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new4now ago

interesting anonymous letter....

few tidbits of letter.....

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

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

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

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.

http://www.hiphopisread.com/2012/04/secret-meeting-that-changed-rap-music.html

The sick feeling in my gut tells me this just might be true

Def Jam Recordings....Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons

Def Jam Recordings is an American record label focused predominantly on hip hop and urban music, owned by Universal Music Group

In 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and merged with the MCA family of labels, which became Universal Music Group....Can someone say Bronfam

In the UK, the label takes on the name Def Jam UK and is operated through Virgin EMI Records...Branson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Def_Jam_Recordings

Murder Inc Records

After helping Def Jam with the success of DMX & Ja Rule, Russell Simmons gave Irv Gotti his own label under Def Jam.

Murder Inc. spent 2005 and parts of 2006 searching for distribution. Lorenzo first went to his friend Lyor Cohen at the Warner Bros.. Cohen offered a deal that would make Gotti the head of not only Murder Inc., but also Atlantic. In the deal it involved them buying Murder Inc. and Gotti getting paid the same as he did at Def Jam. The Inc. then ended talks with Warner as Gotti felt they would not get paid enough money.

Gotti had short talks with Capitol Records and Interscope. It was beginning to seem as if they were going to sign with Atlantic, then Universal offered Gotti a 7-year deal and 50% ownership of his materials and the label along with the job as A&R which pays a large amount of money. A portion of the deal was financed by National Talent Agency out of Southern California.

The Inc. would sign on to Universal (like Def Jam, a division of Universal) in early 2006 and began recording music. Soon after settling in at Universal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_Inc_Records

Simmons has been in the news lately

would have to dig some more on Hip Hop to Gangster Rap history