This has been done before with the terms 'Xerox', and 'Vaseline.’ These words cannot be used in a commercial application. He also explained that the word Rock-N-Roll is trademarked by a major label

record executive who at the time could not charge a licensing fee. AMO Inc is giving record labels and performers a one-month grace period to get their business affairs in order. He estimated the average fee will be anywhere from $2-5 thousand plus residual fees per project. Permission to use the word will be on a case by case basis. In addition any future projects released using the term ' Hip Hop' will have to have the 'TM' symbol next to the word. 

Critics charge exploitation and blackmail. "This is not about culture, but about business," he said. "The laws have been set up for anyone and everyone to use. Hip Hop is a big multi-billion dollar a year business. I was surprised that a big executive like Russell Simmons or Clive Davis or even business savy

rappers like Jay-Z, P-Diddy or Eminem never trademarked the phrase. You don't do business in America without protecting your assets. It's just plain stupid to leave yourself this wide open. If the Hip Hop community is that dumb when it comes to business then too bad.

I’m not the bad guy". When asked if he intends to share any of the profits from licensing the word 'Hip Hop' with any of Hip Hop's pioneers including Lovebug Starski who first coined the phrase back in the lates 70s or the word, Gonahangya laughed. "I never heard of a Mr. Starski and as for sharing profits with people from Africa. No my people are originally from Denmark, Norway." When another reporter told

Gonahangya that Afrika Bambaataa was someone's name, Gonahangya shrugged it off and said he had no intentions of sharing the profits with anyone but his company and his family." However, he did offer a discounted licensing fee for Starski and Bambaataa since they coined and helped popularized the term.

Gonahangya has very little tolerance and respect for those attempting to use the phrase Hip Hop for political gain. "Recently the term 'Hip Hop' has been positioned as a progressive/liberal movement. That's unfair and a totally one-sided approach to what is an American institution. Hip Hop is for everyone.

“It is not a slick political campaign tool for Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Hillary Clinton," he said. He became evasive when asked if he would allow the term Hip Hop to be used by any of the conservative

organizations that he regularly associates with and lobbies for. "To be honest we have not ruled them out. We believe that Hip Hop needs to be politically balanced. For years Hip Hop has been associated with liberal causes that have totally undermined the moral fiber of this country. We will be very selective as to how Hip Hop will be used politically", he said. Gonahangya continued; "You will not be seeing billboards or magazine ads with the words 'Hip Hop’ and Reparations, 'Hip Hop' and Affirmative Action or even 'Hip Hop' and Black Power anytime soon. We intend to aggressively go after any violators and prosecute.

This about political integrity and money." "He told us we were in violation of his trademark law and that we’d have to pay licensing fee if we wanted to keep the word 'Hip Hop," said Greg Watkins, webmaster of the popular site allhiphop.com."We checked with our lawyers and found out that we were safe because we are allhiphop and not just 'hip hop'.” According to famed New York, copyright attorney Arnold Esquire Sullivan the new provisions does indeed give AMO Inc the right to trademark and collect a licensing fee. If the word is made up or unique to the American lexicon then it can be trademarked and people will have to pay a fee if they wish to use it in any sort of business endeavor. "It's a shame people went to sleep on this. I hate to say this but Negroes had better wake up and start smelling the coffee,” said Sullivan.

He concluded by noting that failure to comply with the new trademark laws can result in serious economic repercussions and a stiff 5 year prison sentence. He noted that the stiff prison sentence came after music industry executives and software companies lobbied congress for

harsher penalties for bootleggers and other 'copyright' thieves'. "Unfortunately this new trademark

law as it pertains to the phrase Hip Hop can potentially land people in jail if they try to make a profit off it," Sullivan noted.

A big corporation now owns Hip Hop. Nonpolitical, independent record labels and artist can obtain a

lifetime license to use the word Hip Hop for 500 dollars. "Let it not be said I don't care for the underdog",

he said. AMO Inc is all about helping the downtrodden.”