Last week in the Chicago Tribune there was an article about censorship in hip-hop music. The debate is whether certain words should be censored, whether this would make a difference, and if there is anything wrong with the words at all.
Listen.
(Firstly, I’d like to note that this is not a discussion about hip-hop music only, but any kind of music that carries these kinds of messages. Hip-hop just seems to be the most prominent style of music promoting these messages right now, so we will discuss it.)
Not too long ago I watched a documentary about hip-hop music. It, like the article in the Tribune, talked about the messages of hip-hop music. Dominant in these discussions are the portrayal of women.
Let’s look at the lyrics and the videos for what they are. They portray women as “hoes” who are only good for one thing. They show women wearing next to nothing, and hanging off the men. Sometimes these are shots of women in strip clubs.
If this wasn’t put out on TV as a music video, it would easily pass as pornography. The lyrics of the songs are so explicit that if you spoke like that to, or in the presence of, any underaged person you would be arrested. So why is it alright to have this type of thing in our music? In my opinion these types of songs and videos can not be viewed as “artistic expression” any more than pornography can.
Some justify it by saying that they are only singing about what is real in our culture. This is true in the sense that this is what our culture is like. But I think it is more the case that the music is not singing about our culture, but shaping our culture into that which it is portraying.
Today’s philosophers are its musicians. Lyrics and videos impact the way we live, shaping minds and influencing attitudes.
This isn’t the kind of thing I want influencing my generation or that of my children. This isn’t the kind of thing that I want on my block.
Posted by Krista Dominguez 
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