Ice Cube has addressed the claim that he was aware of the “secret meeting that changed rap,” and the N.W.A legend isn’t pulling any punches.
The idea of a “Secret Meeting That Changed Rap” stems from a blog post first popularized about a decade ago, in which an anonymous source claimed that a group of 25 to 30 “decision makers” in the music business conspired together in 1991 to create a prison pipeline of sorts through rap music.
According to this conspiracy theory, the executives would hire a group of Black men and women to create music that encouraged criminal behavior, thus supplying the privately owned prisons (who were also alleged investors in the music industry) with much-needed free labor.
The letter has been promoted by some rappers, and a fan brought it up to Cube on Monday (January 29). According to the writer, she “believed” that Ice Cube and the rest of N.W.A were either directly involved with the meeting or were used as the template for record labels to create a series of clone rap groups, thus feeding the prison pipeline.
The “No Vaseline” rapper, though, wasn’t impressed. “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one and they all stink! What evidence do you have to make a statement like that?” he replied.
Check out the tweet below.
While Ice Cube may not be a fan of conspiracy theories such as the “Secret Meeting That Changed Rap,” he hasn’t been a fan of record labels, either.
Over the summer, the rapper was a guest on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast where he alleged there is a financial connection between the rap music industry and private prisons.
“Who benefits and profits off our bickering and division?” responded Ice Cube, when asked about the rise of petty societal debates that create division — such as faulting one another for not using updated racial terms. “Follow the money.”
“I don’t know their names Bill, but if you follow the money, you go high enough, you start to see,” Cube added. He then used the record industry as a “broad example of how people at the top can manipulate what’s going on with the people who are bickering and fighting.”
He suggested that the “same people who own the [record labels] own the prisons,” while noting that “it seems kind of suspicious if you want to say that word, that the records that come out are geared to push people towards that prison industry.”
Reputable scholars have concluded that the “music industry to prison pipeline” is an urban legend, albeit one that touches on complicated issues.
People at higher levels always use the lower level to put their schemes in motion. Most times unbeknownst to the ones who are being used. It all goes back to the rules of slavery. Pit race against race to create division, chaos & retaliation toward our own. The sad part is that we are still falling for this programmed tactic that was put in place many many years ago. While they sit back, laugh and watch their plan of spreading hatred do just what they intended & they are steadily filling their pockets off the backs of Black talent. The Black race needs to wake the hell up & stop being puppets on a string!!
YES THEY HAVE BEEN DOING IT ALL ALONG AND IT SAID THAT WE KEEP FALLING FOR IT AND KILLING OWER OWN PEOPLE WITH THIS CRAZY STUFF I BELIVE ALL BLACK PEOPLE NEED TO READ THE BOOK MAKING OF A SLAVE BY WILLIAM LYNCH THATS WHO STARTED WITH THIS MESS AND ITS STILL GOING ON LIKE HE SAID IT WOULD WE GOT TO BRAKE THE CHAIN SOME WERE OWER PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING FROM THIS AND ITS LIKE WE CANT BRAKE THE CIRCLE COME ON BLACK PEOLE LETS JOIN HANDS AND PROTECT EACH OTHER THEY DO IT THERE MUSIC DONT TALK ABOUT KILLING NO ONE R SALING DRUGS R DISRESPECT TO THER FEMALE WEMON THEY TALK ABOUT LOVE AND WE KNOW THEY WAY FROM THAT LETS GET IT TOGATHER THINK ABOUT IT GOD SAID THOSE WHO WERE LAST WILL BE FIRST AND THOSE FIRST WILL BE LAST THINK ABOUT IT WE ALWAYS BEEN LAST SO IF WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK WE GONNA BE FIRST DONT LET THEM DISTROY USE THATA WHAT THWY WANT TO DO SEE BLACK PEOPLE THAT HAS MADE IT NEED TO STEP UP AND HELP TAKE CONTROL BUT THEY WANT THEY GOT THEM WITH THE MONEY AND FAME THATS SAID KNOW KAT WILLIAMS 50 CENTS AND TARAJI HENSON IS A REAL THEY STEPS UP TO THE PLATE AND LET U NOW WHATS GOING DOWN OUT THERE WE LOVE REAL BLACK PEOPLE LIKE THAT
Huh?
People at higher levels always use the lower level to put their schemes in motion. Most times unbeknownst to the ones who are being used. It all goes back to the rules of slavery. Pit race against race to create division, chaos & retaliation toward our own. The sad part is that we are still falling for this programmed tactic that was put in place many many years ago. While they sit back, laugh and watch their plan of spreading hatred do just what they intended & they are steadily filling their pockets off the backs of Black talent. The Black race needs to wake the hell up & stop being puppets on a string!!
Why is that a reply frm “for my ppl” just below “Jellybean” txt on the same damn day 1/30/2024 b sayn verbatim exactly what JB be sayn?? Sumpin shady as hell is goin on wit Dat!!!!
Why r JB & FOR MY PPL TXT’s exactly the same words & same date? SUP WIT DAT??
Even if it’s true, or partly true…at some point MF’s just gotta stop being so ready to do anything for money. I’m at the point where I’m just sick of all these excuses and clandestine ‘plots’ to keep people down. In the end it still comes down to decisions being made by individuals who are responsible for their own lives. All this ‘the system is designed to destroy us’ and ‘I’m just a product of my environment’ is mostly bs. While there are and have been systems in place in this country that have been to the detriment of certain groups of people, particularly poor people, there are also systems in place that will HELP people, IF THEY WANT IT. But, most times people just want a short cut to the money, and they’ll do anything for it. Peace.
Agreed. Folks still have these Crack Era excuses when there was never an excuse to sell crack to your own people in the first place. But it’s 2024. MLK, Malcolm X and others have done enough. Good White people have done enough. Good People, period, have done enough. It’s time for us to do better. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Even if it’s true, or partly true…at some point MF’s just gotta stop being so ready to do anything for money. I’m at the point where I’m just sick of all these excuses and clandestine ‘plots’ to keep people down. In the end it still comes down to decisions being made by individuals who are responsible for their own lives. All this ‘the system is designed to destroy us’ and ‘I’m just a product of my environment’ is mostly bs. While there are and have been systems in place in this country that have been to the detriment of certain groups of people, particularly poor people, there are also systems in place that will HELP people, IF THEY WANT IT. But, most times people just want a short cut to the money, and they’ll do anything for it. Peace.
THIS IS WHAT KATT WILLIAMS JUST DID. TALKING FROM ONE SIDE BUT ALL OF HIS FRUIT (DIVISION, ANGER, VICTIM HOOD, RELIGION) RESEMBLED THE OTHER SIDE.
THIS IS WHAT KATT WILLIAMS JUST DID. TALKING FROM ONE SIDE BUT ALL OF HIS FRUIT (DIVISION, DRAMA, ANGER, VICTIM HOOD, RELIGION) RESEMBLED THE OTHER SIDE.
FVCK YOU ICE CUBE!!!
yes anything but victims
I support Gangsta Rap and all violent forms of Hip Hop
Heller, Cohen etc all small hats!
Conspiracy theories ain’t nothing but excuses. No one is making fools mumble about destroying their neighborhood, disrespecting women and shooting other Black men over a beat. No one is making women rap about their punany. People are CHOOSING to be ghetto. And people are choosing to consume ghetto “entertainment”. Stop making excuses and start making principled choices.
The “decision makers” attending this “‘SECRET MEETING THAT CHANGED RAP’ all wore small hats.
It’s a mess