What We Don't Want to Say About Michael Might Save Someone's Life Tonight

The evolution of a troubled man....

Something like a prophet was Michael Jackson, yet the world ignores the obvious that is tightly interwoven into the story of his passing. There are some stories or some journalist that have touched upon MJ's internal suffering, but most tend to lean on the bogus molestation charges that were politically and financially motivated.

Truth be told, Michael was one of the most powerful people in the world at the height of his career. There have been very few that could move, educate, inspire, and challenge a planet of people with the most peaceful force of music.

For years there have been jokes about MJ's appearance evolving from a strikingly handsome young, black man, to a phenotype that resembled a ghostly, transparent androgynous person that favored a waif-like white woman. Unfortunately, in the jokes, there was a grave neglect of addressing a climate in the industry that encourages and enables destructive lifestyles.

Today as people blast MJ albums, and his records sale off the chart, thus creating a boom for the dwindling record companies, many are refusing to admit that our brother, our friend, and our pastor of soul-pop-r&B fusion was messed up. The industry can exploit one's insecurities to secure as much money from an artist is a major force that drives many folk in the industry, plum the fuck crazy. Hence the recent Blog reports have written about a Twitter episode involving southern-based rap artist Souljah Boy. The 18-year-old, Mississippi-native, now based in Atlanta vented on his Twitter, yesterday, July 1, 2009 that he was tired of the industry and tired of the people, mainly whites, who attempted to dictate his every move, consequentially diluting his music.

Of course people are describing his blast as a racist tirade---a very convenient way of not dealing with how twisted, manipulative, and blood-sucking the industry is and is controlled with a mentality that perpetuates a whiteness that even all whites cannot ascribe to. Just like MJ, Souljah Boy and the rest are wrapped in this warped existence, this ugly fight between identity, artistic growth, creative control, manipulation, and greed.

With MJ, we either dismissed him or turned a blinds' eye his unhealthy behaviors when the molestation charges scarred his legacy. Neither sides thoroughly looked at the Man who was unhappy with the "Man in the Mirror". We just shook our heads and kept it pushing, not really looking at the mental and spiritual anguish he was in, and being honest with how deep he was into his insanities. This is not saying that Michael was totally crazy, but the genius in him (like many prodigious people) was left to run amuck.

MJ's story presses the issue for the public to actively engage in changing the industry's exploitative behavior by refusing to buy mainstream and support the local, independent artists and music distribution labels who allow healthy and economically equitably working environments. This will open the door for people who reject so-called mainstream standards of aesthetics, the heavy drug & alcohol use, and all the other self-destructive living that we read about in gossip and soft news blogs.

Support our artists to be healthy, so they can produce life-sustaining work. Blog on...kns