Yes You Suck!! "Um ... Thank You"?

Before American Idol if you wanted to get into the entertainment industry you went through a lot, I mean an awful lot of stuff just to get seen, heard, read, etc. With cowardice, an artist who had a little bit of nerve would send a tape, query, or cover letter to someone who they would never see, and who would never listen to their tape, read their query or just outright throw their cover letter in the trash. To no ones surprise, they were never signed on as an artist, never received that job as an A&R and most certainly were never hired to write any articles on other artists.

Yet today we have shows like American Idol, which bring about a sense of democratization to the process. People are actually picked from millions on a combination of charisma, personality and talent, as opposed to merely talent alone, which is often all you can sense through a tape. There is no surprise that you are the big fat Black woman with the talent because everyone involved can see you upfront, nothing to hide behind.

Sure American Idol judges have to wade through videos of contestants, but that is a lot better than handing over a tape or CD. Video, as opposed to merely audio. It would be the same as a writer back in the day sending an MPEG4 of themselves to Random House stating that "yes I am a woman, but I can write as good as any man if not better". Well okay perhaps if they had that technology back in the days of "Pride and Prejudice" but you get my point.

So why all of the controversy when a judge is harsh, why all of the booing? Back in the day you actually performed before audiences that not only booed you, but threw tomatoes and vegetables at the stage. In fact you may have been on the stage at the Apollo theatre in Harlem, and were not only embarrassed on television, but had thousands of people who didn't know you in the audience beg to have you pulled for the stage, so what gives?