FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Toyota Scion Uses Hip-Hop To Sell Their Cars… Then Censors Hip-Hop Artist.
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 Promotions
Email: matt at damagecontrolradio.org
Bavu Blakes
Email: word at bavublakes.com
Jay Cortez
Inform Ventures, LLC
3361 Glendale Blvd., Suite 1
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Direct: 323.906.0728
Fax: 323.906.0725
Email: jay at inform-ventures.com
WWSD = What Would Serg Do?
LINKS TO BAVU BLAKES:
www.myspace.com/bavu - HEAR THE SONG "BLACK GOLD" HERE (S1 Remix fools!)
www.bavublakes.com
www.w4wmusic.com
www.myspace.com/blackbart
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