The Chronic, an album by Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg, has
many explicit lyrics and unnecessary foulmouthing. In one song they say, that if
f--- with Dre you f--- with death row..., more or less saying that if anyone
messes with them they will have to worry about everyone that is with Death Row
Records. In the same song they tell a woman, referring to her as a bitch, to
yell-187 (police code for someone that has been killed). In another song they
ask anther black man why he has been talking crap about them, he says it was not
he. Then they put a gun in his mouth asking him, what's wrong can't talk with a
gun in your mouth?...Do you know Lucifer?, he replies,no,and they tell him, well
you're about to meet him(Rap). All of the songs on this album contain foulmouth
language, violent and sexually explicit lyrics, drugs and misogyny. Is this the
kind of music that young children should be able to listen to? William Drayton,
Flavor Flav of the group Public Enemy, was arrested for attempted murder. The
police were lead to his home after a source told them that shots were fired at a
neighbor during an argument. The police found a loaded 38-caliber semiautomatic
handgun with one round missing. His music also glorifies violence. Hawkins 4
Eric Wright, known as Easy-E, has also generated bad vibes against police
officials. This album He died at 31 years of age after revealing that he had the
virus AIDS. From his deathbed he urged young people to learn about the disease.
His music also talked about having the lifestyle of being promiscuous and that
lifestyle killed him. All of these rappers criminal records depict their
lifestyles. They say that their music depicts the harsh reality of life in the
hood. To these rappers, people dying young and going to jail is an everyday
thing (Marriott 75). Tupak says that violence is all we know and telling it like
it is is a way of getting the people to listen to what is really going on.
Ice-T's controversial album Body Count, produced by Warner Bros. Records, had
provoked a sharp debate in 1992 when the album first came out. The song Cop
Killer, with obscene and violent lyrics, forced Time Warner to stop selling the
album with the song on it.
The lyrics on the song said it was dedicated to the L.A.P.D. It also talked about dusting some cops off, with sounds of gun fire he
then asks the listener to sing along for their freedom-cop killer (Ice Body).
Cop Killer is not the on song on the album that glorifies violence. Even though
the song was cut from the album the other songs on it were just as bad. Another
song talks about killing his mother by setting her on fire, hitting her with a
louieville slugger and then cutting her up with a carving knife, all because she
was racist. Is this reality and was is really going on in the world today? In
other songs the lyrics talk about being promiscuous (giving very explicit sex
lyrics) and yet the album was still being sold to young children. Foulmouthed
trash like this has been debated on whether or not it should be censored. Many
think it should and are trying to do something about. Delores Tucker denounced
Hawkins 5 companies that pimped porno rap to children. She asks, What would
Martin Luther King say about these rappers that demean women and glorify thugs,
drug dealers and rapists?, and What kind of role models are those for young
children living in the ghetto? (Philips A18). U.S. Representative Cardiss
Collins, a chairwomen of the congressional panel, complained that little was
being done by the industry executive to cut out vulgar and violent lyrics. She
said that a sticker is not enough (Congesswomen 7). Some censorship has been
incorporated in the radio industry. Inner City Broadcasting has put a stop to
playing hard-core rap and other misogynous and violent rap. It hopes to be a
model for other radio stations to follow(Cleaning 22). Most radio stations now
do not allow that kind of music on the air. Even though the radio has stopped
playing hard-core rap, record companies are still producing this kind of music.
Death Row Records, the top producer of rap music, has been under a lot of fire
not only by Dolores Tucker, but by Bob Dole and others also.
