Adisa Banjoko Exposes The Charade of Jay-Z's Cristal Boycott

I've gone back and looked at the line or two that we've seen of Roederer's response to Jay-Z's Cristal boycott as mentioned briefly by the AFP [alternate link] and as claimed by AllHipHop.com as a "statement to AllHipHop.com" (it was obviously a press release or a generic statement so I wish someone would just run the whole damn thing).  You know, this is a very weak issue and I don't have any more time for it.

Thankfully, Adisa Banjoko takes a strong stance in two audioposts in which he points out that Jay-Z is simply trading the chains of one brand for another.  Adisa finds it rather horrific that Jay-Z's rare (and only?) political act is being squandered on a high priced product that most black people cannot afford.  Word.

In audiopost 2, Adisa tears Jay-Z a new one on behalf of the people, pointing out the needs of kids in Oakland don't include Cristal, among other examples of why Jay-Z is not truly down with the streets, though the streets are down with him.  Now THAT's real talk!

Previously, Adisa linked to YouTube clips of Malcolm X, Huey Newton and MLK Jr. in a post entitled:
“Hip hop has done more for racism than any activist ever.”- Jay-Z

As usual, the Bishop of Hip Hop is on point and right on time.  Peace.

The Complete Account:
ProHipHop Coverage & Analysis of Jay-Z's Cristal Boycott

 

Comments

[eskay]

I have also pretty much had enough of this and I haven't listened to Adisa's podcast yet, but I don't see why Jay should now get attacked for bringing this to people's attention. I see it like it's a very simple situation: a company made comments that could be viewed as offensive to people who are buying their product. Jay, a longtime supporter and proponent of said product took offense and felt it was his responsibility to bring it to the attention of the people he's been encouraging to spend money with this company.

That's it. End of story. I don't see why people are now suggesting that he should embark on some sort of mission to save the world or whatever. I know if I was him I would've done the exact same thing and nothing else (although I probably wouldn't have used the word 'racist').

Of course there are other issues in the world that need to be addressed by Jay and other people in a position to do so, but are you telling me people needed this incident to start talking about it? Like you said in the other post Clyde it's ridiculous to look at this as some sort of revolutionary political statement, and I highly doubt Jay see's as such himself.

I just have this nagging suspicion the people criticizing are the same people who would be up in arms if he wouldn't have said anything.

I should mention that I have an enourmous amount of respect for Adisa, and as I said I haven't heard his podcast yet, so these comments aren't neccessarily directed at him. I should also say that I think Jay's statement about hip hop doing more than any activist is completely absurd.

[Clyde Smith]

It's always good to be a bit suspicious in this biz and you've approached things from a different angle so I wouldn't expect you to necessarily embrace where I'm at or where Adisa's at but I appreciate your thinking it through.

Adisa's always talked along these lines and so have I, though Adisa tends to be immediately more hardcore on certain subjects. But then he's more directly connected to poor people than I am at this point, he works with kids, he goes to prisons. He rarely gets paid for any of that. It's just what he does.

I critiqued Jay-Z's Civil Rights comment at the time as I think anyone sensible would:
Jay-Z Learned Biz, Skipped History
http://www.prohiphop.com/2005/10/jayz_knows_biz_.html

But I'll be honest with you, when he and Biggie and Puffy and all those guys were putting out videos riding in boats and whatnot and I saw that on MTV, I turned the fucking channel. I had and have no respect for ostentatious displays of wealth and it's one of the more annoying aspects of the so-called hip hop community.

I'm really only down with the last few projects of Jay-Z's and that's why I like him. I'm not that into what I've heard of earlier work and I don't have love for many of the values espoused even in the work I've come to appreciate.

Nevertheless he's an interesting man with a commanding presence and an amazing ability to turn a freestyle into a song. And he stepped into a CEO position when he could have done a lot of things with his time while still making money.

I was interested in what this move by Jay-Z might become. What it showed me was that he's got a powerful ability to move people and it reminded me of my periodically stated belief that these people should do more with that power than simply build their own power base.

If you read my material on Russell Simmons, who's been the most politically active of these guys, you'll see that I've never held back on this topic but that I also have good things to say about them and that I maintain a perspective that allows me to appreciate aspects of what they do.

Jay-Z chose to frame this as a boycott. That's a political term. He described their views as racist. That's political. He stepped into the political arena in a world filled with despair for many poor people, not just blacks.

Maybe it's unfair to make this more than a business person simply refusing to buy a product but how could it not be more when Jay-Z has the street's ears and so many people immediately reacted due to their anger at racism, much of which is no doubt motivated by their own experiences of racist oppression.

I think I'll leave it at that for the moment in hopes that the conversation will continue with whoever finds it of interest.

[Clyde Smith]

Eskay, I want to say I appreciate your polite and honest approach to disagreeing with me. It helps me get past my aversion to criticism and focus on the issues at hand.

Now that I've thought about your comments some more, I'm going to do a followup post tomorrow clarifying some things that might confuse my readers, especially new readers.

In particular, I'll try to clarify why I find it relevant to write about and try to do business while critiquing some of the most successful business people in hip hop as well as why my choices of coverage and analysis are not a good model for those wishing to make money in trade publishing or build writing careers within hip hop publishing.

[JimmyZATL]

Can I tell you how tired I am of hearing Mr Banjoko take issue with other peoples stances while trying to sound self-righteous? Really, thats all he wants or really cares about... to be right.

[Clyde Smith]

Dude, it's not like he's on tv or something. And he does want to be right about things that are meaningful.

But I don't think he tries to sound self-righteous. That's the unfortunate side effect of passionately taking life seriously.

Try it sometime, Mr. Yet Another Anonymous Critic of Adisa Banjoko.

[Clyde Smith]

I didn't want to jump to conclusions but I bet this is you defending KRS-One over at Davey D's:
http://p076.ezboard.com/fpoliticalpalacefrm70.showMessageRange?topicID=187.topic&start=41&stop=50

How did I know searching on your tag would bring up a KRS reference?

By the way:
"when people challenge his Hiphoppaness." ?

If you can say hiphoppaness with a straight face, you should be in marketing!

[JimmyZATL]

I was gonna say, I'm not that anonymous. Most people know I have an issue with Adisa. The main reason is that the way he defends his stance is by using phrases like "total nonsense". Anyone who uses phrases like that is not trying to hear anything but their own voice. This is true for most of us, the problem here is two fold:

1. He comes off like there is some sort of absolute truth in the world, and obviously he is the only one in the know. When in reality there is no absoulte truth and all is a matter of perspective (wave/particle).

2. He spends so much of his time in this mode that he "finds" silly stuff to attack in order to gain an audience. Like the man above said, Jay was merely responding to something he saw as a directly relating to him. Just because Jay does not directly relate to the streets anymore is no cause to reprimand him. Now granted, Adisa has the right to say this, and I support him in this as much as I support my own little ramblings here.

btw... Hiphoppaness is less of a stretch than say... "G-UUUUUNIT!" Because all of us know what we feel a Hiphoppa is, and the essence of that would have to be Hiphoppaness. And yes, I actually do work in marketing, which is why I have a nose for BS when I hear it. :-)

-Jimmy "not so anonymous" Z

[Clyde Smith]

Ok, thanks.

[JimmyZatl]

Your welcome.

[julien]

I think I'm going to start including Adisa Banjoko quotes in my podcasts.

[Clyde Smith]

Adisa's quite quotable for all sorts of good reasons!

[Education beats ignorance]

It's sad but interesting to read all of the comments this boycott has caused.

What is a boycott really?

Dictionary definition: To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor

Jay-Z, love him or hate him, is expressing his disfavor for a product/company that he no longer hold in high regard.

He did not ask anyone to join him, but he did make his opinion public just as Frederic Rouzaud made his opinion public. Feel free to pick a side, but there is no need to bash African American. African Americans make up over 14% of this countries wealth and if all African American boycott any in this country their sales will suffer. To understand the magnitude of this look up the call to boycott issued by Russell Simmons on Pepsi. Pepsi donated $3 million to charity as a result of what they perceived would be a threat to their bottom line.
The fact of the matter is that Frederic Rouzaud made a mistake, a human error. His mistake wasn't his dislike for the attention Cristal receives from the hip hop culture; it's the fact that he expressed this dislike as a representative of the company. I company's/corporation's sole purpose it to profit, if an executive does anything to harm or hinder profits he has made a mistake.
I believe that no matter what some of your opinions may be on this matter to bottom line is a decrease in Cristal profits which will inevitably lead to a decrease in Frederic Rouzaud compensation.
In the end Jay-Z will still be making hits and drinking whatever expensive liquor he pleases, some of you reading this will always be racist and Frederic Rouzaud will regret stating his opinion on the record.