April 27, 2007 @ 6:38 pm

Angelo Ellerbee Tears into Russell Simmons

PR legend says mogul's call for toned-down lyrics is hypocritical.

Angelo Ellerbee - who's worked with Ginuwine and DMX and helped guide Mary J. Blige's career - is accusing Russell Simmons of hypocrisy regarding his call for the bleeping of hip-hop lyrics on the radio. According to a statement, Ellerbee has "concerns with how the Imus situation has been dealt with. Particularly how key figures in the African American community have gone at it. Godfather, or should I say the grandfather of Hip Hop Russell Simmons, now says he has an answer to clean lyrical content to music. What awesome timing after kazillions of dollars been made off of it. While twenty years ago, people like C. Delores Tucker, Dionne Warwick, Calvin Butts and myself came together to engineer a campaign to stop the uses of abusive vocabulary." "How could these so called leaders and moguls listen to these people's cries while fighting for advisory stickers," he continues. "They went against this body of caring parents who put their lives at risk to stand up to this plight. How can they go have TV interviews and closed door meetings - with who? With them, only, representing the African Americans, who represented the Jews? Who represented who owns these record companies? Are we playing Steppin' Fetchit again? I'm with Al Sharpton on becoming part of the boards on these record companies as what we need to do." Finally, Ellerbee indicts the record industry. "There is a worse problem with how they have taken the artist development side out of the industry. Barry Gordy first started it, because he cared about these artists, raising and educating young people on how to gain and maintain power in this industry. We allow the stupid box to raise our children or they are raising themselves. Nobody is teaching them anything. They did away with people like me, who took a young, troubled Mary J Blige and taught the who, the what, the why... wise of the business. Don't come with clean lyrics, come with a plan. We have to educate our young people in this industry - fast. Where are the insurance programs if something happens? Where is the structure? Yet everybody can play patsy when it's time to do Oprah... Meanwhile Kevin Lyles has you read his book in order to work for Def Jam - where was Lyor, Geffen and all when Oprah called this gathering? Since you didn't have a problem with Nelly running a credit card between some flesh" - referring to Nelly's "Tip Drill" video, much protested among hip-hop feminists - "it makes me now wonder... is this another campaign trick? I don't remember seeing you twenty years ago when the movement really began. Who represented BET and their X-rated channel at the meeting? We have to have a controlling factor in this. Our messages aren't getting heard. No, nothing but buffoonery."

Article tags: Angelo, Ellerbee, Tears, Into, Russell, Simmons 

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