RAPPERS HAVE STRONG WORDS ON CURSING ISSUE
Published in The Toronto Star on
Friday, May 18, 2007

Rappers 50 Cent and T.I. spoke their minds about the recent controversy over inappropriate language in hip hop Wednesday. A group of urban leaders has urged the music industry to censor some of the genre’s commonly used degrading words from hip-hop albums.

“I personally believe on every level that it’s easier to attack an individual than it is to go after a corporation. They’ll go after a specific hip-hop artist as opposed to a Paramount or a Columbia Pictures,” 50 Cent said.

“Music is a mirror and hip-hop is a reflection of the environment we grew up in, the harsh realities.”

T.I. continued, “We look to rappers, athletes and stars to raise our children instead of ourselves.”

I enjoy listening to the occasional rap music, I find it entertaining quite honestly. I don’t have children and if I did I would not give them my permission to listen to rap music. Just as I never swore in front of my parents until adulthood, it doesn’t mean that I never swore as a teenager.