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Black Poets + Writers, Born to Stay Broke?

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Langston Hughes x Underpaid Poets x DJ Kool Herc’s Hospital Bills.

There are a few things going through my head, clearly.

The first is, a couple of weeks ago, poet and professor Thomas Sayers Ellis took the cardboard cut out of Langston Hughes from Busboys arguing that it was disrespectful and that the poets are not properly compensated for the work that they do. The owner of Busboys responded, then the poets responded back with a letter.

The second is that a couple of weeks ago as well, DJ Kool Herc was hospitalized, and unable to pay his medical bills. Several rappers, along with writer and homie Jeff Chang, went on the internet and twitter to fundraise to cover the cost of his expenses. Apparently even Russel Simmons got involved.

The third is a few weeks ago, my homie Simone,  wrote a post in the Couch Sessions that questioned the validity of a Jewish photographer, Mike Schreiber, presenting his book about Hip Hop at a Jewish Community Center, in Chocolate City. While I did find her tone to to be overly snarky in tone at times, there was some interesting dialogue generated and she made insightful points about the implications of the spaces we choose to host hip hop affiliated events.

The questions that she raised triggered a conversation around “who does hip hop culture belong to.” This is worth while as I think that rap music and hip hop culture has gone global, it is easy to forget that the music was created in response to the conditions of the lives of some Caribbean, African-American and Latino kids in the South Bronx.

In fact, I often think of how low income Black and Latino kids are in an interesting position in NYC. They live in one of the richest cities of the world, and produce fashion, language and music that is then taken by corporations and resold back to them and globally as well, all mostly without compensation. I get this analysis from Philippe Bourgois’s “In Search of Respect, Selling Crack in El Barrio.”

Lastly, another thing that I am thinking about is how last week a commenter left a message on my blog that my blog is a public service, and that I deserve to get paid for it, because public servants get paid. I thought this was interesting. I have been thinking about what he/she said, and what it means for a reader to tell a writer that they should be earning money based on what they do. #SociallyRelevantAds?

So I have 9 questions.

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Is it possible for people who benefit from from an exploitive system, a system premised on getting the most out of everything while paying the least possible, to turn around and critique that same system?

How much should the Busboys and Poets poets be compensated in order for the compensation system to be fair and equitable?

Do DC poets need a Union?

Do rappers need a Union?

Would Kool Herc or the Busboys poets be in the position they are in if they had a union?

Do the writers at Huffington Post, which just got acquired by AOL need a union?

Why is a model where the majority of the writers are unpaid sustainable?

Should I expect to get paid for my blog, if yes, how would that change my audience and voice?

You know what, I just wrote a post about the political economy of Black Poetry and Hip Hop. #boom.

A Response to Jeff Chang and Brian Komar’s “Culture Before Politics.”

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In a new article on the American Prospect site Jeff Chang and Brian Komar argue that:

The Democrats are hurting in a big way after the 2010 mid term elections because they failed to grasp the importance of shaping the narratives through using artists the influence “culture.”

Democrats think that they can focus on policy to move hearts and minds.

“Culture is the space in our national consciousness filled by music, books, sports, movies, theater, visual arts, and media” and that “Cultural change is often the dress rehearsal for political change. Or put in another way, political change is the final manifestation of cultural shifts that have already occurred.”

“When artists tell new stories, they can shift the culture and make new politics possible — cultural strategy is about understanding that fact and empowering artists to do what they do best.”

I couldn’t put my finger on why I was troubled by this article. Talking with Rob helped me to clarify it over email.

Here is what I agree with:

Yes artists have a place in society.

Yes artists can help to create narratives that can help us see new possibilities. The most awesome presentation of “narrative” or a story that I have seen is Danny’s blog “The People’s District” where he goes around DC interviewing people and posting them on his blog. Narratives across race and across age and class, it is one of the freshest things I have seen in a while.

However, what troubles me about the article is that it assumes this kind of top down model of social movement change, instead of a circular one or one of push and pull.

In many ways I see that it is saying, The Democrats need more people, and those people are artists rather than the Democrat’s need to be engaged with basic relationship building and maintenance and doing the things that impact the conditions of the lives of their base (African Americans, Latino’s, LGBTQ folks, Progressive White folks, union folks etc.)

Rob pointed out that in many ways Jeff and Brian’s argument is both pragmatic and rather conservative. Pragmatic because it looks at using existing channels to advance the “Democrats need more people, artistic people” agenda, conservative because it is assimilationist in many ways.

Meaning Jeff and Brian also argue that culture changes first and then electoral politics change.

Whereas I contend that art informs electoral politics/ legal actions and electoral politics and legal actions inform art.

This is what The Culture Wars was about, right?

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Mapplethorpe and the NEA and censorship? (Financial and Government action)

Cheryl Dunye’s Black lesbian film Watermelon Woman and censorship? (Financial and Government action)

Wasn’t an exhibit censored at The Smithsonian last week because of sexual content?

We can even take it back to the Birth of a Nation. I would argue that the hearts and minds are where they are, and then the art comes out of that. The art captures where the hearts and minds of folks are first. This is a real Leroi Jones/Baraka reading of art production that I take from Blues People. The audience then shapes what the artist creates. Keep in mind that corporations/the free market also play big role in shaping what artists produce. Dave Chappelle walked away from $50 million, lets ask ourselves why? A question we should always ask is why are these the stories being presented to us?

Another example that we can take it back to rap music, and NWA specifically. NWA because it represented this moment where Black men, living in post-factory cities, who were swooped up in the crack game, were talking about THEIR day to day lives, their narrative, without the explicit intent on getting rich because back then rappers didn’t get “rich” in the way that some are known to be in Forbes magazine listed today.

I had NWA in mind when Rob asked “where is the counter culture that can push back on the main narrative” because “we used to have countercultures and counterpublic spheres that could operate outside the dictates of the market’s logic, everything is within the confines of capitalism now.”

I thought of rap music, skateboard culture and even some blogs. Where is the counter culture?

Art and music, film, books, television are ALL used to help us make sense of our lives.

But honestly, what good is a counter culture or books, art, film, television when half your hood is unemployed? You have a job but you STILL need foodstamps? The bus or subway is crazy expensive and you can’t get to work? You can’t pay your rent or mortgage. You have no money for Christmas presents.

And, what good is a counter culture or culture when, simultaneously the Democrats and Republicans are looking at giving bailouts/tax cuts/wealth redistribution to billionaires and millionaires and other members of the college educated elite when you are barely making the rent, or your child’s college tuition is due, or you need more post-op physical therapy but all your sessions have run out, or you are working but you don’t have enough money to pay back Sallie Mae for your school loans and they are calling you twenty times a day.

Perhaps what we need isn’t just “more artist’s” changing the narrative but the political will to invest in the food, clothing and sheltering, education, and health caring of human beings.

Do Democrats need more artists?

Why not focus on the fact that bailouts for everyday working people is what is needed?

How can Democrats use culture when the free market will take anything, repackage it and sell it right back to you? For example Ice Cube going from NWA to Disney.

The Future of {Urban} Magazine’s: Thoughts on Jeff Chang’s Vibe Roundtable

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Last week, Jeff Chang posted a roundtable discussion with
Alan Light, former Editor in Chief at Vibe and Raymond Roker,
Founder of Urb Magazine.

Read the entire post here. It is fascinating because in many ways
it is an organic conversation about journalism, capitalism, Vibe,
and venture capital.

Blockquote 5 paragraphs in, Jeff gets cooking when he writes,

But by April 2005, they folded. The magazine industry had shifted dramatically. The middle?as in all media and entertainment industries, hell, in American society?could not hold

The idea of the middle not holding, and for the magazine industry
as an analogy for American, and Global society, if you will, is
fascinating. Initially, last week, when I wrote about class, race
and teens online I was going to include a chart about class distinctions.
It became clear to me that there is no such thing as a middle class.
There are owners. There are workers. The material difference is
in salaries, and unions.

That’s it.

Which brings me back to magazines. Last March, I told S.bot
that Honey Magazine was relaunching as a social networking
website. (Background, I love magazines. My dad got me a Barbie
magazine subscription when I was 6. I also had a subscription to
Highlights and Weekly Reader.)

You see, S.bot is a start up genius. She does venture capital
marketing analysis and makes wireframes for billionaires,
so when she talks about businesses, marketing and money, I listen.

She pointed out to me that many magazines now have in house
marketing, record labels and publishing companies, and that the
magazines are just business cards for many companies.
We began to discuss, how Honey would have been different if they
started a marketing arm right after the launch.

We wondered how feasible this would have been given the way in
which whiteness, blackness and gender impacts the access to
capital in general and specifically in the NYC media and
marketing landscape.

Which brings me to Jeff Chang’s comment about magazines and
marketing. Jeff writes,

Jeff Chang at 10:56am July 1
Alan, is there any middle ground at all to be found? Is it possible
to concoct a web/print model that can diversify income beyond
ad/sponsor revenues? E.g. For what it?s worth, and forgetting
how I feel about it for a second, most of the mags I know in the
high10K/low100k circ realm have become quasi- or real marketing
agencies.

Then Jeff adds,

Jeff Chang at 11:04am July 1
I guess I think of magazines like URB, The Fader, and Juxtapoz, and Swindle as businesses that are working. But again, there are a number of ancillary units working there aside from the content work. All of them have massive marketing arms. Juxtapoz is part of the Upper Playground clothing/street art business. Swindle is part of Shepard Fairey?s empire.

But yeah, media qua media? Not so much?

Alan Light at 11:07am July 1
if anyone sees this who works with any of those, please chime in. but my understanding is that the magazine parts of those companies do not make money ? but rather are a good investment in terms of visibility. as a kind of calling card for the rest of the operation where the profits are. Raymond? Andy? You guys out there?

This blew my brain back because, it became clear that “Hip Hop journalism”
in many ways is now about consumption. That being said, if Hip Hop or
music journalism isn’t about the journalism, and is a calling card
for a corporation, where is the journalism?

Remember The Source, the Mind Squad and The Source’s
masthead? At one point, it stated,

We at The Source take very seriously the challenge being the
only independent voice for the rap industry…with respect to any
of our businesses relationships, we feel it is in our responsibility to
always strict police the integrity of our editorial content. On y in this
way can we continue to bring of the clear and unbiased coverage which
has won the respect of our readers.

Clearly this was pre-Benzino and The Almighty RSO.

In some ways, reading this roundtable, I felt like I was back in Mergers
in Acquisitions (M & A), because the conversation about magazines
turned into one about profits, venture capital, risk assessment,
parent companies and subsidiaries.

For example, Al Roker spoke on the fact that these businesses
that have both ad agencies and magazines may drop the
magazine completely. He writes,

Raymond Leon Roker at 11:32am July 1
The ways us smaller print brands have a chance is to become boutique agencies. Filter, Cornerstone/Fader, BPM, et al, everybody is in the agency game. The magazines become the branded company pitch. A measure of credibility and clout.

But as print continues to melt away, in the eyes of clients and under the weight of constantly increasing production costs, some of these brands may drop their mags too.

The assumption is that magazine brands, if they walk away from print, can?t survive. That hasn?t been proven one way or another yet. But IMO, the only way they will is by becoming media marketing companies instead. Ones where content and marketing blur (hello ASME). But the standalone magazine model died years ago.

After this comment, Jeff and Alan began having a conversation about
Vibes uniqueness, regarding readership. This, is where M & A comes in.

Jeff Chang at 11:46am July 1
And I note the irony of looking at VIbe as ?ethnic media? when the urban category was invented by Black marketers and other marketers of color to get beyond that box?

Alan Light at 11:51am July 1
First, publishing is a terrible place for VCs to be, the return is too slow and too gradual. And are there other examples of consolidation other than Vibe/Spin?

And FYI, I don?t know how these numbers developed over the years, but in the years I was at Vibe it was amazing how close a 50/50 split we had in black/white and in male/female readership. Which was a bit of a problem until sales team were able to convince people it was a strength.

Jeff Chang at 11:58am July 1
Re: that?s so telling on the ad tip. And so when Wicks Group bought Vibe the writing was on the wall?

Alan Light at 12:00pm July 1
who knows? i mean, i guess there was cause for concern if, as i said, no magazine companies wanted in. i can?t comment on the state of things as of time of sale, long after i was gone.

Vibe was unique because of its readership, however, I never thought
about the fact that advertisers may not know how to market to
such a diverse crowd. It speaks to our history as a segregated
society, and the history of segregated publications and advertising as well.

Andy Cohn, group publisher of the Fader Media Network, posted a comment
in the comments section that made me think about venture capitalist and
the lack of profitbilty in the magazine industry. He writes,

andy cohn says:

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VC?s have no business (never have) getting involved in the media business. there is a long trail of INCREDIBLE media properties (or ones that had the potential for greatness) left in the dust by VC?s who thought they?d get some great rate of return on their investment. When i first started at Spin magazine in 1994, i remember reading that the average print magazine took up to 10 years to turn a profit. i?m by no means a financial wizard (just opposite in fact) BUT that would send some red flags to me if i was the one calling shots on who to invest with or not.

I think if we all really did the research, it?s NOT solely about the magazine or the content that drives it?s success, it?s about the OWNERSHIP structure, and willingness to cultivate and organically grow a property.

So, and i mean NO disrespect, because i have had the good fortune to meet Quincy, and admire and respect him tremendously, i find it perplexing that he can come out and bash the VC?s for ?messing up? VIBE when it was HE that sold it to them in the first place. if VIBE had been maintained by the great people that started it and came in along the way, and it remained with Quincy/Bob Miller etc, i have no doubt we would NOT be talking about it?s closure today.

FULL DISC: i have worked for Spin/Vibe, The Source and have been Group Publisher of The FADER Media network for the past 6 years.

Organic growth is the complete anthesis of Capitalism.

Capitalism’s central premise is accumulation, get money,
getting more, allways, regardless of the costs.

Even though I will be be a social science doctoral candidate in the fall,
the M & A hound in me loves analyzing why a merged business will
succeed or fail, A merger in many ways is a marriage of two businesses,
and it is often done for the purposes of saving money. We read in the
news that that Live Nation with Ticket Master. Jobs are slashed, buildings
are sold, stock goes up, shareholders are happy.

But, but, but, what is the impact of those actions for the long term?

Ask Umair, who wrote an interesting piece recently about the “bloodsucking
nature” of the music business in the case of Michael Jackson. He writes,

If the world’s biggest pop star only made $12 million a year from
his recordings, why would anyone make serious music? Where
did the rest of the money go? Why, straight into record labels’
pockets. Did they make better music with it? Nope ? they made
Britney and Lady GaGa.

It can be for a plethora of reasons. This conversation about VIBE is
important because it reflects the magazine industry and also because
of my personal investment in Danyel Smith’s career.

The end of Vibe was personal for me, not because of the magazine
per se, but because I have followed Danyel’s career since the early nineties,
when she was in the the Bay writing about Hip Hop. While there are
five or six newspapers and alterantive weeklies in the Bay Area,
very few of them, then and now, feature writing by African American women.

So when she wrote about the Boom and the Bap in the SF Bay
Guardian, and the East Bay Express, I stayed looking for her byline.
When I ran into Danyel in NY, a few years ago she was kind and warm.
Furthermore, she encouraged me to write and blog, which was affirming.
Last December, i mentioned to her, that I was writing a series
of essay’s on Hip Hop and feminism, and that I was shook. She asked
me why, and I responded that I was scared of failure and scared of success.
She encouraged me to press “send”, always.

In some ways I am not thinking about Vibe per se, but the symbolism
of a Black woman, who came up the ranks as a writer, who
eventually ran magazine, and what it means to us, when that
magazine is no longer running.

It’s like that feeling of seeing Michelle and Oprah on the cover
of O, when you know Oprah don’t share the cover with nobody.

With that being said, who knows what the future holds?

If the magazines, as we know them fall away, and start over digital,
I smile at the idea of an Urban Vanity Fair. Given the fact that we
have a Black president, it would be kinda awesome to have some
in depth, urban (Black, White, Asian and Latino) political and music
coverage, organically grown.

More about VIBE
Harry Allen
Belle in Brooklyn
Aliya S. King

More about Money, Art, Technology
Michael Jackson and the Zombie Media Economy
The Next 5000 Days of the Internet
The Future of Free

When Magazines Sell Access to Politicians, Lobbyist
The Atlantic
The Washington Post