiences.

Asians, White Folks, Arbitron and Hip Hop

Well as I mentioned earlier one of the first and more successful Top 40 stations to embrace rap was KMEL who’s sale staff definitely flipped that Newsweek quote their advantage. They had another thing to help them out, and that was Arbitron Ratings to show large white listener-ship.

If I remember correctly we were boosting a number one rating with half our audience being white.  However, you wouldn’t have known that from the large numbers of people of color who would show up at our events. You never saw like 50% of our crowds being white. It was always explained that many of our white listeners weren’t our ‘active’ P1 listeners who would enthusiastically show up at station functions. I later learned something different.

What wasn’t really publicly known or even taken into account was how Asians were classified when it came to radio ratings. They were always counted as white people. You see in the Bay Area where KMEL is based there is a huge Asian/Pacific Islander population. In San Francisco more then 50% of the population is Asian with Chinese followed by Filipino being the largest ethnic groups.  Outside of their respective countries, the largest concentration of Filipinos, Tongans and Cambodians live in the Bay Area. There’s a sizeable Vietnamese, Korean Samoan and Laotian populations. Many of the people within these Asian groups have grown up and listen primarily to urban music.  Many of the younger people went from listening to Latin Freestyle to Hip Hop as stations like KMEL evolved.

I recall when the Arbitron people came to our station to talk about ratings and this fact about Asians being counted as whites was made clear one of our Asian deejays damn near hit the roof and went off. She wanted to know why Asians did not have their own category and she said she found it offensive that they would put an entire population down as whites. She noted that it played into the model minority myth that was impacting a lot of Asian communities and it also added to this pervasive perception of them being an invisible group of people.

The Arbitron rep said he understood the concerns and acknowledged that although the Asian population was growing, it would be a while before they would count Asians as a separate group away from whites. Nevertheless the large amount of ‘white listeners’ enjoyed by Top 40 urban leaning stations in California was touted to advertisers and helped rake in a substantial amount of ad dollars. It was later estimated that the actual percentage of white listeners was more like 20% when we subtracted the Asian count, but we never really knew for certain.

But lets suppose for the moment many of these Top 40 Hip Hop radio stations have large white audiences as asserted with the 80% myth, why is that we rarely hear many of the artists being played in regular rotation that we know for fact have a large white audience?

When was the last time we heard Living Legends, Del, Sage Francis, Atmosphere etc etc? We might hear an Eminem song, but hardly a Mos Def, Public Enemy or even Talib Kweli. The aforementioned artists seem to always have packed houses at their shows. Some of those groups do pretty well in record sales as independent artists, but dont hear them now and we didnt in the past-why is that? Shouldnt they be getting airplay to satisfy the tastes of this 80% white audience?

Who is Hip Hop’s Biggest Ethnic Supporter?

So now that we understand how and why the 80% myth came about lets look at the results of an actual study that was done.In January 2003 Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Push organization held their 6th Annual Wall Street project conference.  In the past Jackson had not put together panels focusing on the entertainment industry and its impact on Wall Street, but that year he did. He put together is memorable standing room only panel which included some very distinguished guests including; former Vibe Magazine CEO Keith Clinkscales of Vanguarde Media, Carol H Williams of Carol H Williams Advertising, Thomas Burrell of Burrell Communications, Samuel Chisholm of the Chisholm Group, James L Winston of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and Daisy Exposito-Ulla of the Bravo Group

The Bravo Group is part of the powerful Young and Rubicam company is considered the third largest multicultural agency in the US. The panel discussion talked about market share and leveraging dollars. During the discussion Daisy Exposito Ulla was making her remarks and while it wasn’t the main focus she mentioned that her company had done a study and come to find that the Latinos are the biggest purchasers of Rap music. They buy more rap music than both African Americans and whites.

Because this wasn’t a Hip Hop specific panel her remarks were made in the context of talking about some other issues, what she was not met with any big gasp from the audience or anything like that. But for me I took special note as she continued her presentation, because it basically coincided with the push in broadcast media to target Latinos as a primary audience. http://www.daveyd.com/articlelainsupport.html

Yes, Hip Hop is large and everybody enjoys it. And yes, a large part of that audience are white folks. But 80%? No way.  Unfortunately white Hip Hop fans were used to validate to skittish advertisers and even venue owners that Hip Hop is safe and non threatening. To me its no different and just as bad as those programmers and industry experts who hawk Black gangsterism and stereotypes and make it appear as if its a vital part of Black culture and a true representation of Hip Hop.

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Now that Lil Kim is Free Will She Fight For Other Prisoners?

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Now that Lil Kim is Free Will She Fight For Other Prisoners?
by Davey D

original articles-July 05, 2006

Davey DLast week during the BET Awards, Lil Kim’s mother and brother came into the press gallery to field questions about her incarceration. They emphasized how unfair it was for her to be locked up and how the justice system is screwed up.

I think it was her brother who pointed out how all sorts of people who have committed heinous crimes do very little time, while Lil Kim got locked down for perjury. It was also pointed out how there are many who done more egregious white collar crimes and have gotten off the hook.

When the BET press monitors finally called on me, I asked them what sort of plans they or Lil Kim had to do work with prison advocacy groups now that they’ve seen first hand how jacked up the system is. Could you imagine they type of attention some one like Lil Kim could bring to the plight of political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Herman Bell or 2Pac’s father Matulu Shakur just to name a few of the many? Can you imagine the type of attention that she could bring to the plight of the legions of Black and Brown folks who routinely get railroaded by the system?

Lil Kim’s mother said she was not aware of any plans Lil Kim had in the works and they moved onto the next question. Granted things are still early and the Queen Bee is probably still recovering from her 10 month bid. However, it’s an idea that should be seriously considered. After all, her incarceration was highlighted with a BET reality TV show which netted high ratings.

Many big time celebrities ranging from comedian Kat Williams on down to celebrity gossip reporter and former MTV host Ananda Lewis have spoken out about how the system was unjust and was railroading Lil Kim. Very few of us within the community who have family and friends who have done time, would argue with the assessment. Ideally it would be nice if the spotlight to the criminal justice system doesnt start and end with Lil Kim.

Now that shes out she has a great opportunity to bring attention to those who dont have a celebratory rap career. Hopefully she wont follow in the footsteps of Martha Stewart, who talked about how unfair the system was and how she lived alongside women who were unfairly locked up, but once she left she went back to being the media diva and multi-millionaire business woman she was prior to going in.

lil_kimpoutIf Kim speaks up, she would not be alone in terms of speaking out. In the past there have been a few rappers who have done prison advocacy work including Hip Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa who back in the early days of his career routinely took a lot of brothers who were getting out the pen and put them to work. Many of them went on the road with him as he attempted to stir them away from their troubled environments. Later on artists like Ice T and MC Hammer did similar things. One of the reasons Hammer went bankrupt was because he had employed scores of people with nice paying jobs who were fresh out the pen. This was in addition to paying for cats lawyer fees and related expenses.

Of course we cannot overlook some of Hip Hops biggest champions of prison advocacy work, The Geto Boys, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Boots of the Coup and dead prez stand out. Many people dont realize that over the years the Geto Boys along with Rap-A-Lot CEO James Prince have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars paying for legal expenses in their attempt to get brothers out of prison. While their advocacy work hasnt been well publicized, it was and is well known by folks in power who have grown angry with the group for reaching out.

A couple of years ago I spoke with Bushwick Bill about this and he speculated that the groups willingness to underwrite legal fees and try and prove the innoncence of those railroaded into Texas jails may be one of the reasons that Rap-A-Lot found itself being aggressively investigated by the feds several years ago. Things got so heated for them that Scarface launched a song putting them on blast and naming one of the chief haters within the FBI who was pursuing them. The song was called Look Into My Eyes. Later on Congress woman Maxine Waters intervened on their behalf to help turn the tide, but not before it set off a storm of controversy that landed on the feet of former Vice President Al Gore. But as Bushwick confidently pointed out their decision to help out folks behind bars is not one they regret or would change if they could do it all over again. What the Geto Boys was doing is ideally what more artists in their position should do, especially when you consider how out of the 2.5 million people on lock down damn near half come from our community.

A couple of years ago when Suge Knight was on lockdown he actually took out ads in several magazines offering to pay lawyer fees and related expenses to help get cats out of jail. In his ad he had noted that there were way too many innocent people on lock down who needed help and he was throwing his hat into the ring.

Michael Franti has not only dedicated entire albums to addressing the Prison Industrial Complex, but for the past 8 years he has done a 9-11 Festival which includes a free concert at Golden gate Park in San Francisco which draws more then 40 thousand people. The festival started off as a way to bring attention to the plight of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal and has since expanded in both concept and sheer number of people who show up. Over the years everyone from Digital Underground to Talib Kweli to KRS-One have all graced the stages of Frantis 9-11 festival.

The work of groups like the Coup and Dead Prezs is more then obvious and speaks for itself. Over the years Boots has not only done concerts to raise money for Prison advocacy groups, but he himself was known for doing his own political education classes to help bring people up to speed on impending legislation like Californias harsh 3 strikes law and later Prop 21-the juvenile justice bill, which allows for the incarceration of 14 year olds in adult prisons.

In the case of dead prez, their songs as well as their direct involvement and membership in organizations like the POCC (Prisoners of Conscience Committee) have set the standard for the type of work artists like Lil Kim can either support or be involved in. Both M-1 and Boots are quick to point out that they are organizers first and artists second. In fact during a recent Hip Hop conference at Stanford University, Boots noted that if Hip Hop wasnt the platform being embraced by people hood, he would be doing another genre of music, as long as he could reach the people that need him most.

Now granted Lil Kim may not be ready to do the type of work we associate with groups like dead prez or the Coup. However, it would be ideal if someone like her who has such high visibility and is now having the spotlight put on her because of her situation would consider taking things a step further by aligning herself with those who fight the prison industrial complex and criminal injustice system everyday.

what do you think?

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Internet law would hurt independent hip-hop scene

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Internet law would hurt independent hip-hop scene
By Davey D

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/eye/14928277.htm

original article-June 29, 2006


daveyd-raider2In my June 15 column on Tupac Shakur’s legacy, I mentioned sweeping changes that soon could transform the Internet. That’s because of congressional action on the disingenuously named Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act, or COPE, which is backed by large telecommunications companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.

This bill, which passed in the House and is awaiting action in the Senate, would end what is known as “Net neutrality,” by which all sites are equally accessible to users.

Broadband operators have been prevented from charging a fee to prioritize content and services, and the little guy with something to say on a blog has been able to compete with a giant news outlet because he is just as accessible. COPE would replace Net neutrality with a two- or three-tier system in which broadband operators could charge to prioritize content and services for willing customers. Those who don’t pay for the service would become less accessible over their systems. Earlier this month, the House approved COPE by a 321-101 vote.

If the legislation becomes law, the multitiered system could have a devastating effect on the independent hip-hop scene that has emerged over the past few years, with the Bay Area and Houston leading the way. To the chagrin of major record labels, the Internet has been a boon to independent artists who publicize and distribute their songs and videos with little cost while retaining the revenue previously siphoned by the record labels for distribution services. The Internet largely leveled the playing field and eliminated the middle men.

Bay Area acts such as Hieroglyphics and Living Legends have done extremely well selling music and merchandise on the Internet, and they have used it to launch 40- and 50-city tours. Keak Da Sneak, Mistah FAB and others have garnered large international fan bases through innovative use of Web sites such as Myspace.com.

Local filmmakers and TV producers such as Sean Kennedy of Ill Trendz Productions have made names for themselves on the Net. Adisa Banjoko and other Bay Area authors have self-published and distributed their work via the Internet, while organizations like the Hip Hop Congress, led by San Jose’s Shamako Noble, established a national presence using the Web.

On the horizon is technology for increasing Web speeds up to a thousand times over today’s and allowing wide delivery of rich media.

Telecom companies have spent millions of dollars trying to persuade Congress that COPE is necessary so they can do the R&D needed to improve the Internet. Many others, however, argue the technology for super-fast Internet speeds already exists.

According to Scott Goodstein of SavetheInternet.com and Punkvoter.com, 15 countries are far ahead of the United States. In France, Web access priced at $6 per month is currently 25 times faster than top download speeds in this country, where prices average $30 a month. Some Asian countries are reportedly on the verge of introducing speeds hundreds of times faster.

Goodstein reminds us that telecom giants, which did not develop the Internet, nonetheless have received millions of taxpayer dollars to provide universal broadband access, but have yet to deliver. He describes the recent lobbying efforts to stir up support for COPE as a money grab on their behalf, plain and simple.

If the legislation goes into effect, independent artists, bloggers, activists and journalists may find themselves priced out of the kind of Internet service they have enjoyed so far.

Sen. Barbara Boxer has come out in favor of Net neutrality, while Sen. Dianne Feinstein has not announced a position, saying she wants to hear more from constituents.

I encourage everyone to call their offices, because COPE supporters are pulling out all stops to usher in their corporatist version of the Net. Both artists and hip-hop fans stand to lose the freedom they now enjoy.

An easy way to reach your senator is by going to www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/ senators_cfm.cfm.

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Everybody in Hiphop Hates Chris,-How Cristal Hustled Hip Hop

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Everybody in Hiphop Hates Chris, but so what?!
How Cristal hustled Hiphop

By: Hadji Williams
original article-June 22, 2006
After spitting its virtues for ten summers, Jay-Z and his hiphop minions are now boycotting Cristal, a hiphop staple after Frederic Rouzaud, the brands managing director made what many are calling elitist and racist comments against the hiphop communitys economic support of Cristal in a recent interview in The Economist magazine. (www.targetmarketnews.com)

What can we do? We cant forbid people from buying it. Im sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business. Rouzaud said of hiphops pallets.

Well, as a 15 year marketing vet, Ive got a scoop for Marcys all-time great: Your boycotts too late, fam. In case you havent noticed, it works like this, folks: Hiphop, like the Blues, like most everything from the black community before gets mined for its cool cache. And this time, yall been strip-mined and pimped as corporate cheerleaders. And basically for free, no less.

Rouzaud never cut any brother a check for any of those mic checks. The nouveau rich and the not-so riche been chasing Cris and those uppity brands because Jig, Puff and every other bruh with some BDS and MTV said the bottle was hot. And it worked. Cristal is the 8th most popular brand in 2005 behind Mercedes, Nike, Bentley and Rolls Royce. Meanwhile most of the Hamptons, Hollywood and Wall Street are, as Mr. Rouzaud, put it curiously serene.

Fact is Rouzaud is shooting his mouth off now, because he knows Cristal doesnt need hiphops praises anymore. The Jigs up and theyve moved on. The whole black kid made good angle is played and upscale consumers arent feeling us anymore. You can only play dress-up for so long before the clock strikes. There’s a reason someone like David Beckham now carries more marketing muscle than any handful of ethnic celebs you can name. (Read KNOCK THE HUSTLE -I warned yall this was coming.)

Secondly, its called luxury for a reason, folks. Luxury always excludes. Luxury excludes by class, by price, and yes, by race. And I dont care how much money you got, IT stops being luxury once enough negroes cop it. Sorry, but its true.

But young heads are still sleeping: In the eyes of most marketers Hiphop (and black folks at large) are just disposable media outlets. Its all about reach, frequency and brand equity. Hov dont have the reach n frequency he used to; in fact, hiphop doesnt. (Hate if you want, you know Im right.)

Therefore most luxury brands are starting the slow steady exodus back to more exclusionary brand strategiespaler faces in their ads, more upscale and selective partnerships and cross-promotional opportunities. They want their swagger back.

See, I know this game. While my cats hustled on the streets, I got my grind on the suites too many brands to mention. Never Cristal, but I did help a certain, +A vodka get mad bullish few summers back. (Yep, that was me. See KNOCK THE HUSTLE.)

Anyway, once I got hooked up with some Euros who owned a hard cider brand called K. You know why they called me?

We know that in order to really push this in the states we need to get it in the black community. That’s what these Irish cats told us, point blank. Theyd never been to the US but they knew that much. They asked me for a list of hiphop stars, hot urban clubs, etc. Their plan was simple: Get slick brothers and sisters hyping it up knowing full-well everybody else would be on it in a couple years, if not sooner.

Unfortunately cats werent really feeling the hard cider so it never popped. But that’s how that part of the game works. We sit in rooms and politic and scheme. Sometimes checks get cut and next thing you know your favorite rap superhero is dipped in [INSERT BRAND HERE]. Rouzaud and his kind are no different. No matter what they say.

Now, Im not saying thats how/why Jay got with Cris. Im sure Hov was a Cris fan back when he was just hyping Jaz; just as Run was lacing up Adidas before their contract, and LL rocked Kangols while he was slicing up Kool Moe

Anyway, Mr. Rouzauds sentiments are an orchestrated shoutout to his base that hes putting the velvet ropes back around the Cristal. But hes not alone. While his my-clothes-arent-for-black-folks/Oprah-interview was a hoax, Tommy Hils announcement that the Hilfiger brand is moving out the urban arena and back to its upscale mainstream roots is quite legit. (Google the press releases for more info.)

You can’t slam a door on folks that are walking out on you. Most of the companies that have gotten cool and rich off of hiphop cosigning are cashing out and moving on. Some are looking to Hispanic consumers. Many are going for NASCAR Dads and Soccer mom sets. Others are chasing upscale anglo roots. Some are trying to revive the X-treme thing, etc. But make no mistake: The bachelor party’s over and hiphop just got ran thru by half the cats in the house. And now, theyre going home. So who cares if you dont want to put out anymore?

My advice to the hiphop community is this: Keep these companies names out of your mouth and dont ride for any INC until you know exactly who youre dealing with. Do your due diligence. Most of these folks have no regard for you, your community, your culture, or your art. Youre just a means to an end; and when push comes to shove, theyre mean and focused about getting their ends.

And to every crime nigga that rhyme: theyll touch your mic every time, cuz their minds are quicker. Much quicker.
——-

A 15-year vet of the marketing industry, Hadji Williams is author of KNOCK THE HUSTLE: How to save your job and your life from Corporate America. Email him: author@knockthehustle.com

Too Many Groupies on the Radio

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In lieu of our last article on Hip Hop Radio falling off in NY and LA Here’s a follow up article that was actually penned a while back from DJ Mark Skillz who’s an old school head who’s voice you can hear on various radio stations and TV commercials around the country including Breakdown FM… I thought this would give us some more food for thought… Holla back..
 
Too Many Groupies on the Radio
By Mark Skillz

original article-June 15, 2006
markskillzson-225Have you listened to hip hop radio lately? Or should I say what passes for hip hop radio. Like anything else in our culture the standards for urban radio have been lowered.

Instead of deejays on air being conversational they shout. The art of one to one conversation style radio is lost in hip hop. Maybe station managers think that blacks and Latinos dont want to be talked to intelligently. Or does keeping it real mean that you have to sound like you perceive your audience to be? For instance, take a station like KMEL, the on-air deejays recently, not only sound like theyre from the street but also like they are broadcasting live from a street corner.

Now, there is nothing wrong with being from the street, however, in our culture Im talking about African-American culture, historically, when a person is given the opportunity to communicate with our people, weve always strived to present a positive image. But for some reason, when people think of hip hop they automatically lower the standards of excellence.

Black people are not monolithic beings. We dont speak with one voice and one mind. Neither are all hip hoppers monolithic beings. We range in age and taste. Some of us prefer Mos Def and Talib Kweli, while others prefer Lil Flip. With preferences in tastes so vast youd think that the people who market music to us would realize that and would have more than one kind of on air personality talking to us.

When I was coming up, deejays like Frankie Crocker, Nick Harper, Greg Mack, Jeff Fox and many others sounded like intelligent people. They might not have been rocket scientists but never the less, these men sounded intelligent enough to communicate ideas to a mass audience without dumbing down to them. For some reason, people think that being a part of the hip hop culture or even black culture for that matter, means that you have to dumb things down to relate to people.

For instance, on the 70s sitcom Sanford and Son, whenever the Sanfords came in contact with the police it was always Officer Smitty (a brother) and some white cop, the white cop would speak in cop talk meaning he would say things like Hello Mr. Sanford we received a call about a domestic disturbance somewhere on these premises, and we came to ascertain the facts.

It is at that point that Fred and Lamont would look at each other bewildered, as if they couldnt understand what the white cop had said. They would then look at Officer Smitty for his interpretation Fred we got a call about a fight around here, do you know anything about it?

Like they were too dumb to understand what the white guy was saying, as if the words were too big for them to know. Now this kind of white-speak-black man-dont understand kinda thing exists today but on different levels.

What else do I mean by talking down? Well, when a grown man, is talking to teen-agers instead of raising the bar for what and whom they should strive to be like, he communicates with them on their level. Hearing thirty and forty year olds saying What’s crackalatin 20 times a day is embarrassing. Its the equivalent of that 50 year- old uncle, at the barbecue, trying to talk the latest slang and worse, trying to do the latest dance. Thats what’s happening on radio now.

One night I was listening to KMEL and I happened to turn it on in the middle of an interview, now this interview went on for like 10-15 minutes, and in all that time, never once did this guy say who he was, or who the artist was he was interviewing. However, what he did get across was that this artist had a fat platinum chain on and how much he wanted to have one as well. And also this guy enjoys hanging out with him poppin collars at the Beehive and checkin out breezies. Now what the hell does all that mean to a listener?

After 15 minutes of this crap when this artist was walking out the door I finally figured out he was talking to none other than Kanye West. Oh snap! I thought, damn I can think of a bunch of questions Id like to ask Kanye my damn self like; What was the Chi-town hip hop scene like when you were coming up? What influence did house music have on your style? The Nation of Islam is real strong out there, what influence did they have on you if any? The gang scene out there, how did you avoid that trap, when gang culture goes back 40 years plus out there? Did you start off rapping over house records? What Chi-town radio did you listen to, that influenced you to go the soulful hip hop route?

The art of the interview, the art of conversation, all of that is lost in current hip hop radio. Why is that? It’s because we’ve lost our culture to a bunch of groupies. Not just here in the Bay Area, but all over the country. Radio stations like record companies have people working there who are just happy to be down. They are content with the status quo, if you tell them that there is something wrong with hip hop radio, they look at you like your crazy. As far theyre concerned everything is all good and then some, because theyre going to concerts and theyre chilling backstage with their favorite rap stars.

gregmack-225Greg Mack, the pioneering LA dee-jay that was on KDAY back in the 80s and 90s, the man that any-artist-that-wanted-his-record broken in LA had to see. When he interviewed an artist, like, Big Daddy Kane, for instance, he asked Kane questions like; So Big Daddy, where did you first start performing? What year was it? Who were some of the people that you looked up to while you were coming up? What’s this whole thing with the Juice Crew and BDP, the reason I ask is because you seem to be respected by both sides so, what’s your take on things? How do you think it can be resolved?

See, now that was from a KDAY interview I heard in 1988. Never once did Greg Mack ask him how many hoes did he have waiting for him back at the hotel or in the limousine like you hear so often today in hip hop radio.

The groupie culture is one that loves to be seen in the places to be seen and to give the impression that they are down. But really ask yourself, do you care if some idiot on the radio was chillin in the club with some football or basketball player? What does the stations event that they are constantly promoting every 15 minutes have to do with your school closing down because the state has no money for teachers salaries and books for students?

Lets really go back, to WBLS and Mr. Magic, the man who was the first person to play rap records on the radio. I used to think that Mr. Magic was a big fan of the Force MCs, because they were on his show a lot, but to his credit he wasnt riding their dicks, he asked them good questions like; So fellas, you just won the battle out in New Jersey, how much rehearsal time did you put in for it? Ok, name some of your favorite doo-wop groups.

In defense of the deejays, I have to say, that they are only carrying out orders from up top. If station management didnt want that style of presentation they wouldve long since gotten rid of them. These are young brothers and sisters trying to make it, trying to find their way in a very competitive field. Managers are the ones that set the tone, so ultimately they are responsible. You’d think someone older with more experience would want to lead them better but not so. Dont get me wrong, there are some talented brothers and sisters on the radio today, and quite a few of them have real potential in the years to come.

So whats changed? What has changed in urban radio from the Frankie Crocker, Greg Mack era to now? Yes, hip hop music is more dominant today, but what about the quality of talent? Does a hip hop deejay have to sound like he just rolled out of the gutter? To a certain degree I can understand why urban radio programmers want their deejays to sound street, it makes them more relatable to a ghetto audience. But arent they doing the audience they serve a dis-service by going that route? Do the station managers know that they are reinforcing negative racial stereotypes of the inner-city audiences that they are catering to?

Yes, hip hop culture is far more influential today than it was when Frankie Crocker and Mr. Magic ruled the airwaves, but does that mean that radio has to appeal to the lowest common denominator? No.

Black people have always talked slang. As far back as the 50s, the first black radio jocks were rappers – people like Jocko Henderson and many others. Within that style they entertained and informed the community, later, people like Frankie Crocker took to the airwaves and just talked to people in a conversational style. There was no need to talk jive on air anymore.

Do station managers know that by reinforcing these stereotypes that they are helping to keep black and Latino youth forever ignorant?

Why is it I can turn on a rock station, and hear guys on there with a sense of humor and who aren’t talking down to their audience? But mostly I dont hear anyone yelling on rock radio. Except on the records. Is hip hop that low of a culture that standards have to be lower for us than anybody else?

Hip hop radio is now notorious for being shout out and request radio, instead of being informative as well as entertaining.

Now, the whole shout out style comes from the mix tape scene, which works really well in clubs and car systems, but radio should have a different standard. Dont get it twisted, I like the mix tape dee-jays, but there needs to be a balance between that and regular radio. I dont need to hear DJ Clue or Whoo Kidd, or even Kid Capri reading liners and doing interviews let them rock the party

Because I’m down for positive changes in our culture, heres what I think station owners can do to help change this situationStation managers talk with your dee-jays, talk to them about being conversational, talk to them about them being role models in our communities, talk to them about preparing for an interview, you know, stuff like researching the artist, so that you can ask different kinds of questions so that fans and non-fans can walk away with more thanDamn look at all that ice in that medallion!

And remember mediocrity is only realized in the presence of excellence.

 

Have We Had Enough of Hip Hop Radio?

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Have We Had Enough of Hip Hop Radio?
By Davey D
original article-June 12 2006

daveyd-raider2If you check the latest ratings you may find it interesting to note the fall of some prominent Hip Hop stations in Los Angeles and New York. For the first time in a long time WBLS an adult oriented station is actually doing better then both Hot 97 and Power 105. In Los Angeles none of the urban stations (KPWR-Power 106), KKBT 100.3 the Beat and KDAY are in the top 10. The fall of Power 106 which is sister station to Hot 97 is major when you consider the fact for years this was the dominant station in LA.

This huge drop in ratings leads to one asking what’s really going on here. Is the public growing tired of the same Laffy Taffy, homogenous G-Unit format that can be heard on every Hip Hop station from city to city and from coast to coast?

Are the audiences of these stations getting older and simply want something a lot smoother and more adult oriented then the crunk style offerings that dominate the Hip Hop stations? Does the fall of these stations indicate better things to come? Will the program directors of these outlets finally get it and start giving the people what they want versus what the record labels say they need?

I ran into Greg Street of V103 in Atlanta the other day and asked him about this and he pointed out something interesting. He noted that many of the deejays on those stations that are falling aren’t true on air personalities. Yes, many of them may have name recognition. Some of them are artists and TV stars, but he pointed out that very few have actually been apprentices to radio. He said this comes into play at the end of the day, because people really want more than celebrity.

He added that theres a science, methodology and commitment one has to have when it comes to doing radio. He pointed out how many have been tossed on the air and have not been given any rhyme or reason as to how they should be doing things. He said that people are growing tired of hearing cats come on the air and not really talk about nothing and not do anything.

He also pointed out that very few go out and do things in the community for the sake of making a difference, as opposed to doing a promotional gimmick for the station or themselves. Street pointed to the high ratings and success of V103 in Atlanta as proof of his point. Will you ever see a personality like Funkmaster Flex going into the schools trying to mentor kids who need it or will it become a big event complete with TV crews and lights designed to highlight him and the station versus the kids who really need help?

Street talked about all the behind the scenes community work he and others at his station do that is not promoted on the air. He says its done because he is really a part of the community and the lives of his listeners. At the end of the day its that sort of commitment that will win out in the end.

Journalist Mark Skillz noted this in an article he penned a few months back called ‘Shout Out Radio’ where he pointed out how today’s on air personalities do nothing more then give shout outs on the air. They shout out friends, celebrities and album release dates for particular artists and walk away thinking that’s enough, when in fact the community and listeners need and want so much more.

He noted that people get turned off when they turn on the radio and have to endure some deejay bragging about how he was backstage hanging out with an artist drinking Cristal when most couldnt even afford a ticket to the event. He said that these jocks have increasingly become out of touch with the listeners and have ceased being effective conduits for the community that craves information that is meaningful.

With the demise of some of these big urban giants we have to also look at the big drop in album sales for many big named artists despite increased promotion and hype. 50 Cent going from 8 million albums sold on his first release to 4 million albums sold on the Massacre album is a good case in point.

While record label execs are quick to spin this and note that 50 sold the most albums last year, they are slow to point out that he had 5 times the promotion put behind him. In 2005 he had several expensive marketing campaigns including ones to promote his movie, energy drink, video game and book. He was always on MTV and BET and could be heard in regular rotation on Top 40 stations thus indicating that he had crossed over to the mainstream. Like I said all that promotion didnt come cheap. It was brought and paid for, yet instead of increased album sales you saw less.

Blaming it on downloads and bootleg CDs doesnt explain the big drop off. Theres no way 4 million albums were downloaded. And if that was the case explain the drop in ratings with many of these urban Hip Hop stations where his music is played day in and day out. Is it too much? Are we being oversaturated with the same old same old? Are these stations missing the mark?

KKBT the Beat in LA recently switched up their format and said they wanted to abandon rap and play R&B while fusing it with adult oriented talk. They wanted to go back to the tradition of urban radio where your favorite jock hit you upside the head with good music and good conversation. That seems to fly in the face of the More Music Less Talk mantra that is embraced by most commercial radio. Is this whats needed or is there something else missing? Now we know they’re onto something with being more adult. But should Hip Hop be included? Is there adult oriented Hip Hop both in content and sound?

Some say that the music needs to match the mindset of the people. Its too dumbed down and juvenile. The other night at the House of Blues, the Roots performed to a sold out crowd that ranged the entire age and ethnic gauntlet. You saw gangsta types and Bohemian types all up in the venue grooving along to the band and their special guest which included Blackstar w/ Mos Def and Talib and GZA from Wu-Tang.

Tickets were being scalped outside for 100 bucks a pop. A local deejay that will go unnamed asked out loud how come her/his radio station never plays The Roots when its obvious that they have such a big fan base and this is what a lot people want? Why cant we hear more Pete Rock and CL Smooth melodic type music?

Conventional wisdom will point to album sales and say these types of acts dont have high numbers hence they should not get played. However, Mobb Deep didnt do that well with their last album and we hear them all the time so whats really going?

We also have heard conventional wisdom from industry experts that says groups like The Roots or Little Brother are too smart and will go over the heads of the average listener. In other words the people are just too dumb to appreciate music that moves beyond being loud and having a monotonous 4 count.

In any case one cant deny were at a crossroads. Im not sure how it will all pan out but change is definitely needed

#1 New York, NY
Updated 5/22/2006
Spring ’06 ARBITRENDS (February, March, April)

Pop: 15,332,000
Black: 2,710,700 (18%) Hispanic: 3,212,500 (21%) Asian: 787,047 (5%)

Station Format Owner………….. Spr 05… Sum 05… Fall 05… Win 06… F/M/A 06

WLTW AC Clear Channel…………6.1… 5.8… 7.4… 6.6… 7.1
WSKQ Spanish SBS……………….4.8…4.2…4.5…5.6…5.6
WHTZ Top 40/M Clear Channel….3.9…4.2…4.4…4.7…4.7

WRKS Urban AC Emmis….4.7…5.5…4.5…4.4…4.5

WPAT Spanish SBS………………..2.9…3.2…3.7…4.5…4.4
WINS-A News CBS Radio………….3.7…4.2…4.2…4.1…4.0

WBLS Urban AC Inner City…….3.6…3.1…3.5…3.7…3.8

 WWPR Urban Clear Channel4.0…4.6…4.1…3.9…3.7

 WQHT Top 40/R Emmis…….4.3…4.5…4.3…3.7…3.5

WABC-A Talk ABC………………….3.2…3.6…3.4…3.5…3.3
WAXQ Classic Rock Clear Channel…3.5…3.2…2.7…3.0…3.3
WQCD Smooth Jazz Emmis…………2.9…3.0…3.1…2.9…3.0
WKTU Top 40/R Clear Channel…3.0…3.0…2.7…2.7…2.8
WCAA/WZAA Spanish Univision……2.4…2.8…2.8…2.4…2.5
WCBS-A News CBS Radio………3.0…2.7…3.1…2.5…2.4

WQXR Classical NY Times 2.6… 1.8… 2.3… 2.7… 2.4
WPLJ Hot AC ABC 2.4… 2.2… 2.2 … 2.1 … 2.3
WFAN-A Sports CBS Radio 2.6… 2.7… 2.7… 2.2… 2.2
WOR-A Talk Buckley 2.3… 2.1… 2.2… 2.1… 2.2
WCBS-F AC CBS Radio 3.0… 1.5… 1.7… 1.5… 1.7
WNEW AC CBS Radio 2.0 2.3 1.8 1.8 1.7

WADO-A Spanish Univision 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.5 1.2
WFNY Talk CBS Radio 3.4 3.2 3.2 1.1 1.1
WALK AC Clear Channel 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
WLIB-A Talk Inner City 1.0 1.2 1.4 0.8 1.0

#2 Los Angeles, CA
Updated 5/23/2006
Spring ’06 ARBITRENDS (February, March, April)

Pop: 10,790,100
Black: 822,300 (8%) Hispanic: 4,422,000 (41%) Asian: 0 (0%)
Station Format Owner Spr 05 Sum 05… Fall 05… Win 06… F/M/A 06

KLVE Spanish Univision 4.0… 4.2… 4.3… 4.8 … 4.9
KIIS Top 40/M Clear Channel 4.7… 4.4… 4.3… 4.9 … 4.6
KFI-A Talk Clear Channel 3.9… 4.0… 4.0… 4.0… 4.5
KSCA Regional Mexican Univision 4.0… 3.5… 3.8… 4.2… 4.4
KLAX Regional Mexican SBS 4.0… 3.7… 3.3… 4.3… 4.1

KBUA/KBUE Mexican Liberman 3.1… 3.1… 3.3… 3.6… 3.9
KOST AC Clear Channel 3.7… 3.1… 4.4… 3.8… 3.8
KROQ Alternative CBS Radio 3.7… 3.8… 3.9… 3.5… 3.5
KCBS Adult Hits CBS Radio 3.0… 3.4… 2.9… 3.4… 3.3
KTWV Smooth Jazz CBS Radio 3.8… 3.0… 3.2… 3.3… 3.3

KRCD/KRCV Spanish Univision 2.6… 2.5… 3.2 … 3.4… 3.2
KXOL Hurban SBS 2.0… 4.2… 3.6 … 3.2… 3.0

KPWR Top 40/R Emmis

4.2… 4.0… 3.5… 3.2… 2.8

[/u]
KRTH Oldies CBS Radio 2.5… 2.7… 2.7… 2.7… 2.8
KHHT R&B Oldies Clear Channel 2.9… 3.0… 2.8… 2.4… 2.4

KSSE Spanish Entravision 2.4… 2.3… 2.2… 2.4… 2.3
KABC-A Talk ABC 2.1… 2.5… 2.4… 2.3… 2.2
KBIG Hot AC Clear Channel 1.9… 2.3… 2.3… 2.1… 2.1
KLOS Classic Rock ABC 2.0… 2.1… 2.1… 1.9… 2.1

KKBT Urban Radio One

3.2… 2.5… 2.4… 1.9… 1.8

KZLA Country Emmis 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.8 1.8
KNX-A News CBS Radio 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6
KJLH Urban AC Taxi 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.5
KLSX Talk CBS Radio 2.3 2.5 2.2 1.5 1.5
KMZT Classical Mount Wilson 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.5
KYSR Hot AC Clear Channel 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.5

KFWB-A News CBS Radio 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.3 1.3
KHJ-A Spanish Liberman — 0.8 0.8 1.0 1.2
KLYY Tropical Entravision 1.7 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.2
KRLA-A Talk Salem — 1.0 0.8 1.0 1.0
KTLK-A Talk Clear Channel 0.8 0.9 0.7 1.0 1.0

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

An Open Letter to Hip Hop About Net Neutrality

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An Open Letter to Hip Hop About Net Neutrality

by Davey D

original article-June 09, 2006

daveyd-raider2Dear Folks who say they Love Hip Hop

I wish there was a way to make this issue of Net Neutrality more interesting. I wish there was a way to spice it up and make it compelling like some sort of beef within the rap industry. Maybe I should get Brad and Angelina to talk about it instead of their baby. Maybe Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton can utter a few words and force us to take more of an interest.

I wish Cam’ron spent his vast money holding press conferences, dissing punk ass Congress for taking tainted money from Verizon, SBC, and Comcast instead of going after Jay-Z. Im glad Jay-Z ignored Camron, unfortunately he remained silent as the President of Def Jam on this important issue. We’ll see what happens after Def Jam finds it difficult or too costly to send out their e-post cards alerting me and others of their latest releases

Im sorry Miss Jones on Hot 97 was so upset and enraged that she felt compelled to make headlines calling Mary J Blige a bitch for not shouting her out at last weeks Summer Jam. Its too bad that she didnt use her 3-4 hours a day of airtime in the nations largest city to call the greedy Congress people who accepted money from these corporations Bitches. There aint gonna be any shout outs if the Senate follows Congress in passing this bill. Maybe she’ll step it up when her parent company Emmis finds that folks from all over the country can no longer easily access their archived interviews on their website.

It’s too bad that many of us found this issue ‘too complicated’ and ‘too overwhelming’ and hence directed our attention to Ludacris and Ice Cube’s beef with Oprah. This is the feedback I got after stories ran on my website as well as AllHipHop.

Shyt I’m sorry Oprah was too busy telling Ed Lover that she really does love Hip Hop and that she listens to 50 Cent and his violent ass all damn day instead of alerting her millions of viewers about the issue of Net Neutrality.

Im sorry that KRS-One and others used these Internet airways to tell us about the Hip Hop Nation they want to build, but didnt issue a call to action to protect a main arm of our communication. Whether you’re a Hip Hop or Rap Lover the elimination of Net Neutrality is gonna impact you..

Here’s what’s happening folks. The house has gone passed the COPE bill and rejected proposals to insure Net Neutrality. Those who sided with the Comcast and Verizon are well aware that the ability of ordinary people to communicate to the masses is a problem because its been the only thing holding them accountable. For the last 5 years, the biggest stories about government corruption, corporate swindles, global warming and no weapons of Mass Destruction has come through Internet bloggers who were able to push an issue to the masses and force Fox, CNN and other News outlets to pay some sort of attention.

Anyone who is an activist and championed causes ranging from Election fraud and Diebold Machines, police brutality Freeing Mumia, Global warming, Media Reform and Saving the South Central Farm in LA just to name a few this is will especially hit you hard, because the Internet and its neutrality provisions have enabled many of us to counter biased mainstream media outlets get information out about particular causes all over the world.

Yesterday that ability took one step closer to coming to an end. The mantra being sung on Capitol Hill is Shut it down, Shut that shyt down and redirect traffic to a handful of places and media outlets that they can influence and control.

Like Ice Cube said ‘Laugh Now and Cry Later’, because many of us will soon be crying when we see the Internet gets parceled up and we start paying outrageous tolls for basic amenities. And speaking of which why didn’t Ice Cube talk about this issue instead of not being invited on Oprah?

Anyway your next steps should you choose is to call your Senator’s office and tell them to stand up and protect your interests. Ignoring this, waiting for others to take on your responsibility or acting like the issue will simply go away will not change this.

While many of you may shrug this off and think it doesn’t apply to you, stop and think of all the activities you do on the daily that involve the Internet. Such activities range from using phone cards which use Internet connections-(Many of y’all didn’t realize that) on down to peeping your favorite blog… Many of y’all like to surf and check out my site, AllHipHop, Sohh, HipHopGame etc.. Folks that shyt is about to change in a big, big ,big way.

You’re soon gonna be left with only being able to peep monthly issues of The Source and XXL, who neglected to address this issue. The Source bypassed this in their Media Watch column and Elliot Wilson from XXL obvious saw his shyt talking editorials as more important then keeping you informed. I guess I can understand, all these Hip Hop Internet websites were eating into business.

All you artists who felt like you can easily get your music out there via Myspace and the other sites, that’s about to change Oh yeah lets not forget the punk ass RIAA who like to sue everybody. They stayed silent on this and in fact while all this is going on they have quietly lobbying Congress to change laws so that they can fundamentally change the copyright laws in such a way that it will make it damn near impossible to pass things around via the net. Please read about this here:

 
and here:
 
Also lets not let Steve Jobs and his vast i-tunes network off the hook. Perhaps I missed it, but I didnt see him alerting us when you went to download your favorite song or stepped into his stores. Perhaps he figures he’s rich enough to pay for the inevitable increases while the rest of us cant. In other words controlling 90% of the market is not enough.

bobbyrushglasses-225Shame on former Black Panther, Congressman Bobby Rush for selling us out and supporting these corporations. Shame on the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and any other Civil Rights group pretending to represent our interests while selling us out and taking the money to front for these groups. And while Im glad former Congressman Ron Dellums did well in his Mayoral bid in Oakland, we should not forget that hes also a lobbyist with one of his main clients being Verizon so shame on him as well. How’s Oakland gonna be a world class city that is a beacon for new technology and innovation when his client is one of the main people trying to shut down the Internet?

In closing I’m gonna say this and it may be sobering for some… It’s what my pops told me after I got caught fuccing up and then went home and tried to kiss up to him so I wouldn’t get in trouble. He told me to stop acting like a wuss and start acting like a man. He told me it was time I grow up and accept responsibility. He then punished me for 3 weeks not for the fucc up, but for me trying to kiss his ass instead of owning up to my mistakes. This is about to happen to all of us…

My point is this. Hip Hop is over 30 years old. We’re not kids no more. This industry is not run by kids. To not involve ourselves in shaping the institutions that we rely on to get our information and music out is irresponsible. Thats some thing to pond about. Here’s another breakdown on this issue courtesy of www.playahata.com

Peace out for now

Holla at your Senator before you holla back at me..
Davey D

House Rejects Net Neutrality

The First Amendment of the Internet the governing principle of net neutrality, which prevents telecommunications corporations from rigging the web so it is easier to visit sites that pay for preferential treatment took a blow from the House of Representatives Thursday.

Bowing to an intense lobbying campaign that spent tens of millions of dollars and held out the promise of hefty campaign contributions for those members who did the bidding of interested firms the House voted 321 to 101 for the disingenuously-named Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE). That bill, which does not include meaningful network-neutrality protections creates an opening that powerful telephone and cable companies hope to exploit by expanding their reach while doing away with requirements that they maintain a level playing field for access to Internet sites.

“Special interest advocates from telephone and cable companies have flooded the Congress with misinformation delivered by an army of lobbyists to undermine decades-long federal practice of prohibiting network owners from discriminating against competitors to shut out competition. Unless the Senate steps in, (Thursday’s) vote marks the beginning of the end of the Internet as an engine of new competition, entrepreneurship and innovation.” says Jeannine Kenney, a senior policy analyst for Consumers Union.
In case there was any question that Kenney’s assessment was accurate, the House voted 269-152 against an amendment, offered by Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey, which would have codified net neutrality regulations into federal law. The Markey amendment would have prevented broadband providers from rigging their services to create two-tier access to the Internet with an “information superhighway” for sites that pay fees for preferential treatment and a dirt road for sites that cannot pay the toll.

After explicitly rejecting the Markey amendment’s language, which would have barred telephone and cable companies from taking steps “to block, impair, degrade, discriminate against, or interfere with the ability of any person to use a broadband connection to accessservices over the Internet,” the House quickly took up the COPE legislation.

The bill drew overwhelming support from Republican members of the House, with the GOP caucus voting 215-8 in favor of it. But Democrats also favored the proposal, albeit by a narrower vote of 106 to 92. The House’s sole independent member, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, a champion of internet freedom who is seeking his state’s open Senate seat this fall, voted against the measure.

Joining Sanders in voting against the legislation were most members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including its co-chairs, California Representatives Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey, as well as genuine conservatives who have joined the fight to defend free speech and open discourse on the internet, including House Judiciary Committee chair James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, and Intelligence Committee chair Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan.

The left-meets-right voting in the House reflected the coalition that has formed to defend net neutrality, which includes such unlikely political bedfellows as the Christian Coalition of America, MoveOn.org, National Religious Broadcasters, the Service Employees International Union, the American Library Association, the American Association of Retired People, the American Civil Liberties Union and all of the nation’s major consumer groups.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, opposed COPE, while House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, and Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, were enthusiastically supported it.

Among the Democrats who followed the lead of Hastert and Boehner as opposed to that of Pelosi were House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and Maryland Representative Ben Cardin, who is running for that state’s open Senate seat in a September Democratic-primary contest with former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume. Illinois Democrat Melissa Bean, who frequently splits with her party on issues of interest to corporate donors, voted with the Republican leadership, as did corporate-friendly “New Democrats” such as Alabama’s Artur Davis, Washington’s Adam Smith and Wisconsin’s Ron Kind all co-chairs of the Democratic Leadership Council-tied House New Democrat Coalition.

The fight over net neutrality now moves to the Senate, where Maine Republican Olympia Snowe and North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan have introduced legislation to codify the net neutrality principles of equal and unfettered access to Internet content into federal law. Mark Cooper, the director of research for the Consumers Federation of America, thinks net neutrality will find more friends in the Senate, at least in part because the “Save the Internet” coalition that has grown to include more than 700 groups, 5,000 bloggers and 800,000 individuals is rapidly expanding.

“This coalition will continue to grow, millions of Americans will add their voices, and Congress will not escape the roar of public opinion until Congress passes enforceable net neutrality,” says Cooper.

Cooper’s correct to be more hopeful about the Senate than the House. But the House vote points up the need to get Democrats united on this issue. There’s little question that a united Democratic caucus could combine with principled Republicans in the Senate to defend net neutrality. But if so-called “New Democrats” in the Senate side with the telephone and cable lobbies, the information superhighway will become a toll road.

MC Hammer The Vindication Interview w/ Davey D

This is one of the deepest and realest interviews you will ever hear as we sat down with MC Hammer for a candid no holds barred interview about all things Hip Hop. What he had to say was both eye opening and incredibly insightful.

Many of us within Hip Hop have severely underestimated MC Hammer and now we’re coming to see that he was light years ahead of the curve in terms of how one should approach business and even approach music. In pt1 we go over several key facets about Hammer’s career that he should be vindicated for including him being among the first rapper’s to spark endorsement deals.
He gives a serious breakdown about how folks made fun of him and wanted to ban him from Hip Hop only to turn around years later and seek these revenue streams now that they realize the music business can be extremely shady when it comes to getting paid. Hammer takes us deep by talking about how major record labels are now hijacking artists and attaching themselves to some of the lucrative endorsement deals that are being offered today.
We also talk about Hammer and his brother Louis Burrell being years ahead of artists in terms of getting clothing lines. Many did not know that the pair had a substantial stake in Troop Outfits. He and his brother were smart and actually opened up 30-40 Troop stores around the country and had the foresight to get them placed in popular locations and key malls. Just as the business was starting to really take off, Hammer and his brother found themselves the victims of what many consider corporate sabotage. Nasty rumors circulated around the country that Troop was owned by the Ku Klux Klan, when in fact Hammer, LL Cool J and Fat Joe were all owners. Outlets like MTV and urban radio did nothing to dispel those rumors and within a year of these nasty rumors Troop folded. Many speculate that it was rival clothing company like Addidas that was behind the rumors, but of course that was never proven. Many just speculated since they were the dominant urban clothing outfit at that time.

In this interview we spoke to Hammer about him being the first to put out Gospel Hip Hop on vinyl. Today we all praise Kanye West for the hit song ‘Jesus Walks’, but many overlook the fact that Hammer came on the scene using the moniker Holy Ghost Boy. His first song which was actually a demo cut passed around via cassette tape was a cut called ‘The Word’.

On his first LP ‘Feel My Power’ which was released independently in 1987-88, he had a dope hip hop gospel song called ‘Son of a King’. In our interview Hammer talks about his connection to the church and how he has struggled over the years with his own contradictions and spiritual beliefs. Also in this portion of our interview with MC Hammer, he gets deep about the connection between Hip Hop and spirituality.

We also have a lengthy discussion about the connection between Hip Hop and Funk. For those who don’t know, Hammer used to tour with a huge band that included the original horn section from Earth Wind & Fire. He goes into great detail about the history of west coast Hip Hop and how it emerged from the funk era. Hammer talks about how the Bay Area was the home of the Live Band and how every Black kid in the hood had a funk band. These bands were the equivalent to the early Hip Hop crews back East in terms of being the major platform for cultural expression by folks in the hood. Hammer talks at length about the early dance scene and the significant role it played in the development of west coast Hip Hop.

He talks about some of the early dance crews and dance styles. He also talks about how Michael Jackson used to come up to the Bay Area and get hipped to dance styles he would later incorporate in his shows. The most famous dance that Jackson got from the Bay Area was the robot.

Hammer also talks at length about New York City and why he did a song like ‘Turn this Mutha Out’. He talks about the irresponsibility of the Hip Hop press and how they tried to twist things for the general public. He talks about his friendship with Hip Hop pioneer Mele-Mel’. He also talks about the time he went up to the Latin Quarters by himself and got busy on stage right before Ultramagnetic performed. He noted that DJ Red Alert gave him a messed up introduction.

This concludes pt 1 of this interview..

Listen to pt 1 of this MC Hammer Interview on Breakdown FM

MC Hammer-The Vindication Interview pt2
East Oakland Street Life, Prisons, Police Helicopters, Cointelpro & Eazy E

In pt2 of our one on one with MC Hammer, he let’s us know about his connection to the streets. Folks outside the Bay Area saw the genie pants and the typewriter walk dance and figured Hammer was some sort of softy who could and should be dismissed. Folks in Oakland knew otherwise. Hammer was and is no joke. His old crew, the High Street Bank Boys were more than notorious. Hammer talks at length about the types of steps he took to pull his home boys away from street life and the challenges it presented. His actions by default became a full scale prison to work program. He explained how it was this sort of activity that eventually led to him going bankrupt.

Hammer spoke at length how the police along with some outside enemies tried to undermine his efforts and spread a nasty rumor about him buying OPD a police helicopter. He emphatically refutes the claim and talked about the type of corruptions that had gone on within the police department and how many officers were upset because he was providing opportunities for guys they wanted to see locked up.

We spoke at length about Cointelpro and how many of the other independent movements including Luke in Miami, James Prince in Houston and Eazy E in LA all saw themselves under fire at the same time. He spoke about the early attempts these young black entrepreneurs made to consolidate their resources and create a major distribution channel. It was at that point that the helicopter rumors surfaced and Luke came under fire for obscene material. James Prince and Rap-A-Lot records became the object of a federal investigation. Hammer gets deep with this aspect.. Lastly he talks about his close friendship with Eazy E and how the two had a lot in common because of their street background..

Listen to pt 2 of this MC Hammer Interview on Breakdown FM

 

MC Hammer-The Vindication Interview pt3
The Hustle-The Music Biz-The Hyphy Movement and 2Pac

In our final installment, we talk with MC Hammer about the city he reps and loves Oakland. He talks about the vibe of the city and the type of independent hustle-do for self mentality embraced by its residents Hammer also gives us a lot of insight about the music biz. Anybody trying to make it in the industry needs to hear what Hammer is saying with regards to this.. We also talk about the then current Hyphy Movement. Hammer gives a breakdown on this as well as updating us on his own new projects. We conclude our conversation with Hammer telling us about his friendship with 2Pac and they types of political ambitions the pair had planned out.

Listen to pt 3 of this MC Hammer Interview on Breakdown FM