Hip-Hop and the Corporate Function of Colonization

Jared A. Ball, Ph.D.
In this article by Jared A. Ball I was only able to pull a few things out of it. I understand he is trying to say that the corporate world has control over the hip- hop industry. He quotes "Having else where looked at the function of mass media as primary mechanisms of the maintenance of colony, recent events have again emerged requiring further investigation into the function of corporate control over the cultural expression of colonized populations." The artist gets to voice his opinion but it is mainly influenced by the sales and the corporate world. The corporate world is telling the artist what it takes to sell an album. Is the corporate world taking over hip-hop? Is is any longer an art of just the artist, or is it just about the money.

I don't understand how the "lyrics committee" did not allow the "fuck the police" album to be released. I am confused when the author writes "This elite uses structure of corporate governance to maintain this control in relative anonymity where CEOs and commerical spokespeople become mere illusions making their position as modern-day colonial administrators."

These two article relate the most to the assumption on "media matters". This is because no matter what the case we discuss that media matters in this course in most of our readings. In some of the last, the media played an important role on the way it affects our children and teens. In this article I would have to say media matters in a different form. Media matters for the corporate world. Media matters in the way it depicts a certain culture to be. The media is needed for these artists to put out their albums. However the media does matter , but in a negative way, of how it helps the rich get richer but the poor remains poor. By watching these videos and listening to these albums, the media does not tell us this.

This article gives another understanding of the hip - hop corporate world.
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4782.shtml