[NYTr] Lame Congress fiddles to Hip Hop while the empire burns

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Sep 25, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_HIP_HOP?SITE=CACRU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Congress examines hip-hop language

By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers, music industry executives and rappers
disagreed Tuesday over who was to blame for sexist and degrading
language in hip-hop music but united in opposing government censorship
as a solution.

"If by some stroke of the pen hip-hop was silenced, the issues would
still be present in our communities," rapper and record producer David
Banner, whose real name is Levell Crump, said in prepared statements to
a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing. "Drugs, violence and
the criminal element were around long before hip-hop existed."

At the hearing, music videos showing scantily clad women were played;
music executives in dark suits testified on the uses of the "B," H" and
"N" words, and black civil rights leaders talked of corporate
exploitation.

"We have allowed greedy corporate executives - especially those in the
entertainment industry - to lead many of our young people to believe
that it is OK to entertain themselves by destroying the culture of our
people," E. Faye Williams, chair of the National Congress of Black
Women, said in prepared remarks.

"From Imus to Industry: The business of stereotypes and degrading
images" was the title of the hearing, referring to former radio host
Don Imus, who lost his job after making derogatory comments about the
Rutgers women's basketball team. The Imus incident has sparked debate
within the music industry about black artists using offensive,
misogynist and violent language.

Former gangsta rapper Master P, whose real name is Percy Miller, told
the panel he is now committed to producing clean lyrics. In the past,
seeing his relatives and friends shot and killed, "I just made the
music that I feel, not realizing I'm affecting kids for tomorrow." But
he said he found he didn't want his own children to listen to his
music. "So if I can do anything today to change this, I'm going to take
a stand and do that."

"This hearing is not anti-hip-hop. I am a fan of hip-hop," said
subcommittee chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who gained national
prominence in the 1960s as the founder of the Illinois chapter of the
Black Panthers. But he said there was a need "to address the issue of
violence, hate and degradation that has reduced too many of our
youngsters to automatons."

Record company executives defended the parental guidance labels and
edited versions they said keep the more controversial material away
from children and stressed that uniform standards or censorship won't
work.

In the '50s people were deeply offended by Elvis Presley, and a decade
later many were scandalized by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, said
Edgar Bronfman Jr., chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group.

"We have a responsibility to speak authentically to our viewers," said
Philippe Dauman, president & CEO of Viacom Inc., which owns such cable
networks as MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET.

He said his company takes an active role in editing obscenities out of
music videos and excising gang symbols or portrayals of violence, but
"we also believe that it is not our role to censor the creative
expression of artists."

Alfred Liggins III, chief executive officer of Radio One, Inc., one of
the largest media companies that primarily serves African-Americans,
said the company reviews the contents of songs before broadcasting them
and takes care to comply with Federal Communications Commission
guidelines. But "Radio One is also not in charge of creating content,
or in the business of censorship or determining what is in good or bad
taste."

The hearing was reminiscent of, although tamer than, a similar event in
1985. At the earlier hearing, lawmakers where exposed to Van Halen's
"Hot for Teacher" and Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It,"
and the late rocker Frank Zappa hurled insults at Tipper Gore, wife of
then-Sen. Al Gore, and Susan Baker, wife of then Treasury Secretary
James Baker, who were urging the recording industry to voluntarily
police itself on song lyrics.

On the Net:
House Energy and Commerce Committee: http://energycommerce.house.gov/

© 2007 The Associated Press.