As artist we all think about taking the gig that
would pay some bills, but f-ck with our
ability to sleep at night.
This is what I thought of when I hear Saul
Williams say,
“Saul isn’t making a Nike Commercial
Nike is Making a Saul Commercial”
Say word?
This isn’t a conflict that is foreign to me.
I think about writing erotic Negro fiction approximately
once a day to pay bills. Are you kidding me? Those
books are so what the street wants**. You
show me a subway train at rush hour I will
show you 5 black women reading “Around
the Way Girl Part IV”.
According to this excerpt from Grand Good,
KRS’s standard for selling out is whether he
changes himself for the corporation:
KRS-ONE: Today, artists like myself or Chuck D or Talib Kweli hold a degree of credibility that?s attracting companies like Red Bull, Cadillac, or Nike. Executives at these companies are our fans. And they are really sick of the state of music. So what they?ve done is spend $250,000 of their own money, in the case of Nike, to create a song with Kanye West, Nas, Rakim, and KRS ONE. We don?t rap about the shoes because they don?t want us talking about that. They just want us to create a song they can play on their website. This same active ingredient is present in the popular erectile dysfunction treatment drug, but kamagra cialis tadalafil canada oral jelly has lot of regular customers and is demand because of the growing urbanization. Products from this exporter of safed musli capsules have a legacy of generic tadalafil online thousands of years of established quality and safety. A purchase levitra diet that is higher in fats can hinder the functioning of a gallbladder, but it may bring about many common gallbladder symptoms. There are no proven side effects and it is totally understood that some of us might be falling short on our ‘core’ duties. cialis discounts Authenticity is the new business model and these companies need a product that?s not destroyed by an artist?s shady image.
What is interesting about both of their statements is that
both reflect a lack of understanding about corporations and
capitalism.
First, capitalism, by its very nature co-opts anything
that attempts to subvert it. Meaning, IF you come at it,
it is going to figure out how to make money off
of you. Beastie, right?
Second, a companies only constituents are its
shareholders, and its shareholders alone. Every financial
move made is at furtherance of improving corporate share
value.
F-ck what ‘chu heard.
I gasped at hearing Saul say,
” Mc Donalds is making veggie burgers/
Walmart is going green”
I have watch him from afar as he has toiled,
made art, published books, cd’s and just did him.
I have always admired his chutzpah.
To me, he was a renegade rebel who said f-ck it.
Now, “Nike is making a Saul commercial”.
If you change for cake, so be it. But acting like you
are doing it because a multinational corporation is bending
to your will is an insult to us, the fans.
A corporation may bend its will towards it’s
to is its investors, and sometimes they have no
say so ie, exorbitant CEO pay.
Think about Saul and KRS’s response in contrast
to the Clipse or any D’boys resolve.
“I need to make this money so I can eat”
“I’m just trying to feed my daughter” ~Biggie
Atleast they are honest enough acknowledge the capitalist
motives behind their behavior and not ATTEMPT to purport
that they are “helping the culture”.
Corporations don’t care about our music, how n*ggerish
we are or where an emcees next meal is coming from.
Corporations ONLY care about their bottom line.
Both links via Grandgood.
**has started trying to write said fiction.
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TC has a fly assed review of the new AZ over @ TSS.
Let?s talk about underdogs for a second. Like the secondary candidates for a job position or the small college vying for respect in the NCAA tournament with just as much heart to compete with their rivals that dominate the popular vote. It?s always an uphill battle when the odds are against you and you?re always having to show n? prove. For nearly a decade and a half, lyrical connoisseur Anthony Cruz a.k.a. AZ, has carried the tag of the overlooked MC without merit – even after touching platinum with the failed supergroup The Firm and his own debut album Doe Or Die.
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Spike Jonez actually makes me feel less weird.
That, my dear Watson, is a feat. Peep his Gap commerical below.
via the Hundreds
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WDYU has I LOVE the 90’s going hawrd. Camp Lo’s
after the jump. Camp Lo is like protoypical B-list
group that knocks. Beatnuts Alkaholics Lost
Boyz Are there more…..
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KRS.
AZ.
Saul and corporations.
All in the same post.
Life es bueno.
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?Erotic Negro Fiction? gotta love that description. That ish is popular as f***?its seems like every time I look up I see a shawty reading something around them lines. Which being that I?ve yet to formulate the ability to read fiction cuz I?m so stuck on the ingrained yet flawed (why read something if its not ?real?) philosophy, I kinda think derisively at people doing so.
Ahh the God of Rap is wrong once again?
——-
?What is interesting about both of their statements is that
both reflect a lack of understanding about corporations and
capitalism.?
?First, capitalism, by its very nature co-opts anything
that attempts to subvert it. Meaning, IF you come at it,
it is going to figure out how to make money off
of you. Beastie, right??
—-
So true.. So intricately true
What?s sad about the people like Krs who attempt to justify there position working with in what is in theory is there ?Enemy? is the fact it leaves one with a defeatist attitude of the ?If you cant beat em join em ilk? which only helps solidify the Corporate business model even more.
It all leads back to the can you change the system from the inside or does the system need to be destroyed argument, which is hard to honestly answer when you are forced to think pragmatically because you live within the system.
This all kinda took me back to your Hip Hop isn?t all that political post?
Sh*t even made me think about how Dead Prez was trying to explain the logic of going to the ?bigger? plantation of Sony.
——
?But acting like you
are doing it because a multinational corporation is bending
to your will is an insult to us, the fans.?
?Think about Saul and KRS’s response in contrast
to the Clipse or any D’boys resolve.
“I need to make this money so I can eat”
“I’m just trying to feed my daughter” ~Biggie
Atleast they are honest enough acknowledge the capitalist
motives behind their behavior and not ATTEMPT to purport
that they are “helping the culture”.?
——————–
After all that I can?t say anything but thank you????
Which being that I?ve yet to formulate the ability to read fiction cuz I?m so stuck on the ingrained yet flawed (why read something if its not ?real?)
========
Gayle Jones, Ishmael Reed and …..Octavia Butler will take you to some of the realest places your spine and ya mind have ever tasted.
This all kinda took me back to your Hip Hop isn?t all that political post?
======
No shit.
I mean, the Dboys admit is capitalism but the “rightous dudes” flip flop more than that red snapper in my skillet on a Friday night.
Sh*t even made me think about how Dead Prez was trying to explain the logic of going to the ?bigger? plantation of Sony.
======
YIKES. YIKES. YIKES.
Its like me messing w/ a d -boy then getting mad when he WANT ME to stash him out or call my lawyer patnas for some “advice”.
F-CK that. Take he benefits. take the risks.
So what do you suggest to emcees who really wanna just emcee yet make money off they emceeing? Either way there’s got to be some type of deal brokered no? ‘Cos to take it back to Old testament times, Priests and levites were allowed to receive some type of stipend to take care of their fams, and that stipend was off God’s Work..it was allowed..
so I’m wondering being a rebel or whatever to society through art is great but when the benefits come do you turn a blind eye all in an attempt to keep it all the way real/thoro?
Cos anything involving profit begins to veer towards capitalism and you can’t tell me them rappers don’t want money..
I love AZ to pieces but sometimes I just want him to rap about something diff other than being the vet in the game and the last hustler etc etc…its either he’s redundant in that area which really ain’t a bad thing ‘cos sometimes with music its about the art of staying redundantly fresh..but if you gon’ do it that way then your beats gotta BANG and the last beat AZ was on to me that really truly banged was the joint with Preme..AZ is a lyricists’ lyricist but like ppl always say about what can take you to the next level as a rapper, “who are you?” and “what are you?” is your identity relatable on some level? Or are you larger than life in your description?
Thanks for breaking my heart and destroying my soul. Dammit Saul. How is it a Saul Williams commercial when I done seen that commercial 20 gabillion times and never realized it was Saul’s song until this song. He does make one good point – the audience, consumer market whatever has more power than they realize and can dictate how these corporations do business. And that’s how we’re going to have to rock, cause revolution aint coming no time soon.
And that’s how we’re going to have to rock, cause revolution aint coming no time soon.
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Why I come home tonight and needed to hear that song that was Jay and Biggie…I ain’t even know the Name but its bumping now… wait….”BK’s Finest” Anyways…nice to see you around the spot today….UH. Saul…Yeah…he and Carol Hancock Rux been doing the damn THING FOR HEEELLLLLLAAAA long… so I’m.glad you feel me on that sentiment…I came across another video where he goes into it and shows more thought and reflection and thought on the Nike Choice…let me look fer it.