How do I propose this? Consider the young songstress and actress, Marilyn Monroe. March 9, 1948, Marilyn Monroe, formerly known as Norma Jeane Dougherty, earned $125 a week after signing with Columbia Pictures. (See Reference, 9) Later, in 1962 she’ll earn $250,000 per picture more than twice her normal rates. (See Reference, 9) Without discrediting her worth, Marilyn represents a small percentage of stars who earned their keep nearly 100 years.

​

ago, while entertainers today, like the black highly successful R&B Diva and leader of the Hip Hop Community, Beyoncé Knowles, earn their keep but sing of the difficulties in maintaining a vicious façade of wealth, in her 2014 hit single, “Pretty Hurts”, from her self-titled visionary album. (See Reference, 10) Although, Beyoncé is definitely raking in major profits, like Marilyn Monroe, she too connected with the political arena, namely the President, to aid in her monetary value. (See References 11, 12) Still, rappers like Ace Hood, rap about struggling to care for his family, in the hit single, “Hustle Hard”. (See Reference, 13) Most celebrities wish they were living the life of the rich and famous like Jay Z and Puff Daddy. Instead, they are literally dreaming.

​

Among the largest groups of consumers in the nation are consumers of the Hip Hop Industry. The Music Industry requires even more funding to fuel the music makers. In order to honor their hefty contributions and save the music, we must first save the music makers. The Recording Artists and their essential staff in the Hip Hop Community are amongst the music makers. Hip Hop plays a major role internationally on behalf of the United States of America. “The jazz tours of the Cold War saw the US government sent integrated bands led by Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman to various parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East to counter Soviet propaganda about American racial practices, and to get people in other countries to identify with "the American way of life." “As historian Penny Von Eschen writes in her pioneering book Satchmo Blows Up the World, in the 1950s, the State Department believed that African-American culture could convey "a sense of shared suffering, as well as the conviction that equality could be gained under the American political system" to people who had suffered European colonialism.” “The choice of hip hop is ironic: The very music blamed for a range of social ills at home - violence, misogyny, consumerism, academic underperformance - is being deployed abroad in the hopes of making the US safer and better-liked.” (See Reference, 5)

​

Hip Hop music is treated, in the United States of America, like cocaine trafficking is in the Columbian economy (See Reference, 14). How do I propose the government fund the Music Industry more directly? “Hip hop activists have long been concerned about how to protect their music from corporate power, but now that the music is being used in diplomacy and

counter terrorism, the conversation is shifting.” (See Reference, 5) I propose starting with the veterans of the Music Industry here in America. “When asked if there are times a musician can do her job better, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton replied, "Well, I think that there are certainly times when music conveys American values better than a speech.” “The program, called the Rhythm Road, is a $1.5 million-a-year effort, in partnership with the Jazz at Lincoln Center organization.” “It's not a new idea. Beginning in the 1950s, the State Department sent musicians like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and others to diplomatic hotspots overseas.” (See Reference, 15)“Observers of public life and civil society agree that the civic health of a community is largely determined by the availability and abundance of its “social capital” (See Reference, 16) The Hip Hop Community deserves reciprocity. Even if they must begin at $125 a week, it’s a start for those who qualify. Save the Hip Hop Music Industry. The Hip Hop Veterans are “The Heart of the Industry”.

​

​

​

​

​