I don't consider myself the most optimistic person, but I believe that even in the
some good can come out of the worst of human nature. I mean, the
holocaust may have created a swarm of deniers and neo-hatemongers but it also brought about a generation of people who learned and passed on
the value of human life. I realized that this fact of life exists in the
one situation few ever bother to look.
In july of 2009, I was volunteering at Artscape, the local arts festival in
Baltimore. For my first assignment I worked in Target Art Park assiting
children as they tested their creativity at the painting tables. With me
was an older lady with whom I struck conversation whenever the crowd died
down. Michael Jackson's death was still fresh in the news and we talked
about the posssible reasons for the man's end. We covered the usual bases,
like "The doctor killed him" and the "Michael looked anorexic" angles. In
all it was basically small talk as one could get. However, it got
interesting when she made this statement?: "There was one thing that Joe
did, and that was keep the business in the family." I was a bit confused
but willing to listen. She added that all aspects of the Jackson's career,
from royalties to making deals with other producers to keeping control of
one's own monopoly was kept in the family.
Although I grew up with and still love his music (pre-1995), I admit to
doubting the man's character like everyone else. With that in mind, I did
question her claims at first, but after a year to think about it, I realize
now that she was right, and the evidence was in front of our eyes. For instance, many black
artists (even the Jackson's contemporaries at Motown) died without enjoying the royalties
they deserved. Someone, though, had the sense to get
his boys out of their contract when Gordy's grip was getting too strong. And where
else would michael learn to buy the Beatles'songs away from Paul McCartney?
And where else did he learn to ditch his old man and eventually create his own production
studio? Joe taught him all that, even the backstabbing part. As Michael told
McCartney "that's business."
He even had the education to call Tommy Mottola out on his bullshit
regarding the promotion of his "Invincible" Album:
"Michael's battle with Sony was not about royalties. It was about Tommy
Mattola and other execs wanting him to tour and jump thru hoops just for
them to promote his Invincible CD- as if he was some new artist. They were
trippin' because they'd spent $30 million on the cd (even though they
always spent a lot on his albums). There is a good interview here that two
Sony execs did shortly after Michael died [...] and even threads from this forum when
fans joined his protest in 2002. They discuss the behind the scenes issues
Michael had with them. Mostly though, Michael was fed up with how record
companies treat their artists in general, especially black artists. Tommy
Mattola resigned a few months after Michael's protest, but perhaps if other
artists had the guts to join him (as opposed to complaining privately to
Michael behind the scenes), they would be better off today." Even after Jackson's death, the music royalties remain in the families'
custody. He had the smarts to create a will that would automatically
transfer everything to his
heirs
in the event of his demise. Although the IRS may have
Neverland Ranch and creditors may have his dollars, no one outside of the
family has inherited any music royalities. More importantly, his children will reap the
beniefists that he's sacraficed for. Not a lot of bling-brandishing rappers today can boast
that kind of financial acumulation.
How is Joe responsible for all this? Well, I'm not justifying what he did to michael
and the other kids in any way. Joe was a smart man, but like a greek tragedy, he let his
control issues (among other emotional problems)collapse the empire he tried to build. But
without him being at the extreme "evil", what else would've encouraged michael to push
towards "good"? The eastern religions tell us all the time: bad is neccesary
to define good, And this is the most extreme example since Luke and Vader.
