Choose 901, unless you're black and will show up to a protest
On July 10th 2016, the entire world heard Memphis. The entire world saw Memphis. This is one of the most inspiring moments I have ever witnessed in my 23-years of life. For 6 hours, every news station, publication, writer, journalist, and lover of Memphis was informing the world of the events that were taking place on the Hernando-Desoto Bridge. But there was one glaring absence in particular.
There is a huge cheerleader of #Memphis that many people turn to for Memphis news and updates about jobs, local arts, concerts and more. That cheerleader is known as Choose901. Here is their mission:
“ #Choose901 is a movement of passionate Memphians who want to invest and enjoy their lives in the Bluff City. These are the people who know and believe that Memphis isn’t becoming a good city, but is already a great city. A real city with problems that need to be solved. A growing city with opportunities to be seized. A fun city with so much to enjoy. Choose901 exists to share these great things and introduce these great people to each other while being a positive megaphone to the rest of the world.”
Something great happened in Memphis last night that echoes the fact we are indeed already a great city. Hundreds of protestors showed up, blocking the I40 bridge both ways, choosing 901 with their bodies and trying to make Memphis a better place. They did so peacefully, at one point walking arm and arm with the interim police director. I think that's important information that Memphis' Megaphone to the world should be sharing. CBS news didn't mind covering Memphis. USA Today didn't mind covering Memphis. Even the Tennessean, based in Nashville, didn't mind covering Memphis. But an entity that is responsible for all things Memphis, goes radio silent and says nothing.
Why would the city's largest proponent of Memphis' greatness go radio silent during the 6 hours of protests by #BlackLivesMatter activists and everyday Memphis citizens? This is not only a moment of Memphis' greatness, but also a great moment in civil rights history being made. The publication failed to inform its 100,000+ person audience of this historic moment in Memphis. It made me wonder who the branding and messaging behind Choose901 is for, if it didn't do it's part to showcase the historic greatness that happened in Memphis last night.
As someone who is aware of the influence that a brand like Choose901 can have on Memphis, I was especially dismayed not to see them use their platform in this way, and I let them know on Twitter.
Perhaps part of the problem is that Choose 901 is a predominately white organization (17% of the staff of its parent organization, City Leadership, is black in a city that is 65% black) that promotes the idea of a utopian city for middle-class whites and their respectably middle-class POC counterparts. That utopian idea doesn't have room for protest of racial inequality. In this utopian idea racism and racial inequality don't exist.
Something isn't adding up. But maybe someone on staff forgot the Choos901 twitter password during the 6 hour protest, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Psych.
Organizations that claim to represent Memphis need to represent all of Memphis, particularly when they can be a critical voice in shaping policy change and improved outcomes for all Memphians. If you are unable to do this work because you don't have the staff, make more intentional diversity choices and get the staff. Dedicate a staff member to a justice beat, where the grit and grind of what makes Memphis great now and in the future is on display. Partner with existing organizations that are already doing this work in Memphis and fund their efforts. Ask them how you can support and be better. Make Choose901 a space that includes more than just upwardly mobile middle-class professionals who life craft beer.
Choose901 came late to the party but the city of Memphis needs you to show up on time. To fulfill your mission.
New Bars: Classic Memphis
New flows dropping for yall on Friday, July 8th! I am putting my take on the classic Memphis song by Yo Gotti, "Gangsta Party." Produced by my mentor and producer, Carlos Broady.
This song is hella special to me, around that time when it was bout to drop in 2006, I was in 7th grade at Cypress Middle, Yo Gotti used to ride through the hood in a truck with his face on it.
You gotta be a real Memphis vet to remember these days-- I do. In 2006 I was a wanna be rapper, a kid-- just hoping. In 2016, I am an actual rapper and a label owner. Yo Gotti and I have linked on a few occasions, in LA in 2014 when, after I hop over security to get to him, and In Austin, Texas in 2016, when Ebro Darden gave us a formal introducton at the Apple Music party.
In celebration of things coming full circle, I am dropping some bars to "Gangsta Party": Friday, July 8th, on KINGOFMARCO.COM:
Legends of North Memphis.
What do you think of when you hear North Memphis? Better yet, who do you think of? Many forget, many others have no idea of the legendary hip hop names that have come from the, sometimes infamous, Memphis neighborhood. I didn't have the luxury to forget, growing up I experienced alot of that infamy-- from (2) friends dying before I reached high school to being jumped three blocks from my home by a gang, to almost being killed while playing with a gun. So i had to find and pay attention to the positive. Beyond these all- too-common tragedies, I wanted to be a rapper, i wanted to change my life with hip hop, I had legendary examples to look up to--From Yo Gotti to, Juicy J, to Project Pat, to Dj Paul. In retrospect, I know that none of those guys were rappers, they were and are businessmen that happen to rap. Coming from a city that hasn't had a thriving music scene since 1975, with the closing of Stax, all of these guys were able to establish themselves as prominent forces in hip-hop. That was my inspiration, I knew it was possible to make a positive change on our city. I wanted that for me, I wanted that for my friends, I wanted that for my family, I wanted that for my neighborhood.
In 2013, I was struggling to keep my dreams afloat and establish myself as an artist. Around that same time there was another north Memphian about to follow in similar footsteps of our neighborhood's past. Snootie Wild was just released from jail, and he literally hit the streets a free man, with one of the biggest hits out of Memphis in recent years. "Yayo." We heard that song everywhere, all the time. The song debuted at number 50 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and at number 40 on Billboard's Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hopchart. This caught the attention of another legendary North Memphian, Yo Gotti, who signed Snottie to his imprint CMG. While, in my own corner of the world chasing my dreams, I had the opportunity to connect with Snottie at the video shoot for this mega regional hit.
Many might look at my grind as an artist and assume that me and Snootie have nothing in common, that's further from the truth than anyone can imagine. In a recent interview snootie, explained his need to know the business: "I had to educate myself on the business part a lot but every chance I got, I got a chance to sit down and work with people to make sure I understand the business part of the business." Anyone that knows me and is familiar with my grind, they know that that is dam near a quote that I've said before. I don't know what it is, but us hustlers from North Memphis don't play about the business.
Fast forward three years, I have started my own label, released a project on that label, been featured in the Source and had my video for the lead single on MTV. It's safe to safe that I know a little bit about the business. Three years later, I was able to link up with Snootie Wild, not as an extra in a video, but as 2 North Memphis natives with goals and dreams, plotting.
Photo by: Dj QuinnRaynor (Tour DJ for Snottie Wild)
The legends of blues live, in hiphop.
Everytime I get a mic in my hand and I am in front of any crowd, no matter the size, it can be 1 person or 1,000 people, I am going to use that opportunity to tell folks about my struggles, our struggles. Some I have overcome, some I am still struggling against.
I come from the birthplace of the Blues. I am a baby of the blues, but somehow my parents have disowned me and my siblings because we tend to tell our stories under a new moniker-- hiphop. In Memphis, our musical history runs deep, from Al Green, to B.B King to Aretha Franklin, to 36 Mafia to Yo Gotti, but we are failing the contemporary art and the art of the past by not reuniting us with our roots. Spirituals begot Gospel, Gospel begot Blues, Blues begot Soul, Soul begot Funk & Hip Hop.
I am here to make those connections and remind us of our past so that we can appreciate our future! Last night in WC Handy Park, I made sure to make that known! Major thanks to Milton Memphis and Jamal Whitlo for putting together an amazing show, Privileged Music Fest was great.
Marco Pavé performing at the Historic WC Handy Park
