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Opinion

Modified music could spawn larger change 

Christian Palmer
Opinion Columnist

The now famous remarks of Don Imus have dominated the headlines and created a whirlwind of controversy that has stirred the passions of the black community, advocates of feminism and, now, the rap and hip-hop industry.

It's high time we said goodbye to the Imuses of the world. At least this is the aim of Def Jam co-executive and founder Russell Simmons. The mogul, since the cancellation of the offending radio program, has called for the voluntary end to the use of certain "extreme curse words" in future rap music, including "ho," "bitch" and "nigger." To facilitate this course of action, he recommends setting up a sort of committee to define standards for lyrics and for images in music videos.

Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network met Wednesday to discuss controversial lyrics in rap. On Monday, he and Benjamin Chavis (his co-chairman) released a statement that said, "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." 

There are several issues involved with this proposed change. First of all, just because he throws in the idea of musicians voluntarily censoring their work, he just curtails outright censorship -- kind of the same thing that Tipper Gore was always going on about in the 1990s. 

All of this activism is in the opposite, and passive, vein that Simmons' original reflections included: Use of this offensive language in hip-hop "may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression."

But then you have to think about, flip-flopping aside, whether we actually need some kind of moral coalition to play on artists' sense of ethics and personal boundaries.

Even grade-schoolers are being taught an understanding of respect that says you must respect yourself before others can follow. Only after that point can you work on earning it. The self-censorship, while perhaps still being a little shady in some aspects, would probably be a good step to demanding respect for the groups who often suffer these verbal attacks of discrimination. 

Another coming project of Simmons unveils his true hopes and intentions of this ban. In conjunction with Literate Nation Atlanta, the entrepreneur will put together three events aimed at increasing retention rates in local high schools -- certainly a noble aspiration. The students from six local schools will receive copies of Simmons' new book Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success. 

Notwithstanding all efforts, it is said that 35 urban Atlanta high schools produce some 43,000 students whose average SAT scores are at or below the 60 percentile -- and that's what they would score if more than an alarmingly small percentage actually took the test and weren't dropping out of school. 

The Gates Foundation calls the kind of dropout rates that occur at these schools, as well as others around the nation, a "silent epidemic." There cannot be a better prescription for low retention than this ban. Trying to curtail it through the music the youth are listening to is an innovative solution simply because they're already listening. A change in the culture of music could very well lead to a similar positive change in the culture of education in the country, especially as it applies to these particular demographics.

Then again, there may be something to this free speech thing, without it (the freedom of the press, in particular), this column could not even be written about the subject. The most misogynistic rappers as well as the most racist shock jocks have been granted the same liberty as anyone else to express their opinions, regardless.

Tough call.

But if it weren't for the musical style of rap, what on earth would people in the clubs shake it too? Emo?

Palmer, a communication/sociology junior, 
can be reached at dccampus@mail.uh.edu