FEATURED ESSAYS 1. Music Censorship 2. Censorship In Society 3. Violence Due To The Media 4. The Censorship In The American So... 5. What Happened To Our Rights? 6. The First Amendment 7. Against Federal Censorship Of The... 8. Censorship...Who Gives A F**k!!! 9. Censorship Threatens Freedom Of S... 10. Anti-Censorship 11. The First Account Of Censorship 12. Internet Censorship 13. Censorship Of American Music 14. The Misconception Of Classical Mu...

Censorship of Rap Music


    Recently we have been hearing a lot about the need for censorship of
television and recording industries. Whether it is the cartoon Beavis and
Butthead, the controversial television drama NYPD Blue or rap recording
artists, someone always s eems to arguing about their negative effects on
society and the need for government regulation.

    Being a fan of rap, I am particularly interested in issues effecting
regulation of the recording industry and rap artists.  Popular "gangsta
rappers" include Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dog, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, and Ice
Tea.  Many are outraged at the explicit lyrics of the songs and the
lifestyles of these artists.  Snoop Doggy Dog and Tupac Shakur are two of
the most publicized "gansta rappers" whose songs contain explicit lyrics
and  who have been indicted for  criminal activities.

    Snoop Doggy dog is a native of Long Beach, California. His mother named
him Snoopy because of his long face and droopy ears.  Growing up, Snoop was
a member of the Golgotha Trinity Baptist youth choir and an excellent
basketball player.  However , shortly after his graduation from high school,
he landed in jail for possession of cocaine. Recently Snoop was arrested
for murder.  On August twenty- fifth Snoop was driving his late model Jeep
in Palms, California.  He met up with Philip Woldemar iam, who according to
Snoop's attorney, had a long history of threatening Snoop. Snoop's
bodyguard shot Woldermariam twice in the back, killing him.  On December
eighth, Snoop was arraigned for murder, but later found innocent. Many of
the lyrics in Snoop's songs degrade women, encourage the use of marijuana
and glorify violence against authority.

    Another publicized case involves rapper Tupac Shakur. Many know him for
his starring role in the movie "Poetic Justice" with Janet Jackson.  Tupac
Shakur's song "Keep Ya Head Up" contains such lyrics as

        "I wonder why we take from our women Why we rape our women Do we
        hate our women? I think it's time we care for our women Time to
        heal our women."

Despite the lyrics encouraging men to respect women, Shakur was recently
arrested for sexually abusing a woman in a midtown hotel.  This arrest came
two weeks after Shakur was arrested for allegedly shooting two off duty
police officers after a traffic dispute in Atlanta.

    Proponents of rap feel that all rappers are protected under the first
amendment.  They also feel that rap is a cultural art form, reflecting
ghetto life and that criticism of rap is another form of racism.  One of
the men who has been influential in speaking out against "gangsta rap", its
explicit lyrics and unworthy role models is the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Jackson states," Anyone, white or black, who makes money calling our women
bitches and our people niggers will have to face the wrath of our
indignation."  The Reverend Calvin Butts, the minister of the Abyssinian
Baptist Church in Harlem, has also mounted a crusade against explicit music.
 Last summer he held a rally at which he ran over offending tapes and CDs 
with a steamrolle r.  The vice- president of the United States wife, Tipper
Gore, has launched her own crusade.  In her book, Raising PG Kids in an X-
rated Society , she takes the music industry to task for glamorizing sex
and violence in material targeted to kids. She has encouraged record
companies to label all albums and tapes that have sexually explicit lyrics.
 Also, radio stations such a KACE-FM  in Los Angeles are adopting policies
to ban all songs that degrade women or promote drugs and violence.

    To determine the views of students here on the need for censorship of
the recording industry, I conducted a survey which posed the following
questions:

    1.  Do you listen to Rap music?  Seventy percent of the
        respondents indicated that they listened to Rap music
        on a regular basis.

    2.  Do you own any Rap CDs or tapes with explicit lyrics?
        Forty percent of those surveyed indicated that thy did.

    3.  Do you think Rap lyrics are a bad influence on society?
        Seventy-five percent believed that the lyrics had a
        negative influence on society.

    4.  Do you think that the government should censor Rap recordings?
        Only five percent of the respondents believed it was
        the government's  responsibity to censor Rap.

        One thing is clear and that is that there are strong opinions on
both sides of the issue.  In my opinion, the worst solution would be to
allow the government to legislate what can be written, what TV shows can be
aired and what music can be produced.  I believe the consumers and
producers should be charged with the ultimate responsibility of censorship.
Consumers are free to boycott literature, records and programs that they
deem  unacceptable and producers will be quick to respond when profits are
diminished.