Roughly two months ago, I saw a post on artist kr3wcial’s Instagram post regarding Best of The Beat Awards in November. He had some very valid points and we got in touch to help resolve the problems he pointed out. We both need to listen to each other. On the same thread, there was a post from @kali_adriana that said this:
“A few years back at a music industry lunch, I listened to the publisher of @offbeatmagazine speak on the young Black artists of New Orleans as if they are a tasteless monolith. It was beyond cringe worthy. At the time I was booking every genre and trying to convince them of the immense talent there was in the 20 somethings community in every genre. It was like speaking to a brick wall. I have a lot more I can say but thank you for sharing and holding them [OffBeat] accountable for their shortcomings as the primary music publication of New Orleans.”
As per the usual social media milieu, there is no proof that this actually happened (It didn’t. I have no reason to ignore or say negative things about any group of musicians, and I never have). Ordinarily, I don’t pay attention to posts like this because social media allows posters to anonymously accuse anyone of anything if they want to, with no substantiation. By the way, I have never been accused of anything like this before, ever. I found this post to be wrong and very insulting, but I suppose the poster meant it this way to reinforce kr3wcial’s post, which is sort of ironic because his post was presented respectfully with solutions and not a personal attack.
I should know better than to engage with this stuff, but I was upset that I was being accused of something that I did not do. My (unfortunate) response, from my personal account:
“This is a total lie, and is incredibly insulting. ‘Brick wall’? This is the evil of social media. Hearsay and accusations with no proof at all. Instead of nastiness and lies, come up with some solutions, as kr3wcial has, or STFU.”
Sigh. Should not have used “STFU”…but little did I know that it was going to be taken out of context…This was almost two months ago, could have been the end of it, but for some reason, Nate Cameron (who works with Tank & The Bangas, glbl wrmg, among others and is a respected artist in his own right) jumped into the fray this week:
“really Jan?!?!? Whether you agree with what was said or not, “shut the fuck up” is your public response here?!?! Incredibly disappointed but not surprised…smgdh” [hate, really??]….and
“Until Jan Ramsey and @OffBeatMagazine does right by the Black Musicians and Culture Bearers of New Orleans please dont ask or expect me or any of my folks to support or suggest them as we have in the past Next time you, Jan, call me out of my name publicly we going even further.”
Uh, OffBeat isn’t doing right by the “Black Musicians and Culture Bearers of New Orleans”? Are you serious? [Note: Cameron texted me that he would not engage with me via text when I attempted to reach him. I called to speak to him directly, but it went directly to voicemail]. I suppose now that his name has been “mentioned,” the unproductive nastiness can go “even further,” which is a damned shame. I’d be more than happy to have a long serious discussion about this with you Nate; the ball is in your court.
I find it interesting that in a sincere attempt to improve the quality of nominees for the Best of The Beat Awards, we hired a young writer, and reached out to kr3wcial and others in the community to serve on an advisory editorial board to be sure that we are covering young Black and White performers. It should also be said that OffBeat hasn’t ignored this community, but I admit that we can do better. I also have to believe that many of younger people are not familiar with OffBeat because they aren’t used to reading content on OffBeat.com, don’t subscribe to our weekly newsletter, or don’t follow our social media @offbeatmagazine. Social media is the media of choice). We were very quick to react to apologize, and once kr3wcial’s post came out, we specifically set out to right any wrongs and to involve this community in OffBeat’s editorial process. See this post.
OffBeat has a long history of featuring content on a wide variety of musicians and bands (young, old, up-and-coming, Black, White, Asian, female, LGBTQ, etc.) in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana, and we will continue to do so. In fact, we pioneered featuring new music and musicians throughout our 35-year-history. Readers over 40 are aware of this because they have been exposed to OffBeat’s content for a long time, pre-social media. Younger generations have not: they seem to rely more on social media for opinions, news, music, etc. The fact is that if you want ink in OffBeat, you—the musician or band—is responsible to provide us with information we need to write about a show or an event. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. So squeak, already.
This is a serious issue because in no way does OffBeat intend to disrespect or pay disservice to young musicians and bands. But I must say that unless you are familiar with OffBeat‘s editorial content over a long period of time, you really can’t in all honesty say we do not pay attention to the “Black Musicians and Culture Bearers of New Orleans.” That is laughable and frankly, sounds pretty out-of-touch. I think it might be wise to go through our archives online to see who and what we’ve written about all these years. And if OffBeat is so horrible, why do you care if we write about your music anyway? That’s a conundrum, for sure.
OffBeat has to constantly walk an editorial tight rope. We’re expected to and are obligated to cover all kinds of music. “New Orleans music” is perceived differently by different generations. We cover jazz, rock, Cajun, zydeco, indie, R&B as well as newer music, like bounce and hip hop and alternative types of music—but obviously not enough for younger Black (as well as White) musicians. But that isn’t anything unusual. Young bands and musicians don’t automatically or easily make the cover of OffBeat. That’s not the way it’s ever worked. Editorially, we have to cover the old and the new. That’s difficult to accomplish, but we have always tried to give all musicians their due. The great thing about New Orleans is that there is so much talent here, and no one has ever said it more than me: music is not a static art form. It must grow and expand and change with generations. FYI: if we could write a cover story a day about every musician in New Orleans, we’d do it, but unfortunately, we don’t have the monetary resources to make that happen.
I’d suggest that younger musicians stop complaining (okay, bitching) about the lack of coverage or respect for what they do, to step up and hold OffBeat accountable, like kr3wcial did. Respect. However, not attacking the hand that is trying to feed you is the right thing to do. That doesn’t mean only complaining (okay, BITCHING) about what’s wrong. This is about being proactive and respectful in making sure that musicians get editorial coverage they need and deserve. You don’t do this by spreading an untruth about OffBeat’s publisher and priorities on social media. You don’t attack our editorial and awards process when you aren’t familiar with the content we’ve exposed millions of readers to over the past 35 years. I could list all the musicians and musical groups we’ve written about, but I think it’s more productive to do a little research on what we have done. I will apologize for the “STFU” comment (uncalled for, but I was pissed at being accused of saying something so vile about 20-something musicians).
We want all musicians to work with us to make our editorial better and more inclusive. This doesn’t mean that everything is automatically going to be covered in OffBeat all the time. We sincerely want to reach an audience of younger music lovers as well, and we’ve tried to design our social media to address the broad range of editorial that we provide. We always intend to do our best to promote young musicians and bands. However: we can’t be expected to only cover young musicians. Or only old musicians. Or jazz vs hip hop. There’s a lot of great music out there that appeals to a wide variety of music lovers. All generations need to respect others’ choices.
We also can’t be expected to write about, promote and/or give awards to bands who don’t care enough about making sure that their interests are covered with a media outlet that is trying to do the right thing by all musicians. We don’t have the resources to be on top of every social media post in the universe (at press time for the Weekly Beat, I was informed of a “Legends of NOLA Hip Hop” show this weekend at the Howlin’ Wolf. The promoters did not send us any information to promote this event. Go figure. WHY NOT?). We can’t write about you simply because you “deserve” the coverage. We can’t post or promote shows that we don’t know about: many clubs now don’t send in their listings unless they are prodded to do so—listings are free and can be entered by anyone with an email address. We don’t give awards to people who don’t even care enough to attempt to promote themselves, and then castigate OffBeat for “ignoring” them. You don’t get a trophy or editorial just because you’re a gigging musician. It takes work and effort. We’re receptive, but we need your help too.
Fractious sniping at OffBeat via social media doesn’t help heal the divide between the musical generations, and it’s counterproductive to the overall music scene here. If you feel powerless and disrespected, talk to us and we’ll try to right a wrong. We will listen. But it’s better to talk and discuss face-to-face, and to come up with solutions, rather than vent anger and frustration on social media. There’s no need for an intergenerational war on New Orleans music. All it takes is communication. And I don’t mean social media. We just need to listen to each other.
The post Listen To Each Other appeared first on OffBeat Magazine.
