DETROIT GETS “RADIO-ACTIVE” AGAINST DESTRUCTIVE MUSIC PROGRAMMING

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

Feb 23, 2015 

 

RADIO-ACTIVE #icantbelievethatsontheradio 

Press Contacts:

Cornelius Harris

Cornelius@alteregomgt.com

UR/Alter Ego

jessica Care moore  mooreblackpress@gmail.com

Moore Black Press/BWR  

 

RADIO-ACTIVE is a collective of concerned individuals who are sick and tired of the modern day minstrel show that is passed off as the “urban music” industry.  As the name implies, we are primarily concerned with RADIO and we are taking an ACTIVE role in addressing what we feel are serious issues on that front.

 

Our radio stations are killing us.  Not directly, not overtly, but not in secret either.  Metro Detroit has struggled with drugs and violence and the death that comes with both for years. As we enter the second half of the second decade of the 21st century, Detroit seems to be on the verge of a revival, or some might say “renaissance”.  Yet for some reason, some radio stations are content to program music glorifying killing as many men and women as possible and the manufacture and sale of crack and other drugs.  Using simple, easy to remember melodies and lyrics, much like nursery rhymes, the music has a special appeal to young people.  In one song the artist brags of selling cocaine in 5th grade.  So now we have children as young as seven years old singing about how they’re in love with cocaine.  This is not hyperbole or exaggeration (see attached).  In a community as distressed as this one, indeed, in many similar communities across the nation, this type of irresponsible programming is a slap in the face to all the people, individually and via organizations, who have fought, and sometimes died, to slow the tide of drugs and murder.

 

Radio stations, indeed, ANY business that demonstrates that level of disregard for the community it is based in, is rightfully deserving of condemnation.  That includes their corporate owners as well as the labels that put hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing and promoting death to youth.  This is NOT about “free speech”.  Just because an artist makes a song, he or she is not guaranteed airplay.  There are decisions being made about what is and isn’t going to be heard over the airwaves.  There are decisions about where and how a song is promoted.  And there are decisions about how much denigration a community will take before making their voice heard.  So hear this…

 

1)     Songs,  such as, OT Genasis’ “Coco” need to be removed from rotation immediately.

2)     We warn radio stations to be smart.  The canned response of “if you don’t like it, don’t listen” will be met with “if you don’t respect us, get out”.

3)     Your advertisers may be questioned about their association with such negative programming.

4)     You may find your events unwelcome in our community.

5)     Program directors, station managers, corporate owners, and even record labels must understand that they are and will be held accountable to the community they broadcast to because

6)     We are not going anywhere. 

 

This is your opportunity to do right by the people you serve.  But PLEASE do not think that “active” means that we will be satisfied with symbolic gestures with no real change.  The minstrelry MUST end. 

 

We are parents, children, cousins, neighbors.  We are black, white, brown, and any and every other color or race.  We are young, old, and speak on the behalf of those too young or old to comprehend the situation at hand.  We are from Detroit, Dearborn, Rochester, Ann Arbor and beyond.  We are from Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, St Louis, Houston and further.  We are artists, janitors, doctors, lawyers, factory workers, and more.  We have fought not only for the betterment of our cities, our schools, our neighborhoods, but for our very future.  For the youth who are being force fed music that promises a future of death or prison.  For the parents who live in fear of having to bury their children or grandchildren.  For the woman or man who has managed to get free from the cycle of crime and/or drug abuse but is reminded of it every time they turn on the radio.  We are RADIO-ACTIVE. 

 

ARTIST: OT GENASIS

TITLE: COCO

LABEL: CONGLOMERATE/ATLANTIC

PLAYED ON:

 

CHORUS

I'm in love with the coco

I'm in love with the coco


I got it for the low, low


I'm in love with the coco

I'm in love with the coco


I'm in love with the coco


I got it for the low, low


I'm in love with the coco

 

Hit my plug, that's my cholo (mi amigo)


'Cause he got it for the low, low


If you snitchin' I go loco (go crazy)


Hit you with that treinta ocho


Niggas thinkin' that I'm solo


50 deep, they're like, "oh, no"


Heard the feds takin' photos


I know nothin', fuck the popo

Bakin' soda, I got bakin' soda


Bakin' soda, I got bakin' soda


Whip it through the glass, nigga


I'm blowin' money fast, nigga

 

CHORUS

 

36, that's a kilo (aqui)


Need a brick, miss my free throw


I'm in love, just like Ne-Yo


Bustin' shots, now he Neo


Free my homies, fuck the C.O (puto)


Fuck the judge, fuck my P.O (puto)


All this coke, like I'm Nino


Water whip, like I'm Nemo

Bakin' soda, I got bakin' soda


Bakin' soda, I got bakin' soda


Whip it through the glass, nigga


I'm blowin' money fast, nigga