10/11/2007
Atlantic records tries to turn Akeelah the Bee into Lil Kim
Filed under: Features — FYI @ 2:21 pm


Bruce Banter reports on Tragedy befallen young actress and singer.

Keke Palmer, is the 14 year old girl who played Akeelah, in the movie, Akeelah and the Bee.She and her mother Sharon have a huge problem with the upcoming record deal they signed with Atlantic Records in March of 2006. The problem is that the record label wants to market the 14 year old as a sexpot but she does not want that image.Keke admits “From the very beginning Atlantics A&R representative tried to get me to record inappropriate music, and my parents and I resisted.”

Soon Keke and her mom became tired of fighting the negative images that the label kept trying to force on her, and they started looking for a management company that could deal with the situation. They settled on DAS Entertainment, a management company out of New York.(John Legend label).One problem, the label has been blocking the efforts!

Atlantic kept telling them that “Keke is “urban”, and should be singing urban music”. Keke’s mom Sharon got her in touch with Mr. Edmonds ( Babyface) and he and Keke worked really well together and came up with a good commercial R&B song, but when it came time to pay for the song the label said no, he was “too expensive”.

Paul Porter of www.Industryears.com says “Keke Palmer is the poster child for what’s wrong with the music industry. Imagine being 12 year’s old and Atlantic Records trying to mold Keke in the mold of Lil Kim or Foxy Brown.”


The problem with the corporate hip hop machine is more than black and white. Unfortunately white America enjoys seeing and hearing about cultural misogyny, sex and violence. They honestly believe black America is the mix of lyrically challenged artist they promote.


The industry spin on Keke is nothing new. When you fail to promote or market a new artist they often fail. If Keke recorded a Jibb’s type “Chain Hang Low” or say a Plies “Shorty” BET and radio would be all over it. In my eyes Atlantic Records for now has simply passed on one of the most talented artist to come around in decades. Keke Palmer is no one hit wonder.

Who’s behind this nonsense? Well the Senior A&R rep, Mike Caren, was the main antagonist, he kept on saying , ” Keke is urban”, so as long as they refused to record the raunchy tracks that he sent them, he refused to pay for the good clean music they brought him.At one point he even stopped Keke from recording by not paying for studio time.

Unfortunately, Das Entertainment the Management co was also ineffective in dealing with the label, they now began to codify the intent by repeating , ” we will not promote her unless she records urban music”.

This statement confused Keke and her mom.They are unsure of what is really being said indirectly.

Just for the record Keke is from the south side of Chicago .She began singing in her church’s choir at the age of five, and she auditioned for a stage production of The Lion King at the age of nine. She grew up listening to Brandy, Aaliyah and TLC, so it was not like she was recording rock music! She was recording good music, with great beats, with good positive lyrics, her music is what all kids want to hear no matter where they live. She was blessed to have worked with some of the top producers in the business, some even cut their price down so that the label would not have an excuse not to pay for the songs.

The only thing she and her parents could figure out was that the subject matters that she chose to sing about were not as, ” urban ” and they would have preferred.

She is only 14 years old, and when she signed the deal she was only 12 years old, “what did they think she would be singing about?” Anyway, they kept their word and did very little to promote her cd. They refused to provide marketing reports, even when Das management kept asking.Then on Sept 14th they received the report, 4 days before her cd release date of Sept 18th.

Needless to say, it was not a good report, there was absolutely no plans to pay for a national announcement to tell kids that her cd was even being released! They kept their word and did not promote Keke because she was too clean, she refused to go ” urban”, and sing words that disrespect her and other young girls.

Keke’s parents tried to promote the release in Chicago( her hometown), they called the press on their own, and managed to get on some morning shows, but that was only in Chicago. Her debut cd that she worked so hard on sold 1,325 copies, the label supposedly shipped 69,000 copies.

She was on a Disney Channel movie called, JUMP IN, that over 8 million households tuned in to watch it’s debut, also the soundtrack to that movie debuted at #5 on Billboard. She was the only artist to have 2 songs on that soundtrack(she can sing). The Akeelah DVD sold 1.2 million copies and on that DVD she has a music video, so her audience, kids from 8-15 know who she is. She also sung the end title credit to the block-buster movie NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, which grossed over 270 million, her voice is the first voice you hear coming out of the movie. Fox tried to get Atlantic to go half on a music video for Keke, but Atlantic declined stating, ”
that song is NOT “Keke’s image” so we will not pay, of course they regretted that after the movie grossed so much! This was way back in February, 2007, this was a forshadowing of events to come!

Last week Keke’s mother, Sharon, received a call from an employee of Atlantic Records, a confidential call off the record. The caller told her mother that the president of the label is so disappointed with low sales that she may pull Keke’s cd off the shelf. The caller was so upset by this statement that she wanted Keke’s parents to know what was being said behind closed doors. She was disappointed that the label refused to promote Keke , and now they are blaming her for poor sales!

Keke was informed that Congress was working to make the labels promote positive music, well her music is positive , but the label will not spend a dime to promote it because she refused to sing raunchy lyrics, and dares to call herself Pop/R&B and not urban / Hip-Hop.

Keke admits “I am only a kid, my parents would kill me if I sang stuff like that”. Ask yourself would they want their daughters to sing negative music?

They knew her age when they signed her, they came to her after seeing Akeelah and the Bee, and begged her to sign, so why did they not think that she could really be like Akeelah, a good girl?

In closing, we are asking our audience, should Keke just let it go, accept the fact that this label will not promote this album. Or should they try to get the message out on their own?

Keke wants to try to get the message out because they worked extremely hard on this music and it is good, and the early reviews online are good.

G0 to www.kekepalmer.com and listen for yourself.

I think the kids would like it if they knew that it was out. Her parents are so tired of fighting the label. They are not rich and to launch their own promotions would cost a lot of money , so her parents don’t want to go broke trying to push a cd that the label should be pushing, they go broke to break the album, and the label just becomes richer.

(((FIRES SHOTGUN AT ATLANTIC)))

Ah hell naw!!!! Leave Akeelah out of this.

Yeah, I do think the record industry is dying a slow and crushing death. KEEP DYING, we don't give a fuck.

1) She needs better representation.
2) Why didn't she sign up with Disney?
3) Screw the industry
4) What the hell does Congress have to do with any of this? That's such a random statement.

DAMN, that shit is tragic Somebody tell Oprah to start a music label, Keke needs an outlet

completely inappropriate

The Record industry is dead as CHUCK D said. However the Music industry is alive, and if you wanna be part of it then you have to conform to become a media star, or sell your stuff on your own, at this point new artists cant have it both ways, you either conform or do it on your own, not saying its fair its just the way it is, its NOT about selling records anymore because there is no more RECORD Industry, its about selling an image, its all about being a media star. However on another point i dont dont think a 12 year ol dshould be given contracts whether its for singing or acting, this is how we end up with so many "youth gone bad" cases by the time they are 16-17.

sosgemini said:

U took the words right out of my mouth. I don't understand why they wouldn't try to capitalize on the Disney trend. Come on, when Hannah Montana is the biggest concert draw of the year, that should tell them something. Besides, she is already popular with the Disney crowd.

daPrettyman said:

But, Hannah Montana and all the pop princesses who preceded her are all white.

The label's euphemistic language is quite clear: "She's 'urban,' " they say. She calls herself pop/r&b. She's the artist, but they've decided how they want her to be because she's a black female vocalist.

It's an unambiguous admission on the industry's part, when it comes to their expectation of black female artists: "We won't back you unless you sell sex, no matter how young you may be."

sosgemini said:

-----
Your missing the point of the article. Sure she can go to Disney but, what about a older artist who does not want to perform raunchy urban music.

The article only confirms what many of us on Prince.org have been saying for years. The stupid lyrics and rauncy music is not a by product of the African-American community but, something that was put on us by greedy and racist music excutives.
[Edited 10/13/07 13:07pm]

laurarichardson said:

Precisely.

laurarichardson said:

Someone's gotta put their foot down on this shit. We've always been told to be more sexual than what we really are, especially the younger artists and as a result fans of these artists think it's cute when it's really not like Foxy Brown did the same thing at 16 and 17.

ThreadBare said:

I think we have a winner.

ThreadBare said:

that wasn't lost on me.

sosgemini said:

When did the peril of overstating the obvious ever get in the way of me posting, man?

I know my kids would have been interested in her cd. In our house we've forgone BET/MTV etc. We just don't do the commercial music thing because it has gotten to be ridiculous. Well except Radio Disney. I'm going to check out Keke's disc and see if it's as positive as they say.

FreeMuze said:

The song is not that bad on her website. It couldve done without the rapper.

They want to turn her in2 Cassie, or make her go the Lindsey Lohan route.

Im glad she never signed with Atlantic. What about that girl Tiffany Evans? What label is she with? She should try Def Jam too. Im pretty sure urban labels wont make her strip for cash.

Fuck Atlantic.

laurarichardson said:

I'd go along with that statement 50%.
As Chuck D stated in the HIP-HOP: BEYOND BEATS & RHYMES documentary...

Before anybody says i'm a rapper I tell 'em first of all yo, i'm a man. A man tells his business situation like, "We can't do that. We won't go there. We can't."

...Record executives may decide what they will or will not promote, but the bottom line is, it's the artist that can decide whether they will or will not sing/rap the "stupid lyrics and raunchy music".

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

PREACH IT!

theAudience said:

That's too mature a statement for some of the rabid folks around here.

sosgemini said:

LOL

LoveAlive said:

That's what happens when you get older & ornery...

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

"Who’s behind this nonsense? Well the Senior A&R rep, Mike Caren, was the main antagonist" Insiders should put these people on blast until they stop. Send their names to the activists and dont make it a circus. Blog on em. She will get mad luv for this. When you stand up, you stand out.

your right...im gonna make some calls tomorrow and see if i can't get some of our african american congress members to at least make a statement lashing out on this. its disgusting.

did i just make a complete 180 on this?

sosgemini said:

U sho did and nice suggestion.

sosgemini said:

-----
Forget both of you !!! Your missing the whole point. If you want to do decent music with a major label and your black it is not going to happen.

You have to go the independent road which is not good for a new artist.
Your putting all the blame on the artist and letting the industry off the hook.
[Edited 10/16/07 17:35pm]

First of all let me congratulate the Palmers for staying true to their convictions. They are class individuals in my book. I hope that more artists follow their lead and refuse to be pimped by these record companies.

laurarichardson said:

not good or not convenient?

laurarichardson said:

I don't see where anybody is letting the industry off the hook.
It's painfully obvious that what Atlantic Records is trying to do to this young girl is literally sinful.

My point was that Keke Palmer and her mother have the moral fortitude to say to them (pretty much exactly as Chuck D stated) "We can't do that. We won't go there. We can't."

It's unfortunate that there are "The Acts" that could care less and go along with "The Majors" and their Fillmore Slim-like approach to marketing just because they wanna get paid. That to me is an even bigger point.

Any artist, regardless of race, expecting to release decent music (a fairly relative term but so be it) today with a major label is at the very least naive.

Nobody can make the major labels release anything they don't want to.
The power you have as a consumer is to not buy what you may consider the sub-par shoddy product they're slinging at you.
They'll alter what they're doing only if the money stops rolling in.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

I think it is important to remember the difference between an act and true musical artist(s). You point is well presented, tA.

The "Majors" are in it for the money, it is obvious, and will alter anyone to suit the needs of what they believe the consumers want.

The industry (or "Majors") are not totally to blame. If we were not buying product, believe me they would make changes.