OPEN LETTER TO LEE O’DENAT AND WORLDSTAR HIP-HOP for FAKING HIP-HOP CULTURE
OPEN LETTER TO LEE O’DENAT AND WORLDSTAR HIP-HOP
To: Lee 'Q' O'Denat
From: Quadeer “M.C. Spice” Shakur, Universal Zulu Nation
Date: February 12, 2013
RE: FALSE ADVERISEMENT AND MISLEADING INFORMATION ABOUT HIP-HOP CULTURE
Mr. O’Denat,
On behalf of the thousands of members of the Universal Zulu Nation, of which I am Minister Of Information, I write you this letter in peace and hope these words find you in the best of health and spirits. Brother, we at UZN have the utmost respect and love for all who choose to take our Culture to new heights, and we thank you for your part in creating new media that preserves our culture. It is with great sadness that we bring to your attention the obvious ills of your site, WorldStarHipHop.com. Mister O’Denat, you are well aware, or should be well aware that many are viewing your site’s content as very graphic and extremely violent. Before you brush this off as just another person’s opinion of your site and the content you publish, please do not get it confused. This is not the case.
As I mentioned earlier, Mr. O’Denat, I am a representative of the Universal Zulu Nation, and we take our Culture quite serious. You are a Black man who has accomplished quite a lot without a formal education, and I’m quite sure when you dropped out of New York’s Grover Cleveland High School, you would never have imagined that you’d be as successful with your company, World Star, LLC. Doesn’t it bother you just a little that another Black man (that man being yourself), has “made it” out of the “ghetto”, only to display unnerving images and videos of young adults berating, belittling, and beating each other solely for the purpose of the enjoyment of who you are led to believe are “millions of Hip-Hoppers?”
Mr. O’Denat, the followers of your site are impressionable young men and women who “follow” you for a reason. As salacious as you may want your site to be, our youth are looking for answers and solutions to the many problems that plague our communities. The young people use your site as an outlet to escape the world they are living in, only to find that you place them right back at the starting point. Brother, you are well aware, or should be aware of the way Haitians are treated all over the world, including their own country. After all, Mr. O’Denat, you are Haitian, and you have even labeled yourself as a “Haitian Ghetto Nerd”, to gain God knows what kind of accolades. I am not Haitian, but I find it deplorable for a Haitian to associate such a dignified people with the “ghetto”, when Haitians come to this country to escape ghetto life.
Brother, I am sure you heard God speaking to you when the earthquakes in Haiti destroyed so many lives, and many of us di a fair share of work to help those in need. The repair for the damage done physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially will be an ongoing process that will take decades. But one of the brilliant brothers of Haitian decent is instead showering the world with what you call “the CNN of the Ghetto”. Brother, you are sadly mistaken if you would like the world to believe that hype. If you understand journalism 101, news is reported with two sides. Your excerpts of ghetto life, your lack of morality when accepting uploaded material, and your drive to maintain a site for the sole intent to destroy our Culture’s standing in these Americas is both uncouth and unacceptable by all of us at UZN. We are hereby separating ourselves and our followers from your site and what it supposedly stands for.
Brother, if you were in fact the “CNN of the ghetto”, then you, as a former resident of Queens, NY should already know who Zulu is and what real Hip-Hop Culture is. Mr. O’Denat, there are many real Hip-Hoppers from Queens who laid the brick in the wall that you are trying to tear down. You should already know about Run-DMC, Larry Smith, Salt-N-Pepa, Nas, MC Shan, LL Cool J and the founders of FUBU Clothing, to name a new. These men and women purposed to create a platform of expression for our Culture, and through the years, they have maintained and preserved that Culture. Mr. O’Denat, you are a Haitian, so you should know how serious Haitians are about their Culture. We are just as serious.
This is a new year, and the Universal Zulu Nation has begun a movement against anyone who is against us. Mr. O’Denat, either you are for Hip-Hop Culture, or you are not. There is no in-between, and no matter how many people have hyped you to believe that WorldStarHipHop is anything close to what this Culture is, they told you a lie. Mr. O’Denat, Hip-Hop Culture is FOUNDED on four spiritual principles. In case you haven’t already been schooled on what those principles are, they are: Peace, Unity, Love and Havin’ Fun. Mr. O’Denat, I pray that you do become a “CNN of the ghetto”, and that you someday get a camera and go to the ghetto yourself to record both sides of our neighborhoods. We still do have neighborhoods, brother.
Mr. O’Denat, can you imagine how much more hits WorldStarHipHop would have if you were intuitive enough to record rising Black political stars and activists, and some of the issues they discuss when trying to fix our problems nationwide? Or videos of Black political superstars like Barack and Michelle Obama. I would have loved to see the behind-the-scenes footage of the President at home with the wife and kids – on your website. I invite you to meet me in The Bronx, Boston, Virginia, The Carolinas, Chicago, DC, Maryland, Detroit, or any place that you feel more comfortable, so we may discuss the realities of “the ghetto” and how you can be better involved.
Mr. O’Denat, in closing I am asking you to remove the footage of the young man being forced to strip naked outside while people look on and another young man beats him with a belt while the camera man pours water on his fully naked body.
This is not the first time you have posted content that has been of this nature, and from the looks of it, this is probably Child Pornography. Therefore, I will forward the link and the video to the proper authorities to be sure that these young people are in fact of age and in full consent of being on your site in such a demeaning fashion. I'm unsure if this will bring about any charges, as there is a huge rumor on the streets that you are in fact working for the feds and are using your site as a cover up. But who knows? Mr. O’Denat, I again ask that you look into the fact that you and your site have misused our Culture’s name, committed fraud and falsely advertised your site as “Hip-Hop”. You have forced the hand of the Universal Zulu Nation to take further action should you continue to promote your “CNN of the ghetto” as “Hip-Hop”, and we are asking with all due respect that you include a disclaimer at the bottom of the front page of your website concerning your company and Hip-Hop Culture. A great footnote on your site should be:
“World Star Hip-Hop is in no way affiliated with real Hip-Hop Culture or its’ founders or the Universal Zulu Nation. This site solely for entertainment purposes, and does not promote Hip-Hop Culture”
Mr. O’Denat, you are free to use the above language, or you may use any language you see fit that parallels the language above. Please contact me at your earliest convenience, should you have any questions or concerns. I can be reached at quadeershakurmedia@gmail.com or 617-297-7423.
Respectfully,
Quadeer “M.C. Spice” Shakur
Minister of Information
Universal Zulu Nation
Who we REALLY are... what we REALLY respresent
Who we REALLY are... what we REALLY respresent
This is horrible, turned my stomach.
ReplyDeleteHoly s..t!! -- I am a member of UNIVERSAL ZULU NATION from Germany, and I am white. How can anyone do that, post it or give his company logo for s..t like that?!? Alright, it's 2013, and we all understand the world becoming one big s..thole, because of dogs promoting crap like that. Man, I don't care where you from or who you are or why and what you have accomplished, but anyone promoting this ain't a bit better than these beating AND filming n...as! Shame on you!! If it was for driving some attention, congrats you did it, and now go to hell!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the UK and this shit has got nothing to do with Hip Hop culture!!! Just some nasty boys bullying some one weaker. Send them to da Pen do they get beat on!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you, sir!
ReplyDeletePeace Ahki! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteMr. Halford... no doubt. Each One Teach One
ReplyDeleteWorldStar should have changed its name to WorldStar Internet Videos from tiiiiime. Attaching the name "hip-hop" to that minstrel show/Jerry Springer trash debases a culture in which I have grown, matured, and still take as seriously as any other cultural adherent takes their culture. In fact, my sense of belonging and attachment runs deeper than most; devoid of any religious underpinning, I would say I take it as seriously as my Canadian citizenship. I wholeheartedly co-sign, Quadeer. Bun a WorldStar.
ReplyDeleteit's crazy I m about to legal actions against this horrific website. Not only they have nothing to do with hip hop community but they post videos invading people s privacy. the government needs to take legal actions from this foward. From even the girls on the 6 train, the fucked up videos of the girls that ruin their reputation, they haven't done anything. about this, I m tired of this low class indudtrindustry violating people's rights. one day someon is going to kill themselves or maybe worst.
ReplyDeletePeace King, I can Truly apreciate your words,and I agree with you totally!! What worldstar NOT hip-hop creates is a forum for people to be bullied, made fun of , made to appear exactly the way NEGATIVE people already Percieve us to be uneducated and without conscience ! Thank you my brother for your Heart to stand up for what we believe. Zulu Love!
ReplyDeleteQueen Rhonda.
Word! Good example to follow, We need this in our lives. peace!!!
ReplyDeleteThey're not the CNN of the ghetto, they're the Fox News of the ghetto.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this and making it public.
Thank you for showing the social responsibility of Hip Hop, the power and influence it wields.
Not only is it detrimental for young black kids to look up to that site, it's dangerous for young white (or any color mixed with privilege) kids to look at these examples of hype-hop as expressions of a culture they are fascinated by but could never fully understand.
As a white fan of hip hop, and high school teacher I have conversations with my kids about the culture and the differences between 2Pac and B.I.G compared to Ross and Lil Wayne; the difference between reporting and glorifying.
Thank you.
Blacks already calling one another "nigga" & sistas refer to each other & themselves as "bitch" & "hoe", i.e "I'm a good hoe" etc. WSHH perpetuates the negative stereotype & strives to continue creating a wedge in the black community just like COINTELPRO dictated. It's still going strong & people like O'Denat is yet another puppet. What a betrayal. How vile can one get.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have Q's email? his personal or wshh email? I need to contact him directly.
ReplyDeleteMr. Shakur and the Universal Zulu Nation,
ReplyDeleteI truly thank you for this letter, It has long been my opinion that O'Denat and anyone else making decisions for WorldStar are driving purely by profits. This is something we have all come to expect from much of corporate America, but so often the victims of profit grabbing like this are often the "Ghettos" that O'Denat claims to represent. I personally think that Lee 'Q' O'Denat shares blame for the negative and violent attitude that too many young people have come to accept as "cool". His site blatantly promotes a callous, violent, and uncaring attitude to any impressionable person viewing his content. It is time that WorldStar either filter it's content to more acceptable videos or that they shut the site down entirely, WorldStar has become a threat to our young people and therefor our future.
As you have stated Hip Hop is not about violence and despite what many people ignorant to Hip Hop culture may think or say, Hip Hop is purely a platform for expression. The founders and many artists that have come after them have used Hip Hop for this purpose in a truly constructive and healthy way, it saddens me greatly to see what so many people are trying to do to a great form of art and expression. On that point, I will not accept a person degrading our art, while also hiding behind it. Please Lee 'Q' O'Denat remove yourself from any association with Hip Hop, you do not represent it and it does not represent you.
Mr. Shakur I support your message completely and I will continuing my boycott of WorldStar Inc. If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to reply to this message, I will periodically come back and check these comments.
With much respect,
Joseph, a fellow guardian of art, expression, and peace