Bow Wow is calling for the Hip-Hop community to unite to protect the genre and its artists.
The rapper-turned-actor shared his thoughts online this weekend. He believes Hip-Hop can benefit from unionizing and offered the NBA Players Association as a blueprint.
“Hip hop needs a board!” Bow Wow tweeted on Saturday. No different than the NBA w/ the players association. A committee,” he added.
According to Bow Wow, a union is necessary to gatekeep Hip-Hop stating an association should “set rules and keep things in control and protect this thing we call hip hop!”
Furthermore, he also believes more needs to be done to help rap’s elders in retirement. “And have a retirement plan for the og rappers,” he offered. “I hate seeing my heros liquor’d out no money just washed.”
Bow Wow claims a Hop-Hop association should “set rules and keep things in control and protect this thing we call hip hop!”
The Hip Hop Alliance
While some fans agreed with Bow Wow, others pointed out such an association already exists, founded by some of rap’s pioneers. Chuck D, Kurtis Blow, and Doug E. Fresh founded The Hip Hop Alliance in July 2022 with a team of other rap legends. The three icons serve as president, vice president, and vice chairman, respectively. Fellow pioneer KRS-One takes his place on the Alliance as chairman.
As Chuck D explained exclusively to AllHipHop.com, The Hip Hop Alliance aims to “join forces to promote fair wages and fair royalties. They also want to advocate for “mental health and physical health benefits,” along with retirement benefits.
“And this is all for the artists because the artists nowadays are in a bad way,” “The Breaks” rapper added. “We all know, because of a pandemic, everything is shut down and it is so difficult to make a living. Theaters are shutting down all over the country, concert halls, clubs, what have you. So it is so very difficult to make a living, first and foremost.”
He continued, “Then you have these deals that these artists are in, and they are exploited, and it’s been happening for hundreds of years. So now we are coming together, a group of people, to stand up and say, ‘This is not right. Let’s change the game and create fairness for the artists who are out there giving their all to the community.’”
