#1 Rap mogul wants racist lyrics ban
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:38 am
BBC
What shocks me is the growing level of calls of ending what has been a double standard from within the enterntainment community and from mostly leading black men. Why does this shock me? Because they make money off of it, because they get power from it. This is a case of men putting what they believe to be moral behavior over economic self interest and I find myself pleasently surprised for once.
If I may be permitted a political dig, I am not surprised to find that Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are no where near the front of this. There's no money for them to extort.
Let's be honest here. Part of the population is already censored in regards as to whether they can use certain words, so I'm not sure censorship is an issue here as we already allow it. I don't say this to attack or defend the censorship or the people who've been slammed over it, to be honest I can't really rustle up the emotion to give a damn over Don Imus for example.Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons is chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network
The founder of legendary hip-hop label Def Jam has called for three sexist and racist words to be banned from songs.
Russell Simmons said there was "growing public outrage" about the use of the terms, which he said should be viewed as the same as "extreme curse words".
He asked broadcasters and record companies to voluntarily remove, bleep or delete the words from music.
And he suggested setting up an industry watchdog to recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards.
'History of oppression'
Simmons, the pioneering entrepreneur whose label has released music by Public Enemy, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys, objects to the use of "nigger", "ho" and "bitch".
He said: "The words 'bitch' and 'ho' are utterly derogatory and disrespectful of the painful, hurtful, misogyny that, in particular, African-American women have experienced in the United States as part of the history of oppression, inequality, and suffering of women.
"The word 'nigger' is a racially derogatory term that disrespects the pain, suffering, history of racial oppression, and multiple forms of racism against African-Americans and other people of colour."
Last week, Simmons called a private meeting of influential music industry executives to discuss the issue.
But no music executives were associated with the announcement by Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.
Simmons added: "It is important to re-emphasise that 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 colour, African-American women and to all women in lyrics and images."
His comments follow the sacking of US DJ Don Imus for referring to the players on the Rutgers university women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos".
What shocks me is the growing level of calls of ending what has been a double standard from within the enterntainment community and from mostly leading black men. Why does this shock me? Because they make money off of it, because they get power from it. This is a case of men putting what they believe to be moral behavior over economic self interest and I find myself pleasently surprised for once.
If I may be permitted a political dig, I am not surprised to find that Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton are no where near the front of this. There's no money for them to extort.