It was announced last month that civil rights activist and politician Rev. Al Sharpton had inked a book deal with Cash Money Records’ publishing affiliate, Cash Money Content. Rev. Sharpton’s memoir The Rejected Stone is to be released under the deal with the hip-hop imprint, but one of Rev. Sharpton’s former associates is accusing him of hypocrisy and selling out. Carl Redding believes that Rev. Sharpton is wrong for signing the deal with a label that he feels creates music that exploits and degrades black people.
“As one who has spent years publicly crusading against the harmful effect of misogynistic lyrics on our young people, it’s clear that your decision to cut a lucrative financial deal with those who propagate such destructive images in our community, is the latest example of your failed leadership,” Redding wrote in an open letter published on RapRehab.com. “Dr. Martin Luther King, who you claim to emulate, is doing somersaults in his grave.”
“Your decision to cooperate and do business with a record label that routinely calls black women outside of their name, is deeply problematic and begs the question: where is your commitment to the black community?” he adds.
It should also be noted that Rev. Sharpton met with the family of Emmett Till and PepsiCo during the controversy surrounding Cash Money Records superstar Lil Wayne‘s “Karate Chop” lyrics. And Wayne fired disses at Sharpton back in 2008 on his album Tha Carter III.
The Rejected Stone is due for release on October 8.
