Alicia Keys: "Artists Should Speak Their Minds" 1/9/07

R&B star Alicia Keys has hit out at the music industry for being too concerned with mainstream popularity to speak out on controversial political issues.

The Fallin' singer, an anti-war campaigner and active fundraiser for several African AIDS charities, isn't one to shy away from speaking her mind.

She says, "I think music and socialism and politics have always gone hand in hand. As artists we used to be way more instrumental in providing a soundtrack to the heartbeat of what's going on in the world.

"We all don't have to think the same thing, but it's important to state what we think. There is such a fear of termination of one's career if they have any intelligent thought about politics and that's messed up."