These two tidbits just in:
Russell Simmons is having a closed door meeting with hip-hop execs and urban community members.
Kevin Powell oversaw a conversation on Power 105.1, which has announced that it is changing its format significantly:
KEVIN POWELL, noted writer, political activist, and hiphop historian, has been invited to lead a live radio discussion on the aftermath of the Don Imus situation AND the state of hiphop today, on New York City’s number one radio station, Power 105.1 FM. In an historic move, Power 105.1 is eliminating advertising for one day to open up its airwaves to highlight the changes the station plans on making in its content and presentation.
Monday, April 16, 2007
8AM-10AM EST
Power 105.1 FM radio in the New York City metropolitan area
OR you can listen on the web at www.power1051fm.com, keyword LISTEN OR LISTEN LIVE“This is a bold move,” says Kevin Powell, “and a very necessary one. The people at Power 105.1 recognize how influential radio is for young Americans. For Helen Little, the Program Director, to do this says that there are some of us in the entertainment industry who are taking seriously our responsibility to our society, and to our young people. The time for change is now. This movement is not about censorship. It is about balance and diversity and not adding any further to the violence, excessive materialism, and sex and sexism already present throughout American popular culture, including hiphop. And we need radio stations, magazines, video shows and networks, websites, and record labels around the country to follow the Power 105.1 model and have the courage, too, to say enough is enough.”
(Thanks to Angela Garreston for the passage above, and thanks to the NHHPC list on yahoo as well.)
So much for thinking that MCs wouldn’t go unscathed.
Wow. That came a hell of a lot quicker than I expected. I’m glad they decided to jump on it while the momentum was still there, which was essential. I guess we’ll see now if this takes hold, but for now it looks like good news. Thanks for letting me know about that.
What Keith said.
What would be REALLY nice is if Power 105.1 made this a quarterly thing so that the dialogue and words of the movers and shakers and the people can be heard on a regular basis and not simply when a crisis hits. Big UPS to Power 105.1 for doing something unprecedented. I hope they keep it going.
Honestly, I think moves like this will help to insulate certain people from things that they find offensive, Oprah, Kevin Powell, etc. But the things that we don’t like that are prevalent in radio, or commercial, hip-hop music are not totally executive driven. They are reflections, albeit exagerated ones, of the reality of poor life in this country. Removing them from the airways will not make them go away, it will just make some people who don’t have to deal with those realities a little more comfortable, while the people that do have to deal with them will be left to deal with them. I don’t personally like the ugliness that exists in hip-hop but I don’t like to pretend it doesn’t exist, I’d rather it be there in full force for us to talk about and try to find a root answer for rather than cut off a branch and pretend we’ve done a good job uprooting the whole tree.
Dr Spence, the issue goes much deeper in our community. Here I wrote a piece suggesting that the hatred and distaste for black women by black men (and women) goes much deeper. The hip hop that panders to this loathing is just an extension of a problem itself.