Jessie Maguire and Cool & Dre talk further about their creative direction, the power of new media, and their role in providing relevant non-entertainment news to fans and followers.
“I’m engaged and there are so many things that I feel effect the community and our people that I feel as though I can break it down them in a way that they can understand, ya know. They might not be able to understand a Chris Matthews or Rachel Maddow, but I can kick it to them in a way to where it makes sense to them.”
While I applaud Cool & Dre’s attempt to discuss something besides their own musical projects, insulting the intelligence and critical thinking skills of your fans and followers is probably not the best way to explain an approach to social media. Add in the fact that Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews may not be ideal sources for accurate, balanced, and reliable news and analysis, and it further drives home the point that entertainers should stick to entertaining.
i’m with you on that. im not personally into their music, but i will say that they are good at what they do. they’re good at making music. they’re not teachers or journalists and (most) people can think for themselves. not to mention the fact that, as you pointed out, those specific personalities (or any talking head for that matter) are not the most reliable sources of info. quick example… maddow has been known to get the facts mixed up on occasion and confidently present her misinformation as fact (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZkvNKy0tww). we do not need artists to dumb down the world and tell us whats happening, especially when they’re getting their info from questionable sources… this isn’t a game of telephone…
ALL INDUSTRY PEOPLE ARE ASSHOLES ANYWAY.THEY SELL YOU A DREAM AND WANT YOU TO KISS THIER ASS AT THE SAME TIME. AND CAN LIE THIER ASS OFF.AND PEOPLE WHO AREN’T EVEN IN THE GAME THAT ARE ARTISTS FOR PRODUCERS OR PRODUCERS FOR ARTISTS HATE TOO.JUST MAKE MUSIC AND ENCOURAGE EVERYONE THEN WE CAN ALL GET A PIECE OF THE ACTION.YOU DON’T HAFTO BE THE MOST TALENTED PERSON IN THE WORLD TO BE PLAYED ON THE RADIO ANYWAY.MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT OPINIONS YOUR OPINION IS NO BETTER THAN MINE OR ANYONE EALSES.AW FUCK IT WHO CARES WHAT TONY TRAXX HAS TO SAY.
Personally I think the way an artist feels will guide their music. If you like music that uses auto tune, You have no soul. there are not enough Chuck D’s and KRS-1s anyway. HipHop is so bogged down with ignorant ramblings of people with mics in their had walkng back and forth on the stage talking about how big their chain is, or how bad thier bitch is.. SO WHAT!
Stupid songs come out that boast Obama being president without realizing that he is the same as the last president!
Real Hip Hop heads voted for Cynthia McKinney!
Kick Some knowledge. I grew up with Brand Nubian, Poor righteous Teachers, and Public Enemy. Nobody says anything that carries any weight. At the same time no one tell kids about Independant journalism… Democracynow.org, Alternative radio, or Grit Tv.org.
The industry likes it when you stay dumb.
At least they are saying something with substance. Instead talking about being swill. Hip Hop aint dead, that is!
I wouldnt go as far as saying this president is like the last one.are you crazy !!!!!!!!! I MEAN FOR REAL ARE YOU CRAZY ? you sound like the mad cow morning show 90 minutes of racism. for one this president is of color or is that to obvious for you # 2 people spread fear and lies to make President Obama look bad.When former President Bush wanted something done it got done good or bad.They know how to intimidate people . They are experts at it . They been doing that for hundreds of years.
You know I’m a big fan of Cool and Dre. They have been one of my favorite producers for the past couple of years. I love how they put samples and synths together on the same track.
I also liked the way Dre carried himself. He doesn’t seem arrogant like many famous producers. He is a class act. Especially, with the whole Milian thing, he was very classy and acted like a gentlemen.
However, I have Dre on Twitter and some of his political comments are outlandish and outrageous. The way he pigeonholes and stereotypes conservatives and conservative thinking is so narrow-minded and self righteous. From what I’ve seen, he supports Obama unconditionally. I don’t mind when someone like Will I Am does a song for Obama and gives him support in certain situations. However, having 30 tweets a day dissing Republicans and backing everything Obama says is too much. I know, every man is entitled to his own opinion. However, from what I can tell he has a very cursory knowledge of politics and seems to have been getting his news straight from MSNBC. Unfortunately, if he didn’t know the color of my skin, he would probably call me a racist. On second thought, if he did he would probably call me an Uncle Tom.
To use his celebrity and spew what is mostly gibberish with venomous attacks at some people’s beliefs doesn’t sit well for me. Like the author of the article said, keep celebrities out of politics. Unlike him I will try to keep the politics separate from music, I will still try to enjoy his music without having the image of a self righteous celebrity forcing his views of politics on his fans, but it will be hard.
Wholeheartedly agreed. Politics is much more nuanced than most people understand or are willing to admit. Supporting your preferred candidate during an election is one thing, but unless you’re a staffer or other member of “the team”, totally supporting any one politician or party platform all of the time simply demonstrates a lack of understanding regarding issues, policy, and events.
I CAMPAIGNED FOR THIS *****. yOU CAN’T TELL ME ANYTHING!
yOU NAME ONE THING THAT HE HAS DONE, TO KEEP HIS PROMISE. mEANWHILE STUDY THIS LIST OF THINGS HE HASN’T DONE.
• “Close Guantanamo Bay – Not Done.” We’ve rated Obama’s promise No. 177 Close the Guantanamo Detention Center as Stalled. Congress has been reluctant to fund the closure and press reports have indicated progress is not proceeding as the White House had hoped. Still, Obama gave himself a year to get this done, and that’s not until January 2010.
• “Out of Iraq – Not Done.” Actually, Obama did not promise to have troops out during his first year; he promised to remove them in approximately 16 months. We rated Obama’s promise No. 125, Direct military leaders to end the war in Iraq, as Promise Kept and his promise No. 126, Begin removing combat troops from Iraq, as In the Works.
• “Improve Afghanistan – Worse.” The promise we’ve rated on Afghanistan is No. 134, Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan. We’ve rated this Promise Kept.
• “Health Care Reform – Hell No.” We rated Promise No. 433, Sign a “universal” health care bill, as In the Works. With health care legislation pending in Congress, many of Obama’s campaign promises about health care reform are rated In the Works.
• “Global Warming – Not Done.” One of Obama’s top promises on global warming is No. 456, Create cap and trade system with interim goals to reduce global warming. Congress is considering legislation on this, so we’ve rated it In the Works.
• “Immigration Reform – Not Done.” Promise No. 288, Provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is rated No Action.
• “Gays in the military – Not Done.” We rated Promise No. 293, Call for repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, as Stalled.
• “Limits on executive powers – Not Done.” We rated promise No. 516, No signing statements to nullify instructions from Congress, as Compromise.
• “Torture prosecutions – Not Done.” Obama never promised to prosecute people who tortured terror suspects. He did make promise No. 175, End the use of torture, which we rated In the Works.
Obama has also broken some promises that I did not mention. There’s No. 240, Tougher rules against revolving door for lobbyists and former officials; No. 234, Allow five days of public comment before signing bills; and No. 24, End income tax for seniors making less than $50,000. See the full list of promises we’ve rated Promise Broken.
NEED i CONTINUE. EITHER hE HIS ANOTHER LYING ASS ***** OR THE SAME AS THE LAST PRESIDENT…JUST ANOTHER POLITICIAN.
If you have a voice to speak, and people are listening. Why wouldn’t you teach, educate, or learn? If you don’t speak (any) politics in your lyrics, you should just keep doing your soft shoe and watch bamboozled over and over, point at the screen and laugh, at the stupid monkeys.
Yes I am Daft!
Its the only way I can cope with this capitalistic materialistic ignorant blind world.
People are sheeple, go ahead and do what everyone else is doing!
Note: The bulleted statements above originally appeared on Politifact.com.
I got that list from Saturday night live.
Thanks for clarifying where you received the info from. The particular source of information is just as, if not more important than the information provided by that source.
HOW’S HE GONNA PASS ANY BILL IF HE GETS NO SUPPORT FROM THE REPUBLICANS ? HE CAN’T PASS SHIT. THE SAD THING IS ON NATIONAL TV WHEN HE ADDRESSSES THE NATION AND HALF THE ROOM STANDS UP AND CLAPS AND THE OTHER HALF SITS DOWN AND DOESN’T DO ANYTHING IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THIS COUNTRY.I FELT THAT EVEN WHEN BUSH WAS IN OFFICE ! AND I WAS NO BIG FAN OF BUSH OK. BUT OUT OF RESPECT YOU GOTTA STAND UP AND CLAP OR AT LEAST STAND UP ! THATS NOT BEING A HIPOCRITE. LOOK AT IT LIKE THIS WHEN THE REST OF THE WORLD SEES THAT WHAT DOES THAT TELL THEM ? WE ARE A DIVIDED NATION. I READ IN SCHOOL THAT UNITED WE STAND DEVIDED WE FALL.NOW THEY TOOK IT OUT OF SCHOOLS ‘ YOU CAN’T SAY ONE NATION UNDER GOD WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL EVERY MORNING YET THE KIDS CAN CHECH THIER EMAIL IN CLASS OR DOWNLOAD THE STANKY LEG RINGTONE.I THINK THERE SHOULDN’T BE DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS . WE SHOULD JUST BE CALLED CONGRESS.WHY SHOULD WE NOT DO THAT ?? HAVING DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS IS LIKE BLOODS AND CRIPS. YOU GONNA RIDE WITH YOUR SET NO MATTER IF ITS RIGHT OR WRONG.
IT TOOK 8 YEARS TO GET IN THIS MESS AND THE MAN AIN”T BEEN IN OFFICE 6 MONTHS GIVE THE MAN A BREAK.HE CAN’T PASS ANYTHING BECAUSE THIERS NOT ENOUGH BI-PATISANSHIP.
CMON TONY TRAXX KNOWS WHAT TIME IT IS.IF I HAD 3 LIVES TO LIVE I WOULD BE A MULTIPLATINUM RECORD PRODUCER IN ONE. A RUNNING BACK FOR THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS IN ANOTHER AND A POLITICAN MAYBE IN THE LAST ONE.I LIVE IN VIRGINIA AND CONGRESSMAN GLEN NYE CAN’T EVEN GET SUPPORT TO HELP PEOPLE WHO GOT THAT CHINESE DRYWALL SHIT THAT FUCKED THIER HOUSE UP AND MIGHT MAKE THEM SICK FOR LIFE ! BUT WHAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IS IF CONGRESSMAN CANT GET THE BILL PASSED IN THE SENATE ITS A RAP ! I COULD GO ON AND ON BUT IMMA LEAVE IT RIGHT THERE.
Lmao Ace Fadal is a dumbass.
You need to know more about politics before you say shit
I will say this and leave it alone.
I am just sick of all of the nonsense candy pop, Pop Hop, teenypopper Hip Hop music come out. You gootaAll that is fine but is there no one with a voice that will start telling our youths to clean up after themselves? Recycle? Use renewable technology? Convert your lights to low watt bulbs or LED. Stop eating chemically processed food, and High Fructose corn syrup. Who is speaking to the community? I had P.E., I had P.R.Teachers, I had Brand Nubian. Who else are kids going to listen too. I completely understand where you are coming form TONY! But if you ain’t from a poor minority community, you will never understand my passion.
Our Earth is dying, and No one in Hip Hop is saying anything about it. They wont take any stance against or for this belief. They are just like Politicians.
http://www.cchange.net/2009/09/09/david-korten-on-the-great-turning-from-empire-to-earth-community/
I’ll have to agree w/ Ace bcuz first off the Democrats are the majority in the Senate, so for a Democratic president to pass a bill should be a walk in the park. However, we all know corporates run the country with the lobbyists as the strings to their politician puppets. So, if any bill isn’t in favor of these corporate heads then it will more than likely not pass.
As for this generation not having people to listen to, I have to disagree with Ace on that. I’ve been a Lupe head for the longest and feel like he’s doing the best he can to educate his listeners. Another up-and-comer from around my way, Wale (who also worked w/ Cool and Dre) dropped mad knowledge on his Pot of Gold track. The underground scene has numerous artists trying to get the masses aware of the different conspiracies orchestrated by the elites that are moving towards a New World Order that KRS and Poor Righteous Teachers warned us about (the Patriot act was predicted by the Poor Righteous Teachers back in 1996…and forseeing of something like 9/11). So the hip-hop teachers are there, but its up to the masses to go out and find them.
P.S. anybody that follows news on t.v. is just being brainwashed btw. A constant replay of the same ideas is exactly what is portrayed on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, CNBC, etc. So read newssites and blogs and have an option as to what information you digest as supposed to it being force fed to you.
“Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one” – Rass Kass
Democrats do run the floor ‘ they even ran the floor since bush’s second term . but you never saw people with assalt riffles at rallies before and people yelling out liar on national tv when bush was in office either.you got people like rush limbah and mad cow spreading lies and hate on thier radio show’s too. I personaly heard mad racist remarks on thier shows. Thier the ones who stirs up these crazy left wingers that show up at the rallies’ and these people call in too ! the same way some of us call in to hear gossip or the morning mix on the way to work in the morning .These are the people who get mad enough to do harm to people without knowing all the facts ‘ instead of driving around with sheets over thier heads in a rural area of the south now they got more innovaitive.They want obama to be a lame duck president they want to be like see a n%$#a can’t run the country like we can. I learned that its nearly impossible to keep it real with people that dont wana keep it real with you. Like obama is learning that you can’t make peace with everyone because not everybody wants peace. Some people just wanna keep something going.It sounded inspiring at first but now people want him to cash in.So instead they give him a nobel piece prize ‘ like yeah buddy we know you tried but its not happening lol
Tony Traxx Grow up and find out what’s really going on
go to infowars.com
p.s. I’m a Black man just like our president
SEMANTIK great post!
ahh your just mad cause im straight to the point. your the one that doesn’t know whats going on.Everything I said is true both times. You tell me what you think is going on. I said all I had to say about it.The guy started out saying this president was NO different than the last one.Fuck it some conversation is too real for some people to comprehend go back and finish watching video’s and shit.
INFO WARS SUCKS.
Alex Jones is just another capitalist. How are you going to come out with a video about Obama after the Election? I bet every beat in my catalog Alex Jones would have put out the same video if it was Hillary. I listened to him before, but I’m sick of this whole, “The zombies are coming, the zombies are coming, they are going to attack you in your home and eat your brains, and there is nothing you can do!” blah blah blah… He aint doin a gotam thing to help the people revolutionize, when is he going to tell people to take up arms? He isn’t cause he aint willing to die for what he believes in, and you can’t get paid when your dead……. What solutions does that site offer?
Go to a real site like Democracy Now or Alternative Radio. read or listen to Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, or David Korten. Don’t listen to people just because they yell and scream and act like they are confronting the police…. cops don’t make the rules.
Alex Jones is a borderline sellout, offering no solutions to the problems he complains about. He is almost as bad as Michael Moore. BUT AT LEAST THEY ARE SAYING SOMETHING….AND I WILL ADMIT I WAS WRONG… We do have great artist saying lots..Big Ups to RASS KASS ANd Especially……..
Immortal Technique – Industrial Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb3gB-qY2bQ
Kill those parasites….
If I may give my two cents: PETE ROCK FOR PRESIDENT!
I say we make hip hop production the focus of our government’s power. No more silly wars fought with conventional weapons; should an enemy threaten us, we will bombard them from above with shitty southern keyboard beats. The terrorists will run for their caves as they hear the sounds of generic myspace hip hop “producers” reigning 808’s down on them.
I say rappers and producers need to stop makin money talkin about silly shit and focus on whats going on. H1N1 ‘ HIV ‘ CONDOMS ! race relations ‘teenage prenancy and whatever ealse.Everybody is wearing fake diamonds and those silly ass sunglasses (god damn im tired of those fucking sun glasses !!) . Im getting kinda tired of the same theme songs and catchy phrases., I was watching hip hop classics last night on vh1 .Special ed’s I GOT IT MADE and big daddy kanes AINT NO HALF STEPPN came on.That was very refreshing. 1984-5-1195-6 was the best years in hio hip in my opinion. New York needs to get back to that shit ‘ AND the south needs to get back to OUTCAST ‘ S caddilac doors !