I think fundamentally Australian mainstream types are scared of
anything that is "ghetto-centric" - that is anything that either
glamourises/celebrates "the ghetto" (ie Puff Daddy) or exposes the
hardships/realities of inner-city America (The Roots through to DMX,
etc, etc). They say, "this is not relevant to us."
This thread was started by a comment on how major-labels have screwed-over
alot of 'underground' artists. And in my post I wasn't specifically trying
to focus upon Urban music... I was making generalisations to the bigger
picture (313 included).
I don't doubt that racism exists within Australian mainstream music media.
In the big picture racism is basically ignorance and fear, and mainstream
media is ignorant and afraid of many genres (not just Urban music).
Mainstream media doesn't cater to my music needs, so I have very little to
do with it. Music is relative. I'd rather read reviews on Forcefield, read
articles in Straight No Chaser, listen to interviews on Andrew Duke's
Cognition, and listen to Ron Hardy DJ-sets on the Deephouse site. People
have always had to try that little bit harder to get exposure to underground
music (like Detroit techno), and underground music has always had a pretty
steep learning curve. And no matter how underground you think the music you
like is... more often than not, there's always a bunch of people out there
who like it too (hello 313-list).
A genre like Jazz has a huge following thanks to dedicated media outlets and
grassroots support... and despite the lack of mainstream media coverage.
peace
~Askew
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