Eh....
""whatever happened to Jeru?"
After the Telecommunications Act of 1996, nearly every conscious/Afrocentric artist that was on a major label got dropped and ended up on the underground within 2 years."
PD, can you tell more about this act and its implications?
I thought Jeru simply fell out with Primo and fell off.
Actually, the ENTIRE Gangstarr Foundation (Jeru Tha Damaja, Afu Ra, Group Home) fell out with DJ Premier and Guru after a while because they felt they weren't helping their careers enough. The bigger issue was after the Telecommunications Act was passed, every independently owned radio station in every market that had its own consultants was bought out by either Emmis Communications (Hot 97) or Clearchannel. In a year's time every radio station in America was either a Hot 97, a Power 10whatever or a Kiss 98 or 99 FM.
Then came the dreaded 60 Add Rule, wherein any song that was to be added to the regular rotation in ALL REGIONS had to be added to 60 stations that Tuesday of the singles release or it wouldn't make the rotation...since the West Coast and Southern stations greatly outnumbered the East Coast stations (and the Midwest tended to be split down the middle), groups like Boot Camp Click and Wu Tang Clan who were staples on the radio between 1993-1996, were pretty much shut out of it.
Next came the Bad Boy/No Limit Era and shiny suits, Cristal, Bentleys, platinum jewelry, stretch Lexuses, and mafioso alter egos/crack rap blew up...Every conscious act (Jeru Tha Damaja included) was dropped from their labels between 1997-1999 due to low sales and low interest from the buying public. Kicking knowledge, positivity and consciousness was no longer cool....Now it was time to throw your rollies in the sky and wave 'em from side to side or roll throw the city showing off your bling...It forced them all underground to indie labels...where they've been since. Cats like AZ and Jeru still make albums. They just can't get on the radio or video stations....FUCK VIACOM! One.