We love a good conspiracy theory. But even the ones that ring true can’t always be trusted. But then again, our entire global history is rife with real conspiracies, not just theories.

Wax Poetics, along with many other good people in the music and publishing industry, received this email today from an anonymous source claiming to be a former insider. We have chosen to post this for our audience to read, but we neither support nor argue against the claims of Mr. “John Smith.”

Hello,

After more than 20 years, I’ve finally decided to tell the world what I witnessed in 1991, which I believe was one of the biggest turning point in popular music, and ultimately American society. I have struggled for a long time weighing the pros and cons of making this story public as I was reluctant to implicate the individuals who were present that day. So I’ve simply decided to leave out names and all the details that may risk my personal well being and that of those who were, like me, dragged into something they weren’t ready for.

Between the late 80′s and early 90’s, I was what you may call a “decision maker” with one of the more established company in the music industry. I came from Europe in the early 80’s and quickly established myself in the business. The industry was different back then. Since technology and media weren’t accessible to people like they are today, the industry had more control over the public and had the means to influence them anyway it wanted. This may explain why in early 1991, I was invited to attend a closed door meeting with a small group of music business insiders to discuss rap music’s new direction. Little did I know that we would be asked to participate in one of the most unethical and destructive business practice I’ve ever seen.

The meeting was held at a private residence on the outskirts of Los Angeles. I remember about 25 to 30 people being there, most of them familiar faces. Speaking to those I knew, we joked about the theme of the meeting as many of us did not care for rap music and failed to see the purpose of being invited to a private gathering to discuss its future. Among the attendees was a small group of unfamiliar faces who stayed to themselves and made no attempt to socialize beyond their circle. Based on their behavior and formal appearances, they didn’t seem to be in our industry. Our casual chatter was interrupted when we were asked to sign a confidentiality agreement preventing us from publicly discussing the information presented during the meeting. Needless to say, this intrigued and in some cases disturbed many of us. The agreement was only a page long but very clear on the matter and consequences which stated that violating the terms would result in job termination. We asked several people what this meeting was about and the reason for such secrecy but couldn’t find anyone who had answers for us. A few people refused to sign and walked out. No one stopped them. I was tempted to follow but curiosity got the best of me. A man who was part of the “unfamiliar” group collected the agreements from us.

Quickly after the meeting began, one of my industry colleagues (who shall remain nameless like everyone else) thanked us for attending. He then gave the floor to a man who only introduced himself by first name and gave no further details about his personal background. I think he was the owner of the residence but it was never confirmed. He briefly praised all of us for the success we had achieved in our industry and congratulated us for being selected as part of this small group of “decision makers”. At this point I begin to feel slightly uncomfortable at the strangeness of this gathering. The subject quickly changed as the speaker went on to tell us that the respective companies we represented had invested in a very profitable industry which could become even more rewarding with our active involvement. He explained that the companies we work for had invested millions into the building of privately owned prisons and that our positions of influence in the music industry would actually impact the profitability of these investments. I remember many of us in the group immediately looking at each other in confusion. At the time, I didn’t know what a private prison was but I wasn’t the only one. Sure enough, someone asked what these prisons were and what any of this had to do with us. We were told that these prisons were built by privately owned companies who received funding from the government based on the number of inmates. The more inmates, the more money the government would pay these prisons. It was also made clear to us that since these prisons are privately owned, as they become publicly traded, we’d be able to buy shares. Most of us were taken back by this. Again, a couple of people asked what this had to do with us. At this point, my industry colleague who had first opened the meeting took the floor again and answered our questions. He told us that since our employers had become silent investors in this prison business, it was now in their interest to make sure that these prisons remained filled. Our job would be to help make this happen by marketing music which promotes criminal behavior, rap being the music of choice. He assured us that this would be a great situation for us because rap music was becoming an increasingly profitable market for our companies, and as employee, we’d also be able to buy personal stocks in these prisons. Immediately, silence came over the room. You could have heard a pin drop. I remember looking around to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and saw half of the people with dropped jaws. My daze was interrupted when someone shouted, “Is this a f****** joke?” At this point things became chaotic. Two of the men who were part of the “unfamiliar” group grabbed the man who shouted out and attempted to remove him from the house. A few of us, myself included, tried to intervene. One of them pulled out a gun and we all backed off. They separated us from the crowd and all four of us were escorted outside. My industry colleague who had opened the meeting earlier hurried out to meet us and reminded us that we had signed agreement and would suffer the consequences of speaking about this publicly or even with those who attended the meeting. I asked him why he was involved with something this corrupt and he replied that it was bigger than the music business and nothing we’d want to challenge without risking consequences. We all protested and as he walked back into the house I remember word for word the last thing he said, “It’s out of my hands now. Remember you signed an agreement.” He then closed the door behind him. The men rushed us to our cars and actually watched until we drove off.

A million things were going through my mind as I drove away and I eventually decided to pull over and park on a side street in order to collect my thoughts. I replayed everything in my mind repeatedly and it all seemed very surreal to me. I was angry with myself for not having taken a more active role in questioning what had been presented to us. I’d like to believe the shock of it all is what suspended my better nature. After what seemed like an eternity, I was able to calm myself enough to make it home. I didn’t talk or call anyone that night. The next day back at the office, I was visibly out of it but blamed it on being under the weather. No one else in my department had been invited to the meeting and I felt a sense of guilt for not being able to share what I had witnessed. I thought about contacting the 3 others who wear kicked out of the house but I didn’t remember their names and thought that tracking them down would probably bring unwanted attention. I considered speaking out publicly at the risk of losing my job but I realized I’d probably be jeopardizing more than my job and I wasn’t willing to risk anything happening to my family. I thought about those men with guns and wondered who they were? I had been told that this was bigger than the music business and all I could do was let my imagination run free. There were no answers and no one to talk to. I tried to do a little bit of research on private prisons but didn’t uncover anything about the music business’ involvement. However, the information I did find confirmed how dangerous this prison business really was. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Eventually, it was as if the meeting had never taken place. It all seemed surreal. I became more reclusive and stopped going to any industry events unless professionally obligated to do so. On two occasions, I found myself attending the same function as my former colleague. Both times, our eyes met but nothing more was exchanged.

As the months passed, rap music had definitely changed direction. I was never a fan of it but even I could tell the difference. Rap acts that talked about politics or harmless fun were quickly fading away as gangster rap started dominating the airwaves. Only a few months had passed since the meeting but I suspect that the ideas presented that day had been successfully implemented. It was as if the order has been given to all major label executives. The music was climbing the charts and most companies when more than happy to capitalize on it. Each one was churning out their very own gangster rap acts on an assembly line. Everyone bought into it, consumers included. Violence and drug use became a central theme in most rap music. I spoke to a few of my peers in the industry to get their opinions on the new trend but was told repeatedly that it was all about supply and demand. Sadly many of them even expressed that the music reinforced their prejudice of minorities.

I officially quit the music business in 1993 but my heart had already left months before. I broke ties with the majority of my peers and removed myself from this thing I had once loved. I took some time off, returned to Europe for a few years, settled out of state, and lived a “quiet” life away from the world of entertainment. As the years passed, I managed to keep my secret, fearful of sharing it with the wrong person but also a little ashamed of not having had the balls to blow the whistle. But as rap got worse, my guilt grew. Fortunately, in the late 90’s, having the internet as a resource which wasn’t at my disposal in the early days made it easier for me to investigate what is now labeled the prison industrial complex. Now that I have a greater understanding of how private prisons operate, things make much more sense than they ever have. I see how the criminalization of rap music played a big part in promoting racial stereotypes and misguided so many impressionable young minds into adopting these glorified criminal behaviors which often lead to incarceration. Twenty years of guilt is a heavy load to carry but the least I can do now is to share my story, hoping that fans of rap music realize how they’ve been used for the past 2 decades. Although I plan on remaining anonymous for obvious reasons, my goal now is to get this information out to as many people as possible. Please help me spread the word. Hopefully, others who attended the meeting back in 1991 will be inspired by this and tell their own stories. Most importantly, if only one life has been touched by my story, I pray it makes the weight of my guilt a little more tolerable.

Thank you.

Kendra Morris “If You Didn’t Go”

Video written, directed, and edited by Jacob Arden McClure.

Purchase the digital single on iTunes and the 7-inch vinyl at the Wax Poetics Storefront.

Full-length Banshee on Wax Poetics Records summer 2012.

© 2012 Wax Poetics Records
waxpoetics.com

A few boxes of product fell off the back of a truck. We got too many, so our loss is your gain.

These pieces are priced to burn burn burn!

$3 LPs and back issues. Anthology 2 for only $15!

Buy stuff now! 

In December of 2001, Wax Poetics debuted its first issue to a small following of record collectors and “beat diggers.” Ten years later, Wax Poetics has carved out a niche for itself in the world of music journalism and expanded its audience to a worldwide congregation of music lovers.

Issue 50 marks our ten-year anniversary and does so with one of the most iconic musicians in the history of African American music, the one and only Prince.

We’ve also done a full redesign, making the magazine slightly larger—8 x 10.5 inches—and we’ve embraced a new paper stock. Wax Poetics will look a bit different on the newsstand, with a new mark making its debut in place of our old logo, but the magazine will continue to be a collectible objet d’art, something to be saved on your shelf as a musical reference manual, not recycled like other mags.

Wax Poetics has also returned to its roots as a journal and is back to being quarterly. The new price of $11.99 reflects not only radical changes in the publishing industry and the economy, but also the guarantee of continued quality from the paper stock to the writing and photographs. As always, our subscription prices offer a great deal of savings off the cover price.

While we vow to keep Wax Poetics in print as a tangible entity, bucking the trend of ridding our culture of old-school reading products, we will also start offering a digital version of the magazine this year for the iPhone, iPad, Android, and other popular handheld devices.

Issue 50 is on sale now, so please join us as we embark on our tenth year of celebrating the unprecedented and untouchable African American musical tradition!

Written, directed, and edited by Nick Sasso.

Produced by Wax Poetics, Nick Sasso, and Casa de Luz.
© 2011 Wax Poetics and M Side Productions.

Shot on location in New York City.

Forthcoming Kendra Morris LP on Wax Poetics Records spring 2012.

Purchase the official Serato Control Vinyl 12-inch in limited-edition “blue concrete swirl.”

Purchase the “Concrete Waves” Digital EP with the “DJ Premier 320 Remix.”

From the forthcoming debut album by newest Wax Poetics Records artist Kendra Morris comes the first single, “Concrete Waves,” a menacingly funky groove that serves as a warning of what’s to come.

The track is remixed by the one-and-only DJ Premier, proving yet again why the iconic producer is an incomparable hip-hop legend.

The two-song release is available as a Digital Single (with the remix instrumental and a cappella) for just $1.99 and, on December 6, as an official Serato Control Vinyl 12-inch in limited-edition blue concrete swirl—with iconic cover art shot by photographer Harry Bernstein—on sale now at Wax Poetics Storefront.

While already being compared to the blue-eyed-soul divas of the U.K., Kendra’s own unique songwriting and lush harmonies set her firmly in a league of her own. Cowriter/producer Jeremy Page creates consistently inventive aural atmospheres—from heavy, head-nodding rhythms to introspective, soulful guitar work—that push the music giant steps ahead of the current soul scene. Kendra and Page expand the genre, creating something that is truly their own.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame and ASCAP have awarded the 2011 Holly Prize to newly signed Wax Poetics artist  Kendra Morris!

In 2009, the SHOF announced the creation of a new award made possible by Songmasters as a tribute to the legacy of Buddy Holly, a Hall of Fame inductee. The Holly Prize annually recognizes and supports talented new singer/songwriters whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly’s music: true, great, and original. On behalf of Wax Poetics and our partners Notable Music, we want to congratulate Kendra on this incredible honor. Thanks to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Songmasters, and ASCAP.

A new exhibit celebrating the work of music photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio, Catch the Beat: the Roots of Punk & Hip Hop, opens at the Morrison Hotel Gallery tonight.

Geographically and culturally separate, the punk and hip-hop counterculture movements were founded on equally subversive, even dangerous, approaches to making music. Both of these historic art forms’ beginnings and progressions have been well documented, and we have the likes of Janette Beckman and David Corio to thank for that. Both of these musical documentarians’ work has been prominently featured in our magazine, each even presenting their own photo essays in Issue 25.

Click through out own gallery preview of their work below.

Wax Poetics has just debuted Issue 01 of Wax Poetics Japan. Read Editor-in-Chief Andre Torres’s Letter from the Editor:

Though I have written many of these letters over the course of the last seven years, this one is special because it marks the beginning of a new journey for Wax Poetics. We set out hoping to bring our message to the world, knowing there were people all over the planet who were passionate about their music just like us. We attracted a devoted international following very early on, though not all of them have been able to fully enjoy the magazine. We knew our fellow Japanese heads enjoyed our visual stylings, and we felt Japan would be the best place to start if we were able to reach an even wider international audience. So it is with great pleasure that I present to you the inaugural issue of Wax Poetics Japan. Whether you’ve been down from day one and ready to take it to the next level or you’re completely new to this, welcome to a new vision and a deeper understanding of the music we all love. This first issue is the culmination of years of passion and hard work, our Brooklyn team building with a dedicated squad in Tokyo who fully understand our mission—bringing you the finest in music journalism, whether it be in hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, reggae, Afro-funk, Latin, or disco. If it’s funky, we’re in the middle of it. This collector’s edition debut pulls from the best that Wax Poetics has offered over the years, with jazz-funk legends Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers, and Bobbi Humphrey sharing space along side hip-hop luminaries Afrika Bambaataa, RZA, and Madlib. We also look at the soul of Donny Hathaway and Marvin Whitney while speaking with a few DJ selectors like Gilles Peterson, Louie Vega, and Kon & Amir, who are always looking for the perfect beat to keep dance floors moving all over the world. When you throw in the visual worlds of hip-hop photographer Ricky Powell and CTI art director Bob Ciano, you begin to get a perspective on the culture that you won’t find anywhere else. Wax Poetics is here to deliver the goods for the real music fiends who dig deep and can’t get enough. So join us as we kick offa new era in Japanese music journalism, feeding the hungry masses with musical nourishment for the soul. We’ll be coming with more bangers throughout the year and beyond, so sit back and enjoy the funky ride.

Arigato,
Andre Torres