No more bad words in rap

[Fetusaurus Rex]

Hip-hop's Simmons wants to remove offensive words - Yahoo! News

Hip-hop's Simmons wants to remove offensive words

By Daniel Trotta Mon Apr 23, 2:27 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent U.S. hip-hop executive Russell Simmons on Monday recommended eliminating the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" from the recording industry, considering them "extreme curse words."
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The call comes less than two weeks after radio personality Don Imus' nationally syndicated and televised radio show was canceled amid public outcry over Imus calling a women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos."

Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam label and a driving force behind hip-hop's huge commercial success, called for voluntary restrictions on the words and setting up an industry watchdog to recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards.

"We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger'," Simmons and Benjamin Chavis, co-chairmen of the advocacy group Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, said in a statement.

"These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as 'extreme curse words'," it said.

Ho is slang for whore and commonly used in hip-hop music while nigger, a derogatory term for blacks, is among the most highly charged insults in American culture. The slur "nappy," used by Imus, describes the tightly curled hair of many African Americans.

CHANGING STANCE

Monday's statement changed course from another one by Simmons and Chavis dated April 13, a day after Imus' show was canceled, in which they said offensive references in hip-hop "may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression."

The Imus controversy stoked a debate in the United States about how to deal with inflammatory words that are widely considered highly offensive but at the same time commonly and casually used in youth culture.

U.S. black leaders such as
Al Sharpton and
Jesse Jackson have led the charge to suppress offensive words while many artists have argued for freedom of expression. New York City declared a symbolic moratorium on the so-called N-word in February.

"Our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship. Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African Americans and other people of color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images," the statement from Simmons and Chavis said on Monday.

The network recommended the formation of a Coalition on Broadcast Standards that would consist of leading executives from music, radio and television.

 

[Brachiisaurus]

Rap songs will now be only 20 seconds long.

 

[Fetusaurus Rex]

Rap songs will now be only 20 seconds long.

lol well I dont think this type of thing would ever happen, but agreed...

 

[danny81]

thats gay.

 

[Fetusaurus Rex]

thats gay.

you can't say gay on IM anymore.


I think he has a good idea, I think mostly he just wants rap to take a step back and the artists to grow up.

 

[HaRdWoRkInG]

This is just my personal belief, but I think that hip-hop and rap are destroying America.

 

[Dumby]

This is just my personal belief, but I think that hip-hop and rap are destroying America.

If only that was the case, such a easily cured problem. No my friend. Sadly, their are much greater and far more terrible things destroying this country then hip-hop.

 

[HaRdWoRkInG]

If only that was the case, such a easily cured problem. No my friend. Sadly, their are much greater and far more terrible things destroying this country then hip-hop.

I meant to say contributing. My bad. I know that there are many things destroying America.

 

[gr81]

maybe the attitudes are symbolic of a larger problem, but to say its the cause is absurd

 

[forum9351]

I've heard that the origin and original purpose of rap was a way to express the inequalities of society. While that still is prevelant in some of today's rap songs, it's now more about materialism and violence.

 

[KelJu]

If only that was the case, such a easily cured problem. No my friend. Sadly, their are much greater and far more terrible things destroying this country then hip-hop.

Like stupidity, and you are the root cause of it.

 

[clemson357]

Apparently, the following slurs and generalizations are not offensive and therefore should not be banned: spic, wet back, guito, chinc, cracker, honky, redneck, faggot, slut, homo, and queer.

 

[Witchblade]

In that case I think Simmons is a slutty faggot.

 

[DontStop]

I dont think it's all that bad. If people dont want to hear swears they can listen to the radio edit. One of my fav songs is Dead Wrong by Biggy, anbd if they cut out the swears then all you'd hear is the instrumentals.

On a side note, I can stand it when im listening to a song and they bleep out a word. It ruins the song. If a musician wants to say nigger bitch cunt vagina, then let them. It's their expression, and if nobody likes it the "I'll fuck em from the back, but Smalls dont get down like that"

 

[Goodfella9783]

I dont think it's all that bad. If people dont want to hear swears they can listen to the radio edit. One of my fav songs is Dead Wrong by Biggy, anbd if they cut out the swears then all you'd hear is the instrumentals.

On a side note, I can stand it when im listening to a song and they bleep out a word. It ruins the song. If a musician wants to say nigger bitch cunt vagina, then let them. It's their expression, and if nobody likes it the "I'll fuck em from the back, but Smalls dont get down like that"

If you like Dead Wrong you should listen to "It's Like That" by Talib Kweli, Ludacris and Game

 

[DontStop]

I like Dead Wrong because it pisses me off. Well, fuels my anger anyway