Til The Trumpets Blow!

Its been brought to my attention that Blogger has shut down the Louisiana Rap Blog. I know that there are people on both sides of this debate but the debate itself does not interest me. Data, like people, has a drive to reproduce, its what its best at and on account of that it Can't Be Stopped. We could outlaw giving birth and see similar results.

It's a little unusual that LR got shut down in my mind because the releases it shared were small ones and those MP3s were the only likely way for that music to be distributed throughout most of the world. Many releases were OOP and even the ones that are not are certainly not stocked in stores and for the most part are not available elsewhere online except on Ebay (excepting Tommy Wright who btw is not responding to my "re:Ebay item..." emails, which is concerning) where a purchase is not likely to benefit the artist or label, entities which, believe it or not, fans like us respect.

On the other hand it is not weird, because all it takes is a single complaint to shut down a blog. It doesn't take a trial, or an investigation or even a conversation. That's a pretty powerful form of censorship and the only tool at your disposal as a blogger on Blogger.com is the ability to request a review. I really do want to encourage 7th Ward to pursue a review, even if restoration is unlikely. If you used and appreciated his site I would encourage you to email him with a few words of support @ louisianarap@hotmail.com. The reason I say this is that few people bother making the effort to do a blog like that, even if it is a terse and slow one and the discouragement of getting shut down not only prevents them from starting over but also keeps others from taking on the task.

Still, please realize that for now, the site STILL exists in Google's cache. So, right now you can still visit the site and download all active links. Right now I am even compiling a google document of all the active links in case this disappears from the cache and will gladly share it in that event. To get to the site simply google "lousiana rap blog" and click on the "cached" hyperlink. What we will do, as a community of Bounce Rap fanatics, is use google's various services to thwart google's various transgressions.

As far as T&G goes: we will not be shutdown. There is a plan of action in the event of an emergency, so don't sweat it.

ALSO: a word to artists - I don't know any blogger who will not respect a request to remove a link. If you register a complaint directly with us we can resolve any disagreement in a manner that doesn't destroy a body of work and disservice the world wide fans of your music.