Friday, November 20, 2009

The Death Of Hot 93 & How It Fits Into America's Winning War Against Hip Hop

Today I tuned in and listened as Hot 93 went off the air. I wasn't sad because let's face it we all saw the writing on the wall. Well at least I did. Hip hop radio like I wrote in an earlier post is slowly being eliminated due to the fact that radio itself is dying. Mass media conglomerates control radio now instead of small companies & they don't see how their decisions affect things on a "local" scale. Back in the day each radio station had one program director for each genre of music in charge of deciding which songs would make it to air. But due to downsizing & loss of revenue radio conglomerates have shrunk these positions down to one person trying to decide what makes the airwaves for FOUR OR FIVE different stations & genres. In a majority of these cases its someone who's background isn't nowhere related to hip hop so they defer these decisions a majority of the time to corporate. Which means in the case of Hot 93 its some dude or chick in Indianapolis who's probably getting paid by the major labels to play the bullshit you hear now.


This explains the trickle down effect. The director of urban programming in Indy or NYC says play these 8 songs every hour on the hour, object and we will find someone else to do it. Trust me your favorite on-air personality wants to but in this economy & job market would you suddenly get a conscious & prepare to give up everything you love & stop putting food on the table just because you're tired of hearing Drake's "Best I Ever Had" 20 times a day? A majority of club DJ's aspire to get one of these prized radio gigs because its stable income. This is why when you go to your favorite club those DJ's are playing THAT SAME PLAYLIST because they want that gig & YOU the listener never objects because you are too busy getting lit & dancing.

It all fits into the unseen war against hip hop. I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all but the signs have been troubling. If anything about the election of Barack Obama has shown its that when we are all together for a common goal, nothing is impossible. Corporate America has seen this especially in the hip hop community. While everybody is happy & content & talking shit about "My President Is Black" behind the scenes moves are being made to ensure that that shit talking comes to an end. Local radio jocks are being replaced by syndicated shows to stifle the local voices. Rappers are (though its their own damn fault) are being locked up left & right to silence any buzz they may be acquiring. Videos aren't being played, albums are getting leaked & undershipped, venues that cater to the hip hop audience are disappearing. It's really looking bad for our culture.

You can blame the music if you want to but that's not the central problem. There's awesome hip hop everywhere if you look for it. You can blame the companies but how can you? They don't answer to you unless you own a portion of it & even if you did you want maximum return on your investment. If they are turning a profit why should they care. The problem is YOU & ME the people who love this culture & cherish it & want to see it grow even more than it already has. We don't support the music we love by going to shows or putting a CD or emailing a great track or video to someone else. We don't put up a fight anymore because let's face it WE GOT A BLACK PRESIDENT IN OFFICE SO WE GOOD. I see this attitude is prevalent in hip hop America but we feel as though there is nothing else to achieve. This is when the enemy strikes.

An old head used to tell me the best way to catch somebody slipping is with their pants down. If you see them in a stall pissing sneak them. Well Hip hop is in the stall pissy drunk from all them Patron shots from the inauguration & corporate America is behind us with a billy club. If you don't become aware of what's going on we will lose.

Clear Channel radio has already set up shop with its own hip hop station in Austin & just like Hot they have picked up where they left off, same playlist, only this time with no voices from the community. Just music. This is what the enemies of hip hop want you to do. Just keep dancing & singing along while they ruin our community by not running PSA's about how to get a vaccine or what's happening in local politics or anything that could be beneficial to you.

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!

1 comment:

  1. I feel you. It's time we took responsibility for our community again.

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