Michael Jackson is my Ms. Jenkins. Don’t nobody say nothing bad about Michael Jackson. Not during the so-called molestation accusations, hanging baby gate, sleeping chambers, whatever, don’t say nothing bad about Michael Jackson (I even hate the nickname Jacko…sounds like an insult).

People thought (and still think) Mike was crazy. But was he?

I had an idea that he had problems but I never knew what they were. I also never knew what those problems stemmed from — we’re not talking about problems dealing with identity, we all have those problems — I’m talking about Jackson’s sudden financial problems.

They (media) try to attribute it to lavish spending and Neverland, animals and shit, but doing the research to this showed me what the real problem was…Michael Jackson owned ATV Publishing (The Beatles Catalog)…and that was the problem. It was a problem from day one but as Labels began to consolidate it became serious. And this is how it manifested itself.

MJ bought ATV in 85 with the account administered by Walter Yetnikoff’s CBS. But then in the Fall of 86 CBS publishing interests are bought by a company, SBK. SBK is Stephen Swid (the S), Martin Bandier (the B), and that K, you guessed it, Charles Koppelman. SBK didn’t own ATV, but they had leverage (after landing that deal, Koppelman called his wife and told her “our children are protected, our grandchildren are protected”). A year later, November of 87, Sony bought CBS Records (comprised of Columbia, Portrait, and Epic, Jackson’s label) for $2 Billys.

When it came time for Mike’s contract to come to an end, Sony buttered Jackson up; some o’ Thanksgiving turkey buttering. Check how the LA Times describes it:

Jackson, 32, reportedly could receive more than $120 million per album if sales match the 40-million-plus level of his smash mid-’80s album “Thriller.” Two sources close to the talks said the reclusive singer is guaranteed an advance payment of $5 million per record plus a 25% royalty from each album based on retail sales.

Sounds good, right? Jackson got an $18 Million dollar advance for Dangerous which shipped 7M in the US alone and went on to sell 32M worldwide, it was an album that was bigger than Bad (and it was like MJ’s return to Blackness for many of us). Great, right? Well…no…now the games began.

For the next ten years Mike was wrapped up in controversy. His sanity was questioned and he was engulfed in legal matters. As a result, MJ had to start taking out loans from Sony who were happy to oblige. Eventually, he merged ATV with Sony for $115 Million and a $10 Million stipend. Sony were happy to oblige.

But check it, MJ released a couple of albums between then (91) and Invincible in 2001. Unlike the previous releases, I don’t remember any fanfare about a new Michael Jackson release…do you? I was in HMV in Times Square daily (I worked down the street and would go on my breaks) and I can’t recall any end-caps, posters, tables of CDs, nothing for the album — and Invincible has some BANGERS — “Butterflies” and “Heaven Can Wait” are just two.

Mike got “bold” and started speaking out about Sony. The first instance was when he was in London, June of 2002 where he said:

And… Sony…Sony… Being the artist that I am, at Sony I’ve generated several billion dollars for Sony, several billon. They really thought that my mind is always on music and dancing. It usually is, but they never thought that this performer — myself — would out think them. Michael Jackson

But it was his words at an Al Sharpton function, National Action Network’s Summit for Fairness in the Recording Industry, that really ruffled some feathers:

The minute I surpassed Elvis and the Beatles, they called me a freak, a homosexual, a child molester. They said I bleached my skin. Everything to turn the public against me. It was a complete conspiracy. . . . I know my race. I just look in the mirror. I know I’m Black.

He topped that off by calling the then CEO of Sony, Tommy Mottola, a devil. Seven years later, June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead. I had heard about it when I was staying in the Bronx. Loaded up some tapes (yes, tapes) packed my camera, and went and interviewed people at Times Square.

When 2012 rolled around, Sony/ATV made an announcement — they would be the administrator for all of Michael Jackson’s music as per his estate, the Chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV at the time…Martin Bandier. In March of 2016 it was announced that Sony would be acquiring the other half of Michael Jackson’s ATV’s Publishing for $750 million.

Now, ATV is in the hands of Bandier (albeit through Sony) — took, 30 years —destroying Michael Jackson’s life and credibility, bleeding him dry of funds — but nonetheless, Bandier now has control of the Publishing that he and Koppelman founded a company to purchase.

A year later (July 17) Quincy Jones was suing Sony/ATV for royalties. When asked by lawyer, Howard Weitzman how Jones felt about suing Michael Jackson, he made it plain for them by saying, “I’m not suing Michael, I’m suing ya’ll.”

David Bowie was getting his Black cred with the backing help of Ava Cherry, Robin Clark, and Luther Vandross long before my “Ashes to Ashes” intro of Mr. “Let’s Dance,” and by the time Bowie was being rejuvenated with the sounds of Niles Rogers, he had already gone through his first Soul phase, the Berlin Trilogy, and was on his way back to Black.

Most of us know Bowie from “Fame” or that 1983, Nile Rogers production (if we know him at all). But I would argue that Bowie’s biggest influence on Black folk has nothing to do with music, at least not in the typical way. Nope. What I think has had the longer lasting impression is what became known as the “Bowie Bond.”

In 1997 Bowie hooked up with David Pullman, then the managing director of Structured Asset Sales Group, and came up with the first financial vehicle of its kind. What Pullman did was package all of Bowie’s pre-1990 publishing into a Bond. That Bond’s value was based on the projected amount the Bowie Catalog would generate over the next ten years. That process took four months with Pullman getting the Bond rated by Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.

The Bond made sense to Bowie and more importantly, it made sense to investors with Prudential purchasing the whole lot of the bonds for $55M. Bowie got some upfront money and Pullman’s new financial vehicle was touted as a great success. But this is what’s interesting to me. Pullman’s next clients were all Black artists. There was: Holland/Dozier/Holland (Apr 18 98), Ashford & Simpson (Nov 30 98), Marvin Gaye Estate (Sep 21 00), etc.

This was seen as a victory for artists. Finally, they no longer had to wait for eternity on royalty checks and in the case of The Isley Brothers (I only know of the Isley’s vs April because of their Pullman Bond) and James Brown, they were able to take care of looming debt with the money from their bonds and all seemed to be right with the world…or did it?