Mr. Gray,

Recently you took offense at my post of your brother-in-arms JasiriX’s latest music video “Dear Debra,” and expressed your displeasure by flooding Twitter, Hustleknockin.com and other sites with assorted slams against me. So now it’s my turn to respond:

First off, you called my post a “lame attempt at journalism”.

Well Paradise, you couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m a professional writer, a published author and a long time op-ed columnist with national online readership. The one thing I am not is a journalist. I’ve never been a working journalist nor have I ever claimed to be a professional journalist.

Secondly, Hustleknockin.com is not a news site nor has it ever been positioned as a news site,;though it does feature discussions of news and current events. HK.com is first and foremost a promotional outlet for my book KNOCK THE HUSTLE. (The KTH book covers in the side columns, allude to as much.) HK.com is also an outlet for opinions, music reviews, and related topics that I and HK’s guest writers find interesting. Which brings me to Jasiri X:

I posted Jasiri X’s video as a favor to a friend—something I rarely do when it comes to musicians. Your response represents a big reason why I don't do it very often; but I’ll get to that in a sec.

Now when I was asked to post “Dear Debra” I wasn’t familiar with it. But I watched it, liked it and I thought my readers should see it. I qualified the video with my regret that Jasir X is not a nationally known artist, which was unfortunate because the song had a good message that would’ve benefited from a platform that a bigger artist could’ve provided.

Consider back when Nas said “hiphop is dead”: Was Nas the first artist to say this? Hardly.  He wasn't even the most recent figure to say it. But Nas was the most famous to say it; consequently hiphop's "death" became a cultural meme and a point of national discourse.  It’s not who starts a movement or who puts in the most work. It’s who can you get to join and champion a cause with you that makes the difference.

When I wrote, “If you want Debra Lee or anyone part of the hiphop music media establishment to hear this, you’ve gotta be part of the establishment." People have been criticizing BET for years yet the only folks BET listens to are major music outlets and advertisers. (Ask Aaron McGruder how his one-man war against BET was going until major outlets/figures joined in.)

Also, claiming that had I “googled Jasiri X I'd know more about him” only further cements my point: If people need to google you because they have no intuitive top-of-mind-awareness of you, then the lack of awareness is as much on you as them.

As for  sharing pics of Jasiri X with Obama, Russell Simmons, etc. as proof of his status:

So what?

I’ve taken pics with famous people and it doesn’t validate me as a writer. People don’t read my book or my blog because I’ve been photographed with Fortune 500 CEOs and famous athletes. They do so because they like what I write, which is why I don’t post those kinds of pics—I’ve got nothing to prove. I would imagine Jasiri X’s rep works the same—people like his music, not his photo-ops.

To that end, there’s no shame in not being famous or in being an underground artist as I called Jasiri X. It doesn’t make his work or his art any less artistic or of an inherently lower quality.  But you seem to think it does, hence your attacks.

And to your question: if Davey D or Jeff Chang had written KNOCK THE HUSTLE it would 've easily sold more books and gotten more press as those men have higher profiles than I; which again, you proved my point of how the messenger's status influences how the message spreads.

Mr. Gray, here’s a suggestion:

Instead of attacking bloggers who are actually interested helping spread Jasiri X’s music, try saying to those bloggers, “Thanx for posting Jasiri X’s work—here’s his latest project. Check it out. Also, we're available for interviews as we'd like to further engage your audience about Dear Debra and related subject matter."