"The music industry and the media surrounding it capitalize on the buying and selling of Black art, ideas, and employees, for the sake of looking progressive or diverse. It is an exchange of social clout, with predominantly white gatekeepers popping in and out of Black culture as they see fit"

"This week, those labels, along with others, participated in #BlackoutTuesday, a protest organized by Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, two Black women in the industry. In a statement released by Def Jam, the label is promising to "do MORE," but what does that mean? If you can't confidently pledge to dismantle the systems that uphold white supremacy and its residual effects, like predominantly white boardrooms, you don't deserve entry in those communities."

"Music publications' voyeuristic coverage of rap's drill and trap scene has had serious ramifications. In 2013, Chief Keef violated his parole because Pitchfork decided to take him to a gun range for an interview. In 2015, Noisey's blind spots landed members of Migos in jail after an episode of Noisey Atlanta showed the rap group wielding weed and guns. The fetishization of street life doesn't stop at newsrooms filled with bright-eyed white men from middle America. After signing a seven-figure deal with Epic, Bobby Shmurda received no word that the label would help fund his $2 million bail. "When I got locked up, I thought they were going to come for me," he told The New York Times from prison in 2015, "but they never came." When the gatekeepers are also spectators, rap music—and Black people—become a commodity, and later, an aesthetic. But these mistakes have consequences that live beyond a deal or a deadline."

vice.com/en_us/article/ep4xv4/the-music-industry-fails-black-people-every-day

(What the white man say?) A piece of mine's
That's what the white man wanted when I rhyme
Telling me that he selling me just for $10.99
If I go platinum from rapping, I do the company fine
What if I compromise? He said it don't even matter
You make a million or more, you living better than average
You losing your core following, gaining it all
He put a price on my talent, I hit the bank and withdraw
Hit the bank and withdraw, hit the bank and withdraw
Put myself in the rocket ship and I shot for the stars
"Look at what you accomplishing"; what he said to the boy
"I'ma make you some promises that you just can't ignore
Your profession anonymous as an artist if I don't target your market
If you ain't signing your signature when I throw you my wallet
A lot of rappers are giving their demo all in the toilet
Your world tour, your master's, mortgage, I need a piece"

Didn’t expect Vice to be the one to finally call out Noisey but they are absolutely right. Some of this s*** is just plain weird.

Just another facet of life where black people aren’t valued unless it’s to benefit the ultra wealthy or to fetishize them and the art or entertainment they do

All facts

Vice also made this tho and I don’t think this s*** should be put out there either. People gotta stop looking at everything as content. Humans aren’t content

Has anything concrete come from these labels outside of Blackout Tuesday and wishy-washy PR statements?

Vice does this exact s*** lmfao what