English 111
October 27, 2013
Censorship
Have you ever been listening to the radio and heard a “beeeeep” in some parts of the song you’re listening to? You know, the annoying sound that interrupts the song? The sound is a familiar one among those of us that listen to the radio, in particular Rap/hip-hop music stations. This noise is heard because it’s used to bleep out/censor the word that was previously there; the word was most likely ‘bad’ or offensive. Censorship is a growing concern for our society, whether it’s because of the lack of censorship or too much.
To understand censorship, it’s important that you know exactly what it is. According to an article by Jonathan Alter, “Let’s Stop Crying Wolf on Censorship” he believes that
Don’t make rappers suppress their feelings and creativity because you don’t want to hear it, just don’t listen to it. While some people see rap as being “harmful” it can be just the opposite for some of the listeners; they listen to rap to help inspire them and stray them away from their ghetto lives. Rapper, David Banner, is very anticensorship. “Hip-hop mogul Simmons' proposal to ban offensive words is "stupid," Banner says. “There was a time in history when we didn't have a choice about being called a nigger. Now that we're making money off it, it's a problem." (Katel)
“Though it may be seen primarily as a form of entertainment, rap has the powerful potential to address social, economic, and political issues and act as a unifying voice for its audience.” (Becky Blanchard) Rap faces a lot of scrutiny and struggles to people that are outside of the hip hop community. Record companies are mainly worried about raps selling. If they have to force the artist to change their words so that a song will sell, then that’s what they do. They don’t care about the rappers roots or the message the rapper wants to get across. Is rap music violent? Well sure. But that’s what the rap culture is about, it has stemmed from violence. Why should a rapper be punished for expressing their views? They shouldn’t. Rap should not also be blamed for the violence in America. Violence is violence, it