Posted by MARIE FLEMING (209.214.9.225) on December 10, 1999 at 21:13:51:
In Reply to: www.oprah.com Oprah's website posted by Don M. on September 15, 1998 at 15:37:47:
Dear Oprah,
I am a 30 year black female of West Indian origin who has been fortunate enough to live in Europe
and other places in this world. These experiences have opend my mind to alot of things. The Main thing that
I am trying to figure out right now is, why is the black music industry in such shambles in America? For the
past 8yrs I have worked in the marketing and promotions field on a freelance basis. I have managed to aquire
accounts with Labels the likes of Electra/East West, Geffen, Select, and numerous Indipendant companies. I
produced and promoted various talents signed to the likes of Def Jam and Loud records. I guess by now you can tell
that my main area of music has been rap but I am open to just about anything that sounds good and is positive.
Money can make you bend personal preferences when it comes to paying the bills and I have found myself working
with groups that I have not been too fond of. Somehow I have always managed to pull the positive out of the
negative in an attempt of balance when it came to promoting certain groups to the youth of today. I have made
a pretty well established name for myself in my community and I am at present working with a local band that
is on a positive and political tip but this is where the problem comes in.
I have been asked by todays youth, "why is it so difficult for positive black music to thrive In america?"
I have no concrete answers. Is it a factor of 85% of us being completely negative and not wanting anything better
for ourselves? Is it the fact that the person with the signing powers at the majority of these labels and distrubution
companys are not of black heritage and feel that the above statement is true therefor they only sign groups that they
can market to such "negative" persons. Does this in effect start a chain reaction of brain washing therefore solidifying
the negative as an outward manifestation. It seems like Black children have no choices when it comes to mainstream music
and black role models. I am presently 6 months pregnant with my first child and when I sit back and try to think of what
groups I would let my child listen to as a teenager, the only groups that seem parshally passable are the white oriented
groups such as backstreet boys, N-sync, Brittney etc. When I think of black oriented groups the fun and innocence has been taken
out of the music and we are either bang or slanging. I saw a video the other day on the box, a young man named Eddie who cant be
no older than 13 is playing red light green light in the video while tell a specific young lady that he likes the way she makes
him feel etc. Why couldnt they be talking about sharing a peanut butter sandwich or something. I mean I know that todays children
are more advanced but now really. The latest quote that has me on end, from a new artist black I might add,is.
"All I got is fifteen minutes and I want to get up in it aint gots no time for love so come and break me off." I dont even remember what the
artist name is. I must give props to Puffy's latest release best friend where he representing Jesus as his best friend but with an artist
of such nature and stature those songs come far apart and few. Im not trying to crash on everyone but it just seems like there is no balance.
I know of many a rap group on the positive tip, they get signed and the label washes them over as a tax write off because they couldn't bring in
the cream. To me it seems that the reason that they couldn't bring in the cream is because their promotions/marketing budget was 1/4 of their
negative counterparts. I mean after you hear any song 29 times a day anyone will be hooked. My question is, why is it so easy for the industry
to call the shots the way that they do, why don't the youth of today have choices and why do we accept the 85% stereotype as being truth therefor
taking away our power of choice. I could go on and on about this subject, lets compare the European market with ours, the + groups that usually
make no sales here do great over there, why? Why do we not have any distribution companies over here with our intrests at heart? What happend to
the cultural aspects of things. Is americas culture really sex,drugs violence and benjimens? Hey maybe I should write a book and try to touch someones
brain. I feel our teens are being brainwashed every day and we are not reallying seeing the reasons why. Music is always going to be a strong magnet for the
black child but when there is no balance in the music's presentation the music becomes a weapon.
The end
Just something that I have been pondering, I thought it would make a good show topic. It may be a little abrasive but
sometimes you have to push issues to get answers. If anyone in Oprah land can give me some answers I would be happy to hear them.
p.s. please excuse my grammitacal errs.