Link: http://www.aznraps.com/public_site/news/articles/2005/01-25-05-tsunami/index.shtml Top NY Radio Station Makes Mockery of Tsunami Victims, Asians 01-25-05 By FD with excerpts from John Mainelli of the New York Post When a catastrophe like that of the deadly tsunamis occurs, we expect the world to come together in unity. Regardless of where in the world an event like that of the Southeast Asia tsunami's happened, where over 225,000 are confirmed dead, it's hard to imagine anyone making a mockery of it. Hot 97, New York's top hip hop station, is currently under fire after airing a song that pokes fun at Asians and the victims. Excerpts from the song include "screaming chinks" and "little Chinamen swept away". Hot 97's web site promoting the "Tsunami Song" Yonkers-based Asian Media Watch accuses the WQHT/Hot 97 "Miss Jones in the Morning" show of "repeated racist attitudes" and demands the program's "elimination." "The host broadcasts a horrifying song that mocks the dead South Asian tsunami victims, uses the racial slurs 'chinks' and 'Chinamen'." said AMW director Kai Yu in a letter to Hot 97's John Dimick. Station-owner Emmis Communications issued an apology late yesterday. "We apologize to our listeners and to anyone who was offended," Dimick said. "[The show's entire seven-person staff] has agreed to contribute one-week's pay to the tsunami-relief efforts." In a show of unity, not only from Asian Americans who are deeply offended, but all listeners across the country are being asked to sign an online petition for a stronger penalty for the hosts of the show. We ask all of the public to give the song a listen and judge for yourself whether there should be a stronger penalty towards those involved with the broadcasting of this song. This should not happen again.
thats horrrible. i cant believe someone had the nerve to write/sing that song. i'm sure they wouldnt be singing that if a family member of theirs was over there and died. i swear, some of the stuff people in this world do......
Why are they trying to get stronger penalties imposed on the hosts of the show, but not on the pathetic rappers that actually produced the song? Sure the hosts are to blame as well, but in my opinion, the rappers should be punished for producing such material.
Its all for publicity; negative or positive it doesnt matter, thats what commerical or wannabe commercial rappers do. Its dispicable
Could you go and listen to your Garth brooks and stay quiet until you have something worth contributing? Thanks.
i have a real problem with threads like this... ONE radio station makes a stupid, horribly inappropriate song and immediately, everyone blames "rappers (plural?) and hip hop"... Hip hop in general...? So you're just blaming the entire hip hop community for what ONE radio station did...? i've got some news for you folks, the people in that song aren't even real rappers, they're Hot 97 employees... Is Hot 97 at fault...? Absolutely... No question about it, what they did is pretty messed up... Is the entire hip hop community to blame...? Um, no. Blame the radio station, don't blame "rappers" and the entire hip hop community, 'cause that's just assinine... This thread is filled with ignorance...
I 100% agree that the concept is disgusting, but if you listen to the song, it seems that rap/ hip hop/ whatever the genre is, is being targeted unreasonably here. the song was played on a rap station, but it is sang to an organ, which is hardly rap, moot point I geuss.
What the hell is the 'hip-hop community'? Is that feel-good speak for a bunch of black rappers and the genre of music which they market? (Before you "hop" on the He's Being Discriminatory and Racist Express, I don't see many rappers that aren't black, except Eminem) And why is it when anyone takes a stab at something that's allegedly culturally-sensitive being ignorant and intolerant? Was it the dude who made "the c is silent" crack, or was it the guy who thought the rappers who produced the song were pathetic? I'd like you to point out where you see this supposed "ignorance" expressed in all of the 7 posts following the first one?
Congratulations for having the time to reply to my post but no time to actually read it... All of the first post is ignorant because it began this rabid discussion about "hip hop" and "rappers", when the only one to blame here, is Hot 97... Post two is fine... Post three: This is ignorant because there were no rappers involved in the making of this song but "rappers should be punished for producing such material" is the immediate response... Post four: Same thing as post three... We'll just skip posts five and six... Post seven is fine... Post eight is perfect - the best post in this pointless thread... Post nine is equally perfect... Good stuff, Doc... ...and, of course, post ten sucks, because you come out of your neck like you know what you're talking about and blatantly show that you really haven't a clue... Do you even know the difference between rap and hip hop...? Probably not... Let's just leave it at that, then, okay...?
To make fun of a devastating tragedy is inexcusable. In addition to the apology made by the airing radio station and the one-week salary donation by the individuals involved, these individuals need to to also apologize on air for the bad taste exhibited by them...
Let's face it rappers arent exactly the most upstanding citizens: Irv Gotti, Murder Inc. affiliates arrested on racketeering charges, in custody of FBI Snoop Accused Of Sex Assault All rappers above are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. I have a friend that used to work at Interscope Records here in LA. You wouldn't believe the stories she has. There's a reason why the executive doors and entry way foyer glass is bullet proof at the offices. The "Gangster" in Gangster rap isn't just marketing hype. Many of these individuals are hardened street thugs.
Dude, to argue the semanitcs between the differences of hip-hop and rap seems damn near laughable, hardly constructive, and even less so relevant to the whole topic of this thread. EDIT: But enlighten me, if you can - this should be good. You're right - there were no rappers involved in the making of the song. That's an undisputable point and one that I did overlook. Shame on me. But, in post number four, a broad generalization was made; one that did have nothing to do with the song or its contents, just about rappers. I think the guy made a fair statement based on his opinion - unless you have solid facts that illustrate rappers doing charitable acts that have nothing to do with publicity, you can't really call that opinion 'ignorant' or baseless. Also, "Hot 97, New York's top hip hop station" represents an extremely large market of hip-hop. So large in fact, that no matter what anyone says or does, hip-hop and rap at large is going to be guilty by association with such a large broadcasting entity. So this does reflect poorly on the HHC in some way or another.
Actually, if you listen to the dialogue on the show before they play the song, you get the distinct impression that it was the "crew" of the show that recorded the song; and, in giving **** to one member of the on-air team who claimed she refused to participate in it, you got to hear some serious trash-talkin' about Asians.
The censorship fanatics are up in arms over this one. Fine them, fire them and then fine them more- you people act like someone was physically hurt. It was a tasteless piece of humor. Oh well, deal with it. It would be in good taste for the guys that made the song to apologize. It was nice that they donated a weeks pay, but I don't think they should be fined at all. The radio station caters to a hip hop crowd, and they should play what their listeners want. If you don't like it don't listen to their channel.
Athough you've stated that it was a tasteless piece of humor, you've also said that it (the song) should be played to the crowd...This isn't simply a free-speech or a commercial issue. Rather, it has to do with morality and compassion. Again, to make fun of this tragedy is disturbing, tasteless, and inexcusable. Period.
Dude, do you know what the five elements of hip hop are...? Differences, musically, between hip hop and rap would be, let's say, 112 (hip hop) as opposed to Three 6 Mafia (rap)... Puff Daddy is hip hop; Christopher Wallace was rap... Russell Simmons is/was hip hop; Tupac Shakur was rap... Jermaine Dupri is hip hop; Wu Tang Clan is rap... Brian McKnight...? R&B (just in case there was some confusion on the difference between hip hop and R&B)... Let me know on those five elements... Ok, the "broad generalization" you refer to in post four DIDN'T have anything to do with the song or it's contents - you're absolutely right...! However, had this thread (about the song and it's contents) never started in the manner with which it did in the first place, the "broad generalization" would've never been made... See where i'm coming from...? To those who cannot distinguish entire genres of music from ONE radio station that plays them, yes, there's virtually no difference and situations like these DO reflect poorly on the innocent, unsuspecting rappers and the hip hop community... You know, this banter back and forth is really pretty funny because whenever i look at your username (even well before this thread ever started), it always seemed like a rapper's stage name to me... This just makes that ironic... Have a good night... Seriously.
Not to defend gilles27 but you just dised Garth Brooks, Why? You are the same as gilles27. Back to the subject, they should let them pay their weeks pay, then the FCC should shut down the station. O.K. NNO how did my post rate?
As a fan of hip hop I agree fully that there are clear differances but I was always under the impression that Brian Mcknight was some sort of slayer band
Hot 97 has had it shares of controversey from what i remember from living in NY, the stations producers are the only ones who should be held accountable b/c they should review all their songs before they air them. The song writers and producers are less accountable b/c they can write and put out whatever they want, 1st ammendmant remember. This is a bad thing for the rap community b/c it shows that some, NOT ALL, of their artists are cold hearted. However, the entire community cannot be held accountable
It's not the governments job to teach morality. It was tasteless, but vast majority of the people whining about the song don't even listen to that station. I'm not sure how that song directly physically or financially hurt anyone, and I don't think it endangered anyone- so I see no reason for fines issued by the government. Jokes are always made about tragedies- it's not the governments place to make laws against jokes. Those of you that are for this are ******* insane in my book. I'll rate it for him. Your post was #1 if this was China. Tough **** to those of you that think it was offensive. Don't listen to the station. The FCC censoring what we see and listen to is just another way people are turning our government into a bunch of babysitters. People fear having a "nanny state" government, but then go on and encourage that type of thing.
I could not agree more. To further highlight the list of despicable things said/done by rappers and various other members of the so-called "hip-hop community," is the line by Eminem which poked fun at Sonny Bono for dying in a skiiing accident. Nice one Eminem. It really persuades me to buy your album when you humorous remark in light of an unfortunate skiiing accident. Why don't you go ahead and poke fun at the victims of 9/11 while you're at it? I bet you'd sell millions. In my opinion, the "HHC" is nothing more than a group of "blinged out" thugs who are not worth any more than the "hood" from which they came. The "HHC" is a great example of what can happen when ignorance is set to roam free. Go ahead and call me an intolerant a**hole, I couldn't care less.
You must be a rock to be able to say something as ignorant and tastless as that. Seriously, what is wrong with people nowadays (i.e. Prince Harry)? How could anyone possibly broadcast this crap to over hundreds of thousands of listeners and think that it wouldn't offend people. Is there something in the air that prohibits some peoples brain cells from functioning correctly? I say someone who knows about hacking should hack their website immediately. http://www.hot97.com/
I am not for the government regulating the appropriateness of "jokes". I am for our society instilling the sense of compassion. You obviously have a very strong belief in the freedom of speech. So do I. However, the difference between you and me is in the fundamental principal of morality, a sense of right from wrong... Is it right to yell "fire" in a crowed theater to disperse the crowd in order for the one yelling to gain a better seat when indeed there isn't a fire? You see, it isn't a matter of free speech. And it certainly isn't about not "listening" to the person yelling "fire". Read my prior posts more carefully...I believe this is a simple matter of right or wrong, and that these individuals should openly apologize for their bad taste...