Word: rappings
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...system of regulation or voluntary restraint is going to have much effect on mass entertainment. And I'd like to hear how Dole squares his antiviolence stand with his ardent support for the n.r.a. and the overturning of the assault-weapons ban. Guns don't kill people; rap music kills people? Oliver Stone movies kill people? Please...
...when Republican Congressmen compared poor single mothers to mules and alligators, who want to ban abortion. If these men want to do something about entertainment that insults women, why not start with Rush Limbaugh and his references to pro-choice women as "feminazis"? Oh, but I forgot. Criticizing gangsta rap for demeaning women is defending "American values." Criticizing right-wing talk radio for doing the same is "politically correct...
These people are not about breaking taboos, they are about making money, and they know where to draw the line. A few years ago, there was an understandable controversy about the anti-Semitic statements of Professor Griff when he was a member of the rap group Public Enemy. He was soon gone from the group. That is a perfect example of how responsibly the industry can work. We will hear no "reports from the streets" that give voice to the mad ravings of Khalid Muhammad or Louis Farrakhan, regardless of the young black people who cheer them at rallies...
...flap over rap is not making life any easier for him. A cerebral, low-key chief executive, Levin has consistently defended the company's raunchy rap music on the grounds of freedom of expression. In 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing Ice-T's violent rap song Cop Killer, Levin described rap as a legitimate expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet. "The test of any democratic society," he wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column, "lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought...
...chairman was backing off his hard-line posture, at least to some extent. During the discussion of rock lyrics at last month's stockholders' meeting, Levin asserted that "music is not the cause of society's ills" and even cited his son, a teacher in the Bronx, who uses rap to communicate with students. But he talked as well about the "balanced struggle" between creative freedom and social responsibility, and he announced that the company would launch a drive to develop industry-wide standards for the distribution and labeling of potentially objectionable music...