MPS (MIXTAPE PRESERVATION SOCIETY HOUR 43)

Yes, I know I said I was going to post a whole bunch of stuff in February, and I am aware that I actually did none of it. I did a lot last month that kept me away from the editing bay (moved my girl across the country, among other things) and so I apologize. I should've had Side Two of The Doors' L.A. Woman squared away already, which would've allowed me to delve further into the recent news stories involving R. Kelly and the late Michael Jackson.

Since these stories (and the fallout that has been stirred up in their wake) won't be dropping out of the headlines any time soon, I feel the need to comment now, as quickly and succinctly as I can. To ramble on and over-explain this entire situation is something I am prone to doing, but in my opinion there should not be any confusion or complication over this. It's quite simple: I believe the accusers; I believe that MJ and Kells are guilty as hell; and yet, if I happened to be a die-hard fan of their music (which I am not) then I would feel no guilt in continuing to listen to their output.

Pete Davidson from Saturday Night Live did a "Weekend Update" segment where he commented on these affairs humorously, and his views resemble mine. I don' see a connection between listening to a shitty human being's music and endorsing the behavior of said shitty human. However, I won't defend them in the face of overwhelming testimony. Liking their music doesn't make you an accomplice any more than listening to the Sex Pistols makes you into a bona-fide tried-and-true punk rocker.

On the other hand, DEFENDING the King of Pop or the Pied Piper of R&B (who comes up with these fucking names? Danny Ray?) well, that's a whole other thing. And I have to wonder what makes people defend celebrities that they've never met. I mean, I love Prince and his music, but if I found out something really really bad about him or his character... then I would still love his music. I might even still love the man, depending on what he did that was so wrong. But nothing on that level could disgust me so much that I had to stop listening to his music. I can still be disgusted with him, and I wouldn't think it's contradictory or hypocritical either. I never knew the man. I'm not sure I would ever have wanted to meet him when he was alive either. Meeting him might have ruined things for me far worse than finding out some horrible secret he had.

But that's just me. I don't judge those who might think R. Kelly or Michael Jackson (or anyone under public scrutiny in these transparent times) is innocent. I'm just not shocked when allegations are made, but I cannot really fault anyone else who is shocked. They should be. So should I. But I'm not. Maybe it's from having been on the fringes of entertainment world long enough to know that none of this is new, but I'm old enough now to feel proper outrage when hearing about these things and at the same time feel bored by the repetitiveness of such scandals. "Oh wow, what a surprise, another star turns out to be rotten."

Back in my rap days, my collaborator Syndrome and I had a falling out with the MCs in our crew, so we stumbled across some female rappers who wanted to do a show with us. We rehearsed with them and everything, but a few days before the big show one of the rappers disappeared on us. We knew where she had gone: to Sly Stone's house, for some isolated partying and Rick James-ish cocaine shenanigans. We know this to be the case because she told us about Sly and his ways. She made it sound creepy, like something she would never ever stoop to... but it was more complex than that. She was telling herself that she didn't like it, but she really did. And when the time came, she put her money down on Mr. Stone.

And really, who wouldn't? Hell, if I was an attractive struggling female MC, I might have done the same thing. Was she brainwashed? Manipulated into hanging out with Sly? I would've said no back then, but after watching those docs I'm not so sure... especially after watching the R. Kelly one. Some of those women were full grown. They all seem naive and gullible, but when the ages go up it soon becomes apparent that there's something else at work. Drugs? Maybe, but not the kind you think about. We all know about Michael's extreme addiction, and while R. Kelly might enjoy some weed and maybe a little more than that, he also takes a whole different set of drugs to suppress his sex drive.

So that leaves us with sex, money, and fame. Sex is definitely a factor, and it's interesting how the backgrounds of the predators get little to no attention in these matters. I suspect Michael had been molested as a child, but by who? This missing piece of the puzzle can help us understand why he did the things he did. In Kelly's case, he admits to having been molested as a child, but often uses it as a ploy to lure his victims into his web. This is every bit as awful as any alleged abuse he has carried out.

Money and fame, however, are far more intoxicating agents of unusual human behavior than both sex and drugs, in my opinion. You can work on your sex life and your drug habits, but the pursuit of fame makes people do stupid shit, and the love of money is the root of all evil. Add it all together, plus unchecked egos of every dimension, and you have this noxious cocktail of disaster and pain that can harm anyone within arm's reach.

Someone like Michael Jackson, or R. Kelly, or Sly Stone, or Rick James or James Brown or even Sam Cooke (watch that documentary on Netflix sometime, see a new spin on a formerly sordid legend) elicits fascination from us, and we think we know them, and we think we know other people well, but we don't. In my case, I think I know human behavior too well. I think we know that people can be both good and terrible at the same time,. I think we know that smart people can make stupid decisions. And I think we also can agree that when the money train is on time, everybody is at the station... and I'm not talking about the accusers. I'm talking about the enablers, the people who work for the predators, the ones who are actual accomplices to these crimes. Because if they didn't go out of their way to make sure their clients "get what they want" (a phrase that I heard coming from both the Michael & R. Kelly docs as well as the one on Harvey Weinstein!) then maybe their clients would have to change their behavior instead of continuing to act irresponsibly around others.

I don't blame the parents of the kids, or the victims, or society, or the fans.

It's very simple: the publicists, the lawyers, the record label heads, the yes-men, the entourages, the handlers and jugglers, the Michael Cohens of the world, the wannabe Tom Hagens... they're the ones to blame.

Seriously. I mean that.

00:00 Intro
02:50 L'america
09:49 Hyacinth House
17:26 Crawling King Snake
24:10 The WASP (Texas Radio & The Big Beat)
35:34 Riders On The Storm
54:09 End Of The Hour