the development of Flavor of Love and its hit spinoff I Love New York. Love his tastes or leave ’em, Hirschorn knows a hit when he sees one.
The poignancy of the sheer marketing genius of T.I’s show, or shall we call it shrewdness, is undeniable and is evident here by the fact that T.I., his distributor, Atlantic Records, and certainly MTV—which has seen its cool meter fade to social networking sites—know that today’s youth seem to, above all, value authenticity. Fake gangsters need not apply. By this metric, T.I. is not just an act. He’s a real bad boy with a history with the law, and he’s going back to jail to do his time early next year. Like so many others who’ve risen to hip hop royalty, he’s considered the real deal. The record label and MTV clearly see the economics.
And while it is sheer coincidence that the announcement of T.I.’s show came the same week that Harlem experienced one of its worst shootouts in years—a Memorial Day incident with victims ages 13 to 18—the shooting underscores the fact that guns are a real problem in the black community at a time when the debate goes on about just how influential gangsta rap lyrics, videos, and images are in advancing this dilemma. Pop culture should not treat this lightly.
It would be honorable if T.I. and MTV’s goal of helping youth avoid the pitfalls of crime extended beyond a reality show and into real life. In other words, let’s hope this isn’t just entertainment publicity stunt that helps only MTV, Ish, Atlantic, and T.I. while the real victims of gun violence are left holding the proverbial bag far away from the glitter and glitz of the premiere night party. Our youth need and deserve so much more.
George Alexander’s column on the business of entertainment appears weekly at blackenterprise.com. He is the author of Why We Make Movies (Doubleday Harlem Moon).