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Scion Contestant Ousted Over Anti-Bush and Bin Laden Lyrics
A day after being disqualified from the Toyota Scion: Next Up Unsigned Emcee Search for spitting controversial lyrics about The President and Bin Laden, ousted contestant Bavu Blakes tells SOHH.com his side of the story.
Yesterday, only a day after telling Blakes that he was one of ten finalists in the competition, Jay Cortez of Inform Ventures, LLC - the company producing the Scion contest -- informed the Austin, Texas emcee that he had been disqualified because his lyrics were to "political."
"The dude [Cortez] called me, letting me know I was a finalist and sending me an affidavit and all of that. The next day, he hit me up in an e-mail saying, send me the form back' and three hours after that is when he called and [said] 'you're out of the contest,'" Blakes told SOHH.com.
Blakes was shocked upon learning of the disqualification, especially since "they had a category on there that said political rap" according to the Texan. While judges DJ Premier, DJ Green Lantern and Sean Cane picked Blakes out of over 2,000 contestants, word is three lines from his politically charged cut, "Black Gold" cost him the chance to win the grand prize which includes a $50,000 marketing deal with Scion, $5,000 in cash, opportunities to perform at Scion events and a music video for the winning song.
The controversial track entitled, "Black Gold" [listen] (a reference to Texas oil) includes lines like, "Now Bush and Bin Laden got so much they rotten, "Texas home of the real Death Row" and "What'd we really go to Iraq fo?"
"[Cortez told me], 'They say the song is too political. From the first time he called me, he did say there were three lyrics that might need to be edited. And I told him, 'if you need to edit it, do it, if it's gonna keep me in the finals. He said, 'I don't think it's a big deal,'" Blakes revealed to SOHH.com. "It didn't work out like that."
However, Patrick Courrielche, of Inform Ventures, LLC, told SOHH.com that Blakes was told that he was only being considered as a finalist and that the affidavit was simply a part of the contest process.
"Unfortunately we reviewed his song, including lyrics and we had to disqualify it because it didn't satisfy the standards established in the contest rules. His song contained disparaging remarks about other people and the song communicated a message that Toyota didn't wish to be associated with, Courrielche told SOHH.com. "It's unfortunate that he's taking the position that he's being wronged. He's a good artist, unfortunately we have a set of rules we need to abide by and he fell outside of them. Maybe he didn't read the rules before he submitted his track."
The rules on the official contest website stipulate the track submitted may not contain any language or music that "defames or invades publicity rights" or "communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which Toyota wishes to associate." The rules also give the producer, Inform Ventures, the right to "disqualify any Song, at its sole and absolute discretion," that does not meet the criteria.
Nevertheless, Blakes' future is not dim. The rapper has received acclaim from the likes of the D.O.C. and fellow Texas rapper, Bun B. He's currently appearing on "The Livest Texas Rap Tour," has a mixtape in the works and gets support from his over 1100 friends on his Myspace page.
Source: sohh
Yesterday, only a day after telling Blakes that he was one of ten finalists in the competition, Jay Cortez of Inform Ventures, LLC - the company producing the Scion contest -- informed the Austin, Texas emcee that he had been disqualified because his lyrics were to "political."
"The dude [Cortez] called me, letting me know I was a finalist and sending me an affidavit and all of that. The next day, he hit me up in an e-mail saying, send me the form back' and three hours after that is when he called and [said] 'you're out of the contest,'" Blakes told SOHH.com.
Blakes was shocked upon learning of the disqualification, especially since "they had a category on there that said political rap" according to the Texan. While judges DJ Premier, DJ Green Lantern and Sean Cane picked Blakes out of over 2,000 contestants, word is three lines from his politically charged cut, "Black Gold" cost him the chance to win the grand prize which includes a $50,000 marketing deal with Scion, $5,000 in cash, opportunities to perform at Scion events and a music video for the winning song.
The controversial track entitled, "Black Gold" [listen] (a reference to Texas oil) includes lines like, "Now Bush and Bin Laden got so much they rotten, "Texas home of the real Death Row" and "What'd we really go to Iraq fo?"
"[Cortez told me], 'They say the song is too political. From the first time he called me, he did say there were three lyrics that might need to be edited. And I told him, 'if you need to edit it, do it, if it's gonna keep me in the finals. He said, 'I don't think it's a big deal,'" Blakes revealed to SOHH.com. "It didn't work out like that."
However, Patrick Courrielche, of Inform Ventures, LLC, told SOHH.com that Blakes was told that he was only being considered as a finalist and that the affidavit was simply a part of the contest process.
"Unfortunately we reviewed his song, including lyrics and we had to disqualify it because it didn't satisfy the standards established in the contest rules. His song contained disparaging remarks about other people and the song communicated a message that Toyota didn't wish to be associated with, Courrielche told SOHH.com. "It's unfortunate that he's taking the position that he's being wronged. He's a good artist, unfortunately we have a set of rules we need to abide by and he fell outside of them. Maybe he didn't read the rules before he submitted his track."
The rules on the official contest website stipulate the track submitted may not contain any language or music that "defames or invades publicity rights" or "communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which Toyota wishes to associate." The rules also give the producer, Inform Ventures, the right to "disqualify any Song, at its sole and absolute discretion," that does not meet the criteria.
Nevertheless, Blakes' future is not dim. The rapper has received acclaim from the likes of the D.O.C. and fellow Texas rapper, Bun B. He's currently appearing on "The Livest Texas Rap Tour," has a mixtape in the works and gets support from his over 1100 friends on his Myspace page.
Source: sohh
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