Selling our Children's Souls one Video at a Time…
How MTV, Corporate Music and Radio Collude to Destroy Our Country's Future

I love music. I have been in and around the entertainment industry most of my life. I know that organized crime has had a hand in "making the hits" for decades. However, the Payola scandals of the 50s, 60s and 70s look like a wholesome family game of "Monopoly" when compared to the depth of greed, illicit behavior and overt violence that is today's Rap/Hip-Hop music scene.

It would be easy to point the finger at the "artists" and their managers. Like the Iraqi sectarian violence in Iraq, we have grown complacent to gang violence and crime across our country, as it becomes a "routine" aspect of urban life. When Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. were gunned down in full view, on public streets, the news in the music media was almost all about the loss of music talent, and who would take over the extensive catalogues of un-released tracks. Only now is the story coming out about the depth to which gangs and even participation by corrupt L.A. Police officers played a part in the murders.

It is common knowledge that almost every Hip-hop and Rap label in the country was formed by former or active members of organized gangs, funded in large part with illicit money from drugs, prostitution and extortion. Almost no label is untouched, and even the ultra-successful media and fashion moguls that are Russell Simmons (Def Jam) and the ubiquitous Puffy (or P. Diddy, or Diddy, or whatever he is calling himself this week) are not untouched by histories and ongoing brushes with the law and organized gangs.

Again, due to the overwhelming amount of media coverage of the countless "rags to riches" success stories of these artists, management companies and record labels, this is all common knowledge accepted much as the Mob lore surrounding the creation and expansion of Las Vegas.

But does it make it right?

In so many ways, it is easy to vilify those who have climbed out of the ghettos to become overnight successes on the backs of the drug addicts and regular citizens they exploited. But in my opinion, the REAL villains, and those doing the most direct harm to our society are not the obvious faces of Rap and Hip-Hop, but the very white, very corporate record labels, television networks, and radio stations that turn a blind eye to the illegal aspects of this genre, in the name of profit.

Let's face it. In a media world controlled for the most part by a very narrow and select few companies, it is easy to overwhelm the public with images, music and videos of almost any artist or genre they choose. Like so many aspects of popular culture, what is deemed "hot" in the large urban cities, becomes "hot" across most of the rest of the country.

It is sheer domination and repetition that creates stardom. Ask any Program Director or Music Video Station programmer, it's all about the number of plays. As those of us in the media and advertising world know, it takes seven impressions (exposures) to an advertisement for it to stick on someone's mind. It is the same with music and the distribution of that music. The more exposure it receives, the greater the chance for success and the resulting profit.

There are three primary suspects in this crime of societal degradation. The Major Record Labels, Corporate Radio and MTV. In almost every case, the owners are white, rich and without remorse in their exploitation of our nation's youth.

It starts with the Labels.

When Hip-Hop began in the mid-70s, it was an urban art form that was almost entirely a type of street and "concert" performance. Two or more DJs would set up turntables, in clubs, city parks or anyplace else that electrical power and a crowd was available. Because the music was comprised of two turntables playing grooves from popular records, and the subsequent art of "scratching" out rhythms by moving the records quickly back and forth on the turntable by hand, there was no original music used in the process.

Grandmaster Flash is generally credited with creating the first recorded album, where scratch tracks, groove tracks, rhythm tracks, along with background vocals and spoken word lead vocals were added into the mix in a recording studio.

When digital sampling became available in the 80s, the genre exploded. It is said that James Brown and his band are the most sampled artists in history, with his grooves being looped to produce the background tracks to hundreds of commercially released albums. James and his band never really got their due, or much money for the use of the pirated tracks. But, that was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the illegal activities of the record labels.

By the mid-80s, the playing field of major record labels had been reduced through attrition and conglomeration to "the big five," of WEA (Warner, Electra, Atlantic), Universal (including Polygram), Sony (formerly Columbia), EMI, and BMG (RCA, Arista). Almost every album, in almost every record store in the nation, is being distributed by these primary players. Even independent labels must have major label distribution if they are to survive, and that includes independent Rap/Hip-Hop labels.

Seeing the rise in popularity of the Rap/Hip-Hop genre, and knowing that the top 50 cities in the country have urban populations exceeding 46 million people, the decision to move into "mainstreaming" the genre, no matter what its origin or reliance upon organized crime, seemed too easy to pass up. To certify an album "platinum" requires 1 million copies sold. With the help of radio and MTV, hitting 2.5% of the urban population seemed like a cakewalk.

Never mind the fact that most of the music coming from the independent Rap/Hip-hop producers were being funded with elicit funds. The Majors were buying or licensing finished masters. There was no reason to ask how the masters were funded, or to check the backgrounds of those performing. It is just art.

When a pawnshop sells merchandise that it suspects was stolen, it is not breaking the law, unless it KNOWINGLY sells stolen merchandise. When a label simply doesn't ask questions, they don't have to deal with the answers that might make then uncomfortable or culpable.

In the same light, every time a Rap/Hip-hop album is produced with money made from ruining the lives of those exploited by gangs, everyone involved is culpable. The street thugs who sell drugs, the recording studios who take the money to record the albums, the independent record labels who start and proliferate knowingly using blood money, and the fat-cat record executives who are more than happy to make millions distributing the end product, all wash their hands in the same illicit flow of money from the dime-bag of crack cocaine, to the corporate board rooms of America.

A record can't be a hit without airplay…

When less than a handful of radio conglomerates control more than 60% of the radio stations in the largest cities in the country, what they decide to play becomes woven into the fabric of our culture. What they play affects not only the markets they serve, but also by the syndicated programming that reaches into the smaller, and far less urban towns in our heartland. What began as simple exploitation of minorities feeding other minorities, rapidly became (with the help of MTV) the birth of a new cross-culture phenomenon, "the Wankster."

Drawn by the overtly lewd, misogynist, and "Gangsta Rapper" lore and mythology, urban and suburban whites (mostly male) began embracing the Rap/Hip-hop culture, and the "Wankster" was born. To those who actually live in the urban ghettos, the easiest shot at owning the "bling," "grills" and "rides" of the Rap/Hip-hop stars comes through drug sales, professional athletics, or becoming an artist. Not so with the "Wankster," who can rely on affluent parents to feed their need for the symbols of status.

Look at almost any high school parking lot in the country. You will find countless cars, trucks and vans, tricked out with rims, custom paint jobs and elaborate sound systems, all pumping the same droning "thump" of multiple subwoofers. The music is profoundly ethnic, with glorified messages of violence, promiscuous sex, and displays of excess wealth. The owners of the cars are profoundly white, with not a clue of what life in an urban ghetto, or living with the daily stigma of racial inequality is really about.

One would have to ask how someone from the outskirts of cities like Tulsa and Albuquerque and countless Midwest cities would be exposed to a culture and music so foreign to them as the ghettos of New York, Las Angeles and Compton. It comes down to the single-minded corporate radio programmers that decide what is going to be played on the stations owned in the top 200 markets, and what will not.

The top 200 markets are dominated by three major radio groups. According to a report called "State of the News Media," "in 1999, Clear Channel, Cumulus Broadcasting and Citadel Communication Corporation, combined, owned fewer than 1,000 stations. Today they own just over 1,600, with Clear Channel owning 1,207 of them. Much of this gain can be attributed to a change in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which eliminated the rule that capped the number of stations one company could own at 40" (thanks a hell of a lot, Bill and the Republican Congress).

The corporate programming and multimedia reach (Clear Channel controls not only radio, but concert production, billboard and television companies) of these stations creates an almost single-minded "star-maker/star-breaker" mentality that blast artists into the mainstream overnight, or as in the case of the Dixie Chicks, makes them disappear almost as quickly.

If you want to be played by one of the top three (which again influence hundreds of millions of listeners), you had better play nice with them. That means wining, dining, and paying your way onto the airwaves with promotion dollars, exclusive concert deals, and promotional billboard campaigns. This goes for all genres, from "Wholesome All-American Country" to the most vile of "Gangsta Rap."

They decide who gets played on their stations, but also influence syndicated programs distributed to the myriad small and medium market stations across the country that rely on satellite programming to fill their schedules.

The trail is as straight as it is crooked. The dime bags finance the artist's recordings, the studios take a piece and pass it along to the independent labels, who with more gang money take a piece and pass it along to the major record labels, who with more money, make sure it gets played on corporate radio stations where the wonderful message of being "Hard out here for a Pimp," and "Slap that Bitch" make their way into small town USA and the Academy awards.

But not without…MTV.

When MTV first burst onto the scene in the early 80s, it was primarily the turf of 80s glam-rock and innovators like "Talking Heads" and Peter Gabriel. Madonna became an overnight sensation by writhing around on the floor, in her undergarments, singing "Like A Virgin" at one of the first televised MTV Music Awards shows. And the dye was cast.

As soon as it was evident that teenage boys and girls would rather see scantily clad women, talent or no talent, bouncing across their screens, than watching aging rock musicians, no matter how talented, crooning into the homes of millions, there was no turning back. The more lascivious, bawdy and mindless the better, and MTV began devolving rapidly. Real musicians, with lasting careers were pushed aside by grunge, boy bands and pop-teen-divas, all working their "money-makers" to the latest corporate pop tracks, and production numbers cast with hundreds of semi-dressed tarts.

The message became clear. Wanna be popular? Dress like a teen slut, show all your naughty bits, and allow your life to become daily tabloid fodder.

The "reality show" genre went even further to play up to the most puerile/lewd side of teen/young-adult life when the voyeuristic and mean-spirited "Real World" debuted as one of MTV's first "original programs." The "real people" acted out in ways that almost nobody believed, but almost every teen wanted to emulate. Throwing the most disparate of personalities together into a fish tank environment, their every move filmed by omnipresent cameras, the results were predictably shocking, in a "can't take my eyes off of this train wreck" sort of way.

All they while, Rap/Hip-Hop was working its way onto the television screens of our "Average Middle Class" homes. At first, much like the original forms of Rock-n-Roll, Rap/Hip-Hop was deemed too edgy and profane for television audiences. But, with the relaxing of corporate radio ownership regulations, came the pervasive "shock programming" that brought about massive popularity of Howard Stern and shock-clones like Opie and Anthony, whose daily fare was composed of pushing the envelope of the FCC guidelines for decency beyond the sticky, licky parts.As long as the "bad parts" got "bleeped," you couldn't be fined or fired (unless, as in the case of Opie and Anthony, you think good radio includes broadcasting a couple having sex in a New York cathedral).

MTV also got the perfect "cross-over" artist for breaking the Rap/Hip-hop culture onto their main programming. It came in the form of a "Rapper/Elvis" named Marshall Mathers, or as he is best known, M&M. Like Elvis, whose singing of "Negro Beat Music" made the genre popular and acceptable to whites across the country, Mathers, as white as a white guy can be, made the Rap/Hip-hop genre popular with white-bread America. Slappin' bitches, deriding gays, figuring out 500 ways to rhyme "I got mine" with "It ain't no crime," and popularizing getting shot in a drive-by and living to tell about it was all part of the new game.

Bonny and Clyde ain't got nuffin' on these guys, bitch! Who the f**k says crime don't pay, motherf**ker? But hey…it's all just art…right?

MTV (and their now several "hit music stations) have made being a "Gangsta that needs to get paid!" so popular (even if you are white, Latino, or any other race who can strap on a gun and a pair of baggy pants), that the original dreams of much of our youth of working hard, getting a good education, earning an honest living, and raising a family, have all but been destroyed.

The culture of "I want it now" is pervasive. It is fueled by the notion that the ends justify the means. Get some tats, sell some drugs, boost some cars, carry a gun, and take what the hell you want, whether you deserve it, or have earned it. Next time you watch "MTV Cribs," do the money-trail in your head. As you watch the latest Rap/Hip-hop artist show you around their living symbols of excess and opulence, think about the number of lives that were destroyed by drugs, prostitution, gang violence and other now acceptable forms of crime, to help this "artist" get paid.

In conclusion, it's important to keep in mind, who owns the labels, radio stations and MTV? Almost without exception, the primary executives and shareholders of these huge corporate conglomerates are white, rich and greedy beyond belief. They would sell their mother for a bigger take. They don't care about raising the level of intelligent discourse in our country. They don't care about the hundreds of thousands of lives lost every year to drugs and gang violence. They don't listen to the music. They don't socialize with the artists, and were the first to complain when "It's Hard Out Here for A Pimp" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the performers had the "audacity" to slip their diamond-studded grills into their mouths during the acceptance speech.

If you think these white, power broker, hypocrites give a rat's ass about what is right and wrong, remember this. While they are happy to sell millions of units of "art" that extols the virtues of violence against women, murder, drugs and gay-bashing, they found it so offensive that a singer from a "Country girl band" would question the policies of our President and his motives for war, that they immediately embarked on a crusade to destroy their careers. They are the first to publicly demand the rights of their artists and DJs to be vulgar under protection of the First Amendment, but then immediately pull the songs from their airwaves of any artist who is actually practicing that freedom politically.

Is that any kind of message to give the youth of today? The corporate music machine should be very, very proud.

Because of the "Big Three" of the corporate music world, our nation is a more profane and less civil place to live. Because of the Big Three, the level of real musicianship once required to become a star, has been reduced to being able to rhyme and rip off someone else's drum tracks. Because of the Big Three, our culture has become so accustomed and enamored of criminals who have "beat the system" to become media icons, that we are no longer surprised when otherwise "good kids" become amoral and vulgar, with sexual activity, drug use and violence creeping lower and lower into our grade schools and middle schools. Because of the Big Three, we have lost touch with doing the right thing, because it is the right thing to do, and devolved into a culture that does what is necessary to get paid, as long as you don't get caught.

Ask Sumner Redstone (Viacom), Lowery Mays (Clear Channel), Tom Whalley (Warner Bros. Records), Puffy, Russell Simmons, Fifty Cent, M&M and hundreds of wannabe gangsta rapper clones. To HELL with what's right…it's all about the "bling." Right boys?