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Artists who are true and honest will stand the test of time. When you carry and preach bullshit, you won’t go the distance. People are inspired by truths and can see through bullshit.

SUMMIT TIME AND THE LIVIN' IS EASY

An Italian Chick From Bensonhurst Takes In Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit
I come from a place where you could be shot for being the "wrong color" in the wrong neighborhood. Luckily, I was afforded the opportunity to go to school where anyone could walk down the street and feel relatively safe, where the word "color" was used to describe a painting or music, and not the shade of a person’s skin. I believe that every experience a person goes through has an impact on their life.

Needless to say, the Hip-Hop Summit, held June 12-13 in New York City, provided experiences that will influence me for the rest of my life. I expected the Summit to get a little heavy and political, but assumed we would discuss how to clean up the lyrical content of hip-hop, since Sen. Joe Lieberman’s bill has been a pimple on the ass of the record community.

But the message was bigger than cleaning up lyrics. Russell Simmons’ statement of purpose was not to clean up lyrics: Hip-hop, he said, "has brought more people together than any other cultural art form. Throughout American history, the young and creative culture has always been accused of crossing the line. Whether it was the writings of Mark Twain or Shakespeare, or musical genres like blues, jazz, and rock & roll, when we look at these forms of expression in retrospect we see that they weren’t bad at all. In fact, such expression has proven to be the most profound catalyst in realizing the American promise." I couldn’t agree more.

So what were we here for if not to clean up lyrics? In the Executive & Marketing meeting, Kevin Liles, Hilary Rosen, Kedar Massenburg, Lionel Ridenour and a room full of participants addressed the FTC guidelines regarding marketing stickered materials. It’s not enough to put a sticker on the jewel box; parental-advisory labels have to be integrated into the album artwork. Additionally, street promotional tools, TV and radio spots have to be stickered.

But doesn’t this blur the line between labeling a product and labeling an artist? And will this really be enough to keep explicit material out of the hands of minors? I mean, how many high school kids smoke? Let’s be realistic. It really boils down to parental involvement. Then you run into the issue of how to educate parents. Some suggested making lyrics available on the Internet, as the Universal Music Group currently does for more than half of its projects. It all sounds good, but is it a realistic solution?

The second meeting, the Congressional Panel, featured black congressmen and -women and key leaders from the hip-hop community. Chuck D made a very good point: Middle America is getting the wrong impression of Black America. Compounding that is the fact that with one company owning all of the video channels and three major corporations owning and controlling nearly every radio station, decision-makers are out of touch with the masses. With the exception of residents of N.Y. and L.A., most people’s impression of the culture comes almost solely from TV and radio.

When Leroy in Tulsa repeatedly sees someone on BET sporting a 10-carat medallion around his neck and riding around in a Benz, he starts believing that’s the way it is. So, isn’t it the artist’s responsibility to leave a truer impression of what Black America really is? Well, who’s nurturing and teaching artists? The record company? Record contracts are basically being given out scattershot, with the hopes of a quick payback, making for wide gaps between art, artists and record companies.

As Chuck D said, "Give a fool a million dollars and what you got is a fool with a million dollars."

Dr. Cornel West made a point about young artists not knowing their history, saying that black music comes from struggles and from love. I believe that young artists are speaking and singing from current day struggles and loves, without taking into consideration the broader historical context. Educating performers and audiences about their history is key to passing on these messages.

This led us to the A&R panel, with Sean "Puffy" Combs, Kedar, Russell, Jermaine Dupri, Steve Stoute and a handful of others. I left this discussion thinking about a couple of things, most importantly, Russell’s comment about artists that speak the truth. Artists who are true and honest will stand the test of time. When you carry and preach bullshit, you won’t go the distance. People are inspired by truths and can see through bullshit. An artist must have integrity to have the opportunity to reach superstar status. Truth sells. Think long-term, not short-term.

Although the first day of the Summit was inspiring, it wasn’t until the second day that I realized why we were all there. When Minister Louis Farrakhan took the podium and spoke for three hours, there wasn’t a stir among the 800 or so people. The energy from the people in that room was extraordinary in itself. Farrakhan said this was the most important speech he’s ever made, because we were the most important people in life, as we are the future leaders. He claimed that most of the people in the music community have been lucky enough to discover their purpose in life, but are not aware that they have been chosen to lead.

Spoken word was key for him, as he made multiple references to the Bible, saying, "Word has force and power to move men, to thinking new thoughts and doing new things." It all pointed to spoken word, which is the essence of hip-hop. He said, "Society wants rappers to clean up lyrics, but society doesn’t want to clean itself up. Rap lyrics are a reflection of the society…gangsta lyrics show aspects of a gangsta government."

He added that the government wants to put controls on hip-hop because hip-hop brings people’s reality out in the open, and government isn’t willing to address this reality. The hip-hop community inspires youth all over the world—it’s revolutionary. "And the government wants to suppress and control these messages of truths and reality. We live in a society that’s governed through smoke and mirrors…it doesn’t exist in hip-hop," he said. "What hip-hop has done is put blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, and every other ethnicity together and banished the old way of racism, and it’s frightening to people in power." The potential of this community to enact change, simply through words, is huge.

It definitely felt like church up in there, but I think I’ve summed it up. And although I’m an Italian chick from Bensonhurst, I definitely felt at home in his presence.

As for the outcome and commitments from this Summit, let’s say that follow-through will be the key. The first element is the Parental Advisory Labeling. The second is Industry Adoption of Hip-Hop Mentoring Programs. This gives artists the opportunity to enhance and ensure personal and professional development, while maximizing career advancement. Def Jam is the first to adopt this program and is urging other labels to do the same. The third element is Political Empowerment of the Hip-Hop Community. An alliance among the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (led by Martin Luther King III), Million Family March and Nation of Islam (led by Farrakhan) and Rap the Vote (led by Mario Velasquez) was formed to empower and promote the hip-hop industry.

Planned initiatives include: a Hip-Hop Political Action Committee that will help elect and raise funds for political candidates; a massive Rap the Vote registration drive; and the creation of hip-hop think tanks to establish ongoing discussions between the intellectual community forum and artists and executives about the impact of hip-hop culture and music on the global community. Finally, Puffy announced a marriage between his "Daddy’s House" charity and the NAACP Youth & Educational programming arm.

All in all, it was a revelatory three days. I thank Russell Simmons for the invitation to be part of this groundbreaking event. I look forward to hip-hop being an ongoing positive force in culture and in my life.

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