Thug Life Army

Where Hate Rules, Hot 97 Airs More Racially Offensive Remarks, The Hip Hop Community Responds.

The R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop Coalition (formerly known as the coalition against Hot 97), founded by DJ Kuttin Kandi, along with Hip-Hop artists M1 of dead prez, Immortal Technique and Afrika Bambataa, the godfather of Hip-Hop and founder of the Zulu Nation are proud to join New York City Council members Yvette Clarke, John Liu and Leroy Comire as they introduce a resolution condemning the bigoted remarks by Hot 97 personality Tarsha Nicole Jones (aka Ms. Jones); Clarke will also introduce a resolution calling upon the Council’s Committee for Consumer Affairs to hold a hearing regarding the practice of payola at New York City’s radio stations. We are calling on members of the Hip-Hop community to join us on Wednesday February 15th, 2006 at the steps of City Hall at 10:30am to demand corporate accountability and responsibly.

Almost one year after airing the infamous Tsunami song, Hot 97 continues to air racially offensive remarks against Asians, African-Americans and Caribbean members of our community, which happen to make up the majority their listener ship. As members of the Hip-Hop generation, we were once again outraged to hear racially offensive remarks coming out of the airwaves of Hot 97. This time the target was Transit Workers Union Local 100 labor leader Roger Toussaint. By calling Mr. Toussaint a “dumb coconut” it is clear that Hot 97 has no intention of using their airwaves for the public good. The increasing racism and hatred from the number one station in New York comes under the management of program director John Dimmick. 

Rosa Clemente, spokesperson for R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop says, “We can no longer tolerate these attacks against members of our communities. This is the second set of racially offensive remarks under the watch of program director John Dimmick and we will no longer let corporate interests and the need for ratings to ruin the culture of Hip-Hop. We are calling for the removal of Mr. John Dimmick and Ms. Tarsha Jones immediately and also demand that parent company of Hot 97 Emmis Communications CEO Jeff Smulyan and President Rick Cummings, meet with members of the R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop coalition and members of the New York City Council to face the music and their radio listeners. We applaud Councilmember’s Yvette Clarke’s legislative initiatives and are happy to join forces.”

About R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop

R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop (formerly known as the NYC Hip Hop Coalition) is a diverse coalition of artists, activists, Hip-Hop legends and historians, journalists, educators, students, and parents. Our initial call to action was in late January 2005, when Commercially owned radio station Hot 97 aired its now infamous Tsunami Song.  With a long history of radio programming that is racist, sexist, and obscene, Hot 97 Produced and broadcast an offensive parody of the We Are The World song, which became known as the Tsunami Song.

The parody included bold racial slurs and unapologetically mocked the deaths of Asians and Africans. In the aftermath of one of the world's most devastating natural disasters, Hot 97’s racist Tsunami Song parody was broadcast continuously for 4 days in late January 2005. Though it was played exclusively on Hot 97 airwaves, it was disseminated internationally via that station’s website. The song not only offended people across the world, but especially the 5 million people abroad and in the United States. People around the world called for immediate action against the radio station.

In New York, R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop has been at the forefront of that movement. Since the birth of our coalition, we have been actively targeting Hot 97 for numerous offenses to the communities they claim to serve. Though we came together in response to the Tsunami Song, it is understood that our fight against corporate media includes much more than that. It is a fight to reclaim Hip Hop culture from corporate media’s co-optation, unbalanced representation, and exploitation. Our fight is also to support and create the balance that is so direly needed on our airwaves and other public media. We assert that our efforts are to not only demand ethical corporate accountability, but also to protect, preserve, and regenerate the great legacy of Hip Hop culture by Representing Education, Activism and Community through Hip-Hop.

Contact:

Rosa A. Clemente

646.264.8427

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www.hiphopliveshere.com