Monthly Archives: September 2006

Raping Def Jam Till He’s The 100 Million Man

Twice within the last few months I’ve been watching Rap City and seen a few videos that were clearly out of place:

Troy Ave. “Rep It With My Heart/BK, BK” (2006) (video)
Kinfolk “In The South” (2006) (video)

BET is not exactly a friend to independent artists trying to get their videos played, yet here they were, completely unknown names with no radio play and videos attributed only to “Voicez Music Group”.

Now, this obvious aroused my suspicions: How the hell can these videos get on regular rotation in the daytime? Did somebody show up at the Basement with a piñata full of coke?

Sidenote:
Do you know how many videos there are on Rap City?

Seven.

Yep. Only 7 videos get played on the only nationwide all-rap show left on TV. Think about all your favorite rappers who are bricking. I never seen their video…Why didn’t it get played?

Anyway, I do a bit of research on these artists, only to find out that they are both supposedly now signed to Def Jam. In fact, Def Jam has signed a label deal with the “Voicez Music Group“. Even if they do have a deal, this doesn’t really answer the question of why these artists are on BET. They’re not on Def Jam’s release schedule, they aren’t even mentioned on Def Jam’s website! Didn’t Def Jam just drop a Method Man album without even giving him a video?

Anyway, after some more “research” (yes, google), I come to find out that Voicez Music Group was started by former boxing promoter Butch Lewis, who also happens to have produced LL Cool J’s shitty big screen debut. So, it’s not like he’s exactly proven himself in the entertainment business as of late. And these artists aren’t the worst (I like Troy ave okay, but Kinfolk are some really bizarre pseudo-thug snap rappers from South Carolina) but they don’t warrant precious airplay on BET.

Then it turns out that Butch Lewis’ daughter, Sita Lewis, the new Senior VP of Voicez Music Group, also happens to be the senior producer for BET. She used to be the one who recruited groups to perform on fucking Teen Summit! In fact, Butch has executive produced numerous shows for BET himself. Obviously, not a coincidence.

Way to speed up the rate of consolidation! Indie artists take note: All you need to do to get video play is sign to BET Entertainment.

If I were Lyor, I’d one-up Def Jam: why not just give Philippe Dauman his own label? Just order up a couple icey Viacom chains from Jacob. Then not only could you get free airplay on BET, VH1, MTV and Nickelodeon (yep!), but he could probably work something out where Lupe Fiasco could be the soundtrack to the 10 o’clock news on all CBS affiliates. You could get Plies his own wacky teen comedy on Paramount Pictures!

Just something to think about.