Traffic Stop
Hi Rina:
I’ve been following your articles about your ”profiling” incident. The last one left me with many unanswered questions but the most prominent is…Why did he frisk you after he got you out of your vehicle and saw you were not a man, as described in his incoming alert? Why did he proceed to put his hands on you. I appreciate your transparency and sharing this nightmare with the public. I’m not sure that hiring more black policeman will assist the community in eliminating this justice. I was raised in this community. I grew up with two black guys who eventually become LPD. There are many ”stories” in the community about how they performed and none of them were positive. In the day, they use to lose police reports when anything questionable happened with black people. Procedure has changed but outcomes have not. Black policeman have to conform or they can become a target. The profession needs to be completely overhauled and possible become civil service job . The training itself screens out people who are more balanced and humane. I’m glad they got around to treating you with respect, but don’t start looking through rose colored glasses. You can be a voice for truth and justice in this community.
Lois Demps
Lansing, MI
Music
Unless you were in a Turkish prison for marijuana possession for the last month, you’ve likely heard that Jay Z and many other artists have started their own Spotify-esque streaming service called Tidal. Even more recently, word has gotten out that Tidal hasn’t been the most lucrative service these days. I won’t lie and say I didn’t jump on the bandwagon at first when the idea was proposed, but as time went on, I started to look at it differently.
Why did it fail? Well, there are a few reasons.
For one, Jay Z and what’s been called the 1% of music have become so out of touch with their audience that they by putting artists first, they put their audience 3rd. Yes, it’s true that Pandora and Spotify pay the artists whose music they play grossly less than they deserve. But in Jay Z’s haste to rectify the issue, he has made many missteps.
For one, he made the obvious mistake of not only charging more for Tidal than a premium account for Pandora or Spotify, but he did this along with a limited catalog. Yes, I love Daft Punk, Kanye West, Jack White and Deadmau5 as much as the next guy, but the reason people chose to listen to them more on the mentioned platforms is not simply because of convenience, but because due to their expansive catalog. Pandora and Spotify can use our confirmed tastes to introduce us to new artists we haven’t heard of yet.
The city of Lansing alone has a burgeoning music scene. Venues on Michigan Avenue such as Mac’s Bar and The Loft support local and nationwide up and coming musical talent. Many of those in the scene that already have music online would benefit from exposure on a platform like Tidal. Thankfully artists like Deathcab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard and Lily Allen have made light of the fact that due to its unspoken exclusion of independent artists, Tidal will likely be reduced to a musical country club, if not implode in itself completely.
When It comes to independent artists and bands that one would love to hear while knowing they were getting paid, I can name several: Fishbone, The Noisettes, FKA Twigs, Purity Ring, Silversun Pickups, April Smith and The Great Picture Show, Capital Cities, Foxy Shazam, Haim, Little Dragon, Matt and Kim, St. Vincent, Two Door Cinema Club and Santogold. The list goes on and on. Exposure to new music is crucial for those who are interested in exploring the rich variety of sound. Tidal is failing us, however, you can log on to youtube.com and listen to what is becoming popular.
A “successful” Tidal would become the New York Yankees of music. The Yankees are hated by many baseball fans because due to the lack of a salary cap and the fact that its owners are obscenely wealthy and they come into every season literally with a stacked deck. But like the Yankees, who haven’t won a World Series since 2009, Jay Z and all of the shareholders will have to learn that even with an all star team, victory isn’t guaranteed.
Howard Smith II
Lansing, MI
