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Estelle: 'UK Music Industry Doesn't Know What To Do With Black Artists'

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Estelle: 'UK Music Industry Doesn't Know What To Do With Black Artists'
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The UK’s number one, Estelle, has criticised the UK music industry for failing to capitalise on music by black artists.

The R&B singer says that she doesn’t understand why urban acts such as Ms Dynamite, Jamelia and Mis-Teeq have failed to maintain success.

“They all got dropped for some reason! Some were at the height of their career and they got dropped. I don't understand it,” she told the BBC.

“There was the emergence of people perceiving urban music to be dead. Well, it's not dead, you just don't know what to do with it.”

The London singer, who last released a record in the UK four years ago, is currently at number one with her comeback single, ‘American Boy’, which features Kanye West.

When asked whether she felt that the UK music industry knew what to do with black musicians, she replied: “They definitely don't. It's hard, but it's up to us to show them.”
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  • Racist!

    ~ by Tis I 3/25/2008

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  • Maybe if they weren’t fucking shit...

    ~ by qwerty 3/25/2008

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    • shit? ms dynamite is probably one of the best british artists of the last ten years.. actually took the time to listen to one of her songs? they actually have meaning.. not like ur girls aloud and spice girls shit..

      ~ by A 4/3/2008

  • She’s got a point. And how many black faces do we see here other than Kele Okereke or indie-approved acts?

    ~ by Fred Zeppelin 3/25/2008

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  • Pure racist.

    ~ by Sean 3/25/2008

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  • I dont agree with her... Then what about coloured acts that are doing great in the UK, but are not British like Rihanna, Chris Brown, Flo Rida, Soulja Boy... They are black and they do sell... The problem is not because they are black... Maybe hmm... Did they release awful ”sophomore” albums??? Have you ever heard of a ”sophomore slump” Estelle??? And this didn’t happen to just Jamelia etc... It has also happened to ”white” artists... KT Tunstall, James

    ~ by Steve 3/25/2008

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  • Unfortunatly I agree, and I pains me. It seems that the UK industry always tries to concentrate urban marketing at the yoofs/chavs and therefore alienates anyone over the mental age of 12. I mean, do you know anyone over the age of 25 who doesn’t consider current r’n’b/hip-hop something they should have grown out of? Big shame.

    ~ by Alien8ed 3/26/2008

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  • I think it all down to over kill. Hip hop and r/b was every where. Every one got board with it and it was time to move on. The same is now happening to solo artists with an acoustic guitar. The suits see that ones doing well and they all sign em up. The UK music scene has always been progressive and any type of music regardless of race or type will always come and go.

    ~ by john 3/26/2008

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  • I blame 1Xtra, why aren’t mainstream British black acts just played on Radio 1? It’s segregation by another means.

    ~ by Andy 3/27/2008

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  • thats not racist. u guys are so uneducated and really do need to educate yourself on the black music scene. estelle was speaking about black uk artists... they dont get as much support over here as they would in america. estelle is an amazing artist, yet uk record labels fail to support her, however she goes to the states... gets support... a number one hit record. black artists like chris brown have the support from the big us labels therefore get success both overseas and in the states.

    ~ by miss t 3/28/2008

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  • what is a coloured act james?

    ~ by masterk 3/28/2008

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  • it s true misteeq and ms dynamite it s the same of actress in FBI portes disparus she went in USA to become famous

    ~ by sherif 3/30/2008

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  • She’s not being racist. I think she has more insight into the music business as she’s an artist. And to say black artists are ”fucking shit?” Who’s the racist now? It’s hardly racist to say that the UK music industry doesn’t know how to handle black artists.

    ~ by Susan 4/25/2008

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  • Nothing she said makes her racist....i believe that it’s easier for to be popular here in the US because when the recs think of hip hop and rnb they think black people only honestly white rappers are laughed at over here but in UK apparently recs just make more money when they promote a white rapper and i’d actually buy they white rapper’s music over the black rapper because for me it’s different than what we have in the US.

    ~ by yans 5/3/2008

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  • Estelle also complained ’indie bands’’ as being too numerous to know the difference. Is this because it generally isn’’t a Genre Black people like? I go to Indie Gigs and it isn’’t really A Black choice, But a white rock Band can sell out 02, Wembly etc, etc, Is it Racist that there are lots of bands out there, or is it Business sense from the record industry to try go with what sells? What will Estelle Do when her

    ~ by Legend 6/14/2008

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