Scion Scensorship
Hotsauce84
8,450 Posts
From HoustonSoReal.com:TEXAS, August 24, 2005. Austin based rapper Bavu Blakes was pleasantly surprised yesterday (Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005) when he got the call from Jay Cortez of Inform Ventures, LLC (info below) announcing that he had been selected from a pool of over 2,000 submissions as a Top Ten Finalist in the Scion: Nextup contest.According to Allhiphop.com, the ???Scion: Nextup contest is holding it's second annual emcee contest which gives unsigned emcees the chance to win a $50,000 marketing deal from Scion. Judges, DJ Premier, Green Lantern and Sean Cane will filter through the applicants to find the ten best. The online contest will then feature the top 10 underground artists original songs on the Scion: Nextup site for visitors to vote on. The emcee(s) with the highest number of votes will win. Prizes include $5000 in cash, the opportunity to perform at Scion events and a fully-produced music video for their winning song.???Bavu Blakes received an affidavit stating that he was in the Top Ten ??? chosen by DJ Premier, Green Lantern and Sean Cane, and that voting would commence, online, Monday August 29th on the website www.scionnextup.com. Today, he received a call, again from Jay Cortez, stating that he had been removed from the contest because of the political lyrics in his song ???Black Gold.??? The lyrics in question are:1. "Now Bush and bin Laden got so much they rotten" 2. "Texas home of the real death row" 3. "What'd we really go to Iraq fo?"In reference to line #2, Bavu Blakes was asked if he was referring to the Los Angeles based company Death Row Records. While we understand that any corporate entity has the right to include whoever it wants in their promotions and marketing strategies, we find it quite funny that a company so hell bent on using hip-hop to promote it???s products would have the audacity to censor an artist. Inform Ventures, the company working with Scion on this promotion has an interesting mission statement on it???s website www.inform-ventures.com:???Our environment is in transition. Information outlets have increased, forming a new infrastructure for the next generation. We create messages compatible with this new infrastructure then disseminate that message through our media and promotions network.???And they censor the words of the people who they are presumably trying to reach. Scion as a company has garnered a lot of praise and has also taken a lot of heat over the past couple of years for their co-opting of hip-hop music and culture to sell their cars. Does this action prove the nay sayers right? Find out for yourself. We feel as though Scion and Inform Ventures need to be taken to task for their decision. If they are so down with the streets and hip-hop culture then why are they trying to censor one of it???s strongest voices? Chuck D once said that hip-hop is the CNN of the streets. If Scion and Inform Ventures can???t handle that, maybe they should just leave it alone. We???d love to talk with you about this situation. Please feel free to call or email myself, Matt Sonzala at any time. Contact information for Bavu Blakes and Jay Cortez also follows.Matt Sonzala, Pushermania PromotionsEmail: matt at damagecontrolradio.orgBavu BlakesEmail: word at bavublakes.comJay CortezInform Ventures, LLC3361 Glendale Blvd., Suite 1Los Angeles, CA 90039Direct: 323.906.0728Fax: 323.906.0725Email: jay at inform-ventures.com
Comments
Bad for business.
EXACTLY
These motherfuckers like rap when it suits their business.
I dont like the whole college hip hop marketing shit. It would also seem like marketing suicide to their core audience to support some kind of conservative republican stance on the war.
...They're probably just scared of Suge Knight.
took them like 6 months to reimburse me. every week their "accounting dept was gone til next week". then when they finally did it was $90 short but i didn't want to go through the hassle again.
not to mention the fact that (from my understanding) they're putting local hip hop promoters in the ground.
please to speak on this...
before I left stl, scion and kool cigarettes were throwing the only dope hip-hop shows in town. otherwise tours just skipped us.
what i've been told is that by throwing tonnes of money around, local promoters can't even compete.
This is the most exploitative kind of bullshit. Bavu for President, fuck a
naw dog. actually they're doing the opposite. they've tossed hundreds of dollars (per show) to promotor homies all the time. I know a couple of deejays have benefited from them as well.
Both parties know exactly whats going on and who benefits from what.
P.S.
Bavu Blakes is fucking dope. Does he have any vinyl out?
I think he only has CDs.
http://www.bavublakes.com/
http://www.w4wmusic.com/store/
iirc dude turned up on a k-otix or a headcrak 12" about three years ago.
but I could be entirely wrong.
vinyl
[dropping sept 2005]
11.hydroponic soundsystem
choice cuts vol 2
+ 50k, live from b-boy city
swedish brandy (hydro "mixtape mentality" album coming
soon)
10.bavu blakes
nobody leavin
+ who knows, play the role liquid soul, play the role
statewide
nataural high
__
[summer 05]
9. deloach
labor of luv feat. bavu blakes, fetus
+ s1 remix, oneself remix
counterflow
8.symbolyc one & illmind
art of one mind (2x vinyl – UK only)
+ we three kings
bbe
7.hydroponic sound system
choice cuts vol 1
+ play the role (bzzz mix), distractions ft. myone/sfp
swedish brandy
__
[04]
6.strange fruit project
eternally yours
+ remember the face
black son
5.hydro
hydro soundclash
+ play the role (bzzz mix)
alternate take
4.hydro
delrium/disconnect 7"
alternate take
__
[02]
3.hydro
synthesis ep
+ play the role (orig)
bomb hip hop
__
[01]
2.nicknack
re:construction
+ real life
crowd control
__
[00]
1.soundscape
listeners
+ die in your sleep, truth ft. poetree
crowd control
yaddameans?
Bomb Hip-Hop put out some cd he did and it was dope. I think it was about 3 years ago. I'll check that Strange Fruit joint with Bavu, I've liked what I've heard those dudes do.