Journalism or Jiving?
Many of us have seen the Hot97/Kodak black interaction by now. Ebro saw it fit to address recent legal troubles Kodak has experienced and stated that he wanted to debrief after the resolution of said cases. Kodak reacted by saying well, I’m not here for that bruh. Most of the interview felt weird energy wise. The interview ended when Kodak said you mofos don’t care, you are entertained by my struggle and I don’t wanna speak on it. Change topics or I’m out. Ebro quickly dismissed him and the interview ended. What went wrong? A few things.
1) Misguided views of journalism
In my opinion ppl think a press pass means they have a right to ask questions “in search of the truth.” That may have been true in the 80s/90s when print and radio were the media. These days celebs are much more conscious of their public perception and don’t like answering tough questions. Part of the reason I gather, is that shock jocks put celebs in awkward positions with weird titles on videos for the sake of clicks. Celebs, specifically rappers, are more hip to that than ever (reference Meek on Breakfast Club). I don’t think anyone has to answer anything just because. Fck the truth, no such thing in most cases. We just need better content. Period.
2) Celebs don’t need these platforms
Focusing again on rappers, many labels force rappers to do the traditional promo tours and answer the same questions 15 times or more a day. This isn’t new, but when platforms aren’t playing your record or are only negative towards you, it’s harder to be open to answering those questions. Artists say this all the time, ninjas don’t play your record or even review your album, but want to ask how your ex ass taste. Smh.
3) Us vs them = Ageism
The generation gap and emergence of mumble rap has created psuedo hate, I mean gate keepers who feel that they should filter out one and done rappers. They often get it wrong, but I love the premise of content control. I don’t think any and all should be on, half these rappers suck. We need that filtration system, but the new generations aren’t always trained or built for the media. If you understand that, you would meet folks where they are. Ppl smell arrogance and shy away from it. If I survived hell, why would I respect you media bozos? Just because you’re in position? Just because you’re twice my age?
4) Bad Intent
How many times have ppl been asked questions in interviews and wound up indicted? Lost money for being too honest? How many platforms ask a thousand jail/prison questions? I think some platforms say they don’t care about artists feelings, but I think that extends to their lives too. You can lose a check and be told you shouldn’t have answered that question. You can’t win. We all know of situations where celebs lost business ventures because they answered questions too honestly. My question again, why ask questions that you know could be misinterpreted? Where do we hold the line and actually try to provide a platform instead of a viral moment?
Moral of the story: skip the press run, if you don’t need it why do it? Folks will do anything to justify the fuckery and will ruin your life or jeopardize your freedom for their clicks. Choose you in all circumstances. The media needs artists/celebs/rappers way more than they need them.
culture, hot97, kodakblack, music, power1051
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I agree that artists should skip the press tour if they don’t need it. Press will always want info nobody else has and will ask questions that they think will elicit that. But artist development is also crucial because being sufficiently media trained will help an artist to answer the toughest questions ways that benefit them.