The realest sh*t i read in a while by Ed Lover

What happened to the music? Everyday that I get into my car and listen to the radio here in NY/NJ/Conn I get more and more frustrated. The music is horrible. It doesn't reflect my generation. Either it's extremely old or extremely young. Mind you, I don't have a problem with the younger generation and the music that they like. Every generation should be allowed to have their own set of stars. It's your time so enjoy it while it lasts. My problem is that a whole 2 decades of music is missing on the radio. Well not exactly, but it is boxed into an hour on the weekdays and maybe a few hours on a Friday and Saturday nights. Most of the black music that we loved from the 80's and the 90's don't get exposure in rotation on the radio. Or should I say FREE radio. The backspin channel on Sirius XM does a good job. Why can't I turn on the radio in my car and hear Brownstone, Total, SWV, Wu-Tang, Sparkle feat R. Kelly, Kriss Kross, Pharcyde, Ice Cube, Snoop, Dr. Dre, or even Puffy? We didn't get any Heavy-D until he passed away! What was wrong with his music while he was alive? I tried my best to figure this out and I've come to a conclusion....... The Telecommunications Act of 1996 really screwed us! It allowed corporations to own more than one FM in any market! Radio became big business. If they own it, they control what you hear! Radio One is the only black owned company out of all the major corps that own most of the stations across the country! But they don't own enough stations in major cities! Am I the only one who has noticed that this kind of disappearance of music doesn't happen to rock&roll? When music disappears from the radio, history disappears along with it. And when you don't respect your history you tend not to respect those that created that history. Our music has become disposable. And today's artist are not fighting it. They don't realize that one day they will become old school too. And they won't hear there music on the radio either. Just like Big Daddy Kane, KRS One, Public Enemy etc. Why is their classic Rock stations all across this country but not classic Hip Hop stations? I'll tell you why: Cause if you can kill the music, you can kill the respect for the music. And if u kill the respect for the elders, you kill the respect we have for each other. Once that's gone, it's easy to kill one another...... And we're doing just that. History gives one a great sense of self. You gotta respect where you came from to understand where you're going. Music saved my life! I learned a lot of history because of music. It started in school ( most of that is gone also) and continued throughout my adult life. Radio was always there teaching me about the black musical superstars of the past. Even when my parents were working 2 jobs, I had the radio. Now what is radio teaching us? It's really sad.........