Hip-hop's Simmons wants to remove offensive words

[Cap]

By Daniel Trotta Mon Apr 23, 2:27 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent U.S. hip-hop executive Russell Simmons on Monday recommended eliminating the words "bitch," "ho" and "black" from the recording industry, considering them "extreme curse words."
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The call comes less than two weeks after radio personality Don Imus' nationally syndicated and televised radio show was canceled amid public outcry over Imus calling a women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos."

Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam label and a driving force behind hip-hop's huge commercial success, called for voluntary restrictions on the words and setting up an industry watchdog to recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards.

"We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'black'," Simmons and Benjamin Chavis, co-chairmen of the advocacy group Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, said in a statement.

"These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as 'extreme curse words'," it said.

Ho is slang for whore and commonly used in hip-hop music while black, a derogatory term for blacks, is among the most highly charged insults in American culture. The slur "nappy," used by Imus, describes the tightly curled hair of many African Americans.

CHANGING STANCE

Monday's statement changed course from another one by Simmons and Chavis dated April 13, a day after Imus' show was canceled, in which they said offensive references in hip-hop "may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression."

The Imus controversy stoked a debate in the United States about how to deal with inflammatory words that are widely considered highly offensive but at the same time commonly and casually used in youth culture.

U.S. black leaders such as
Al Sharpton and
Jesse Jackson have led the charge to suppress offensive words while many artists have argued for freedom of expression. New York City declared a symbolic moratorium on the so-called N-word in February.

"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," the statement from Simmons and Chavis said on Monday.

The network recommended the formation of a Coalition on Broadcast Standards that would consist of leading executives from music, radio and television.

[Tre]

When has Jesse Jackson formally protested 'rap' music? 

I'm not saying it hasn't happened, I'm just not aware of it. 

That being said, if the movement becomes popular, then you know he'll do anything he can to get his name attached to it.

[Old_Rooster]

Perfect!  Take those words from Rap songs and all they will be left with is dead air....which is better than the current sound they put out.

[Colossus_500]

When has Jesse Jackson formally protested 'rap' music? 

He hasn't.  And you won't hear a peep out of Al Sharpton either.

That being said, if the movement becomes popular, then you know he'll do anything he can to get his name attached to it.

Of course he is.  It's an opportunistic ploy on Russell Simmons' part to be the first in the hip hop culture to say "we're not going to do this anymore"  

[24KT]

Perfect!  Take those words from Rap songs and all they will be left with is dead air....which is better than the current sound they put out.

Actually, there was a TONNE of socially redeeming rap music that came out during the early stages of the rap phenomenon, ...infact were the rap pioneers if you will, ...but record industry executives wanted no part of it. They promoted the gangsta rap, while artists like KRS-one couldn't get a record deal or air-time. If the offensive lyrics go, ...maybe socially redeeming lyrics will take their place? we'll have to wait and see I guess.

[Oldschool Flip]

My take is that if a race disrepects it's own origins by using slang and words that were considered taboo to say, it's no wonder that people disregard what others say.

I snicker to myself when I hear African American kids call each other the N word, but if that's how they feel about each other, how are they going to get anyone to respect them as people?

[24KT]

My take is that if a race disrepects it's own origins by using slang and words that were considered taboo to say, it's no wonder that people disregard what others say.

I snicker to myself when I hear African American kids call each other the N word, but if that's how they feel about each other, how are they going to get anyone to respect them as people?

But it's not "a race" doing it, ...just as the caucasian race doesn't molest it's children or cannibalize them.

Snoop Dog doesn't represent all Black people, just as Imelda Marcos doesn't represent all filipinos,
And Jeffrey Dahlmer doesn't represent all white people.

[Parker]

Simmons just wants to do this because if he doesn't it will hurt his pockets .
If he was soo concerned then he should have wanted to do this years ago, before attention was brought to the forefront. As long as money was filling his pockets, he didn't care, but now that the spotlight has been shined on hip-hop, he says something.

He should have said something back when Pac and Biggie had their feud and now are pushing up daisies.

I don't trust nothing that comes out of the mouth of a 40+ year old dude with a speech impediment and dresses like he is 22.

[Tre]

I know I'm probably going to take a beating for this, but as much as I personally detest the so-called 'gangsta rap' and much of the stuff that has derived from that movement, I don't want the words of the street poets being censored.

That being said, I do not want that type of music getting any RADIO time on the open airwaves.

I believe that this so-called 'music' certainly has a right to exist, but I would much rather spend the next 50 years working to change the conditions of Americans that these people speak of in their lyrics. 

With respect to the anti-woman lyrics, again, I want to change the conditions which cause these young men to disrespect their mothers and sisters so terribly. 

I want a systemic change that's going to require decades of 'man training' and re-programming the mindset of poor, urban Blacks in this country. 

I'm willing to do the work, but I need the mainstream to stop looking at band-aid solutions and instead to start looking at the cause of why people devalue themselves and their women the way many rappers appear to.

[CQ]

But it's not "a race" doing it, ...just as the caucasian race doesn't molest it's children or cannibalize them.

Snoop Dog doesn't represent all Black people, just as Imelda Marcos doesn't represent all filipinos,
And Jeffrey Dahlmer doesn't represent all white people.

I agree 100%.