The hip hop beat goes on. Maybe.
The fallout from the Don Imus meltdown continues.
Hip hop impresario Russell Simmons has routinely asserted that rappers have "poetic license" to call each other the n-word and refer to black women as "bitch" and "ho." He would decry as "censorship" efforts to rid the public airwaves of misogynistic and racist lyrics.
But sensing a threat to corporate hip hop’s bottom line, Simmons is changing his tune. He now wants the record and broadcast industry to exercise "corporate social responsibility" and ban "extreme curse words."
In a statement, Simmons said:
It is important to re-emphasize 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 color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images.
HSAN reaffirms, therefore, that there should not be any government regulation or public policy that should ever violate the First Amendment. With freedom of expression, however, comes responsibility. With that said, HSAN is concerned about the growing public outrage concerning the use of the words "bitch," "ho," and "nigger"(n-word). We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words "bitch" and "ho" and the racially offensive word "nigger"(n-word).
Simmons’ proposal will not defuse the controversy. The public, who owns the nation's airwaves, has the power to further disrupt an industry that already is in a tailspin due to declining record sales.
The power of the people will be on display when the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network lead a March for Decency, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 3.
Marchers will wind their way through midtown Manhattan and stop at Sony BMG, Universal Motown Records and Time Warner to deliver their own flow:
Enough already. Enough of the misogyny. Enough of the racism. Enough of the degrading images of black women.
For more info, contact Tamika Mallory, director of NAN’s Decency Initiative, at 212/690-3070.
