Straighten Up and Fly Right

Well, it seems as though hip-hop is trying to get its act together, and I'm guessing in light of certain language incidents that have happened, they are trying to get cleaned up. Russell Simmons is talking about banning the use of the words 'nigga' and 'bitch' from the hip-hop lexicon. Artists like Chamillionaire are talking about not cursing at ALL on their music. Seems like hip-hop wants to be straight-laced and wants to get on moral high ground.

The thing about it is that I don't know HOW to feel about this news. Of course, you all KNOW where I stand on the use of the 'n' word, so you KNOW I'm elated at that part. Eliminating cursing altogether is a whole 'nother animal, though. I remember when the Hip-Hop Summit came to New Orleans in the summer of '04. King Simmons himself said something to the effect of "hip-hop is a music of poor people and their voice. They come from a more intense and rugged energy, and they are expressing their frustrations about the world around them." I definitely agree with this, and with that hard and intense energy, it's not always possible to keep the music squeaky clean. I believe that cursing is an instrument of high energy expression.

Of course, I don't advocate CHILDREN using rampid curse words, which, I guess, is the "hypocrisy" of the thing. Then again, doesn't society have safeguards to try to keep children away from these words? Parental advisory stickers, movie ratings, TV ratings, exclusion of club admittance, all of these are things to keep children away from things that society deems unacceptable. Then again, I don't have kids, so again, maybe I'm presenting an over-simplified solution.

In the end, I guess I'm partial to the elimination of certain words that may offend target groups of people. Maybe because I am a curser myself, I know what it is to curse and the whole 9. So I guess out with 'n' and 'b' and ok with everything else. Can't adults have a way to talk to other adults? Even if we eliminate it from rap, what about parents who curse around their kids? What safeguards do we put in that situation? I guess we'll see how this all pans out. Should be an interesting ride.

-B