NY Times HOT97

NY TIMES March 16, 2005
An Arbiter of Hip-Hop Finds Itself as the Target By LOLA OGUNNAIKE and JEFF LEEDS
Late last week the rapper Jadakiss had a personal message for his rival 50 Cent: "You should just sell clothes and sneakers cause out of your whole camp your flow's the weakest." He chose not to relay the message by fax or two-way pager, nor did he pick up the phone. Instead, Jadakiss turned to an outlet that has become an increasingly popular avenue for communication and conflict within the world of hip-hop: the radio station Hot 97.
He could not have chosen a bigger megaphone. Hot 97, which is owned by the Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corporation, is the No. 2 station among listeners in New York City and has been No. 1 in the city's 18-34 demographic for nearly a decade. It earns an estimated $40 million annually in revenue, putting it in the top five of Emmis's 25 radio stations. But in recent months the station has been buried in bad publicity. Critics contend that Hot 97 (WQHT-FM) has tilted from credible arbiter of rap trends to ratings-hungry promoter of violence and racism.
Two weeks ago, gunfire erupted in front of Hot 97's Greenwich Village offices, shortly after 50 Cent announced on the air that he was booting his protégé, the Game, from his G-Unit clique. The incident, coincidentally, occurred on the first day of the rapper Lil' Kim's perjury trial, stemming from her account of a 2001 shoot-out in front of Hot 97. All of this follows the monthlong battering Hot 97 has endured for airing a song mocking victims of the tsunami tragedy.
The effect has pointed up, at the very least, how commerce on the cutting edge of hip-hop culture can go awry. And the recent events may impose another real-world price on the station: the landlord of the building that houses Hot 97 has threatened to oust the station, citing a track record of shootings, fights and "severe verbal abuse of security and building management personnel."
Emmis executives say they are simply trying to maintain their balance.
"We don't want to do anything that provokes or encourages or escalates any kind of violent behavior between camps," said Rick Cummings, president of Emmis's radio division. "By the same token, I can't have the radio station being viewed as a sellout or less than genuine by the younger part of the audience."
The stakes are high. While considered a kingpin of rap radio, the station is facing increased competition from upstart Power 105.1 (WWPR-FM), which is owned by the radio giant Clear Channel Communications. Though Hot 97 still has a comfortable lead over Power 105 in the 18-34 demographic - the "money demographic," according to radio analysts - Power 105, for the first time since its inception two years ago, managed to beat Hot 97 in overall ratings. Management may also be worried, industry observers say, because Star and Buc Wild, once wildly popular (and controversial) morning show D.J.'s at Hot 97, are now perched at Power 105.1.
Meanwhile, local activists are calling for an overhaul of the station. Rosa Clemente, a leading organizer of an anti-Hot 97 rally held earlier this month, accused the station of promoting music filled with misogynistic and violent content. "They call themselves the place where hip-hop lives," she said, "but hip-hop does not live there. A culture of greed and disrespect lives at Hot 97." The Rev. Al Sharpton and several state and local lawmakers recently asked Federal Communications Commission to turn its attention to the station. And along with every other major radio broadcaster in the area, Emmis has received a subpoena from Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general, for information on its promotional practices.
"We have run into a string of rotten luck here," Mr. Cummings said in an interview, "but if you look at us over the last 17 years, I think the record is pretty stellar."
But Hot 97 is not the only Emmis station that has landed in hot water. Only last summer, Emmis agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve complaints of indecency against a Chicago D.J. In settling the charges with a F.C.C. increasingly intolerant of indecency on the airwaves in the wake of last year's Super Bowl halftime show, Emmis committed itself to a plan to prevent future violations. (Emmis also owns 16 television stations and Los Angeles magazine and Texas Monthly.)
But since its start in 1993, Hot 97 has been the epicenter of hip-hop in New York. Over the years, D.J.'s like Angie Martinez and Funkmaster Flex, who in 2003 pled guity to harrassing a Power 105 D.J. in front of Hot 97's studios, have become celebrities in their own right, their daily shows functioning almost as the office water cooler with listeners gathering around for the latest in rap music, news and scandal. "It's the CNN of hip-hop," said Elliott Wilson, the editor of the hip-hop music magazine XXL. The station has never feared being provocative. Smackfest, a recurring segment, invited contestants to appear at the station and trade actual slaps for a prize. While at Hot 97 in the late 1990's, Wendy Williams, an outsize personality who is now at WBLS (107.5), spent many afternoons gossiping about the sexuality of music artists. And Star, during his tenure at Hot 97, earned his share of detractors, many of whom believed him to be the embodiment of all that was wrong with station. He regularly used racial epithets, and when Aaliyah, the R&B singer, died in an airplane crash, he played the sounds of planes crashing and bloodcurdling screams.His current show at Power 105 is considerably tamer. "I was not only encouraged to be reckless at Hot 97, but management completely turned their back for the sake of ratings," Star said. "I was a hired gun. I was hired to take the show over the top, to push the boundaries."
Jadakiss says he believes that the media at large are partially responsible for perpetuating violence in hip-hop. "I could see if they tried to downplay the beef in their interviews or they were looking for ways to end it, but they keep it going," he said. "And when the guns come out, they're the first ones to start crying about violence in hip-hop. It's crazy."
Emmis executives say that they specifically discourage D.J.'s from fanning flames of discord during interviews. Barry Mayo, who manages Hot 97 and two other Emmis stations in New York, said his D.J.'s have been coached about how to ask the juicy questions listeners want answers to. "But they are trained to ask them in a fashion that is responsible, which means you don't egg them on."
Mr. Cummings added that the station chose not to air Eminem's "Hail Mary 2003," which eviscerates the rapper Ja Rule (Kay Slay, a popular Hot 97 D.J., featured the song on one of his mixtapes). "We opt not to play most 'beef' records," he said. "Occasionally, it may be out of concern but more often than not, it's because they're just not very good."
Rappers themselves seem less conflicted about the value of publicly airing grievances in interviews or beef records. "If I strategize this right, this could be the biggest thing that happened to me," said Jadakiss, one of a handful of rappers disparaged in "Piggy Bank," a recent beef record by 50 Cent. "This could help my current album start selling again and help my future album sell." D.J. Kay Slay, whose predilection for battle songs have earned him the moniker the Drama King, said such records are hits with the Hot 97 audience.
"You have no idea how many thousands of calls I've gotten from people who want to hear 'Piggy Bank,' " he said with a sigh. "What are we supposed to do, especially if the station down the dial is playing it?"