[DMCA-Activists] Message From Chuck D

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from Pho list)

-----Original Message-----
From: "Donna May" <address@hidden>
Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 12:39:21 -0500
Subject: pho: Fwd: (OT?) A MESSAGE FROM CHUCK D

For the Chuck D supporters...

Ayana Soyini, a music promoter (www.goldeneyes.com), was served with a 
lawsuit for posting  an MP3 of a new Jay-Z song apparently given to her
by 
Universal to promote to her constituency... Def Jam then sued, her
website 
was shut down...  Chuck D wrote a response which she posted to her 
website... slightly inflammatory...

Chuck D, one of her supporters, wrote this in response.

>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Ayana Soyini
>To: address@hidden
>Subject: A MESSAGE FROM CHUCK D
>
>
>This email was sent to me by one of my all time favorite voices in
music 
>CHUCK D!!! Read his thoughts on record comapnies, digital
distribution, 
>downloading etc...
***********************************
Peace Ayana
Chuck D from the mountains of Brazil where real black folk answer the
greed 
of the rich Haves

Really they (Lyor, Russel) need to get a life.. and see the big 
picture...and think outside the box they are in

So these cats get the say so on what is and what is not promotion?

Do we wait for the big white man to finally say its legit and cool just
as 
they finally accepted mixtapes...which to me are no different?

Again when these companies went digital some knew exactly what they
were 
dealing with in order to triple charge the consumer. With digital comes
liquid risk, and these gestapo tactics are stupid as immediately files
are 
in singapore,new zealand, china, budapest and east st louis...what the
fk is 
one american company gonna do here when increasingly american opinion
is 
becoming a smaller part of the world.

Earlier this year there was a television commercial with a backing of
what 
was obviously an older Isley Brothers song. I fiended to find this
song, and 
it happened to be 'I Turned You On' which i bought in the stores in
both 
catalog and Live at Yankee Stadium albums. Ive played it 1000 times. So
much 
for people saying downloading hurts, which proves that people will
continue 
to support and buy was great not just barely adequate.'

Def Jam built its company of sampling and swapmeet trade to get people 
alerted on rap music, all so Russell and Lyor could sell it to
Universal for 
$160 million

They press up 5000-10,000 pieces of vinyl on most rap artists shipping
them 
to DJs in hopes that they would play it over some radio....how
prehistoric 
and $$$ wasting is this?

Video clips cost $300,000-600,000 avg, with no residual benefit other
than 
promotional, plus the fact that 85% of outake footage is a waste, never
used 
again and no one seems to know where theyre ultimately stored.

A Jay Z promo record is not as accessible in places like where im at
now Rio 
DE Janerio Brazil..the web promotes that beyond a shipment...

Some white business cat(s) now navigates how word moves in the streets,
well 
maybe the streets was his in the first place, eh?

I was told by these same universal legal cats , i wouldn't see
royalties 
ever..after 10 million records..because of legalities//..well aint this
a 
...cool i said and began to tear the whole ***** down..they know my
name and 
i know theirs and the truth is they dont give a damn about any of
this...its 
a control issue of the format.

Universal bought MCA which bought Chess amongst many other
companies....how 
many blues/ soul cats see Universal checks?

They shouldnt even dare go after you...as youv'e been trying to help in
a 
progressive forward manner..only simple minds stay stuck in old rules
that 
no longer apply.


so its war with me
i deal with 50 countries...and connected into peeps like the world Zulu
Nation
increasingly

Universals Slavepimp Doug Morris sicced LL and Lyor on me in DC last 
month...heres what i had to say about that
>A Family letter to Lyor and LL The p2p file sharing Senate hearings in
>Washington DC September 30th 2003
>
>S(well i don't really know what good to say. I think Doug Morris has
pimped 
>your brains out or something. The R.I.A.A looked and called Morris who
>probably rang your bell thus you and LL a proceeded to do a tapdance
in 
>front of the US Senate with your strings in his back and with Doug
Morris¹s 
>strings in yours and the R.I.A.A in his. Thinking that it would
neutralize 
>the grassroot effort of all this.
>
>I didnt get into this digital whirl for fanfare ...you know me i never
>sucked no ass to get to a place...its about the art, integrity and 
>committment as well into the connection to the world because i refuse
to be 
>submissive to the corporate dominance and collusion of the Radio
networks, 
>tv outlets and film, record and media companies that now feel they own
and 
>dictate the culture... This collusion has stifled the growth of
grassroot 
>business who can¹t afford to build themselves without some drug dealer
>backing.
>
>Seriously you guys have separated yourselves into the same aristocracy
we 
>rebelled against in the first place. Being that i spend half my time 
>outside amerikkka and you have such international ties abroad, we
should 
>know that stuffing your pockets and altering a domestic law in the
U.S. has 
>little bearing on world thought even in music.
>
>the masses of the people are important and somehow using mass media to
>control their thoughts is becoming a more expensive task with
dwindling 
>result. The public opinion swayed by propaganda, marketing, and
promotion 
>will not make the masses sorry for perceived millionaires..
>
>its arrogance.. typical amerikkkan arrogance that increasingly
becoming a 
>symbol of world angst and anti-opinion. The haves over the have-nots 
>..although it may not be true it seems that you're responsible for
keeping 
>the artists of your company dumb or seemingly dumb to reach the dumbed
down 
>masses to buy dumbed down product. At the end of the day the black
artists 
>remain childlike under your wings with no world opinion
whatsoever,pending 
>the existance on soundscam and units sold while people still look to
'white 
>icons like Bono, Paul McCartney, Madonna and even Governator for the 
>statements on where we really stand.
>
>
>Its hypocritical for LL to say what¹s stolen from him and goes around
the 
>earth when 75% of his and most of our catalog was also taken from
musicians 
>who never controlled their copyrights..
>
>LL is family as well as you musically speaking but really your calling
>misses the points of origin that allowed us to do this in the first 
>place...
>
>some points..
>
>im aware to realize that my copyrights were never really mine and were
>unprotected anyway to the point of Universal lawyers saying i'd never 
>receive a royalty from them again...
>
>well aint this the blues all over again
>
>1. if i knew that LL or any rapper was on some government hearing
opposing 
>my view , i would've bowed out regardless because all they would do is
play 
>up two dueling blackmen against each other..like they did. The the
last 
>thing i expected was that you and he would be positioned against me.
Or 
>maybe i should've expected it....yeah.
>
>2. Def Jam and other 80s started rap labels were built off swapmeet
and 
>mixtaping thruout the years, sampling and unauthorized use which made
$$$$ 
>for you to sell the company in the mass millions..and now you wanna
get 
>righteous?
>
>3. isnt Russell a board member of Altnet?...how many sides of the
fence do 
>you guys play...oh, the one that lands in the biggest pile of cash..?
>
>4. the companies knew that the second they digitized music into a cd
that 
>it was let out of the bag unprotected and easily transferrable it was
a 
>matter of time a compression such as mp3 would roll along...we've all 
>profited off that technology and now you wanna say its evil?.
>
>i was'nt angry ..but really it was some *****-shit as I looked across
at 
>some rich cats i knew crying trying to make the hearings into a
hollywood 
>raP mediafest...but in both film and music use the medium of these 
>industries tend to brag about how much they have to the same people
they 
>look to sell to. I guess its the amerikkkan way...
>
>but the world is not a Yankee baseball game...
>
>it aint bitterness but its clarity i thought that making music was a
>
>great way to make a living
>
>thank you
>
>but aligning yourselves with the same peeps we fought against has
altered 
>this game into
>
>The Greed That Has To Make A Killing
>
>so i can survive..but others must have a grassroot of a chanceS(since
most 
>are shut out from the club of the music businessS(
>
>these conglomerates have really have you in the wrong place on the
right 
>stuff you built and sold your thing on..
>

if you have any threats from universal, or anyone send them to me
they should be screaming on their nations president spending 87.5
billion 
dollars of their $$$
instead worrying about some damn record....
IM VERY ACCESSIBLE
AND WAITING
and can get my e-mail in a country of 80 million black people who are 
puzzled at the backwardness of american blacks dancin the 'electric
slave'

& ill be back there soon like castro and sht

address@hidden


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