\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tIn January, Terry Lewis, Stiggers, and Jimmy Jam celebrated the their third annual Music Makers grant program while fundraising for fire relief in Los Angeles <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of the Black Music Action Coalition<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhat BMAC advocacy efforts have you been particularly proud of over the past five years?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tWhat is the function of a gala, then, in the context of this work?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tWhen we first started BMAC, it was imperative to me that we model the organization [after] organizations that have success. One of the issues with leadership is sometimes the wins are not visible and almost not even expected \u2013 we just allow people to sit in leadership positions without a real strategy of how to put W\u2019s on the board. And so for me, I have watched [the LGBTQ+ community] take a social issue and create such a level of urgency around it that not only changed policy, [but it] changed public perception. So we sat down with GLAAD. When I was a child, you could say certain words, and now as an adult, you try, your whole career is over. How do we take that sort of urgency and implement that with the issues that face Black artists and Black creators and Black America as a whole?<\/p>\n \n\tOur report card came from those conversations with GLAAD. They issue a GLAAD report in which they measure LGBTQ+ representation front and behind the camera, and then they have the GLAAD Awards. [A GLAAD representative] said, \u201cWe have to put up the mirror so the public and people can see what this looks like. Let\u2019s remove the veil and really look at it. But at the same time, we have to honor and celebrate those who are getting it right.\u201d So we took those two strategies and implemented them with BMAC.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ve watched leaders come and go and although there have been some real advances from the Civil Rights Act to various wins, I\u2019ve also watched the movement sometimes get complacent. [There\u2019s] a checks-and-balances system that I use for myself, that I use for the organization. If we don\u2019t have solutions, if we don\u2019t have anything to add to the conversation, then it\u2019s time for us to step aside. I didn\u2019t jump in this to have a career in BMAC. Actually, the goal is to not need to be here. The goal is to become obsolete at some point. That is why I think many people appreciate how active we are. If you look at our newsletters, there\u2019s major movements that [are] going on monthly, consistently. It\u2019s because that is the bar that we have set for ourselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThis year, Irving Azoff is being honored at the Gala. What has his partnership been like? That\u2019s a huge figure in the industry, especially as a white ally.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tWhen I wrote about Gunna\u2019s guaranteed income program<\/a>, people were fascinated with the concept of universal basic income implemented by a rapper. Tell me about getting that off the ground in partnership with Gunna, especially because those beneficiaries aren\u2019t in the music industry; they\u2019re just folks in his community.<\/strong> \n\tBy the way, 90% of the money, a half-million-dollar program, he donated himself. He went on tour and created revenue and got partners and BMAC kicked in a very small amount. But we designed and ideated, and now I\u2019m happy to say we are three months into the program right now. The lives that are being affected are so overwhelming. You would think $1,000 isn\u2019t necessarily life-changing money, but for some people it\u2019s a difference between their lights on and off, the difference between groceries in that refrigerator or not, gas in that car, the ability to pay for your daughter\u2019s senior pictures. That pressure that exists in our neighborhoods, and sometimes our industry is removed from the understanding what \u201cI\u2019m down to my last five dollars\u201d means.<\/p>\n \n\tEqually as important is the community that we build around them. There\u2019s people who have legal issues that we are able to get lawyers to help them with. Mental health is a big thing, and we\u2019re able to have therapists connecting with them. Financial empowerment. In our community, financial literacy is when your lights get cut off and you realize, \u201cShit, how do we budget to get this back on?\u201d [Now] you\u2019re able to sit down with someone that can help you work within what you have and develop a system that works for you, not just show the cookie-cutter idea of what financial empowerment looks like, but say, \u201cOkay, listen, let\u2019s take this thousand dollars and let\u2019s figure out how we stretch this, how we move this here, how we prioritize this.\u201d Just watching that transformation happen is extremely powerful and gratifying.<\/p>\n \n\tMy parents are deeply philanthropic people, too, from a poor West African country.<\/strong><\/strong> Even as a Black music journalist, at the center of my work is how all these structural issues impact our lives and the art that\u2019s made. Congratulations on being able to marry the entertainment to real social impact.<\/strong>
Just the idea of a beacon of accountability, the industry feeling and knowing that there is a body of people that took those public pledges that they made very seriously and are prepared to hold them extremely accountable to that. The work that we have done policy-wise \u2013 if you don\u2019t change policy, nothing happens. BMAC led the working group that developed the Restoring Artistic Protection Act,<\/a> also known as the RAP Act, the first federal bill to prohibit the use of lyrics to prosecute artists. That bill was able to have state implications. California was the first state to sign the bill that derived from [it] and there\u2019s been three or four other states that have adopted similar measures. I chair an organization now called Free Our Art<\/a>, which specifically is around state legislation prohibiting the use of lyrics weaponizing art and criminalizing artists. And then [BMAC\u2019s] pipeline programs \u2013 we\u2019ve been able to impact almost 6,000 young people in a very direct way over the last five years, create real opportunities for them. The barriers of entry sometimes in this industry for our people are tall. Unless you have the resources or go to the country clubs or have a parent or someone that\u2019s been in the business, it\u2019s very difficult to sort of penetrate this wall in front. [I\u2019m proud of] our ability to put young people directly in the rooms that led to hundreds of jobs, paid internships, and the ability to deploy close to $4 million in direct relief to people, be it supporting artists, supporting emerging talent, supporting aspiring executives or the community at large.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s <\/strong>not a victory lap, our galas, but it\u2019s our rallying point. It\u2019s an opportunity for the music industry to come together and for once, not celebrate record sales, not celebrate streaming numbers, not celebrate those sort of accolades, but how people are using their platform to actually impact society in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n
Irving was one of the founding advisory board members of Black Music Action Coalition<\/a>. He actually was able to bring the late great Quincy Jones and the late great Clarence Avant to the table, and the three of them are our founding board advisory members. Even the Rock Hall of Fame [mentorship program], that came because [Rock Hall chairman] John Sykes and Irving sit on the board together. When John came to them asking, \u201cWhat are some of the ideas?\u201d Irving and Jeff Azoff immediately pointed him to me. I mean, we stood with Irv when we were challenging the seven-year statute with the Fair Act <\/a>\u00a0three years ago, which we still haven\u2019t got off the table. We didn\u2019t get it passed, but that\u2019s still on the table. I just think someone of that magnitude [advocating] for the artist community the way he has throughout his career is something that should be honored and should be modeled [after]. The way he has been an ally to issues that the Black Music Coalition has brought forth has been remarkable.<\/p>\n
Ebonie Ward, who is Gunna\u2019s manager, is on our executive leadership council. So she came to me right after Gunna was released, and I think they were very impressed with the work that we were doing around the RAP Act \u2013 which was prior to Gunna and Thug being arrested. So she came to me: \u201cWhat can we do?\u201d I was always impressed with what Gunna had already been doing in his community. To me, authenticity is the key, not posturing [some] sort of idea of solidarity. I watched him create Gunna\u2019s Great Giveaway<\/a> in South Fulton, I watched him create the pantries in schools for people to get food to eat, the Drip Closet where you can go get clothes to wear. The guy was already doing the work. We had success with our ACM program in Nashville, we had success with the Rock Hall program. My goal has always been to get artists to create [guaranteed income] programs. That\u2019s the ultimate goal.<\/p>\n
I thank you for that. You triggered one thing I want to say before we hang up. As we look to expand our work, it is definitely global. In 2026, we\u2019ll launch a lot of our global initiatives. So many of the programs that we have here in terms of our Music Maker grants, even BMAC Live<\/a>, we\u2019ll be doing in the UK and in parts of the continent. In addition to that, we have a serious focus on educating our artists and executives on the continent about IP protection. With the rise of Afrobeats and Amapiano music, if we don\u2019t educate and wrap our arms around the creative community on the continent, the same cultural appropriation that happened with Black musicians and Black artists here since the 1920s [will] happen over there.<\/p>\n