Hip-hop's Simmons

[Analogman]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent U.S. hip-hop executive Russell Simmons on Monday recommended eliminating the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" from the recording industry, considering them "extreme curse words."

 

 

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 'nigger'," 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 nigger, 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.

[Atticus]

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

 

is that roughly translated as "no objections at all"?

[Elixir Sue]

Caving to pressure from Oprah? He was just on there defending rappers and their lyrics last week. Simmons on Oprah

[bjorn_skurj]

I'm sure the hip-hop community will get right on this.

[anodyne]

someone wrote the word "Nigger" on the wall outside of my classroom today. the school where i work is about 80% black. i printed a short history of the word and taped it to the wall under the slur. although the incident took place in an over-camera surveilled hallway, nothing was done. i think i should have called rev. al.

[EL the Famous]

'Voluntary restrictions'...whatever, Russell. The Beastie Boys were right.

[quarter23cd]

recommended eliminating the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" from the recording industry

Well, there goes one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs...

[Sir Stewart]

So "nigga" gets off on a technicality?

[yermom]

At least DMX can still say, "I got blood on my hands and there's no remorse, I got blood on my dick cuz I fucked a corpse."

Just so long as the corpse is not mentioned as being a ho corpse.

[EL the Famous]

i just read this again and it made me pissed off...

 

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.

 

'symbolic moratorium'?! so, what is grounds for termination for some is okay for others to disagree w/ 'symbolically'. also, where are the 'voluntary restrictions' and 'symbolic moratoriums' on all the other non-African American racial and homosexual slurs still peppering mainstream rap nowadays?

 

it is censorship, but even worse...it's censorship w/ different rules depending on your color. again, how are we supposed to be equal when this sort of seperatist bullshit keeps on being perpetuated by some people and weighing the african-american community down.