РефератыИностранный языкRARAP CENSORSHIP Essay Research Paper RAP SHOULD

RAP CENSORSHIP Essay Research Paper RAP SHOULD

RAP CENSORSHIP Essay, Research Paper


RAP SHOULD NOT BE CENSORED!


BY: FARHAN YUSUF


Rap should not be censored because everybody has the right


to their freedom of speech, as it is in Section 2 of Charter of Rights


and Freedoms. ?Us as rappers express our thoughts and the whole


world is after us.? (pg. 171, Sexton) Rap has done a lot to our


world, as a result our society has improved. Laws are stated for


music censorship. Rap censorship is wrong, there are cases, songs,


and interview to prove that.


Lot of people think that rap music promotes violence and that


it is negative to the society! While so much emphasis is placed on


the detrimental effects of some rap music, there?s little


acknowledgment of rap?s positive cultural contribution and social


activism.


Jive?s KRS-One, known to his community as ?The Teacher?


is just one example of the good work being done. KRS-One now


lectures at universities such as Harvard, Yale, Vassar and Stanford


on his philosophies ?The deepest part of being black is being


African. The deepest part of being African is being human,? he


has started. ?The deepest part of being human is being universal.


And the deepest part of being universal is being balanced. It?s all


according to where to start and stop studying.?


The rap artists have been involved with such organizations as


Stop the Violence, Heal and the National Urban League (for which


KRS-One raised $600,000) One of his projects ?Break the Chain,?


was made into an audiocassette soundtrack with his songs and


spoken words. The project promotes literacy and cultural


awareness and teaches black history.


Pubic Enemy criticized for excessively violent lyrics. Even


they have launched a Black Awareness program. The members


have also raised and contributed money for various causes such as


Urban Development Program, a nationwide program by which


youths build houses for the homeless.


In the States, Public Enemy toured 20 cities in the ?Unity for


Peace? tour and raised money for such local charities as the Boys


and Girls clubs. Chuck D frequently speaks about issues of


empowerment in a lot of universities.


Eazy-E participates with charity groups like the Athletes &


Entertainers for Children and the ?Make A Wish Foundation.?


Eazy-E also filmed and narrated a public-service announcement on


fire safety for the Compton Fire Department.


There a lot of other rapers who work for their communities. Such


as:


The Coup who organized the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective.


Which focus on African-American history and politics.


D.J. Woody Wood of Three Times Dope (3XD) is the project


coordinator for Youth Outreach Adolescent Community AIDS


Project. He also founded the Celebrity AIDS Awareness


Project (CAAP), a national AIDS education program.


Doug E Fresh was a spokesperson for Voter Jam 94, a


campaign for black and Latino youth. He works with the New


York Board Of Education and speaks at high schools about


issues of confidence and self-esteem


Ahmad speaks at schools and centers such as Ofman


Learning Center, where runaways and gang members try to


make a fresh start.


Grave Diggaz also can be found talking to kids at school and


youth centers.


MC Eiht participates in performing and playing basketball


games with well know athletics to benefit youth centers. Such


as The Truce Foundation in Las Vegas.


There are also many record companies who help society out:


Dangerous Records, uses rap to promote peace by releasing


some albums about street violence. They have given $5,000 to


the Stamps Youth Foundation, a Los Angeles-based


organization that works with gang members trying to change


their lives.


Another label, Priority Records, has joined with Los Angeles


radio station Power 106 to compile an album that will help fund


the building of performing-arts center.


There are some laws for music censorship. Which is benefit


to rappers.


For the most part there is technically no such thing as ?music


censorship? Censorship is a very harsh word especially when it


comes to popular music. Many musical artists claim to be


censored by radio stations, religious and community groups,


retailers and even their own record labels. They claim their rights


and freedoms have been violated.


The Freedom of Speech read as follows:


?Congress shall make no law representing an


establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise


thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or


of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition


the Government for a redress of grievances.?


Music is not censored on the basis of art, it is censored on the


basis of obscenity. If a work of art, music, or literature is found to


be obscene – then it can be subject to legal censorship. Again, that


only applies to the government. The courts don’t have the right to


force Wal-Mart to carry an album.


You have become the victim of attempted censorship, an


effort to prevent information from reaching the public. It is a


violation of freedom of the press, both of which are guaranteed by


the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.


Here are a number of cases which have result in the arrest of


shop owners and banned some albums.


January, 1990


In one of the most famous cases of music censorship, police


in Dade County, Florida set up a sting to arrest three retailers


selling copies of a record by 2 Live Crew to children under the age


of 18. Objections to 2 Live Crew started with the break-through of


their hit “Me So Horny.” Similar prosecutions regarding 2 Live


Crew record sales happen in Alabama and Tennessee. No


prosecutions result in standing convictions. Members of 2 Live


Crew were also prosecuted for performing the material live in


concert.


1990


Members of the rap group N.W.A. receive a letter from the


FBI saying the agency did not appreciate the song “Fuck The


Police.” Law enforcement groups all over the country agree.


April, 1990


A Florida grand jury determines that four rap albums


(including “Freedom of Speech” by Ice-T) are legally obscene.


Area retailers quickly pull the records from the shelves to avoid


prosecution.


In 1992 when 2 Live Crew put out an album ?As nasty as


they want to be,? within days, all retail stores in Broward Country


ceased selling the record. 2 Live Crew brought this action under


42 USC 1983, seeking an injection and declaration of their rights.


Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). To be obscene


there must be proof of all three of the following factors:


1) The average person, applying contemporary community


standards, would find that the work taken as a whole, appeals


to the prurient interest.


2) Measured by contemporary community standards the work


depicts or describes, in a patently offensively way, sexual


conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law.


3) The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,


political, or scientific value.


The US Supreme Court has defined prurient as ?material


having a tendency to excite lustful thoughts? Roth v. U.S., 354


U.S. 476 (1957). Nasty?s lyrics and the titles of its songs are replete


with references to female and male genitalia, human sexual


execration, oral-anal contact, fellatio, group sex, sexual positions,


sadomasochism, the turgid state of the male sexual organ,


masturbation cunnilingus, sexual intercourse, and the sounds of


moaning.


Mike Kinsley: Six sheriff deputies burst into a record store in Fort


Lauderdale this afternoon, handcuffed and arrested


the owner. His crime? Selling a record album to an


undercover cop.


Omar: Freedom of choice. Freedom of speech.


Mike: The album was called ?As Nasty as they Wana Be? by 2


Live Crew. Bestseller over 1.7 million sold. On Wednesday


Florida federal Judge ruled it obscene. Quote, ?An appeal to


the lois not the intellect?


Omar: There are some 600 words in the album which are

either –


most people would consider dirty, obscene, and filthy.


Mike: A 2 Live Crew is not available in a gym locker room of a


Catolic school. The lyrics are not written on the bathroom


wall. If some body does not want to listen to 2 live Crew they


don?t have too!


Omar: The owner was arrested for selling it not to a child but to an


adult.


Is rap censorship a crime? Here are some opinions and facts


about the rap censorship and 2 Live Crew.


Four hundred years ago, when black slave were brought to


America, Africans who spoke the same language were separated


from each other. Censoring rap music is just this same form of


separation.


Rap is the number-one selling form of music today. Rap has


brought black kids a new sense of pride. Rap has brought black


kids and white kids closer together. Thanks to rap, white kids are


gaining a better understanding and a new respect for black culture.


Rap has done nothing but bring people together. So, what?s the


problem?


?It?s people who don?t understand the music or the culture


that are creating problems.? says Chuck D, ?2 Live Crew has been


around since mid-eighties, but as long as black kids were buying


their records, nobody said a thing. As soon as white kids started


buying them, and MTV started playing them, now suddenly we?ve


got a problem. This hypocrisy makes me mad.?


2 Live Crew sings about sex, a natural part of life.


Advertisers use it every day. What?s next? Playboy magazine?


How about Muscle and Fitness magazine? It has a girl in bikini on


the cover: Lets bust her!


You can?t slap the right hand without slapping the left. Same


with 2 Live Crew. If Clay were black, would they go after him?


How about Eddie Murphy or is he to powerful. What we are


seeing today isn?t only censorship, but also clear discrimination.


As long as I was robbin? my own kind


The policeman paid me no mind


Then I started robbin? the white folks


Now I?m in the pen with soap on a rope


Different subject same message.


?Cop Killer? a song by Ice-T was discussed about. It was not


banned at all.


We, as members of the Chicago Police Department and


members of their families, are appalled and offended that you


and your company are willing to promote the Ice-T song ?Cop


Killer.?


We are urging you to remove this song from the record


stores and the media. Until such time, we intend to boycott any


and all products, movies, and amusement parks, such as your


Six Flags, that are owned and operated by Time Warner.


With all the turmoil in the world today this on promotes


more civil unrest.


If you continue to promote this song, rest assured that


you will be held liable and accountable for officers that are


killed as a result of subjects using this song as a plea in their


defense.


June 23/1992 By the Chicago Police Department


We have received many complaints from policeman, their


families, and others about the song ?Cop killer.? We are


threatened with a boycott.


These people don?t understand. True, this song is crap.


But what do you except? We are in the crap business.


When the rap group came to us with this song, we said:


?Boy, is this crap. It should really sell.? And we were right.


Hey, if Mozart had written stuff like this, instead of just


talking dirty at parties, he wouldn?t have died without a


pfennig.


Naturally, we are sympathetic to the feelings of


policemen.


If someone put out a record encouraging people to kill


executives at Time Warner, I?m sure our wives and children


would be hysterical. We?d probably sue. But then, we are a


big, powerful media corporation and you ain?t, so tough


tootsies, coppers.


In conclusion, we will resist all efforts to impede free


expression and our rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of


happiness, and the marketing of any crap that will sell.


God bless America.


Now, call security and tell them not to let any cops in the


lobby.


Response on June 23/1992


Lyrics from ?Cop Killer? by Ice-T


I got my black shirt on


I got my black gloves on


I got my ski mask on…


I got my twelve-gauge sawed off.


I got my headlights turned off.


I?m about to bust some shots off.


I?m about to dust some cops off.


(Chorus)


Cop killer, I know your family?s grievin?


Cop killer, but tonight we get even…


My adrenaline?s pumpin??.


I got my stereo bumpin?


I am about to kill somethin?


A pig stop me for nuthin?!


(Chorus)


Die, die, die, pig, die!


Fuck the police!


(The last line was repeated dozen times)


The song [Cop Killer] is fiction, not fact. At no point do I go


out and say, ?Let’s do it.? I am singing in the first person as a


character who is fed up with police brutality. I ain’t never


killed no cop. I felt like it a lot of times. But I never did it.?–


Ice-T, National Review, July 20, 1992.


Interview Ice-T. Explaining that is song are just his own


philosophies.


?I write a few songs that are purely for adult entertainment


and the whole world is after me.?


Today?s society is based on sex-just look at how many strip


bars and how much pornographic literature is available. Why


condemn me-a black artist and entrepreneur-for my particular


brand of adult entertainment?


I own and operate one of the largest independent recording


companies around, and that could be why I was singled out.


People need to realize that I?m not in stores with guns to


customer?s head forcing them to buy my albums. It?s freedom of


choice, and that?s what America is suppose to be about.


It seems to me that priorities are all in the wrong order. We


have an outrageous amount of people sleeping in the streets and


without anything to eat, but we find rappers more important.


Our environment is slowly being pulled apart, and we put


people in jail for a bunch of words. Kids can?t read or write, but


that?s not enough. Sometimes I wonder what the starving people in


Ethiopia would think about the money we wasted on taking this to


court.


We have placed warning stickers on our albums and put two


versions of each album-an adult and a G version-in order to satisfy


the public. And as far as I know we?re that only band that does


that.


We know that today they are trying to censor rap and


tomorrow it would be classical music or theater or …


November 5, 1990


This survey was taken two weeks a go. There were thirty


volunteers to fill this survey out. Twenty two of them wrote rap


should not be censored. The other eight said it should. There were


a lot of interesting comments from people who were against


censorship. Such as, ?If we censorship rap we should censor


everything offensive.? ?It is a way to express yourself and


entertain people too.? ?Freedom of speech.? ?Who am I to stop


people to listen what they want!? ?Freedom to express yourself


anyway you want.?


Censoring rap is against the law! If you don?t want to listen


you don?t have too. Rappers have every right to express


themselves in any way they want to. Rap music has been positive


to society. Rap music has informed people about black culture!


People always find out what is the bad thing about rap through the


media. The never find out what good it does. Rap should not be


censored!


WORK CITED LIST


SECONDARY RESOURCES


http://ericnuzum.com/banned/


Censored, David Burden, Greenhouse: Press Inc.: Sandiego,1990.


Censored, Carl Jenson, Seven Hories: New York, 1996.


Censorship, Terry O?Niel, Greenhouse: Minnesota, 1985.


Violence in the Media, David L Bendor, Greenhouse: Sandiego,


1985.


Rap on Rap, Adam Sexton, Bell Publish: USA, 1995.


PRIMARY RESOURCES


Interview with Ice-T.


Laws for Censorship in, Laws, Gesse Gayle, USA, 1997.


(Reader Digest Book).


Cases of Mike Kensley.


Cases of 2 Live Crew.


324

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