Hip Hop At A Crossroads

At 41 years of age, I can remember when Hip Hop was just underground music heard and performed in and around New York City and when it finally went mainstream and became a billion dollar a year industry. Record lables that would'nt touch the music and culture with a ten foot pole suddenly wanted a piece of the pie. Then Hip Hop was fun, entertaining, educational, enlighting and whatever else it wanted to be. Today corportate America runs the industry and markets and promotes guns, drugs and sex because it believes that's what sells. The diversity of lyrical content and imagery that existed years ago no longer exist. It is a travesty. It is a travesty because consumers are hungry for options that are not being offered. Artists like Common, Talib Kwali and Lupe Fiasco are not marketed and promoted as well as they should be. There is a market for what these artist do and record labels need to understand that. It is time for a change.