Back in September, Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner released a book where they interviewed seven musicians. While these musicians are legendary, everyone wondered why Wenner only spoke to white men. In their book, Wenner stated that black people and women weren't smart enough to speak about rock music. Wenner would double down in a New York Times interview, which they later apologized for. As a black person who has been involved in the rock scene for nearly 20 years, Wenner said the quiet part loud about how U.S.-based music publications really feel about black folk in the scene.

I got my start in the New Jersey music scene around 2005 as a radio host for my college radio station WUCR in Cranford, New Jersey. I quickly became music director for the station, which meant having to decide what music would fit best for the station. I decided to head to local shows to find some bands to place in our database. One meeting led to me booking local and touring bands for a few years while handling work at the radio station. In 2009, I decided to hop into the world of music journalism/blogging as a writer for now-defunct website Fake Walls (originally known as The NJ Underground). In 2014, I started writing for Examiner (also defunct) and AXS before launching this site you're on right now (MP3s and NPCs) back in 2019.

My time heavily involved in the New Jersey music scene is filled with more sorrow than joy. While I became acquainted with a handful of bands, a vast majority of musicians and music journalists/bloggers didn't take someone like me seriously. There's only one music journalist in the area who actually cared about my takes and thoughts on the rock scene. Everyone else just saw a black guy pretending in their minds. As expected, there have been a handful of New Jersey music documentaries released (or soon to be released) that intentionally exclude the contributions of people of color in the rock scene. If you're looking for a New Jersey documentary that actually understands diversity, please check out Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock & Roll.

When I would often go to New York City for concerts and industry events, I dealt with the same level of mistreatment. I would get introduced to older white men that wrote for Rolling Stone and Billboard in the past who chuckled when they were told I was a rock critic. There was an incident where someone from Revolver Magazine called me a racial slur because they believed metal is only for white men. Covering music festivals/events was never fun, either. There have been a handful of occasions where folks from other U.S.-based music sites assumed I stole the press badge/wristband I wore. Seconds afterwards, a white guy would come into the press area and everyone's eyes would light up. They never met this person before, but they were a white guy, so they were accepted.

In 2019, I relocated to Los Angeles to embark on a career in music supervision. This also meant checking out the local scene and hitting up some venues. Much like New Jersey, I don't feel safe going to shows here. I didn't feel safe going to one of those LA Rock Collective gigs. I didn't feel safe going to [insert random dive bar] for a show. Last year, I attended a concert when a random attendee decided to tap me on the shoulder. I looked over and they showed me their phone with the message "I'm surprised to see someone like you here." Surprise surprise, I was the only black person at the show. That ruined the rest of the night for me.

As a black guy covering rock music, one question I get asked is why I don't cover rock bands with black people in them. The answer is pretty simple: a lot of publicists refuse to pitch black rock bands to black critics outside of Afropunk. I have to write for Afropunk in order to be notified about acts like Bartees Strange or Meet Me @ The Altar. In fact, I have several publicists who flaunt black rock bands in my face on social media, but they refuse to shoot me an email about them. The funny thing is that when I see one of these acts live via someone else inviting me, I'm still the only black person in the crowd.

With my website, I dive into the world of video games, which has seen a rise in diversity over the years. There's still some work to be done, though. It's disheartening seeing a livestream featuring black developers get thousands of dislikes days before it airs from feeble incels who do nothing but cry "Woke" at anything including P.O.C. and/or women.

Every single music publication based in the United States is 100% to blame for the lack of diversity in rock criticism. There have been a couple of occassions when I asked to be on a rock podcast only to be told, "Can you do the episode in February since that's your month?" These conversations took place in the summer. A lot of these publications have been flaunting their "diversity over the years" nonsense YET I still don't see any P.O.C. or women sitting at the table. Hiring a black guy to write a news article about Title Fight in 2012 and forgetting about them until now isn't diversity. Hiring an Asian person and ignoring all of their pitches isn't diversity. Hiring said Asian person and giving their pitches to white guys on staff isn't diversity. There's a Jann Wenner in every single one of these publications.

Last year, I contacted Idobi Radio to pitch a show at the station. I contacted them on a couple occasions but never got a response. I decided to check their roster and found out that the only black people on their station are on a show about geek culture. In my mind, I thought to myself, "I guess they reached their quota on someone like me," and I have to feel that way because of how I've been treated this whole time. It's hard for me to apply to work for publications because I know they'll completely ignore me but brag about their non-existent diversity.

The U.K. is light years ahead of America when it comes to diversity in rock criticism. Black women are interviewing Metallica, which would NEVER happen under Wenner's watch. It's almost like I have to relocate to the U.K. in order to be accepted because America clearly doesn't want to see someone like me at the table. It's wild seeing so much diversity in fields such as comic books, anime, hip hop, and wrestling YET people will only take white men seriously in rock criticism. If a group of white men was forced to have either a woman or a P.O.C. at the table for a rock podcast, they would kill two birds with one stone and have a P.O.C. woman at the table just to give them even less time to talk. The only thing that woman would be able to say is "Hello" before they just sat there quietly while the men bickered for an hour.

All of these U.S.-based music publications can deliver their ChatGPT rebuttals to my statements, but what I'm saying is true. I can't be jealous of other black folks in rock criticism because there's no one here to be jealous of! Outside of Afropunk, these publications don't have someone like me talking about bands like Bad Religion or Foo Fighters. If they DO have black folk, they probably bury their contributions and only let them wave to the crowd during February.

Since starting this whole thing in 2005, it's been taking a huge toll on my mental health. I've always felt alone and that I wasn't welcome here. There have been days where I cry because I feel like I'm wasting my time. Still, I write about music because I love supporting people. It's hard listening to music sometimes because in the back of my mind, I believe my takes and views wouldn't really matter to the band or their publicist.

When Wenner delivered their horrid statement about black people/women in rock music, that destroyed me. To have the co-founder of easily the most influential music publication ever basically tell me that I'm too stupid to understand rock music is heartbreaking. No one should accept Wenner's bland apology. Decades of interviews/features with black and female musicians in Rolling Stone are forever tainted by their words.