To me, though, the most important part of Davey D's article is the recounting of Hiphop activists' long-standing attempts to address this.

Quote of note:

So what's this all about? Why is Sharpton jumping in at the 12th hour? Is it because this is the hot topic of the day and he wants to be a part of it? Maybe  Maybe not. The media reform and media justice argument has been around for the past 3 years and have been hot topics. He could've ran to the bank with this during his Presidential campaign. But he didn't. He certainly never had any of the main Hip Hop activists who have been dealing with this from day one come on his Sunday night 3 hour radio show on WLIB which is now home to Air America. We spoke with Bob Law who let us know that not once did Sharpton ever help out with the widespread efforts behind this campaign.

So what s the motive behind Sharpton suddenly wanting to write the FCC and call for a ban on gangsta rap? Well, he s seems to be redirecting the argument back to the artists and away from the media owners and executives who are really responsible for giving them air time.

Now Sharpton Wants to Jump In  What s the Hustle?
by Davey D

Today the NY Daily News ran an article about the Reverend Al Sharpton wanting to write letters to the FCC and call for a 90 day ban on 'gangsta rap' and anything that reeks of violence and has the potential to spill out in the streets.

This sounds good on the surface and considering what took place last week at Hot 97 in New York it sounds damn near practical... But there's always a catch and a behind the scenes story to the one being sold to us.

First we have to ask ourselves where Sharpton was over the past few years when these media reform campaigns were first conducted, the most prominent being the  Turn off the Radio Campaign  that was launched and supported by community activists Bob Law, the December 12th Movement, Chuck D of Public Enemy, dead prez, The Zulu Nation and numerous others community organizations in New York.