Rhinoplastied Genius

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.