What is confusing is WHERE the funding is coming from. Initially, the accusation was that the label Rawkus, which distributes Official Recordings, was funded by Rupert Murdoch's son. Rupert Murdoch is the owner of Fox and invested in billions of media dollars worldwide. He has even attempted to launch a satellite network in the U.S. to compete with DirecTV and USSB — one wonders if CoFlow videos wouldn't air on one of their channels. (insert sarcastic smirk)
The other accusation is that Company Flow is funded by David Geffen, which seems somewhat more unlikely but perhaps more plausible for that very reason. This fact has been reported by many sources, including several prominent Internet radio shows such as the one that airs weekly on truehiphop.com in association with the crew 45 Below.
Where does this leave us? Confused and concerned. Company Flow has been held up as the standard for bucking corporate control and creating fat hip-hop music without major labels or national record distribution, and doing it better than the "Big Willie" labels do. Now their steelo's credibility has been seriously jeapordized, even if the accusations don't prove to be true. Is anybody truly "independent" in the music business?
Perhaps in the end, it doesn't matter — and it shouldn't. Company Flow produced a great album which, although it may have espoused an ethic contradictory to their own reality, still contains fat beats and lyrical flows. Ultimately, they should be judged by the caliber of their content, just as any recording artist on any label should be. Too often people treat labels AS more important than the artist: if it's from Bad Boy Entertainment, it's a hit; if it's from Wild Pitch, it's gonna be f*cked. Neither one encompasses the truth and this sort of limited thinking never has in ANY genre of music.
Peace, Flash
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