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Last week after his appearance on Oprah, Russell Simmons and other music industry execs met to discuss the state of rap lyrics. Following this secret meeting, a rep for Simmons made the following statement (in lieu of the press conference that was going to take place) saying this is a: "complex issue that involves gender, race, culture and artistic expression. Everyone assembled today takes this issue very seriously."
Yesterday, Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis (on behalf of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network), sent out a press release stating that while they are not trying to censor music, they feel a corporate social responsibility as part of the industry to show respect to women in lyrics and images. ("Responsibility"...as opposed to a natural predilection to not degrade women?) They're concerned about the growing public outrage concerning the use of the words "bitch," "ho," and "nigger," and recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete those words.
This of course was all following the Don Imus scandal, after which Simmons actually defended some hip hop and rap artists as "poets".
The full press release can be read after the jump.
"Recommendation to the Recording and Broadcast Industries: A Statement by Russell Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis on behalf of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network
April 23, 2007
The theme of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) is "Taking Back Responsibility." We are consistent in our strong affirmation, defense, and protection of the First Amendment right of free speech and artistic expression. We have recently been involved in a process of dialogue with recording and broadcast industry executives about issues concerning corporate social responsibility.
It is important to re-emphasize that 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.
HSAN reaffirms, therefore, that there should not be any government regulation or public policy that should ever violate the First Amendment. With freedom of expression, however, comes responsibility. With that said, HSAN is concerned about the growing public outrage concerning the use of the words "bitch," "ho," and "nigger." We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words "bitch" and "ho" and the racially offensive word "nigger."
Going forward, these three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as "extreme curse words." The words "bitch" and "ho" are utterly derogatory and disrespectful of the painful, hurtful, misogyny that, in particular, African American women have experienced in the United States as part of the history of oppression, inequality, and suffering of women. The word "nigger" is a racially derogatory term that disrespects the pain, suffering, history of racial oppression, and multiple forms of racism against African Americans and other people of color.
In addition, we recommend the formation of a music industry Coalition on Broadcast Standards, consisting of leading executives from music, radio and television industries. The Coalition would recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards within the industries.
We also recommend that the recording industry establish artist mentoring programs and forums to stimulate effective dialogue between artists, hip-hop fans, industry leaders and others to promote better understanding and positive change. HSAN will help to coordinate these forums.
These issues are complex, but require creative voluntary actions exemplifying good corporate social responsibility."
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"in lieu of."
can you say fascists? i knew you could
How pathetic. One embarrassing visit to Oprah's little shooting gallery and he seems to have lost his entire spine.
So true . Your either going to support the art form in & it's true nature, Or not . This whole "Half arsing it" attitude by Russel is crazy ! Just because he has some clout in the industry it doesn't make you right . You either embrace the art form as a whole or don't at all .
Simmons was on the Colbert Report last night. Footage over at Comedy Central.
Other articles say this only references the 'clean' versions. It's not saying that the 'unclean' versions should be removed from the marketplace; it's just saying the words that don't belong on a clean song are being expanded. Other words were already being bleeped, etc.
"actually defended some hip hop and rap artists as 'poets'"
"Actually?"
Spoken like someone has no idea what's coming out of hip hop today... Anybody who is as surprised as this can start with the six plus seasons of Def Poetry on HBO (or a visit anytime to the Nuyorican...).
this is really disappointing. Russell wants to place the blame on the labels and improve censoring on the radio, but apparently he doesn't care about changing the actual attitudes or the actual lyrics which will still appear raw and unedited on all the CD's. Russell, why don't you focus on promoting the many positive/creative hip-hop artists out there instead
I feel that the first amendment is very important, and that if artists/entertainers want to use words that others deem as sexist, obscene or hurtful they should be able to do so. The people concerned with and or hurt by such terms should refrain from listening to or subjecting themselves to such music. I find it very interesting that African Americans are so upset about this, and feel that the language in Hip Hop music is perpetuating oppression, though I do agree that it is. From what I know about Hip Hop, the artists that use racist and sexist lyrics are typically African American themselves. If they want to uplift their race and their women they need to make the change internally, no industry coalition is going to be able to make such a change. The state of hip hop is indeed misguided and often ignorant, but if black people want to rise above this oppression then the fight needs to start with them. Why is it cool to be "ghetto?" I understand that many rappers have rags to riches stories, and I am excited that they have come up in the world, but using racist and sexist terminology in their music is not going to help anyone else achieve the financial and societal success that they have found. Furthermore, the listeners need to use common sense, and see hip hop as merely entertainment and rappers as entertainers, and stop modeling their lives and actions after what BET and MTV stars portray in their music and public persona's. Do I feel that there should be restrictions on what can and cannot be said in music? Absolutely not. But I do feel that if black artists want to help out their culture and people, they need to be more conscious of what they are preaching to the masses. And for that matter, the listeners need to not be sheep and need to start thinking for themselves, they need to have more self worth and a stronger sense of self. Change starts from within, not from government sanctioned restrictions.
*cough* Voltaire *cough*
Violation of Freedom of speech.
Wait a second, didn't he produce records with such words? Didn't he make money from them?
Pot calling the kettle black?
Lets censor every rap song, because they all say bitch, hoe and nigger. And lets fire every black comedian because they say bitch hoe and nigger all the time. But a man like Don Imus says some insensitive words that are not even overtly racist and the whole f**king black community is crying like a bunch of little babies. But I hear rappers talking about how they want to deflower white women all the time, but no whiot people cry like little pussies about it. If you do not want to be called these terms then do not use them. Black people need to focus their energy towards more productive things like family and raising children (though many balcks do indeed do this I am merely using these as examples of more productive and positive uses of their time). Quit calling yourself these names and maybe they wouldn’t be repeated, nor would they perpetuate the "opression" that you seem to constantly feel. If you just shut up and went about your business no one would care about your race.
rap is crap like the monkies who chatter it.
monkeys go back to africa;why dont ya????
I think the soup kitchen needs you "Whitey" . There cracker supply is running kind of low !