It's a shame what rap music consists of. Verses like "F*** a b**** if she act too grown I don't need that s***," are tearing up the radios and all the hottest music videos. There are even children around repeating such words. Some people even say that rap music is to blame for gang violence and and violence in schools. I'm even starting to believe it. In a huge majority of rap songs, it only talks about things like sex, drugs, and violence. Even hip hop artist 50 Cent says that if you take away the bad language and sexual content, there would be no rap music.

This is exactly what hip hop mogul Russell Simmons plans to do. Not destroy rap music completely, just take out all of the "extreme curse words". On April 23, 2007, he called for a voluntary banning of the "B-word", "H-word", and the "N-word". "We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete these three words from commercial airwaves", says Simmons in a statement with Benjamin Chavis, his co-chairman of the advocacy group Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. It's a small step, but it will eventually lead to better music for everyone.

African American leaders such as Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al Sharpton have contributed to leading the charge to suppress offensive words, but there are still many artists who have argued for "freedom of expression". Some people are taking this way out of hand and calling this removal of words a "public outrage", but Simmons stands his ground. He's doing anything he can to change things. There are other music artists such as Jill Scott and Queen Latifah, and even Essence Magazine, who are also supporting the criticism of "gangster rap".

But what do you think? Do you think we should ban certain words from rap music, or leave it be?
Monae929