Scam "Artists" are flooding the mainstream media with their watered down image and lyrics; all in the interest of greed. I am a young Black male and I expect this page to appeal mainly to Blacks and minorities who can relate to my views. After this country has already taken away our freedom, our heritage, and attempted to take away our pride, through all the pain and adversity, we finally found an identity in this country and developed our own culture and I feel that now that's being taken away from us also.

I can't even imagine how many times I watch TV and see White people mocking us, and it sickens me. If it's not Ricky Fake talking about something being "jiggy" ( I always thought the word was corny anyway), it's a talk show host saying "don't you go there" or "You ain't all that!". They just don't know that they are moving in on "our shit" and now being Black, we don't even have our own style anymore. Thanks to MTV and numerous SELLOUTS among Black celebrities who forgot where they came from, the shit that used to be normal to us is now "cool" and now there's a nation of Wiggers out there. Every time they steal some shit of ours (like pants saggin), they try to do it and be too cool and blow the shit out of proportion. Now what White Amerikkka used to think of as ignorant, they now hate even more because their kids are trying to be like US and those who were racist hate US even more because like everything else they see as bad, they blame US for that shit.

What we know as the Hip-Hop Nation is also under siege. Greedy record companies now sign just about anybody who will sing what they tell them to sing because now with Tupac and Biggie gone, so is most of the REAL shit. Artists now sing songs for the "radio" so Black, White and whoever else will buy their CDs, even artists who used to be HARDCORE are now selling out for profit, and most of them "softened up" their act because of pressure from the record companies who are bowing down to political pressure. Some people say "it's bringing the races together" but I disagree. I think it's just fuckin' up what used to be OUR music and culture. People are taking a stand against Rap either because they're White and hate that their kids are "supposedly" influenced by us, or religious freaks who wanna seem like they care and draw more people and more money back into the church, Politicians who need something to campaign about and please the aforementioned Rap haters, and basically other people like C. Deloris Tucker who basically jump on the bandwagon for personal gain.

I used to think that Rappers were hated because most of them came off the streets and became millionaires. The truth is that most Rappers don't achieve this type of success unless they're music is just that tight (Tupac and Biggie both sold in the millions on the regular), they produce and do other things on the side (Ice Cube-producer, actor, director, and Ice T-actor and producer ), or they just write simple ass songs and make a ass out of themselves for profit (Puffy-takes old beats, hooks and rapes 'em, and LL Cool J-pitchman for the GAP, come on!). The real culprit is the greedy record companies such as Death Row, Bad Boy, and Interscope etc. Based on people's ideas about Rappers and how they live, they basically sell wet dreams to those who THINK they got what it takes to be an artist and become rich and famous. The truth is you're gonna struggle before you make the big money, and chances are you might not make it. Due to a lack of a large audience such as how Rock'n Roll groups have access to, Rap just doesn't sell like other types of music. Because of it's content, the hate in this country has for it and those who listen to it, and the fact that people just don't buy the albums all the time because they don't have the money or they buy from bootleggers, Rap used to be looked on as a bad investment so it used to be hard to get a deal. Since there is today a larger audience and plenty of scam "artists" willing to sell-out to be rich and rich companies get richer most of the time, not the artists (want proof?, read this). They got so many artists that they can afford to take chances because this country is really ran by the major Corporations who pump money into the economy and in return all types of laws are there to protect them. Let's say an artists' record sells like shit, no problem, they can write it off on their taxes, and if they got a hit the company will keep all rights to the songs the artist made and profit off them for years (Does any of this sound familiar?).

There are a few exceptions out there. No Limit Records which is owned by Master P, is an independent label, black owned and operated. I'm not sure, but I think you can't just have a record company by yourself, you have to have some other big company distribute your music for you. I heard that Master P got an unheard of 85% (profits from record sales to keep for himself and his own company) distribution deal form Priority Records. The important part is that P owns all of his masters (the original recording) and maintains all his rights so that the money stays within the company and the. This is good for us if Master P starts to give back (I have no knowledge weather he has or not) and create an example for others to follow. Babyface has LaFace Records but I don't have many inside details. Apparently he screws his artists on their money (I guess that's how he turns a big profit) and has been sued by Toni Braxton and TLC because of it. Babyface is a Legend in the music industry; producing, writing, and singing plenty of hits with all types of awards to back it up, but how can he do his people like that?; American greed.

Then there's Suge Knight with Death Row Records. This company started out as a dream and is now a nightmare come true. This company is crumbling as we speak as artist's 2Pac (deceased), Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, The Dogg Pound, and other artists have left for various reasons. These artists made Death Row the king of Rap labels, but a lot of behind the scenes actions caused them to leave. First of all they fucked the artists out of their money (big surprise), and they operated as a gang with strong arm tactics and were rumored to have been started up with illegal drug money in the first place. That's what got the ball rolling with the Feds investigating them in order to bring them down. Death Row was similar to how No Limit is now, black owned and operated, an independent label, owning it's own masters, and making hits and multi-millions. I have to be honest, the government doesn't like Blacks doing for themselves, making history, making millions, and cutting the white owned record labels out of the loop. In this country's eyes we're not supposed to be intelligent enough to do something like that on our own and maintain it so they'll keep a close eye on US and if we slip up, they'll be there to cuff us with the swiftness. With Suge now serving a 7 year sentence for assault where he violated his probation after getting off on some other serious federal weapons charges, his nine lives have seemed to run out. After Tupac's murder, Suge Knight's imprisonment, and now the open investigation of Death Row by the Feds, most of his artists have run out on him. Could No Limit be next?, only time will tell.

Last and certainly least, there's Bad Boy Records headed by Sean "Puffy" Combs. They are rumored to be started up with drug money just like Death Row, but I doubt the Feds will come after them. Unlike Suge and Master P, Puffy came from high hills and didn't grow up poor. I assume he is squeaky clean about running his business. He probably pays all his taxes and never steps "out of line" since he grew up practically rich so he's been taught to "obey" the rules to make it in the White man's world, while niggaz like Suge make their own rules. He also enjoys his lavish lifestyle and puts a lot of money into the American economy instead of the Black Community. With characteristics like this, he's the White man's dream of what he wants a rich Black man to be: make money off his people, try to tell them to dance instead of puttin 'em up on game (like he got a clue), and pump this money into his economy. He also tries to mix up Hip-Hop with Rap, but there's a difference. Hip-Hop is that feel good music that you can put on the radio, dance to, and is basically a feel good la-di-da type of music to groove to. Rap (at least at it's roots) is supposed to be more socially conscious, tell a common story, and bring forth knowledge to the masses type of music. The only way the two are linked is that Rap is part of Hip-Hop Culture. Rap music is for music for those who wouldn't really care about important shit we need to think about (what happened to shit like "Self Destruction" and "Fight The Power") if it wasn't rhyming and laced with some thumpin' ass bass in the background. Now there's more money on the table and more competition to get it: ENTER PUFFY.

Puffy and Biggie accused Tupac and West Coast rappers of not being creative. Who needs to be creative when you can take a song from the 70's or 80's that's already proven to be a hit, dub the beat, steal the hook, and rap over it with new lyrics? This "new?" style showed to be a seller mostly because it was soft, had a popular beat that brought back old memories but with a twist, and most importantly appealed to White people who wanted to be "cool" and be "down". This equaled many platinum records and Amerikkka just loved this watered down house-nigger music with no attitude. Puffy can't talk about being poor or having a grudge against society cause he came from the burbs, that's what he got Biggie for, to appeal to street niggaz. Puffy talks about all this money he's got and puts across a message that money is the most important thing in life, fuck values, fuck principles, fuck integrity, just be a good little nigger and make money even if you have to sell your soul for it. The White record execs have no problem with this because it spells more money for all of them too, with Puffy collaborating with new and washed up artists to help them sell records and make himself more famous and them more rich. Other artists are now jumping on the bandwagon because they're washed up, records ain't sellin', and their moment in the spotlight is over. With all of the Scam "Artists" selling out our music and the other half being pushed out by these "mainstream" (meaning appeal to White as well as other races) artists, How can we stop our music from being STOLEN from us? The answer is simple: Don't buy their music. Even if you really like it, dub it from some fool you know who did buy it or find yourself a bootlegger which shouldn't be hard if you live in an urben area. If the money doesn't get back to the company and, they can't brag about record sales, that will spell the end of Scam "Artists" , sellouts, greedy record companies getting rich off of us and not putting any money back into the community, and THE FLEECING OF THE HIP-HOP NATION.

 - © THUNDER