Hah! And they said hip hop was dead…
I’m a bit late with this, but as you know, in an ill-advised publicity stunt, possibly set up by Interscope, 50 Cent has challenged Kanye West. Their albums, Curtis and Graduation dropped the same day, September 11th. Little while after that, country singer Kenny Chesney, in an equally ill-conceived publicity stunt, possibly encouraged by his own record label as well, also decided to throw his hat into the ring:
”It’s funny how with every record that comes out, we’re aware of the urban [competition], and none of those acts acknowledge that I exist, until I have that No. 1 debut on the Top 200,”
Of course they don’t acknowledge you, you’re not a rapper. Well, as of last week, Kanye West pulled into a staggering lead with with over 950 thousand copies, making this year’s highest selling album thus far. 50 didn’t do badly himself, as he bought in over 64ok. In last place, Kenny boy could barely manage to pull over half that number, with over 370 thousand.
And they said hip hop was dead…
On a side note, 50 promised to retire if Kanye outsold him, and it remains to be seen if he will keep his word. As a fan of both artists, I hope this isn’t the case.
Show your support for the Jena 6
The Jena 6 are 6 young men from Louisiana who have had attempted murder charges bought against them. I don’t feel like doing much typing, so this is from the facebook group about the matter:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6338241062
(You’ll have to be a member of facebook to see it)
“The Jena 6 is a group of young men in Jena, Louisiana, that are being charged for a heinous crime in which the charges are way out of control. The controversy began when one of the young men back in September of 2006 asked an administrator if he could sit under the shade of a tree that was “reserved” for the white students. The administrator replied by telling the young man to sit where he liked, so he did. The next day when everyone returned to the school, there where 3 nooses painted in school colors hanging from the tree. The school principal found the 3 white students that did it, and passed it off as a “youthful prank”. They were suspended for 3 days.
The black students decided to call for a sit in under this “tree”. The police were called and so was the District Attorney Reed Walters. He had an assembly in the school, where he made such a statement to the black student body, “I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen”. No future action was taken after that.
A few months later at a party in the town, a couple black boys were beaten up by a group of young white males. There were no charges brought upon the teens. A few weeks later a white male pulled a gun on 3 black young men. The gun was taken away by the black young men and they went to the police to let them know what happened. The three young men were charged with theft if an armed weapon. No charges were brought upon the male who pulled the gun on them.
In December 2006, in the halls of the Jena high school, a young white male was taunting and picking at one of the young men that were beaten up at the party. The white male was then “jumped” by some black students. The six black students were charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy. They face up to 100 years in prison without parole. The Jena Six, as they have come to be known, range in age from 15 to 17 years old.
In July 2007, an all-white jury took less than two days to convict 17 year-old Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six to go on trial. He was convicted of aggravated battery and conspiracy charges and now faces up to 22 years in prison. Some of the men were unable to make bail. So they sit in jail and await court dates. The bail ranges from $70,000 to $183,000.
After Tenisha Wilkerson read this on the site DemocracyNow.org, she knew it was time to take a stand. She is organizing a committee by the name of Midwest Committee for the Jena 6. They will be having a peaceful rally on Sunday, September 9th 2007 at 9am. They will march from NBC 5 studios to ABC 7 studios in Chicago, Illinois. There is no media coverage on this issue that is going on. Media attention is strongly needed. The rally will end at city hall.
We are calling for all aldermen, congressmen, media stations, press, & anyone who wants to stand for the rights of these six young men, to come out on September 9th 2007 and stand for justice.
To learn more about the Midwest Committee for the Jena 6, please email MCJena6@gmail.com. For more information on the Jena 6, please log on to DemocarcyNow.com, or NAACP.com.”
News coverage and contact info, educate yourself and spread the word!
“1ST NEWS REPORT OF JENA 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwcj3RQcyu0
THE FULL STORY… PLEASE WATCH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6XHYhlbzvU
PT. 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSUAl_CImBU
PT. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_rntP6iw4U
PT. 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDufKvCUlSM
PT. 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2h0pIpn4SA
PT. 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxNsIy5xpFA
PT. 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGSVnZyz77Q
ABC Major News Programs Contact:
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3068843
ABC message board:
http://forums.abcnews.go.com/n/forumIndex.aspx?webtag=abcnewsindex
NBC Network contact:
http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/
CBS Network Contact:
http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.shtml
CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/
Fox:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77538,00.html
Call Fox News:
1-888-369-4762
Email Oprah!:
http://www.oprah.com/email/email_landing.jhtml
Oprah’s Message Boards:
http://boards.oprah.com/WebX?14@@.ef45793!DYNID=2T5FTRXMYDMJ1LARAZ3B3KQ
Contact Nancy Grace:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5c.html?24
Contact Bill O’Reilly (is he really fair and balanced?):
http://www.billoreilly.com/pg/jsp/general/contact.jsp?form3=openform3
Call Bill O’Reilly and Fox News:
1-888-369-4762
BET:
http://www.bet.com/Contact?Referrer=%7BD78C7705-D362-46E3-A5B0-41E1DE645426%7D
MTV:
MTVN Online Ad Sales
1515 Broadway, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10036
212-258-8000 Main
212-846-1804 Fax
MIDWEST DISTRICT OFFICES
MTVN Online Ad Sales
401 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60611
312-755-0310 Main
312-755-0350 Fax
WEST COAST DISTRICT OFFICES
MTVN Online Ad Sales
2600 Colorado Avenue Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-752-8000 Main
310-752-8058 Phone
The Chicago sun-Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/aboutus/index.html
Chicago Sun-Times Feedback:
http://www.suntimes.com/aboutus/feedback/index.html
The Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/about/custom/contact/chi-cscontact-htmlpage,0,4504086.htmlpage
Chicago Tribune Comments:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/site/chi-registrationform,0,7122020.customform
Chicago Tribune Letter to the Editor:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/site/chi-lettertotheeditor,1,5676846.customform?coll=chi-navrailhome2-nav
Hoy:
http://www.hoyinternet.com/acerca/hoy-contacts,0,5261090.htmlstory
The Red Eye (Chicago):
http://redeye.chicagotribune.com/about/
The New York Times:
http://nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html
The Sun-Sentinel (Florida):
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/sfla-helpindex,0,4600310.htmlstory
The LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-contactus,0,1439615.htmlstory?coll=la-navigation
Los Angeles Times
202 W. 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 213-237-5000
Fax: 213-237-7679
Rolling Stone Magazine:
http://www.rollingstone.com/contactus-
Essence Magazine:
http://www.essence.com/essence/contactus/
Ebony/JET Magazine:
http://www.ebonyjet.com/general.aspx?logoid=488&c..306
Vibe Magazine:
http://www.vibe.com/about/contact/
The Source Magazine Forum:
http://forum.thesource.com/
Readers Digest Magazine:
http://www.rd.com/content/contact-us/
The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/contact_us.html
if you have anymore to add…. post them!
______________________________________
________
THESE PEOPLE NEED TO BE OUT OF OFFICE!
Jena Town Hall
318-992-2149 Fax: 318-992-8127 1850 N 2nd St, Jena, LA 71342
______________________________________________________________________________
Jena Mayor’s Office
318-992-2148 Fax: 318-992-8127 1850 N 2nd St, Jena, LA 71342
______________________________________________________________________________
Write Fax E-mail
Office of the Governor
Attn: Constituent Services
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004 Facsimile: 225-342-7099
E-mail the Governor:
http://www.managekeelson.com/websites/la.gov/index.cfm?md=form&tmp=home&cfmid=282
Call
866-366-1121
225-342-0991
225-342-7015
Call Reed Walters-D.A. in Jena, Louisiana and Demand That He Resign
28th Judicial District
Parishes Served: LaSalle
J. Reed Walters
P.O. Box 1940
Jena, LA 71342-1940
dareed@22da.com
LaSalle Parish
Office Phone: (318) 992-8282
Office Fax: (318) 992-4731
”
I don’t think I need to say anymore on the subject. We need to stand up for these yound men.
Area 4:51 