Rap Music
...be aware of the type of music their kids listen to and could choose if they would like to allow them to listen to it. If you sit down and think about it, when you buy a CD you by it because you want to listen to it, you don't really pay attention to that little label. Besides you see little kids no older then 11 walking around listening to Lil' Kim, Tupac, and all other rap artists cussing up a storm . . . what's with that? Why didn't the parents say anything about that, they have control over their children, yet critics and congress blame the rappers. The third man to take the most heat and who still continues to is Tupac Shakur. They say he was the best rapper alive and the most successful which I also believe is true. He has been in trouble with the law and public since his first album to even now after his death. He was arrested for numerous charges such as battery, attempted murder, and rape. In 1994 two 17-year-olds shot some police officers and said they did because they heard it in Tupac's music. Critics blamed him from the start with his to raunchy lyrics. Why blame him he didn't tell them to go shoot police officers? For the past three years, C. Delores Tucker has been talking and protesting rap lyrics saying that they are harmful to the spirit of black youth. She also filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against the estate of Tupac Shakur claiming that his songs surrounding her in two songs on the 1996 album "All Eyez On Me" make slander remarks. She went into a court and said that the pain she suffered from those songs has affected her sex life with her husband. What kind of since does that make? Just another person trying to bad mouth rap music for they're own personal gain. Congress says they are "concerned about children's exposure to music with adult content," but really can't do too much because they have to respect the first amendment which says we have "Freedom of Speech." In two states they have announced plans to possibly ban minors from attending concerts or buy things that could contain "objectionable" materials. I'm not going to say that some youth won't listen to some rap music and get the wrong idea, but that also can happen with other types of music such as Alternative music which artists like Hole, Marilyn Manson, and the group Korn are big stars. If you notice Korn is the group that the "Trench Coat Mafia" listened to before they decided to go shoot up a school. In the beginning the president, and all other high profile people said they should put a stop to all this music referring to Korn and Marilyn Manson. This was last year how many times have you heard about that now. Sen. Joe Liebermann, and Raymond Kuntz, a Burlington, N.D., man said his 15-year-old son killed himself after listening to the controversial rock group Marilyn Manson. Bands like that are noted for explicit lyrics and concerts, how many times have you heard about stopping them. They don't put that much power in trying to ban Rock or Alternative music, but will use all their energy to stop a form of music that sells more then half of the United States music. John Woods, co-founder of a grassroots anti-censorship organization said in a statement that most attacks on the music industry are fueled by politicians and groups such as the Christian Coalition and the American Family Association. Later he also said "Quite simply, the federal government, state governments and local governments are very skillfully using the controversy created by religious organizations in an effort to completely render the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to be a relic from the past in the interest of gaining greater control over society as a whole." I for one agree with that statement. Dave Marvin, a spokesman for state Sen. Dale Shugars, said the Michigan Republican is working on a bill to be sent to the state Legislature in July. The bill would fine site owners who permit minors unless accompanied by an adult to attend concerts or buy music that has offensive acts or speech. The manager of Pearl Jam, L-7, Rage Against the Machine, and rappers like JayZ, Ice Cube, Master P, and Russell Simons recently said that they will boycott any state that passes a law such as that. "It's up to the artists to provide a much-needed spine for the industry by using their celebrities' status to effectively draw the line in the sand to tell the would-be censors to stuff it if they are offended because we have a First Amendment guaranteeing our freedom of expression," Woods said. One man they asked off the street said "Why do I hate rap? Well I guess the number 1 reason I hate rap is the lack of talent that a rapper needs. All the music is synthetic, made on machines. Another thing I don't get about rap is that many rappers use the "Gangsta rap" theme. Then when a rapper gets killed, it's a shock! They only rap about what they know! Yes, have someone murdered is horrible, but if they rap about it and they say how they were brought up in it, is it really a shock?" Lately a lot of questions have been asked to anyone trying to take up for rap music. Does rap music promote violence? The most common answer was yes, and the murder of Tupac Shakur and Notoruis B.I.G. proves it. Those were some sad deaths but you can't blame just rap alone for that happening. Tupac didn't kill Biggie, and Biggie didn't kill Tupac some dumb people who had nothing else to do did. When you think about it, doesn't radio, movies, and television promote violence also, so you can't try to ban one thing of violence and not another. There was...