Open Letter to Clear Channel: STOP Underdeveloping Hip-Hop Culture

A LOT of people are unaware of Clear Channel's influence on the worldwide attack on TRUE Hip-Hop Culture, and how Clear Channel strategically placed some so-called "Hip-Hoppers" in place to program their Black radio stations. No disrespect against a certain Doc Wynters, KJ Holiday, and a bevy of so-called "Hip-Hop and R&B" programmers who played along with the bigwigs at the largest radio conglomerate in the world to not only keep their jobs as :yes-mens", but also to play poster boy to what Clear Channel WANTS to call "Hip-Hop".

FIRST of all, Hip-Hop MUST be DEFINED here. Hip-Hop is a CULTURE. This is something Doc Wynters knows or SHOULD have known as a so-called Creative Director for Clear Channel. This is something K.J. Holiday in Detroit knows or SHOULD have known as Program Director for a Clear Channel station there. If ALL of the programmers put in place at ALL of the Clear Channel radio stations KNOW what Hip-Hop is, then they should make sure their radio stations REPRESENT the ESSENCE of the CULTURE. For instance, there is NO such thing as ANY Clear Channel station being: "Number One for Hip-Hop and R&B Music". I don't care HOW many listeners you have, or HOW many numbers you have. I don't care if your ratings is number one every ratings period because of a few misguided listeners. You could NEVER be "Number One for Hip-Hop" unless you CONTRIBUTE to the CULTURE of Hip-Hop.

ONE way to contribute to the culture is to recognize the pioneers of this culture. Form an educational show on your station to teach the listeners about the FOUR spiritual PRINCIPLES of Hip-Hop Culture: Peace, Unity, Love and Havin' Fun!. THEN, get involved in the community you CLAIM to love. Not by sitting at a table full of free CD's and doing call-ins from one of your many advertisers during your weekend promotions. And not by being at a sweaty nightclub with one of your slave deejays (who HAVE to play the same 11 songs during the day on the radio, and the corniest songs he can FIND at the club at NIGHT). No, the way to contribute to the culture is to be a PART of the MOVEMENT. Get out in the neighborhood and show your face as we fight for the many injustices that plague the Hip-Hop community. The mass incarceration, the gang violence, the mental health illnesses, the domestic violence issues, the joblessness in the Hip-Hop community (by the way, Hip-Hop Culture is comprised of Blacks, Whites, Indigenous peoples, Asians and MORE). Clear Channel, you have lied to America with your slogan "Number One for Hip-Hop". You are barely number one for R&B music, because Brittany Spears and Miley Cyrus ISN'T R&B. You don't even know what the hell R&B IS.

There is a reason Clear Channel is now hiring a lot of people so far out of the demographic they're supposedly relating to and playing to. It's simple: they do NOT WANT TO CONNECT OR STAY CONNECTED. If they DID that, they would HAVE to play the music the people RALLY want to hear. The art of "programming" is to hire a few consultants, have THEM hire a few "researchers" to come back and say: "though we don't live IN or NEAR the people in this community, we SOMEHOW got info from the people saying THIS record will be a VERY STRONG RECORD on your radio station". That's a bunch of bullcrap. You know damned well that the people you're reaching - and I QUOTE a Clear Channel programmer: "Our listeners have the comprehension of between 9-years-old and about 16-years-old". ANYBODY can "program" a few preteens to BELIEVE the song "Bitch This" and "Nigger That" is a HIT if it's played over and over. Hell, I'd sing a song I heard in the damned ELEVATOR if they PLAYED it enough. Besides, if you want to know how preteens are influenced by a bunch of adults who DON'T CARE about them, see: GANG LIFE! Same difference.

Clear Channel, PLEASE remove the words: "Number One for Hip-Hop" from ALL of your radio stations, as it is blasphemous to our Culture and to the Universal Zulu Nation, who FOUNDED this Culture. Yes, you may be Number One in a few cities, but in RATINGS, not FOR OUR CULTURE. You may even be number one for the amount of RAP music you play. In THAT case, ALL Rap music is NOT Hip-Hp music, and ALL Hip-Hop music is NOT RAP music. But ONE thing for sure is: Hip-Hop is NOT a MUSIC... it's a CULTURE. Please stop disrespecting our Culture. If this was Gay Culture, Christian Culture, Muslim Culture, or Jewish Culture, you'd PROBABLY think twice before moving so fast with your campaign at trying to claim and steal our culture. Well, sad news: the founder of Hip-Hop Culture, Afrika Bambaataa is alive and well, and the MILLIONS of Hip-Hoppers worldwide are NOT pleased with being misrepresented by companies such as yours, Cumulus Broadcasting, Ennis Broadcasting, and many more radio stations playing the "Hip-Hop" game. I am NOT counting out the Black-owned Radio One, who is ALSO guilty of misrepresenting Hip-Hop Culture.

America is afraid to hear the truth about our culture, and the voices, emotions and EXPRESSION of the youth through the MUSIC of RAP that our CULTURE created to PROMOTE our spiritual principles. Keep this in mind, Ckear Channel (and ALL radio stations terrestrial and online): Rap is something you DO... Hip-Hop is how you LIVE! Hip-Hop has four SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES: Peace, Unity, Love and Havin' Fun; and FIVE PHYSICAL ELEMENTS: Knowledge, Graffiti, Break-Dancing, Deejaying, and Emceeing. Now that you KNOW this, you would be MORE than a hypocrite to continue with your mission to destroy our culture and our youth with your fraudulent representation of Hip-Hop Culture. Your music sounds like a soundtrack to the violent, bloody streets of Black America. And we totally understand why you would try to make money off of the death of Black youth everywhere. But you WILL be held responsible when violence slowly seeps into the suburbs and takes control of the white youth who also love this Culture and the music that represents it, if you continue to play overly-violent and sexually-charged music to these impressionable people who don't even have the power to vote AGAINST your nonsense. Stop exploiting Hip-Hop Culture.

Give it up, Clear Channel. Come to grips that you are NOT Number One for our Culture. Just as Worldstar is NOT Hip-Hop.

Yours Truly,

Quadeer "M.C. Spice" Shakur
Minister of Information
Universal Zulu Nation