Right now, three companies (Warner Records, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Group) control around 90% of the depiction of Hip Hop. At the same time, two companies, CoreCivic (formerly CCA Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group own almost all the private prison beds in the USA. What connects these two industries together? Vaunguard and Blackrock which are the largest shareholders in both media and prisons!
an excerpt written by Homeboy Sandman | 4/24/13 | Davey D's Hip Hop Corner
"Last year Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the biggest name in the private prison industry, contacted 48 states offering to buy their prisons. One stipulation of eligibility for the deal was particularly bizarre: “an assurance by the agency partner that the agency has sufficient inmate population to maintain a minimum 90% occupancy rate over the term of the contract.
What kind of legitimate and ethical measures could possibly be taken to ensure the maintenance of a 90% prison occupancy rate?
Two months later an anonymous email was sent out to various members of the music and publishing industries giving an account of a meeting where it was determined that hip-hop music would be manipulated to drive up privatized prison profits. Its author, despite claiming to be a former industry insider, did not provide the names of anyone involved in the plot, nor did he specify by which company he himself was employed. As such, the letter was largely regarded as a fraud for lack of facts."
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