Simon Says "Shut The F**k Up!"
The controversy over outside pressure that resulted in the editing and censoring of ABC and CBS 9/11 inspired films made me realize how little I have heard about efforts to censor hip-hop in the last few years. It’s not that rappers have had their mouths washed out and learned their lesson, but rather that the language was not the decisive issue. The issue was the content and after years of trial runs, the strategy has been perfected.
Yes, Tipper Gore and C. Delores Tucker got all hot and bothered by the words of “gangster rap” and the sanctity of free speech was compromised by morally righteous explicit lyrics stickers. But a more substantial war had been waged by governing bodies and moral leaders on the voices of the American people. The now familiar bleeps and blanks are a Band-Aide solution to protect listeners’ virgin ears from expletives deemed too vulgar for a public audience. However, these strategies have a limited effect on potentially dangerous messages. It is often the way the language is contextualized in the message that causes outrage and it is the message that is the ultimate target.
A strategy reminiscent of McCarthyism finds powerful economic and social agencies morally chastising corporations who distribute or fund particular artists. Chasing legal restrictions led to a spectacle but got dead end results. Rather than falling flat on their face before the First Amendment (Free Two Live Crew!) they use their power to force adherence to their moral position by affecting profits. When Bill O’Reilly called for a boycott of Pepsi for using a “thug” (Ludacris), Pepsi dropped him 3 days later. Newt Ginghrich, in regard to Ice-T’s track “Cop Killer”, sent Warner Bros the following statement: “ It appears you have chosen potential profit over any reasonable sense of public responsibility. We believe that your decision to disseminate these despicable lyrics advocating the murder of police officers is unconscionable.” Five major chains pulled the album and Warner Brothers dropped pressing of the record less than a week later. I guess Ice T is serving community service on the set of Law & Order SVU.
These censorship traps compromise the agency of the artists to thrive in markets outside of hip-hop culture, creating a circumstance of little choice with the illusion of options for the distributor. Pepsi and Warner Bros have many consumers who don’t love hip-hop and censorship attacks limit them to “safe” choices for hip-hop representatives. This tactic leads to a standard of content that limits the voice of the artist as well as limits potential for varying messages to lead to sales for the company. I wouldn’t particularly want Tony Yayo to star in Wild Wild West II, but I sure as hell don’t want Bill O’Reilly casting Will Smith in Belly II.
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