ROXANNE'S REVENGE

Legendary rapper Roxanne Shante (born Lolita Shante Gooden), best known for her infamous single "Roxanne's Revenge", not only battled on the mic but against her former record label Warner Music. Two and a half decades after the young, rap diva was cheated out of her royalty checks she made the biggest come back of her life meanwhile setting an extraordinary precedent... 

"I'm an example that you can be a teenage mom, come from the projects, and be raised by a single parent, and YOU can still come out of it a doctor." 

Roxanne Shante first came into the rap game at the tender age of 14.  Unfortunately, that fact did not cut her any slack.  Her hit "Roxanne's Revenge" [an explicit dis against UTFO's hit 'Roxanne Roxanne'] was released in 1984.  In NYC alone the single sold 250,000 copies and made Shante hip hop's first female celebrity.  This accomplishment opened the door for female rappers to come such as MC Lyte, Yo-yo, Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Lil' Kim and more.  Yet, she did not see the same success. "After two albums, Shante said, she was disillusioned by the sleazy music industry and swindled by her record company.  The teen mother, living in the Queensbridge Houses recalled how her life was shattered [Walter Dawkins, SPECIAL TO THE NEWS]." 

"Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies; and to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking."

All hope was not lost.  A then, 19-year old Shante remembered a certain clause within her Warner Music recording contract: the company would fund her education for life.  However, the multi-million dollar label commenced to give her the run-around.  "They kept stumbling over their words, and they didn't have an exact reason why they were telling me no", Shante said [Warner Dawkins, SPECIAL TO THE NEWS].  She continued to pursue the issue along with the help from her former Dean at Marymount Manhattan College, Marguerita Grecco.  "I told Dean Grecco that either I'm going to go here or go to the streets, so I need your help, Shante recalled. "She said, 'We're going to make them pay for this!' [Warner Dawkins, SPECIAL TO THE NEWS]  Grecco was relentless. She submitted all academic bills to Warner Music. Finally, the label surrendered to the terms of the contract and agreed to pay [but] only after Shante threatened to go public.  Winning the battle against the reluctant label she eventually went on to continue her education at Ivy League institution Cornell University. In 2001 she graduated with her Doctorate degree in Psychology.  Her total tuition cost hit the tune of $217,000.  Warner Music paid every cent.  Now 38, Dr. Roxanne Shante is an active member within the community.  Notably, she has put her own unique twist to her therapy services by incorporating [you guessed it] rap!  Through these "rap sessions", she encourages her clients to unleash their inner MC.  Reportedly, she claims this method gets people to shout out their frustrations which in turn allows them to vent what is on their mind(s). Go girl!

KUDO - Gooden offers $5K in college scholarships each semester to female rappers through the non-profit HIP HOP ASSOCIATION as well as gives advice to young women in the music busines via her Myspace: myspace.com/roxanneshante

Me Time

So my sister has called me three times today and I have not answered. My boyfriend has called a few times too. It’s not personal. I just don’t feel like talking. I went to the park and could not find a shaded area NOT occupied with people. I cannot go to my favorite chill spot Books-A-Million, crack open my laptop and use the Wi-Fi because my membership has ran out and I do not have a dime to my name. I am searching for my muse, for inspiration, for clarity and peace of mind.

Today is a beautiful Sunday but I am not content. I will not be content until I find space and time to be alone with my thoughts, until I find serenity, until I reclaim my thoughts. I am in my own world and OK… you may call me selfish but I know what I need today. I need me again. I don’t want to talk about makeup or the latest fashion at the mall. I don’t care to discuss trivial matters and chuckle over small talk. Today I woke up on the right side of the bed with my thoughts deeply pressed against the frontal lobe of my brain. I cannot ignore them, they sit on the tip of my conscience begging to be pushed over the edge into a sea of –  of what exactly? Yes. I don’t see the sea and it is bothering me.

I am perplexed with emotion; just having skimmed thru the latest issue of Essence magazine. I read about our beloved Michael Jackson. I learned about a half Italian and Black woman who won office in Italy. I applied a makeup sample offered within one of its pages. Amongst other things I am frustrated. I am frustrated at my finances, I'm mad that people aren't receiving proper healthcare, I'm pissed of that some jerk cut me in line, after reading Essence and watching FUSE videos, I realize that I actually resent the fact that Michael Jackson is dead. To add insult to injury, he was murdered by the same unethical doctoring (meds and mullah over morals) that has wound up killing countless others --- including my good friend's grandmother. She didn't need all that shit. At any rate, I feel robbed even; as if his untimely death was unfair towards himself but the rest of humanity. Like I wrote in, “Remembering Michael”, it felt as though we lost a hero. It's just so damned tragic. Sadly, it was simply his time I suppose...

OH boy, am I not very friendly right now… I am not approachable nor do I want to be approached. I am not happy. Last night I read thru decade old diary entries I wrote during my teens. Talk about clarifying... it helped refresh my memory as to who I am and why. I struggled with self-esteem, co-dependency, anger and social withdrawal. Ten years later I still struggle with these issues from time to time. At this very moment I do not want to be around anyone. I want to be completely alone yet that is not possible being that I live with my family. I don’t always want to be alone.

I am social most of the time but when I don’t want to be bothered I completely clam up and want my privacy to be respected. I suppose I need to tell my sister & others that when and if I don’t answer the phone it is on purpose and for a purpose. At least I could do is say so. It’s ironic… when I was younger I craved for attention; I wanted to be accepted and have others to talk to and want to talk to me. Yet, now that I am grown I do not let others too close to me, including my family. I have this private side to me that is all mines and absolutely no one is allowed. It is deep and I like to get lost in it from time to time. Perhaps, it’s time I found another outlet. I do believe it is time I draw & paint again. I feel an urge to release my passion or else emotions will consume me and I will brood as I am right now, more often than not. Trust me… I’m not always this heavy hearted. Sorry, if I’ve been passive & rude. I still love you.

CNN'S X-FILE: BELIEVE IT OR NOT

I believe in spiritual matters too, so it's a toss up. In essence, that is what we truly are [a whole other story]... and I also believe in staff pranks for that matter [lol], having played a couple myself. Shhh. Perhaps, it is the shadow of some CNN staffer wandering around. Some believe it is an ill-placed prank. Many, don't know what to think. Besides, we are talking about 'the' CNN here: a gargantuan, widely respected, news media outlet. Things of this nature are forever puzzling to mankind. However, if you're looking for a good explanation I found You Tuber, SlythPersonal's (http://www.youtube.com/Slyth66) debunking attempt to be quite practical

and, if I might add-

corporate media... you disappoint me yet again! No pun intended, but this is beyond Michael Jackson anyway; mainstream media coverage having manifested into yet another info-tainent, circus act. In the profound words of one You Tuber: "What's up with the fucking music?" Yes! What is up the effing music? It makes the footage corny and commercialized [like many things these days], if not borderline insulting - perpetuating the caricature of Michael Jackson as a creep, spook, oddity, etc. Where's the respect for the dead [clearing throat] Congressman Pete King?

WHO'S THE SELL-OUT?

Beneath Low: BET, Lil Wayne Set the Stage for Child Pornography
Thursday Jul 2, 2009 – By April Silver

Last night, live at the BET Awards in Los Angeles, a room full of head-bobbing, consenting adults bounced to Drake and Lil Wayne’s back-to-back performances of the hit songs “Best I Ever Had” and “Every Girl.” I watched, underwhelmed. I wanted more “Michael” in what was supposed to be this award-show-turned-Michael-Jackson-tribute. I watched, ever puzzled by the Lil Wayne phenomena that has captivated the music industry. I watched, wondering when the set was going to end.

Then the little girls came onstage…literally
the little girls. “Are those children?” I asked out loud, in disbelief. Then the camera panned the audience. Everyone was still head-bobbing as the little Black girls huddled around these superstars.

“Are those little girls on stage…for this song?!?!” I, still in disbelief, lost breath and forced myself to exhale. “Why are these little girls featured on this performance? Is somebody going to stop this?” Again, the show was live, though for a nano-second, I was hoping that a hunched-over stage manager would bust through from back stage to scoop up the children, rescuing them from harm’s way…from being associated from this song. But instead, what those girls witnessed from the stage was hundreds and hundreds of adults (mostly Black people) staring back at them, co-signing the performance.

These girls, who all appeared to be pre-teens, were having their 15 minutes of glam on one of the biggest nights in televised Black entertainment history, with two of pop culture’s biggest stars at the moment, with millions of people watching. They must have been bubbling with girlish excitement, shimmering like princesses all night. Pure irony: one of them wore a red ballerina tutu for the special occasion. And we applauded them.

But did no one care that Lil Wayne’s song Every Girl is about grown men and their sexual escapades with women? Did the meaning and intent of the song matter to anyone, this song whose hook and other lyrics required a re-write in order to get air play? “I wish I could love every girl in the world.” That’s the radio-friendly version of “I wish I could f–k every girl in the world.” But Lil Wayne’s BET performance was the clean edit of the song. Perhaps he (and the show producers) thought that there was nothing wrong in featuring the children in the clean version. Perhaps we were supposed to see the whole bit as cute and innocent. Absolutely not.

There’s no other way to cut it: in presenting little girls in a performance of a song that is about sex, group sex, and more sex, BET and Lil Wayne set the stage for child pornography. It doesn’t matter what version of the song was played, much like a man who batters women is still an abusive man, even if uses flowery phrases while battering. In the song, Lil Wayne mentions superstar Miley Cyrus, but Cyrus gets a pass on this lyrical sex escapade because, as he acknowledges, she is a minor. Huh? Why, then, is he comfortable with featuring four minors, these four little Black girls, in the show? How deep exactly is this inability of some men to respect women, and how deep is Lil Wayne’s disregard for the safety of little girls?

I’m told that one of the girls is Lil Wayne’s daughter. That doesn’t matter. In fact that makes it worse. Last night we were reminded that there are few safe spaces for our little girls to be children; that some of us are willing to trade their innocence for a good head nod. BET and Lil Wayne are beneath low because, in effect, they have given premium assurance to these and other little girls that their best value, their shining moment, their gifts to display to the world, all lie within a context that says they are f**kable. The programming at BET has been heavily criticized by artists, concerned citizens, college students, parent groups, social justice organizations, media reform activists, and many others for over a decade now. Their programming seems hell bent on broadcasting the worst pathologies in the Black community.

Some have joined the anti-BET movement by simply tuning out. Others have been more pro-active. National letter-writing campaigns and other activities designed to shame and/or pressure the network into improving its programming have been in play for some time now. Boycotts have been called as well. Two years ago, for example, the network found itself in the line of fire as it planned to air the very controversial series “Hot Ghetto Mess.” Advertisers, such as State Farm Insurance and Home Depot, responded to pressure and requested that their ads be disassociated with the series (though, their ads could be placed in other programming slots).

None of this has made a difference. In fact, it seems to have emboldened the network, for it is now expanding. In the fall, BET is due to launch another channel. But millions of Black people are not offended by the network and welcome anything BET has to offer, no matter how much it continues to unravel the fabric of our community. As a social entrepreneur and activist, my entire life/work has been dedicated to standing up for what’s right, especially within the culture of hip hop. When identifying what cancerous elements exist within the Black community, many fellow activists agree with Chuck D (of Public Enemy), and even Aaron McGruder (of The Boondocks), when they targeted BET as one of those elements. That said, I didn’t think that we would ever have to take the network to task for what amounts to child pornography.

But millions of Black people are not offended by the network and welcome anything BET has to offer, no matter how much it continues to unravel the fabric of our community. Imagine, if you will, BET as a human being and the viewers as the community. You would have to imagine BET as a drug dealer, with his swag on…perhaps outside standing atop a truck, the community crowded beneath him. Imagine him throwing nicely wrapped gifts into the crowed, or giving away turkeys at Thanksgiving. Or maybe it’s Mother’s Day and he buys dinner and teddy bears to all the single moms and grandmothers around the way. Despite his best efforts and despite the approval of his fans, he is still a drug dealer, pimping death to the masses.

Proverbs is full of sacred text that teaches us that there will always be fools amongst us. Some of them will be highly paid, protected, and given world-wide platforms to show off what they do best. And these fools (be they performers, corporate executives, or others), will have fans and loyal supporters, and a place to call home, like a BET. But as long as there will be fools amongst us, there will also be wise ones - a small group of people concerned about the long term health and well being of the community. This small group will often go unheard and they will be outmatched. They will struggle over which problem to address first: the child pornographer, the batterer, the pimp, the prostitute, the thief, the slumlord, or the system that enables it all. They will get tired and their defense will pale in comparison to the almost crushing offense. And they will be betrayed from within.

Historically and universally, this is what happens in the struggle for what is right. But eventually, with continued pressure, something will shift. A radical new thinking will emerge, and the fools will lose their stronghold. The sure expectation of victory, however, can not be understated. It is a concrete ingredient in the struggle against the death that is being paraded in our community…as necessary as letter writing campaigns, economic boycotts, symbolic and actual protests, and other pressure-oriented activities. It is indeed possible to bring more life into our community.

© 2009 by April R. Silver. April R. Silver is a social entrepreneur, activist,
and writer/editor. She is also founder of the communications agency AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc. Her first book is the critically acclaimed anthology “BE A FATHER TO YOUR CHILD: REAL TALK FROM BLACK MEN ON FAMILY, LOVE, AND FATHERHOOD.”

Contact Info: silver@aprilsilver.com or http://www.aprilsilver.com/.

***DISCLAIMER:

APPARENTLY THIS WAS ALL A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING...
What happen was... Lil' Wayne's daughter Reginae was reportedly crying because supposedly she was sitting too far back to go up on stage with her daddy and help him accept his award. So, Wayne decided to let Reginae go on stage while he & Drake performed "Every Girl" instead. Once again, this was reported as a last minute judgement call on his part; not BET. It was also stated that unannounced to Lil' Wayne; Reginae decided to invite her crew (The OMG girls which include T.I & Tiny's daughter) to join her on stage as well and that's how it all went down.  Judge?

REEL INDEPENDENT

New Muslim Cool is an interesting, thought-provoking independent film; a perspective you would not expect...


PBS: POV - (http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2009/newmus... )
Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez pulled himself out of drug dealing and street life 12 years ago and became a Muslim. Now he's moved to Pittsburgh's tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family and take his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and himself. New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza's ride through streets, slums and jail cells — following his spiritual journey to some surprising places in an America that never stops changing. Produced in association with Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).

*You can learn more about POV and watch New Muslim Cool online at http://www.pbs.org/pov/newmuslimcool/