Happy Juneteenth To Everyone Except ...

Exploitation of Writers Is Real

I like positivity but some people need to get put on blast.

Straight the fuck up.

I told a hip-hop loving friend in Seattle, a little candor never hurt anybody who didn’t deserve it, ok?

Does co-owner of AllHipHop, a 25-year-old media outlet covering the culture, deserve it? I think after he’s posted a pic of Justin Timberlake handcuffed in the front walking out of a police station with a caption insinuating timing had something to do with Juneteenth eve — it’s time to air ol’ Chuck out.

See, back in August 2006 I proactively reached out to one of the writers for AHH whose byline I’d been following about contributing. Turns out she lived in Buena Park, a city in Orange County, Calif., not far from the Fountain Valley bureau of the Orange Country Register, where yours truly worked as a entry level “community reporter” on the Westside Weekly hyperlocal weekly.

After a Denny’s meet-up, I got put on with features editor Jake who started assigning me interviews. There was no pay and I wasn’t an intern so I probably should have said “peace” because I was already employed full-time. For some dumb reason, I figured I didn’t need to be paid as a freelance contributor. Boy oh boy, was I young and dumb - but that’s not an excuse for the exploitative methods that AllHipHop deployed and may still be using. See, a lot of my work, like this interview with Dave Mays and Benzino and Mimi Valdes, now is bylined by Chuck’s co-founder and co-owner Greg “Grouchy” Watkins - despite Mimi directly addressing me, the interviewer, within the piece that’s still live on AHH.

Both of these Delawareans I’ve had a chance to chop it up with offline and I get the feeling that when we took a posed photo at Young Dolph Dolphland museum pop-up on Melrose, it was a stunt. Maybe I am wrong, but I just don’t feel a whole lotta love from either Chuck nor Greg. They enjoy the spotlight while treating writers like slaves.

Don’t think they just exploited white writers, because that’s like a form of sick reparations lol? I mean … why would they give a shit about a disgruntled American by way of Ukraine “hip-hop” writer? I’m an outside to these niggaz.

They never paid a dime for work that includes interviewing Tupac Shakur’s sister Sekyiwa Shakur.  

Advice to Novice Writers

But for future generation of writers, is why I’m doing this. Exploitation at the hands of culture debitors is real, and I’m here to tell you.

I’m sure there will be many #MeToo coming through after this is published.

As one of my editors at The Source, which I started writing for after getting some AllHipHop clips, the trick’s not to write for free for more than six months. I already knew that. But when a publicist asked me to sub in for her to do this in-person interview with Damian Marley and Nas, I agreed. And never saw a dime, shamelessly.

Back to this Timberlake photo and the Juneteenth coincidence. It’s just sad and pathetic for Chuck. So you got a few good laughs, nigga. OK? What else?

What’s Creekmur really saying with the photo? He wants likes and jokes at the expense of a personal setback suffered by a multimillionaire white artist whose music entertainment many and yes, was influenced by Black music? Crass jokes show true colors.

I’m still going to bang this no matter what, by the way…

The real shame should be on AllHipHop, who not only exploited me and probably many other writers as its owners attempted to maintain.a tight grip and steer the cornucopical cultural content factory - for 25 years (and all those undeserved award nominations and media spotlight for Chuck and Greg).

Fuck ‘em. It it is what is.

I may have my differences with how HipHopDX is run - lately by a 50-something “editorial director” who is cast in a YouTube series focused on himself - but at least DX paid me when I contributed for every submission.

It’s Indian-Canadian founder and owner thought I was too uncouth and showed me the door as a freelancer after I got into a spat with a staffer - a white woman who is now a prominent author - but least he was good on his word when we first met and my deposits for reviews, Q/As, essays read and responded to by Raekwon, COMPLETED was deposited.

Happy Juneteenth!