HustleKnockin'

Tribes, Warlords, + Merchantnaries II

Warlords

One key to building with these new tribes will be going thru the cultural warlords. For tribes, the warlords won’t the sole source of inspiration or movement or change, but the tribes will be so insular and independent that the warlords will become the gatekeepers and conduits for outsiders, like marketers to get in.

So, I know what some of you are thinking: “Hadji, isn’t a warlord just a fancy word for ‘trendsetter’?” Nope, there’s a colossal difference. Consider this old joke: “You know the difference between the class clown and the class comedian? The class clown runs across the golf course with a sign on his back reading, ‘19th hole’ with an arrow pointing to his butt; the class comedian is the one who put him up to it.” A trendsetter is simply the first one to announce what’s next; the warlord manifests what’s next. The trendsetter is the prophet; the warlord is the prophecy.

Consider:

One of my boys in NYC runs with Reebok, Int.—his agency does a lot of RBK work (S. Carter/G-Unit shoes, etc.). A couple years back, Reebok, like everyone else was still trying to get in on the throwback and athletic gear craze (they needed a late pass, like most corporate entities trying to leverage cultural trends). Anyway, they spent mad loot developing fresh athletic styles to reach the cool kids who’d been up on this for a few seasons by then. But then the prophecy came:

“And I don’t wear jerseys, I’m 30-plus.
Gimme a crisp pair of jeans, n****, ‘button-ups’
S.Dots on my feet make my cipher complete…”

Five bars give or take, and it was done. One of hiphop’s greatest warlords breathed and suddenly jerseys, which had been hot for several years were a wrap. Off came the Mitchell & Ness and NBA knock-offs and on flew the preppy shirts, cuff links, blazers and crisp jeans. Companies like Roc-a-wear, Sean John and Phat Farm followed by rolling out fresh lines. And as the tribes headed to the preppy stores, jersey sales tanked and folks at Reebok and other athletic gear pushers threw fits as they scrambled to change clothes. (But Reebok wasn’t completely out of style; after all, their S. Carters rank as one of their best-selling shoe launches of all time; plus, their G-Unit shoes have been top-sellers.)

A trendsetter could’ve never done anything like that. For example: While P. Diddy and Russell Simmons aren’t warlords, they’re among the greatest trendsetters and businessmen in recent memory. They didn’t create hiphop but they helped take it mainstream and then global. And Michael Dell didn’t invent laptops or home computing, but he was among its first prophets and became a billionaire as a result. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 format, but Steve Jobs and crew saw the light; and while everyone else was suing college kids for downloading and grandstanding, Apple dropped iPods and became trendsetters. Again, warlords create; trendsetters cheerlead creations.

Conversely, it’s not impossible for a trendsetter to evolve into a warlord. Nike’s done it to a certain extent. Back in the day, Converse was the preeminent and seemingly invincible leader in basketball shoes while Nike was just a small upstart relegated to outfitting the track and field set, mostly middle distance runners in the Pacific Northwest at that. But in addition to a couple technological advances, Phil Knight & Co. made spotted a couple tribal trends (namely a baldhead-slick skywalker from Chi); the result pushed them so far out in front of everyone else that they became warlords for basketball, casual athletic gear and for a time, urban streetwear. Oprah Winfrey didn’t event soccermoms or talk shows, but when the rest were doing celebrity sycophant-fests and white-trash circuses, Oprah flipped the nation’s you-go-girls and desperate-housewives-in-training-bras into an empire. Martha Stewart didn’t invent that WASP-y, American Beauty aesthetic, but she saw the light and not even her 2004 prison stretch stopped her shine. NASCAR really didn’t invent auto racing, but they rode it to warlord status.

Note: While certain celebrities can become warlords, most can’t because most tribes will always dislike celebrities. Tribes, being the super savvy consumers that they are, are realizing that to become a celebrity you must have the support of entities outside your tribe—companies and consumers—who won’t always have your tribe’s interests at heart. Tribes are also realizing that because money and celebrity can change people, many celebrities often become too detached from the masses to be taken seriously as authorities or advocates, which is a big part of being a warlord. But some celebrities will become warlords because they were accepted into the tribe long before they got famous. (The Olsen Twins, who are a self-contained entertainment/fashion brand, are great examples—they literally grew up with the tribes that made them half-billionaires.)

Also, unlike traditional trendsetters and hipsters, warlords have power and influence beyond the trend or advent they’ve championed. For all of Hugh Hefner’s successes, he really has no power or influence beyond Playboy; His realm is adult entertainment and even in that arena his influence only goes so far. For all of Howard Stern’s dominance, he has no real influence beyond his radio show. But warlords like Oprah, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, TD Jakes, Creflo Dollar, the DNC/RNC, etc. can influence their tribes on issues beyond their accepted areas of expertise. Why? Their tribes trust their judgment and accept their gatekeeper’s status.

Youth Marketing: Who Souled Our Kids?

I have a younger brother, some nieces and nephews, too. While spending nights and weekends warning them against materialism, I spent my days developing marketing campaigns to convince masses (often not much older than them) that a $70,000 German automobile (with American parts, Asian and Mexican labor) is the ultimate status symbol. Upfront I touched on the amount of weight I gained mainly due to my sedentary corporate lifestyle. Maybe it was deserved given that I spent some time convincing young adults that McWings were a valid in-between meal snack. I had no cavities up until I was about 22, but after last few years you can just call me “Yuckmouth”. And maybe it’s poetic justice given that I spent that same stretch attaching coolness to everything from Wrigley’s Gum to Sprite. Looking back, I was quite the little pied piper.

Under the umbrella of Youth Marketing, I gave kids what they wanted while conditioning them to want, not what they needed, but to want what I needed to sell them. Through the images and ideas I crafted for cars, soft drinks, fast foods, etc. I encouraged behaviors in youth that I now criticize and despise. And now that I’m older, I’m starting to see the fruits of the seeds I helped sow.

It’s hard for me to solely blame teens for seeing war and violence as a videogame when we’ve made war and violence X-Box, SEGA, and PS2 compatible, not to mention the theme of countless summer blockbusters, music videos, TV shows, and CDs. I can’t even complain about rampant teen sex, pregnancy, and STDs given that sex sells everything under the sun. It’s hard to be surprised that so many young women are cock-teasers when my adult colleagues push misses thongs, low-rider jeans and stripper-inspired fashions while touting ho-ish entertainers as role models. I can’t complain about teenage alcoholism and binge-drinking when our liquor companies sponsor Spring Break, sporting events, and covertly target the under-age drinkers nationwide.

We bombard them with Reality TV, and then wonder why teens think humiliating themselves and/or each other is a fair trade-off for 15 minutes of fame. I’m not surprised that kids don’t respect adults when most every movie and TV show on MTV, Nickelodeon, Disney, etc. pigeonholes those over 50 as unhip, gullible fools who serve no purpose other than to give kids something to rebel against and outsmart. I can’t complain about youth putting athletes and entertainers on pedestals when we as adults keep building pedestals and idols for them to worship. We covet the dollars and loyalty of the 13–17 and 18–34 crowds so much that we’ll do whatever it takes to be their friend, regardless of the lessons our actions teach them.

Riddle me this: How many 12-year-old CEOs do you know? How many 14-year-old network or studio executives are pulling strings behind the scenes? How many 16 year olds are running major record labels or serving as A&Rs? How many teenagers are running radio stations and video channels? How many 24 year olds are running retail chains? How many 17-year olds control multimillion dollar marketing budgets or develop ad campaigns? That’s all us adults, folks.

Mommy may tell her little Lisa it’s okay to be an A-cup with acne, but we sure as hell won’t—not while we’ve got overpriced cosmetics, plastic surgeries, and disposable fashions to sell her on. We won’t tell her she doesn’t have to look like a model—not while we have Seventeen, Marie Claire, Lucky! Jane, Cosmo, etc. subscriptions to fill. We won’t tell boys it’s okay to be awkward and skinny or a little chubby as long as we’ve got steroids, diet pills, and workout gear to push. We won’t teach our kids to value and respect culture, heritage, and individuality over mass-marketed styles as long as we have airtime to fill and product to push. It’s called Youth Marketing. Not “youth development,” but Youth Marketing. We’re about selling stuff to kids. Period.

Adults are supposed to be society’s leaders. But we’re too busy chasing cream, brand loyalty, power, and satisfying our own selfish needs to lead properly. And don’t tell me “it’s the parents’ responsibility.” Marketing’s ultimate goal is to shape consumers’ values and judgment to induce purchase (ideally repeat purchase) and brand loyalty. And if it comes down to morality and values vs. brand loyalty and profits, marketing’s mission is to kick values’ teeth down morality’s throat. We can’t complain about what kids do, think, want, or become without looking in the mirror first. We are their pied pipers; we led them down the roads we despise. This is the truth of The Hustle.

Sure, I know every generation pushes and craves. But adults are supposed to push back, guide, and say “no.” But we don’t. Not anymore. And today’s teens are so on to us that they don’t care, either. They’ve seen the little man behind the curtain and they know it’s us. About 30 years ago, marketing pioneer Bill Bernbach warned us it would happen when he noted: “There is indeed a 12-year-old mentality in this country—every six year old has one.”

I’m sick of adults throwing their hands up on this one like the root causes are some sort of cosmic mystery or glitch in our DNA. We can’t do everything in our power to influence youth for profit then claim we have no influence over them once something or someone goes wrong. Young consumers and consumers in general aren’t blind sheep born to be fleeced, but adults are the shepherds. When they do get fleeced, we are responsible. (But again, we only talk about “personal responsibility” when it’s someone else’s.)

Until the rise of American advertising,
it never occurred to anyone anywhere in the world
that the teenager was a captive in a hostile world of adults.
—Gore Vidal

All Soul’d Out: Blacklash

All Soul’d Out: Blacklash

Every successful product launch or trend has consequences. And in today’s global economy blackness has gone worldwide:

Chinese kids are trading in mandarin for E-40 slang. Japanese kids have locked and twisted their hair and become turntablists. Young French and Italian girls have traded their couture for BabyPhat, Sean John, Ecko, etc.  White girls from Boston to Belgium to Borneo now have “ghetto booties.” Maori, Aborigine, and even Native American kids are embracing Black street culture as their own leaving their ancestors’ culture to fade away. I’ve heard drunken Irish kids call themselves “the Blacks of Europe.”

Young Cuban, Portuguese, Brazilians, and Philippinos are B-boying and graf writing while their indigenous traditions atrophy from neglect. African kids from Algeria to Kenya to Mozambique quote Tupac, BIG, Nas, and Jay-Z bar for bar while slowly forgetting their native tongues. Everyone from Paris Hilton and Prince William to the average collegiate and suburbanite has rocked cornrows, dreadlocks, and afros while most all Black hair styles have been reduced to costume party accessories and visual punchlines. Whole generations of UKers, Russians, and Germans have grown up crip-walking, twerking, jooking, Harlem shaking, poppin’ collars, and getting crunk. Middle Eastern kids from Afghanistan to Israel to Jordan “rep their ‘hoods.” “Ghetto” and “thug” have become global euphemisms for all things Black American while “nigger” remains among the most popular words in the world. And regardless of culture or heritage, many under 35 speak in occasional “Blackcents” just for fun…

All around the world it’s the same song.

But what happens when the party’s over? What happens once these consumers get older, get bored or start hungering for substance, like knowledge of the cultures their parents and grandparents tried to pass down? What happens once they realize what they’ve sacrificed in order to consume blackness? What happens when they want to undo the damage? My guess:
 
Blacklash.

As many have noted, there is indeed a culture war brewing, culture; and blackness is slowly joining terrorism, free speech, and family values as an important battleground. Much of our current culture war is being driven by a growing desire to protect what many see as “traditional western values” against what is, in their minds, the corruptive influence of minority cultures.

Of course, few openly call themselves “anti-minority” as that would be overtly racist. But their actions and words are proving otherwise. In recent years, culture critics, both liberal and conservative, have begun blasting “urban” music, art, fashion, and political views like never before. And on a seemingly weekly basis, major media outlets run stories linking black music to violence, crime, misogyny, STDs, and general societal decay. Affirmative Action and Mexican immigration are attacked on an almost hourly basis… But things are just warming up.

I predict that by 2010 blacklash will drop minority celebrities to “second-tier” status in terms of marketability and perceived artistic merit. Brands and products traditionally recognized as “urban” will become significantly less popular with mainstream consumers. And slowly, blackness will cease to be cool among many mainstreamers.

Keep in mind, at some point markets usually get saturated, consumers get bored, annoyed or outraged, and backlash follows. Every wildly successful brand/phenomenon feels it. Barney the Dinosaur, Acid-wash jeans, J. Lo, boy bands, and ‘80s hair bands all felt it. Hit shows like Beverly Hills 90210 felt it; Reality TV is feeling it. The fast-food and tobacco industries are feeling it. And as a product, black culture’s turn is coming, too.

However, difference will be the extent and severity of the backlash. First off, black culture has been consumed by the greater society like nothing before. For that reason alone the impending reaction against it may be at least as widespread. Secondly, let’s consider similar cultural phenomena of the past: grunge, the yuppie materialism of the 1980s, the psychedelic counter-culture of the ‘60s, the sexual revolution and the women’s movement of the 1970s… The leaders and most vocal participants and supporters of those products were primarily white and mainstream. And not surprisingly, the backlash always had palpable undertones of paternal disappointment and “how could you do this, you’re one of us?” frustration. There were also consistent undertones of “if you change back, we’ll take you back.”

But since the faces of hip-hop, Blackness, and immigration are people of color or those mimicking people of color; the blowback may well be meaner, more visceral, and less compassionate. Also, the undertones previously present may not exist for obvious reasons.

For an already well-documented history of American blacklash, look no further than the music world: From the late 1890s thru the early 1930s much of Jazz, Blues and later Rhythm and Blues were marginalized as “race music” and “nigger music.” The longstanding belief was the masses of White Americans needed protecting from the corruptive powers of black music and black culture. It wasn’t until Jewish, Italian and other non-black musicians began playing Jazz and blues did those art forms become more acceptable and harder to marginalize.

Also, much of the backlash against early Rock & Roll was rooted in racism; the biggest often slurs levied against such artists as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beatles was that they were race-traitors for bringing a version of the blues and soul to white audiences.

And whether it was made by the Bee Gees, Donna Summers, or ABBA, historians agree that the crux of Disco music was “black dance music for the masses” and the backlash against disco in was rooted largely in racism and of course, homophobia given the rising AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s.

And then there was NippleGate 2004. Despite the fact that MTV produced the Super Bowl halftime show, despite the fact that fellow acts Kid Rock and Aerosmith had misogynistic lyrics and behavior, etc., despite the fact that Mark Roberts jumped onto the field, stripped down to a G-string and danced an Irish Jig and moonwalked in the 3rd quarter stunt he promoted in advance on his website, and despite the fact that Just Timberlake ripped Jackson’s top off prior to singing the lyrics, “…Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” only Janet Jackson and the black artists were blamed for the fiasco. The NFL responded in 2005’s Super Bowl with a virtually all-white broadcast and halftime show featuring ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his all white band. That’s what you call “blacklash.”

E.L.E. (Extraction Level Event)

E.L.E. (Extraction Level Event)

Culturally speaking, ‘Blackness’ no longer belongs to black people. Thanks in no small part to corporate forces, specifically those within the marketing and advertising industries, Blackness has been extracted, harvested, distilled and repackaged into a product for mass consumption. And for the most part, it’s being bought, sold, defined and produced with little or no involvement from blacks. If Blackness were a government, Blacks would be its figureheads with the real power held by others.

From what I’ve seen, Blackness (be it music, dance, style, dance, language, etc.) goes thru 7 stages of extraction. (1) What’s that? Outsider recognition. (2) Oh, that’s just some thing “they” do/are. It and those connected to It are marginalized and devalued. (3) Hmmm, It looks interesting—bet I can do It/use It. They covet. (4) This could be profitable for us. Then comes greed. (5) This isn’t yours, it’s “ours”—it’s “universal.” Then it’s taken and redefined. (6) What happened? It was so much better back when WE started it… It loses its cool cache as revisionist history sets in. (7) What’s next? Back to the ‘hood to see what else the natives are cooking up.

By most accounts, Blackness is now dangling somewhere between stages 5 and 6. Business’ job is to maintain level 5 as long as possible, because once stage 6 hits it’s a wrap. Blackness will get flipped into a VH1 special. And maybe, say 10 years from now, it’ll become “kitschy” or “retro hip” and the same forces that wrecked it in the first place will return to start the cycle all over again.

I take your culture and sell it back to you!
—Danny Hoch

Hip-hop is easily the most prominent case of cultural extraction in modern history. In 2004, hip-hop generated an estimated $10 billion in music, fashion, entertainment (movies, videogames, etc.), and other cross-marketing ventures.7 In 2003, hip-hop, R&B and urban genres accounted for nearly 40% of all albums sold8 generating some $1 billion in revenue, lead mainly by Eminem and 50 Cent. According to leading estimates there are 45 million “hip-hop” consumers between ages 13 and 34, 80 percent of who are white. And this group is believed to have as much as $1 trillion in spending power.

Now let’s go to the supply side of the equation: Over 96% of America’s major radio stations, national magazines and TV stations are white-owned while 100% of the major chain retailers and distributors (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Tower, FYE, Virgin, Circuit City, Amazon, etc.) that carry black music are owned by whites and non-blacks. Lastly, let’s factor in the still near-systemic lack of diversity on Wall Street, in Hollywood and Madison Ave., all whom create the images, ideas, brands and perspectives that shape America’s pop culture and consumer landscape. What you’re left with is an environment where blackness, from look to style to content is shaped mainly by mainstream marketers, manufacturers, and retailers catering to the tastes of primarily mainstream consumers.

In the beginning, hiphop was born of Black American, African, Caribbean, Hispanic and indigenous tribal expressions (Capoiera, Griots, black poetry movement of the 1960s, work songs and negro spirituals, etc.) just as Blues, Funk, R&B, Soul, Gospel, House, Jazz, and Rock & Roll were. But just as with generations past cultural extraction cut, scratched and cross-faded those art forms into predominantly “white” (Rock & Roll, Alternative, Punk) or “universal” (Jazz, Funk, Techno, Blues, et al.) ones. Why? Because in each instance mainstream America decided it preferred a version of blackness it could own and control. And everyone from consumers to artists to manufacturers to marketers saw the value in engineering that extraction. And so it began...

In the case of hiphop “certain” black artists were abandoned in favor of “less-threatening” ones. Music labels strategically sought out “universal” black artists. Video channels and radio stations followed suit. Magazines, craving mainstream advertising dollars and readers, joined in. The FCC puts the screws to “urban” artists via indecency hearings, fines, etc. Hollywood and Madison Ave. joined in by reflecting and promoting what mainstream consumers wanted to see from black life. Mainstreamers began making their own “black” music and bringing their version of blackness to bear. (In fact, long before Eminem antagonizingly noted, “I use black music to get myself wealthy,” five white rappers from dubbed themselves Young Black Teenagers and successfully declared “Blackness is just a state of mind.”) Certain Black artists and industry insiders join in. Hustlers, culture pimps, and corporate whores got into the game. And before you knew it, blackness had become a product for mass consumption.

And now that hip-hop and by extension blackness has become “global youth culture” my generation has extended the perennially marketable and comforting myth of blackness as something you can “experience” your way into and control thru co-option, purchases, and majority rules. (It’s like lite beer: “Blackness—all of black people’s flavor but with none of the calories or carbs of Black melanin and struggle.”)

Again, don’t sleep on the consumer portion of this story because despite the growing number of high-powered minorities, they are all ultimately beholden to the same consumers and corporate entities. Consequently, many end up perpetuating stereotypes in order to grow their businesses and careers.

From the Negro we take only the magical-liturgical bits,
and only the antithesis makes them interesting to us.
—Hugo Ball

 

Now, Back To The Lab…

Now, Back To The Lab…

We start batting around ways to seed this soft drink into the Black community. Giveaways. Churches. Community events. Eventually someone suggests celebrity endorser. (The client has deep pockets and if we offered the right one, they’d bite.) Names start flying: Jordan. Janet Jackson. Chris Tucker. Chris Rock. Tiger. Sir Charles… Quickly, some begin expressing concerns over “how black is too black” for this brand. After all, the core audience is white soft-drink consumers; we need to attract Blacks but not if it means alienating whites.

As the celebrity prospects are discussed, a mild off-color comment pops up. Then a couple lighthearted but derogatory jokes… Criticisms of various aspects of black culture that they “just don’t understand” follow… Next thing you know, a wholesale discussion breaks out over what “type” of Black person our client should be associated with. Many champion Will Smith. He’s “nice,” “articulate,” and not breaking the law “like the rest,” as they put it. Other counter that Will isn’t “real enough” and “too boring,” or something to that affect. He’s “too O.J.” for them—pre-Bronco chase, of course.

As an apparent wildcard, someone offers up Allen Iverson. Quickly the room agrees AI is “a little too much” for the client. (Remember this is 2000—Iverson was still too “street” for most of America; even some NBA execs thought so.) Someone else suggests trying a black endorser who isn’t an athlete or an actor “to avoid the obvious.” But after a minute or two of dead silence they realize they can’t think of anyone. In between lots of hand-wringing all decide that it might not be “interesting enough” and possibly a “disconnect” to show a black person “in that context.” So it’s back to athletes, entertainers, and who/what is “too black.”

By now I’m so frustrated that I storm out of the room. I don’t know what bothered me more—the discussion or the fact that I was in on it. I went back to my desk and began writing my resignation letter. While typing I realized that I still needed money, and this whole “blackness” thing was lucrative. So I stopped and hit one of our big comfy bathrooms, splashed some water on my face and sat in a stall to chill out.

About 20 minutes later I went back into the meeting. Judging from the reactions, I don’t think anyone noticed I was gone. In my absence five Black endorser options had been scrawled onto one of those gigantic Post-It pads. They were noted as “final selects.” I read the names… Will Smith was number one. The others left me shaking my head in masked disgust and counting the days until my next paycheck. (The client ended up going with a patchwork of messages until their L’il Penny rip-off took off.)

But that day got to me. There was something about being in a room full of whites with more power and influence than even they probably realized or would ever admit to having literally deciding what is too Black. They were actually imposing their values on Black culture and Black people, not just in the name of commerce, but also in the name of America. But what got to me even more was that I helped them do it.
Looking back, that soda meeting was typical and actually quite mild compared to the rest of my marketing experiences and those of most black marketing professionals. Overall, the schemes are usually way more manipulative and exploitative. The clients and coworkers are usually more callous, clueless, condescending, biased, indifferent, insert-descriptor-here…

The images we created were often destructively stereotypical and fetishizing, even when we were being subtle. The ideas and ideals we attached brands to were often marginalizing and dehumanizing. The brands we pushed were often as disposable and empty as our perceptions of our ethnic target audiences. The money we made seldom if ever saw the pockets of minority professionals or vendors. (Most of the companies involved had few if any minority professionals on staff and spent as little money as possible with black vendors and companies. Such is still the case today.)

Funny thing it never felt like some secret cabal or Illuminati-type stuff; it was just business as usual. And of course, it was ethical. Maybe that’s why we seldom if ever cared about the repercussions.

When it comes to style and flavor America always had to love black people.
Not only did we not need their love, we appeared not to be damaged
by their spiritual abuse and violence.
We were beautiful without them.
We were more beautiful without them.
That was dangerous.
—Michela Angela Davis

Without Black Folks...

Here is a little something I got from my mom—she’s cool to send me stuff like this. Feel free to check and research the facts yourself—they’re true. A little bit of education to enlighten us all. Stuff you won’t (surprisingly) learn in school…

--
Where Would We Be Without Black Folk?
By: Anonymous

This is a story of a little boy name Theo who woke up one morning and asked his mother, Mom, what if there were no Black people in the world?

Well his mother thought about that for a moment, and then said, "Son, follow me around today and lets just see what it would be like if there were no Black people in the world. Now go get dressed and we will get started.

Rass Kass: Still A Slave

Here's a little gem... An opened letter from Rass Kass, underground hiphop legends. He of Soul on Ice, RassKassination, etc. He and others have long compared the record insutry to pimps slave system, etc. Truthfully, it's more like sharecropping. All legal. All ethical. Little moral. Very little of it is moral.

What stuns me is how many artists continue to play the game and sign such awfu,l awful contracts. It's like seeing oncoming traffic and then just running out into it, then complaining afterwards about getting hit.

Still, here's Rass and his lawyers take on things, courtesy of my man, Davey D.

Is the Rap Industry ready to sink?

I’d be curious to see a follow-up article on this one from folks across the pond. They’re claimin’ Ra and Hiphop are tanking. I know Lady Sov is hot—or at least the powers that be are trying to push her as hot much the same way they did with The Streets… (How many covers did Dizzy Rascal or Miss Dynamite get here?)

Anyone know or care to weigh in?

--
Rap Music on Way Out
2007-01-07
Sunday Mercury; Birmingham (UK)

RAP music, blamed for rising inner city crime, is on the way out, latest music business sales figures revealed yesterday.

Lack of Diversity =Bad Ads?

Some of this stuff seems a little nitpicky. they could've found better examples to illustrate the outrage but they didn't. Not because they aren't out there--there've been plenty over the years, too numerous to name. Check MultiCultClassics for a few.

I'm guessing that their reason for not coming up with better ones is that so many of the folks at the forefront in the diversity push, usually have next to nothing to do with the people/industries they're championing, or insinuating themselves into, depending on your view. Most of these folks are academics, activists as opposed to actual industry folks or even outraged consumers for that matter.

But they have the connects and the status to reach media folks and the Corner Office Brigade, so we get what we get...

Anyway, enjoy the article. It's still another step in the right direction.

Lack of Diversity Leads to Ad Missteps Minorities may help reach different markets
By Madison J. Gray

January 8, 2007 -- Last year, Geraldine Rosa Henderson watched a television commercial featuring actors celebrating the Christmas holiday. As the 30-second spot came to a close, the family portrayed prepared to place an angel atop the Christmas tree. At first glance, it really didnít seem that significant, but something about the spot jumped out at heróthe family was African American, the angel was white.

Henderson, an associate professor of integrated marketing communications at Northwestern University, was taken aback by the fact that the advertising firm seemingly did not even consider that a black family might put a black angel on top of a Christmas tree. She saw it as evidence of a serious deficiency in the advertising industry: a lack of diversity in its creative ranks.

Payola in Radio? Nahh...

Just when i thought i was the angriest hustleknocker going. meet paul porter--the man, the myth, the highly blackballed and probably out of work whistle blower from IndustryEars.com... How this guy is able to rant like this and still pay bills, God only knows.

maybe it's because much of what he says about radio at least is true. Enjoy.

Is the FCC Selling Us Out on the Payola Tip?
Paul Porter
Industry Ears.com

Last October I was a panelist at the FCC Town Hall in Oakland,California. Commissioner Adelstein addressed those in attendance on 'the smoking gun"of evidence that the FCC held referencing their payola probe. Several months later it seems that Chairman Martin has turned the gun into a useless water pistol.

The Weiner Circle Jerk

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DINNER AND A SHOW...

“If you don’t like it you can suck my big black titties!” I first heard that challenge as a TWC staffer cursed out a white customer during my first visit there a couple years back. And given my numerous visits since, that was sweet talk. Imagine the Queens of Comedy, the Soul Plane crew and just about every degrading stereotype you’ve ever seen or heard of about black women. Now imagine them serving you hotdogs, burgers, and fries. That’s TWC for you.

TWC is a small shack of a hot dog place in Chicago’s upscale Lincoln Park community. It’s owned and run a by an older white couple who encourage their all-black female staff to not only curse each other out but to serve up ghettofied Black woman stereotypes to patrons. The joint plays to constant laughter and approval of Lincoln Park’s 90%-white community who packs the place 8-days-a-week.

Now On Sale: Twenty Dollar Niggers!

Twenty Dollar Niggas/ers. Get 'Em At the Laugh Factory!
By: Hadji Williams

Okay, so now Damon Wayans been banned from The Laugh Factory for saying the N-Word 16 times during his 20 minute set; this on the heels of Michael Richards’ racist rant in the same club.

Personally, I’m not sure what’s sadder: Wayans getting banned—for 3 months for using, the fact that he was fined $320—$20 for each use of the 16 times he used the word on stage, or the fact that the owner of the club was proud enough to announce such pettiness as if it were significant activism.

C’mon, Twenty dollars? Is that what “nigga/er” is worth to White Liberals these days? Twenty Dollars? You get fined more for parking violations. You get fined more for spitting on sidewalks or J-walking. Public intoxication is at least $75 in most jurisdictions. But Wayans got hit with a Jackson per for saying the n-word.

Way to stick it to the man for trying to stick it to THE MAN, sparky.

Mutts, Mulattos and Paper Bags

Mutts, Mulattos, and Paper Bags
By: Hadji Williams

Before it went mainstream “dog” was a semi-common reference to Black men, mainly used as a term of endearment, a là DMX. It later became shorthand for unfaithful brothers. In the December 2006 issue of Essence magazine, super-producer Kanye West remixed it into a jab at fair-skinned sisters: “If it wasn’t for race-mixing there’d be no video girls. The Kan-man theorizes. “Me and most of our friends like mutts a lot. Yeah, in the hood they call ‘em ‘mutts’.”

Dogs… Mutts… Mulattos. First Bush hates us, and now depending on how dark you are, we might hate ‘us’, too. (Dear RIAA, please let this child win another Grammy—it might be the only thing that’ll keep West’s foot out of his mouth.)

Rahzel versus... everyone?

One of the more intriguing things to come out of YouTube is the way in wich it spreads culture or rather helps culture get spread and disected. Here's an example: Rahzel. formerly of one of my fave groups:

THE ROOTS

Rahzel, is, well...

Yeah. a Human Arkestra—a one man Sun Ra, if you will. Between him and Kenny Muhammad and Scratch (Roots' current organic beatman), the craft of beatboxing will be forever passed down.

speaking of beatboxing...

i miss the fat boys...

eventhough one of them really once that fat. more "chubby"... of course the beatboxer, "Buffy" the human beatbox died at age 28 from a heart attack caused by, bingo! obesity-related illness--diabetes, i believe.

Hiphop needs Women!

This is a really interesting piece on the chasm between men and women in hiphop culture. It comes courtesy of one Jzybelle, aka “Revolutionary Ma”—a fellow blogger, WestCoast writer and community activist. You can find more of her work at: www.jzybelle.blogspot.com.

Walk the Walk
By: Jzybelle

Everyday I watch, hear or read the men of Hip Hop beat their chests, beat on one another and beat off. Everyday it’s the same thing. I watch and hear a Hip Hop that degrades women. All the various flavors that Hip Hop offers the fanatical palate speak from a place that keeps a notion that women are sluttish, or women are gold diggers or women are ball busters or all three (or pick two or at least one), ya understand what I’m saying?

Less Marketing, More Movements!

Less Marketing, More Movements!
Bringing change beyond Hiphop’s bottom line
By: Hadji Williams

“Yo, this right here? This is a movement!” You hear the “m-word” a lot these days in hiphop. Whenever a new album drops or a hot underground artist finally gets their first plaque we hear about the movement that got ‘em there. When some dance craze goes mainstream magazines write about the movement that propelled it: It’s a street movement… A grassroots movement… A hood movement… A global movement… A black card movement…

Well, I have some news for you one and all: You. Are. Not. A movement.

I repeat: You are not a movement. Young Jeezy going platinum is not a movement. Jibbs getting 50,000 BDS and ringtones is not a movement. A bunch of suburbanites packing their closets with the latest urban clothing line is not a movement either.

Jibbs--how's it hangin'?

There's a popular song out... "Does your chain hang low?" by Jibbs, an up and coming rapper. How long will he be around? Who knows. But the joint has been ring-toned over 50,000 already. Can you say Cha-ching? I know his label is.

It's a pretty juvenile song, no doubt. Reminds some of an child's lymric. Reminds others of something a little worse. Check out the video. See what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMxgFDmyEsY

My Book Fair is tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow's the big day! (For me at least.) My Book Fair is tomorrow! OCTOBER BOOK FAIR starts at 9am and goes thru 3pm at the CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER in downtown Chicago on Randolph and Michigan Ave.!!!

if you're not busy catching up on sleep, the kids, the games,work, etc. stop by. I'll be signing complimentary copies of KNOCK THE HUSTLE and speaking along with 30 other top authors from Chicago!

it's gonna be pretty cool.

details below (the fair's formal press release, so I'm sharing):

TAXIN’ THE POOR...

Quick bit of time travel. Past summer, Labor Day weekend to be precise, I was at the African Festival of the Arts on the south side of Chi. Blogged on it for a minute in late August, even. Anyway one of the biggest corporate booths I saw there came courtesy of the Illinois State Lottery. They had a huge set-up—flashing lights, real carnival-style barker stuff. They gave away free quick-pick tix, drawings, told people they had the chance to “win this and win that…”

I was half-expecting WC Fields or PT Barnum to come out there for a minute. (step right up--go away kid, ya botherin' me.)

It was actually pretty funny when you think about it: I mean here we are, in this whole, conscious, outdoor, pan-african, grassy grassroots, rootsy vibe that is the African Fest… And smack dab in the thick of it is THE LOTTERY.