Cedric Muhammad
Playahata.com had Bruce Banter peek into the mind of Blackelectorate Founder,
former Wu Tang Klan Manager, journalist, and consultant, Cedric Muhammad on
various issues of the day. Cedric is no longer managing the Wu Tang Klan because after the second Wu-Tang
Clan album died out in late 1997 he was faced with the prospect of chasing 9
individuals around who would be working on solo projects and there was a
breakdown in communication as space had begun to develop in all of the
relationships. It was time for him to do what he always wanted to do, which was
marry culture, politics and economics into an entity that would help save his people.
Cedric Muhammad says Blackelectorate.com was originally created to promote an economic consulting business he established in the late 90s. In order to drive traffic to his site to promote his business, he knew he had to write interesting pieces on politics and economics and have some other things of interest. “About half way through planning this, I realized that I had something special, more in terms of the content than the business. I remember almost having an epiphany while driving to Washington D.C. one day. So I called about 8 of my closest friends and associates and asked them to add feedback on the initial design. They did, and in two weeks we had everything ready. Now, I can say the intention of the website is to help develop and strengthen leaders of all kinds – youth, spiritual, cultural, economic, business, and political. I want anyone who aspires to greatness or to make a contribution for themselves and others to be able to wake up and find a table of food for thought set for them. I don’t care if people agree or disagree with what they see, I only care that it causes them to think deeper about themselves, the nature of life and unsolved problems. I want to establish our motto, 'An Independent Community Of Information, Education and Action.' "
Keeping Blackelectorate and his other business relevant for him means reading the Wall street Journal. Muhammad says, “I was reading the Wall St. Journal while I managed Wu-Tang Clan. It was hectic but whenever I could, while traveling and working, I would buy a copy and read what I could. I first kind of taught myself economics and business by reading the USA Today “Money” section, which I highly recommend to anyone just starting in the subject. Then, I moved onto the Wall Street journal when I came across an article in the early 1990s in a magazine called Individual Investor about a successful Wall St. analyst who credited his success to waking up at 12 midnight and leaving his place in Manhattan to go to the nearest hotel where the papers were being delivered. He said that he would read the entire paper by the time his peers woke up and it gave him an advantage. So I recommend it to others with a lot of qualifications. . I still keep hours like that sometimes to stay on top of things for BlackElectorate.com and other business. But that article in Institutional Investor in the early 90s is why I started reading the Wall St. Journal. As for how reading the publication relates to managers, I would not even think about advising, guiding or managing a rap artist today and not read The Wall St. Journal. And to be honest I would not even think about trying to be a thought leader or serve other people without being up on that publication. There are so many articles in that paper that you do not see anywhere else.
I can tell you that at least every week or every few days, the Wall St. Journal
will have an important article on the music business and changing business
models and trends. They have written great articles on Jay-Z and Snoop in recent
years and I have written the paper several E-Letters at BlackElectorate.com to
encourage our viewers to understand that finance and economics affects culture.
And just recently I was so honored when Hip-Hop Activist and Leader Rosa
Clemente called me from New Orleans and told me that she had begun reading the
Wall St. Journal after I wrote my article, “Brother, Are You a Republican?”
which dealt with why I read the paper and why others should too. I was telling
Rosa about a Wall St. Journal article that I had just put Dick Gregory and
Matsimela Mapfumo onto that is entitled, “Still Unknown: Did Barge Strike
Levee” by Daniel Machalaba on September 9, 2005. She told me that M1 of Dead
Prez recommended that she read The Economist, and she has been doing so. I was
so pleased to hear that. But unfortunately Dead Prez is not the normal or
average Hip-Hop artist".
Muhammad's reading interest still involve hip-hop, in 2004 he was a strategic consultant to Dave Mays and The Source Magazine, for a few months, and assisted with some political editing and advising on story ideas, among other things. “I am open to the right offer but I find that most of the magazines lack depth and a commitment to keep their older readers who grew up on Hip-Hop. To me, the Hip-Hop generation is folks in their teens into there 40s. I think it is sad that most Hip-Hop magazines write for only the younger members of the generation and appeal to our base desires. Hopefully that will change or a new magazine will come on the scene and more authentically represent the culture and generation. “
Its not just advising, Cedric writes often and digs deep for his reporting. One week it's COINTELPRO in hip hop then a continuum of interviews on the crisis in Sudan, Playahata.com wanted to know are they aimed at the same audiences?
Muhammad responded, "that is a tremendous question because it gets to the heart of my intention in
establishing BlackElectorate.com. We have theme days there, “Politics
Mondays”, Africa and Aboriginal Tuesdays”, “Wall St. and Business
Wednesdays”, “Theology Thursdays”, and “Hip-Hop Fridays.” They really
aren’t ‘separate’ to me, although I know we have viewers that only come
for certain days or have favorites. The five theme days represent a unified
worldview. So it is my deepest desire that the viewer that read my
“RapCOINTELPRO” series read the “Asking The Right Questions About Darfur,
Sudan” series. I was happy when Hip-Hop Historian and Opinion Leader Davey D.,
invited me on his radio show to talk about the Sudan series. It is what I strive
for. I want to cross-pollinate and expose viewers and people who think in terms
of only one dimension or variable, to as many other factors of reality as I can.
I want our viewers to be just as comfortable reading the Wall St. Journal as
they are reading XXL magazine or FEDS and Don Diva or the Holy Qur’an or the
writings of Ayn Rand or Franz Fanon, regardless to their station, class,
ideology or cultural background".
With rappers always getting shot and nobody ever getting convicted we wondered what he thought about Tupac and Biggie’s murders. “I don’t know but I do believe that the government and our worst enemies have tried to use the murders, and their lack of an arrest for either, against the Hip-Hop and Black and Latino community. Both artists were under surveillance in the days of the murder. And Biggie in the actual minutes when the murder took place. Yet, no one in law enforcement supposedly knows who did it. If the murders weren’t politically motivated, the way their investigations have been handled certainly is.
As he told the Final Call “it has been reported that both 2PAC and Biggie were under government surveillance by federal agencies. In the case of the Notorious BIG, ATF, New York City and Los Angeles under cover police officers and, I believe, the FBI were all following his car at the very moment he was shot. Lil’ Cease of Junior Mafia has publicly acknowledged that he was shown photographs of himself, Puffy, Biggie, the car, by the FBI after the murder took place and the FBI questioned him about certain individuals who were being photographed. So, Voleta Wallace asked the question best, “Why, if the FBI was following my son the night he was murdered, why don’t they know who is responsible for the murder?” And then of course, there’s the other logical question, which is maybe they know a lot more than they’ve indicated about that murder. Then there was in one of the earlier parts of my series, the Village Voice wrote a very peculiar piece about how a government informant had infiltrated the management of Wu Tang. And I think in particular Ghostface Killa and Cappadonna. And I thought that the way that they portrayed the (Wu Tang) clan and the way that they tried to connect the group with illegal activity was what I recall from what I was taught by Lieutenant Colonel Fletcher Prowdy, who wrote part of the script for JFK for Oliver Stone and who specialized in Black operations from, I believe, ’55 – ’64.
He talked to me when I used to meet with him and visit with him in Alexandria, VA about, what he called, “a cover story.” And the cover story is what the people in Black operations write to cover up what it is that they’re really trying to do. And the media is part and parcel of the cover story. I saw propaganda put out against my old group, Wu Tang Clan and these Village Voice articles that would link them to illegal activity. I was there for 3 years and I know it wasn’t true. Then, I was told that individuals arrested on certain charges in New York City were being offered less time if they would say that they were doing what they were doing on behalf of Wu Tang Clan. That was kind of like the early anecdotal evidence that I looked to that gave credence to the pieces that I was trying to offer regarding Hip Hop artists being unique targets of federal and local agencies."
In closing Cedric says rappers have a personal responsibility to do what’s right and proper and to not do anything illegal that conflicts with their belief system. Muhammad says, "I don’t think that’s necessarily a rapper responsibility, that’s a human responsibility but what I would say is that I think that the artist should be exceptionally sensitive to the fact that they have a disproportionate amount of influence on the thinking of young people and even older people who admire them. I just think that the artists should have a knowledge of history, greater sensitivity and if they didn’t come into the industry having that, certainly their wealth and the people that they’ve had access to, should eventually cause them to deal with that reality".
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