|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hip-Hop and Politics...can they work together? Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney & Afeni Shakur "The importance of owning/controlling their own
product and understanding how the political system operates."
Goal: To inform participants on how the political/music industry operate and are both related. To inspire the Hip-Hop followers to take control of their product and image. Moderator: Adrianna Spikes, VP GA State Youth/College Division NAACP Phyllita Bolden, SE Market Mgr. Def
Jam Records
Review by tOObizzy mc: The afternoon session started off
with the second half of the movie showing clips from the 1960's with the
civil rights struggles that involved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom
X, and the Black Panther Party. We then listened to an inspiring
opening statement by Journalist Kevin Powell. The brotha covered several
issues in depth. He talked about the need to empower Hip Hop by empowering
ourselves...he mentioned books that our youth should be reading and how
to foster the right attitudes in our young people. He also mentioned the
need for a spiritual element in the music that they listen to. TreMayne
Maxie aka "Trey" introduced the afternoon panelists. Several questions
overflowed from the morning session...but most of the audience's questions
seemed to stray from the theme...some were announcements, some were plugs...one
even asked LaFace's Tommy Henderson why he hadn't heard from them concerning
his demo! My point here is that the types of "questions" that were
asked reflected the very reason why the Powershops are needed. There are
too many people trying to do things without empowering themselves...then
they ask questions like "How do I become a star?" As Prof. Griff mentioned
in the morning session to one that asked a similar question: "Do you have
a computer? Internet access? a web site? can you send out e-flyers?" The
person answered "no" to all of these questions and sat down. Frank answered
on a similar note to several of these confrontational questions that the
key to making it in the entertainment industry is haaaaaaaaaaaard work
and there is no way around it. In addition, you must love what you do and
can NOT be motivated by money alone...or else you are almost destined to
fail because you won't put everything into for as long as is required.
Other confrontational questions dealt with the character of artists and
whether they can balance their seemingly negative behavior with positive
monetary contributions to good causes...I'll leave this one to God but
I do believe some artists should balance the negative behavior with positive
behavior and just as much attitude...and it would be nice to see some artists
check themselves and stop acting ill. Phyllita Bolden made us more aware
of the positive things that Def Jam artists do and explained that there
have been attempts to drop positive records but they didn't sell. Tawana
James stressed parental involvement in the music that their kids listen
to. I agree with Ms. James but I do believe that there can be a completely
positive side of Hip Hop that is strong and thriving with dope emcees,
tight positive rhymes, and mad attitude. This is the purpose of the tOObizzy
mc, 2BZ Media, and the Positive Hip Hop Movement.
Frank Ski at Hip Hop Powershop, courtesy of 2BZ Media 2000
You may email me at tOObizzy1@aol.com or write to: Biz Barrett(resume)
(c) 2001 2-BZ Media Inc. - all rights reserved. |
