I wrote the stupid conspiracy article.
Where did I imply the music industry was exclusively targeting black men? Yes, industry exploitation happens to people of all races, in all genres, but I was writing for a Hip-Hop site where a good deal of the audience are conscious people of color, so the article is for that audience. If I wanted to write about how Country music preys on Mandy Mckenzie from Memphis then I could do that credibly, but I'm not personally invested in that genre. I feel like when people publish or speak this type of rhetoric the people take it as if our whole point is that Hip-Hop is solely responsible for the downfall of the black community, and it's a frustrating deflection that prevents any constructive discourse on the subject. Instead of discussing how we can change exploitation in the industry, it becomes a referendum on the validity of the idea of exploitation, or about "b-b-but this happens to everybody!"...right now, I'm exclusively concerned with the plight of people of color. I'd be willing to bet everyone who appears to be on opposite sides here fundamentally agree that labels exploit artists. Let's try to move this discussion forward.
I can't speak for other people who say shyt like this, but in writing this article, my point wasn't to make Hip-Hop seem like the scourge of human history, im pointing out how the industry preys on black youth, specifically so all these dudes waiting for a label to save them, spending their days @ing signed artists on Twitter can wake up. This isn't me trying to be condescending or shyt on my own music...I fukking live and breathe Hip-Hop, that's why I'm trying to raise awareness anyway I can. I recognize Hip-Hop's power as a culture, as a voice for the oppressed, as a means of creating a financial infrastructure for people of color, but I also recognize how these labels are pimping the game to drain all of that out and just make it about vapidity.
Even if you have what it takes to be a professional musician (which 9/10 don't anyway) it's not worth it to sign one of those deals unless you can negotiate one in your favor, and you can only do that with contacts and knowledge that most people don't have. Most of these kids are too desperate or disillusioned to be patient and build a strong enough buzz to get a good deal. Not to mention the illusion of wealth and the lifestyle gasses them up and they just sign. You compound glamor and perceived wealth and even kids with opportunity/family set their sights on entertainment and put on tunnel vision to everything else. Hip-Hop is perceived as the primary means of "making it", when that couldn't be more false. This is by design.
Additionally, the fact that this is happens to black people who are already in the throes of a system that wants them dead or in jail is notable. Intentional or not, the industry's exploitation of black people ends up compounding into a corollary of every other means of America subjugating blackness. At best, you can't deny that labels exploiting black artists is an unfortunate cross-purpose, at worst, it's another intentional tactic in an agenda to keep us down. Then you factor in that the content of most of this music is nihilistic,self destructive shyt that, (no matter what anyone says) in part contributes to a mindset that leads to jails and early graves..it's problematic. Then the artist doesn't even make enough money to pull a Jay-Z and attempt to give back. Who wins in that scenario? Way more people lose.
Making this article was just one of many things I want to do to contribute and show people that maybe bending over for a label that doesn't care about you isn't the move. It's not about "why don't you stop listening to rap then", it's about trying to do something to change the system and reclaim rap. Even if I'm idealistic, I'd rather be idealistic than complacent. Ideally, we could find Independence from a system made to exploit us ran by people who wrote a constitution that states we're less than human. I mean the industry gives out "slave deals" to black men and women. If you can't see a cringe-worthy historical context in that sentence alone I don't know what to say. It's kind of maddening to me how people don't see this but I understand everyone reaches conclusions in their own time.
I don't understand how I can be a conspiracy theorist sensationalist when I pulled all of those "steps" from things we've seen, read or heard actually happen to artists within the past 3 years alone? It's not like I started talking about worshiping and sacrificing and all that other goofy shyt. The compounding of all those aspects into one "character's" story might read sensationalist, but that's how you gotta wake people up, you have to jar people. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who didn't specifically know how the industry moved, so I feel like the piece served it's purpose. But anyways. I knew the opposition would show up if this thread did numbers so this is my explanation for the article. I really don't care to get into long drawn out debates, this was my reasoning, agree or disagree.
If their artist is influencing the youth in a negative way they'll just say that the parents in the community should do a better job raising their children ( which is a valid point 
)
