Hooray For Don Imus and His Bum Rapp

Something good may yet come of the years of vulgarities by Don Imus and his subsequent firing. Discussions of his firing and the right and the wrong of it have developed into a more general discussion of the damage to society (especially to children) of the obscenities and vulgarities many rapp singers commonly employ. Hopefully these discussions will lead to self-censorship by the industry, and then lead to some consideration of the damage that gratuitous violence and the glorification of casual sex does to young viewers of the cesspools our TV and movie industries routinely parade before America’s children.

CNN.com (Excerpt) 4/24/07
Hip hop's Simmons: Restrict offensive words

Story Highlights

• Def Jam co-founder wants certain words cut from music biz
• Russell Simmons terms such words "extreme curse words"
• Language has become flashpoint since Don Imus controversy

NEW YORK, New York (AP) –“ Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons said Monday that the recording and broadcast industries should consistently ban racial and sexist epithets from all so-called clean versions of rap songs and the airwaves.

Currently such epithets are prohibited in most clean versions, but record companies sometimes "arbitrarily" decide which offensive words to exclude and there's no uniform standard for deleting such words, Simmons said.

The recommendations drew mixed reaction and come two weeks after some began carping anew about rap lyrics after radio personality Don Imus was fired by CBS Radio and NBC for referring to the players on the Rutgers university women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

Expressing concern about the "growing public outrage" over the use of such words in rap lyrics, Simmons said the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" should be considered "extreme curse words."

"We recommend (they're) always out," Simmons, the pioneering entrepreneur who made millions of dollars as he helped shape hip-hop culture, said in an interview Monday. "This is a first step. It's a clear message and a consistency that we want the industry to accept for more corporate social responsibility."”