bell hooks' writing about rap & Leesoid's blog have me wanting to say a million things, but since I'm presenting tonight & i'll probably talk more than enough then, I'll try to just mark a few main points:

-hooks writes that "much postmodernist critical inquiry has centered precisely on the issues of 'difference' and 'otherness'...in the absence of any sustained research into what artists of color and others outside the mainstream might be up to..."

First of all, where is all the research? Does it even exist? I've spent the past hour looking for some supporting evidence of a statistic that I've cited and heard many times in my life, but never gotten around to actually looking up: 80% of rap, r&b, and jazz production companies are owned by whites. Has anyone else heard this, and can anyone find any solid source?