FNV NEWSLETTER August 2 2002
In this week's issue:
*HIP HOP CRIME WAVE
*QUESTION OF THE WEEK-WHY NOT WORK w/ PRISON ACTIVIST?
*LETS TAKE IT BACK TO THE TRUE SKOOL
*RADIO WARS IN NY
*RIAA IS AT IT AGAIN
*HIP HOP TIPS
*INTEGRATION OF THE HIP HOP NATION
*A RESPONSE TO MINISTER PAUL FNV pt2
The FNV Newsletter c 2002
Send comments to: mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com
peep the websites
www.daveyd.com
www.rapstation.com
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HIP HOP NEWS BRIEFS.....
HIPHOP CRIME WAVE
First things first...Is it me or is Hip Hop experiencing a crime wave?
The police blotter is thick. Cam'ron got arrested earlier this week
when he was busted driving with forged licence plates on his SUV.
After being stopped he the police found weed and a .22 pistol He was
later charged with criminal possession of marijuana, criminal
possession of a weapon & criminal possession of a forged instrument.
Meanwhile in Albany, Georgia Boondax Blax was spotted by police when
his SUV ran a red light. After being pulled over, the police
discovered homeboy had a suspended license. This of course led to him
being arrested at which point the police claimed to find crack cocaine
on dude. Blax is now out on bail.
While all this is going on...Trick daddy is under investigation by Opa
Locka Florida police, they think Trick Daddy may be hiding out a
friend who is wanted by the authorities for kidnapping... Ryan
Richard 'Tater Head' Hobbs is currently being sought by the police for
'kidnapping' his daughter at gun point. It sounds like some 'baby
mamma /daddy drama', but damn kidnapping your kid is never advisable
or excusable, especially in the wake of all madness that has been
happening with kids as of late.
Trick Daddy admits to Tater Head being his road dog, but emphatically
denies any involvement in hiding dude out from the authorities. We'll
have to keep you posted on all this..
Next we have Styles of the Lox. He had some sort of altercation which
will now resulting in him being convicted for stabbing some one in the
backside. Starting in November he will serve an 8 month bid in a
Pasadena, Ca correction facility. Style has gone on record to say he
will put his lockdown time to good use. He says he will catch up on
his reading and he will get in better shape. If memory serves me
correctly didn't they take away the weight lifting equipment in Cali
jails? I guess push ups will be the order of the day.
Also I couldn't help thinking about his lines in the hit song 'The
Life' which he did with Pharoahe Monch where he raps about his life
being based on loading guns and blunts as he instructs his lawyer to
'get the case gone'. I guess the lawyer wasn't on his job... Or
perhaps his lawyers got him 8 months on what is normally a much more
serious crime.
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HIP HOP QUESTION OF THE WEEK
With all this going down... I had to bring up this week's 64 thousand
dollar question which comes from Dorsey Nunn who works tirelessly as a
Prison Activist.. He holds it down at Legal Services For Prisoners w/
Children in San Francisco. Dorsey spent years in Cali's Penal
community as an inmate and nowadays he his one of the country's
leading fighters to try and change a situation that seems to have more
then just Styles going away for a bid or two. Try two million people
at this current time with more than half being African American...
For Dorsey prison work is serious biz. He was recently featured on
the album 'Shame The Devil' put out by Freedom Fighter Records. We
were choppin' it up the other day and Dorsey asked me a profound
question. 'How come so many rappers rap about going to jail life, but
never do anything to change the situation?' He wanted to know how
come they don't take some of those millions that they are often
speaking about and donate funds to organizations that are out there
fighting the government that is bent on putting new laws and
legislation in place that will make jail time even harder?
Dorsey wasn't asking this question like he was some self righteous cat
playing a holier than thou role. He sincerely wanted to know...He
went on to suggest that if cats who profess to be gangstas and have
gone through these facilities then they know what goes down and should
consider working with prison activist organizations to change thing.
He suggested that some of the cats who are 'bling blinging put some of
that bling in the prison activist organizations
He noted while money is nice its not the only way people can chip in.
He said that artist could invite Prison Activist groups to their
concerts and shows to set up tables so folks can know what resources
are available. He noted that at concerts he goes to he sees
everything from cats hawking T-shirts to stickers.. but no one
providing information to a population where a disproportionate number
are under the judicial system. The latest figures show 1 in 4 African
Americans have been under the thumb of the judicial system. He
suggested that groups reach out to organizations like:
Ella Baker Center which
recently put out the album 'Shame The Devil',
Critical Resistance
Prison Moratorium Project
'Legal Services For Prisoners
with Children'
.
Dorsey does a radio show every week called Critical Resistance Radio
on KPFA that is directed at all the prisons here in Northern Cali. He
spits game about all the new things law makers have set to come down
the pipe...And believe me folks it ain't pretty. We have everything
ranging from eliminating visits to building new facilities that are
hundreds of miles away to lowering the age that cats will have to do
time in adult prisons.
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LETS TAKE IT BACK TO THE TRUE SKOOL
Last week I wrote a nice article giving props to Grand Wizard Theodore
as he celebrated his 27th anniversary. I heard the turnout was good
with all sorts of luminaries ranging from Kool Herc to Afrika
Bambaataa in the house. In the article I mentioned the members of
Theodore's crew The Fantastic Romantic Five MCs and I slipped up and
identified Whipper Whip and Ruby Dee as the original Salt-N-Pepa.
That was a goof up. It was Whipper Whip and Dot-A-Rock. Of course
when this thing went out I heard from damn near every true schooler in
the world starting off with my man Paradise of X-Clan who pointed out
the errors of my ways.
Speaking of True School folks, here in the Bay Area will be in for
a treat next month or so. First, we were blessed to have Doug E.
Fresh roll through town. Last night Sugar Hill Gang and Mele-Mel did
their thing. This weekend, Big Daddy Kane returns to blow up the spot
with a full fledged show. On Labor Day weekend Grandmaster Flash will
touch down at San Francisco's DNA Lounge and make history. Flash's
appearance is part of his soon to be launched Flash Is Back 2002 Tour.
Now that's something to pop your collars over...
People are asking what's going on with Kool DJ Red Alert. There seems
to be a campaign underway to get Red who recently celebrated his 25th
year in Hip Hop, to bounce from Kiss FM and join the Clear Channel
Family at Power 105. There have been flyers, posters and even an open
letter being circulated throughout New York about Red Alert and his
contributions to Hip Hop. The open letter laments the fact that Red
has been underused and disrespected by Hot 97 and now Kiss FM, his
longtime home of 20 years.
Apparently fans weren't too happy with the fact that the folks at 98
Kiss have been trying to play down Red's incredible talents. He was
on 5 days a week now he's been widdled down to 1 day a week. However,
Red still has staying power and is a presence in the streets as was
evidence by his dynamic earth shaking set at last weekend's
Anniversary party for GW Theodore. Will Red make the 'power switch'
Will Power reach out to him.. that remains to be seen..
----------------------
RADIO WARS IN NY
One thing is for sure, there is major radio war in NY right about now.
According to the latest ratings, Power 105 caught up and breathing
right down the necks of Hot 97. For all intensive purposes its a
virtual tie. The big question to answer is are either of these
stations giving the people what they want and need or are folks
listening cause they have no choice? In other words are the two
stations really that different?
The theory was that as all these major corporations brought up all
these radio stations, the average listener would be treated to a
diversity of sounds. This was the viewpoint advocated by FCC chairman
Michael Powell and one of his main arguments for justifying
consolidation. I asked this question a few months ago and the answer
was no. The only real difference was Power played a little more old
school But old school was defined as records 2-5 years old. With
the stations at a virtual tie have things improved? Are folks really
happy with what they're hearing? I know folks were definitely
entertained when Nas went on his tirade after Summerjam and started
dissing everyone and accusing radio stations of taking money to play
everyone's music But after all that public exposure have things
really changed for the better?
---------------------
RIAA IS AT IT AGAIN
Since we're on some industry stuff, I gotta give folks a heads up
about the latest antics being pushed by the RIAA and California
Congressman Howard Berman. The other week he formally proposed
legislation that would allow record industry executives to SECRETLY'
hack into computers and knock people off line if they are 'caught'
downloading copywritten material. Record Industry executives would
not have to get a court order or anything like that and if you are
mistakenly hacked or knocked off line, you can sue only if you
incurred 250 dollars in damages and you got permission from John
Ashcroft the Attorney General. I know y'all are just scratching your
heads going WTF? You can go check for yourself if you don't believe
me It's in the July, 26 AP Newswire article written by TED BRIDIS.
This is the price we pay for not staying up on 'politics' and
'politricks'. RIAA head Hillary Rosen is on record saying this is an
innovative bill while Congressman Berman is a ranking Democrat on the
House Judiciary subcommittee on courts, the Internet and intellectual
property, said there's no justification for theft. Hence he his
pushing this crazy ass bill. Oh yeah we should note that Berman
receives a ton of money form the RIAA and other industry advocates.
So let's spell this out better.... A couple of years ago former
Digital Underground founder Chopmaster J asked to run a contest on my
website for the new 2Pac album he was putting out. He wanted me to
give visitors a taste so he asked if I would mind uploading some music
from the album. Chopmaster owned the rights to the songs as they were
recordings from Pac's pre Digital Underground days. About two weeks
later my service providers get some intimidating phone calls and a
letter from some lawyer with Universal Music saying I'm stealing their
music and to take it down or else. Dude saw the name 2Pac and never
checked to see what was what..Plus I was dealing with Chopmaster J who
put out the label not Universal.
To make a long story short I was right and they were wrong, but under
this new bill being proposed, these fools could've knocked me off line
without warning and messed up my whole situation. I would have to go
petition Attorney General John Ashcroft to get permission to sue.
That is if I can afford a lawyer and I'm willing to go through all the
drama. In the meantime I'm off line missing important emails and
updates.
Yep folks this is our government hard at work. The things money can
buy... this cat Howard Berman received close to 200 thousand bucks
from the RIAA. I'm sorry to say he's a Democrat. No wonder folks
don't feel like voting.
For those who feel inclined drop dude an email
mailto:howard.berman@mailhouse.gov and let him know how you feel about
this new bill that is now circulating through Congress.
==================
HIP HOP TIPS
Tip of the Day: Public Enemy has a new album and on that album is
a song called 'Son of a Bush.' Ya gotta hear this song... The lyrics
are off the hook and will definitely have you saying 'Damn where has
Hip Hop been all these years'. Also Bay Area folks be on the look out
Chuck D will be on Hard Knock Radio 94.1 FM [KPFA] at 4pm.. next
Monday and Tuesday. He'll be making the rounds on Wednesday...
Tip of The Day 2: I know this is last minute but..an true emcee can
rise to any occasion. A true emcee can rhyme anytime at the drop of a
dime...Hence if you got skills you need to head on over to OPEN MIC
CONTEST ON REPARATIONS. This is going down Saturday, August 3rd at
6PM.. {Hall of Justice 1941 Madison Ave, btwn 124 and 125th} For more
info call 718-443-2223.
The Reparations Emcee Battle is just one of many activities folks are
putting forth in preparation for the August 17th Millions For
Reparations march in Washington, DC. Please peep the website for more
info: http://millionsforreparations.com/index.html
Tip of the Day 3: Def Jam Records has launched a petition to help keep
Slick Rick from being deported. Please help out the effort if you
can.. http://www.defjam.com/gen/classic/index.html
========================
HIP HOP AND RACE
Last week on our website we ran an article from Minister Paul Scott
titled the Integration of the Hip Hop Nation. The article generated tons
of response. Some good, some bad... More importantly it inspired people
to talk and think about the issue of race and how it relates to Hip Hop.
We got a heartfelt response from local Hip Hop producer Capp..He's a
30 year old Italian cat who wanted to add to the discussion hence we
are running his response..which is a good one.. The purpose of these
articles is to generate discussion and get people to embrace Hip Hop's
5th Element-Knowledge.. Please share your thoughts either on our
message boards.. or via email.. mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com
INTEGRATION OF THE HIP HOP NATION
by - Minister Paul Scott
Rollin down the street, one evening, I heard the familiar boom of a
car stereo pumpin a Mannie Fresh/Hot Boyz track. A glance at the
car pulling up next to me revealed a white dude giving me that what
up head nod that is usually reserved for brotha s. I gave him a
friendly Black Power fist and drove away. I have had that experience
many times before and just shrugged it off but I had just watched the
latest police brutality video earlier that day and I just wasn t
felling all that cross cultural.
Integration versus segregation has long been a debate in this country
among black folks and white folks as fist fights have broken out on
both sides when someone was called a nigger lover or an Uncle
Tom/Oreo, one too many times. During the Civil Rights Era many in the
Black community began to equate FREEDOM with Integration and saw them
as inseparable concepts.
The media characterized the integrationist, at worst, as a good
hearted,yet unrealistic dreamer, but demonized the Black
segregationist as an evil, militant hate monger who hated all white
people and sober minded negroes. While the black segregationist
wanted the right to self determination and felt that this could only
be achieved by Black people doing for themselves and worst case
scenario, establishing a sovereign nation within a nation, the
integrationist felt that even the worst racist, white supremacist was
acting out of ignorance and if they could just get to know us, they
would eventually love us and share all of the wealth and privileges
which they had accumulated from slave labor and other forms of
exploitation. While neither option was really acceptable to white
America, they accepted the integrationist dream as the lesser of two
evils because at least that option included white folks at the center
of every discussion while the Black separatist left them totally out
of the equation.
Today the debate can be carried over into the realm of Hip Hop as many
see the fact that white teenagers are getting caught up in a virtual
reality hood that this is somehow a sign that Dr.King's Dream has
come true.
The white fascination with Black culture goes back well before Rap
music as the earliest white Rock and Rollers would try to imitate
black folks on Saturday night at the Sock Hop by letting their hair
down and getting a little funky. It was during the 70's that
some brotha told Wild Cherry to play that funky music white boy
and it was not until years later that I found out that the Sara that
Hall and Oates were trying to get to smile had blue eyes and blond
hair. So, integration has long been acceptable on the dance floors of
American Band Stand and Solid Gold, it is the other areas of society
where the problem lies.
The message that white folks are giving is that we will party with you
and even dress like you (like we are going to some costume fantasy
ball) but when the clock strikes twelve, your BMW turns into a bus
pass and I get in my Volvo and drive home to my cottage in the
burbs . And on Monday morning, go back to my job on Wall Street
and you go back to sweeping trash off of Main St. While integration
may have crossed the Soul Train line, it has not crossed the line of
social, economic and political equality.
Someone said that over 70% of Rap music is purchased by white people.
While this may not raise a red flag entertainment wise, it is
disturbing from a political point of view. What is disturbing is that
we have packaged and sold a warped idea of Blackness and while the
idea of thuggism may be embraced by both Black and white
children, the concept is marketed to white children as a fad that they
will out grow but marketed to Black children as a way of life. As the
white child has the luxury to change clothes, go off to an Ivy League
School and later inherit the family business, the masses of Black
children will have no such luck and will follow that lifestyle to the
prison or to the graveyard.
This is also problematic in the area of Conscious Rap. I have heard
it said that some concerts by conscious rappers are mostly attended by
white kids. The question is, at what point do you get too black for
even the most liberal minded white people? Our people are in dire
need of the TRUTH, some of which may be too much for white folks to
handle or fully grasp the meaning. Even though some intellectual
white folks will deny this, there are some things that you cannot
learn from buying Public Enemy's Greatest Hits and reading the
Source, every month. As Black people there are still some issues that
we need to be able to discuss, straight up without referencing each
statement with it's not a black thing, it's not a white thing
or I'm not trying to be racist but .
Within the broad dimensions of Hip Hop, there needs to be a Black
Consciousness Movement. As Marcus Garvey once said Race First and
Africa for the Africans, someone must be bold enough to say in Rap
music; Race First and Hip Hop for the Afrikans! That does not mean
that Hip Hop must be totally isolated from other cultures as African
people have long freely been willing to teach all those who were
willing to learn, even to our detriment. But as it is said no one is
going to save Black people but Black people and that must be instilled
in the hearts and minds of our children.
Some days, even I may feel a little can't-we-all-just-get-along-ish
and watch a Brady Bunch marathon while N Sync is playing on the
radio. But most days I just want to be Black and that is good enough
for me.
Minister Paul Scott is founder of the Durham NC based New Righteous
Movement and has recently started the National Hip Hop Reformation
Campaign. For more information contact: mailto:operationmedia@yahoo.com"
=======================
The FNV Newsletter c 2002
Send comments to: mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com
peep the websites
www.daveyd.com
www.rapstation.com
============================
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