New Proposed Indecency Bill Threatens Rap Music Industry

[bigted]

New Proposed Indecency Bill Threatens Rap Music Industry

by J.D. Cooke Washington News Wire

WASHINGTON DC-Last week's intense debate on the plight of this nation's immigrant population led to massive rallies and student walkouts in many cities throughout the country. The largest occurred in Los Angeles and Detroit where 500 thousand and 200 thousand took to the streets respectively to protest the bill HR 4437 that would make it a third class felony for anyone caught administering aid to those who are in this country illegally as well as for those caught without the proper pare work and visas.

Up until now the focus has been on the nation's Hispanic population which now numbers more than 35 million. They have been the most visible and most outspoken on this divisive issue, however, if Congressman Richard Desour (R-Indiana) has his way, the protesting Hispanics may have unintended ally in the form of the music industry, in particular those who are proponents of gangster rap. He says that criminally behavior in the recording industry has tore away at the moral fabric of the American public.

Desour has quietly introduced what some are describing as a far reaching amendment to HR 4437 that would do the following;

1-Make it a felony punishable by fines up to 250 thousand dollar and up to 2 years in jail if one advocates, promotes or admits to the commission of violent crime in a commercially released recording.

2-Disallow anyone who has a felony or is incarcerated from being signed, employed or affiliated by a major record label. In language similar to the one found in HR 4437, anyone caught harboring or providing gainful employment to a convicted felon in the music or broadcast industry will be charged with a felony.

3- Clears the way and makes it easier for parents, victim's right groups, church organizations and Civil Right groups to sue artists and hold them liable for song lyrics that are deemed criminally prone and can be proven detrimental, pernicious and undermining to local and federal laws.

Initially this provision was written so that it would make it easier for consumers and the aforementioned groups to go after the deep pockets and resources of the record and broadcast industry. However, recording industry lobbyists were successful in working out a compromise and having the language specific to them removed from the proposed bill.

Desour's office noted that in exchange for the compromise, the Recording Industry would set aside funds and pledge other types of resources to help fight the tidal wave of illegal immigrants.

Broadcasters agreed to refrain from using their airwaves to promote, marches and rallies and to no longer provide an on air platform for organizations that help illegal immigrants. Both the Recording Industry and Broadcast Association agreed to vigorously enforce immigration laws at concerts, award shows and other industry related gatherings.

4-Desour's amendments would make it easier to apply hate crime provisions to artists, record label owners and broadcasters who allow the recording and dissemination of racial and sexually oriented disparaging epithets.

Broadcasters were unsuccessful in winning a compromise on this provision. Disparaging words like 'nigger', 'bitch' and 'fag' which are commonly heard on the airwaves and in recordings will be added to the current list of seven dirty words that are prohibited from being broadcast in public space.

In a strange and somewhat ironic twist, radio broadcaster's have hired high powered lobbyist Simon Dennis to represent them. They believe the proposed amendments reach too far and would have long range unintended economic consequences and stifle free speech.

Dennis accused the 7 term congressman of being culturally insensitive and a borderline racist. He noted that it was unfair for the Congressman to try and ban word 'nigger' which he claims is a universally used and accepted term in African American dialect especially if its pronounced and spelled with the letter 'A' at the end and not the letters 'Er'

"It's an important part of Black and Hip Hop culture", Dennis said. "Today its actually a good thing to call someone a 'nigga' because it means you are a friend. It's the community turning a positive into a negative. That should be celebrated, not criminalized. To disallow the N word's usage via the airwaves could prove to be economically disastrous because Black and urban Rap listeners would tune away in droves".

Simon pointed out the recent decline in ratings by Los Angeles based urban radio stations which once dominated the LA radio market as Top 5 positions are now not even in the Top 10. He argued that these stations in anticipation of this bill voluntarily restricted the use of N word on their airwaves and now the ratings have dropped precipitiously.

Despite the broadcast industry's compelling arguments all signs indicate that Congressman Desour will push to make the use of the 'N' word in both recordings and broadcast as part of the Hate Crime provisions. In other words, use of the N word in a criminal context iwithin a song can get you slapped with a hate crime which carries mandatory punishments.

Famed author, photographer and Hip Hop pioneer, Ernie Paniccioli's of the newly formed The Universal Federation for the Preservation of Hip Hop Culture reacted to the legislation placed before Congress; "From what I read, this bill seems far reaching. Many of us who love, respect and strive to protect this culture we call Hip Hop are in total favor of cleaning up the airwaves and making sure our house is in order. Many of us do not approve or support the use of the 'N' word in public space, however, we are not in favor of only criminalizing the artist while allowing his oppressive colonialist of a master who runs the record label to be given a pass."

Long time Hip Hop journalist and radio host Davey D said; " I'm concerned that while this bill is an attempt to clean up the airwaves, and the music industry in general, it will most likely be used selectively against Hip Hop artists and may even be twisted to go after artists like Dead Prez or The Coup who say harsh things about the political system."

To support these first two provisions of his bill, Congressman Desour referenced a newly released report that was put together by law enforcement officials who oversea the Hip Hop Task Force that is currently based in New York City and the main focal point of a soon to be released motion picture. The task force's exhaustive two year study concluded that there is a direct correlation in the rise of gang activity, drug dealing and other violent crimes with the high visibility and ultimate rewarding and endorsement of rap artists who have a criminal path.

"When young people witness artists like Snoop Dogg, Youngster Jeezy, Nas and other gangster rappers being coddled by the music industry it sends out the wrong message", said HHTF spokesman Lynn Franks. "It leaves young people with the impression that the only way you can be successful in the music industry is to first be a career criminal"

Franks went on to point out that the HHTF discovered that many record labels were secretly orchestrating and encouraging their artists to engage in criminal acts and behavior as a way to spark controversy which in turn would lead to increased record sales. The report discovered that if an artist actually served jail time, then their album sales would shoot through the roof, because of the heavy promotion and endorsement by both the record labels and broadcasters who used their incarceration as a key selling point.

Franks also noted that many gangster rappers were communicating secret messages to fellow gang members and criminal enterprises around the country in recordings using coded street lingo, by adapting certain nicknames or wearing particular clothing and fashions.

During a press conference Franks asserted; "One popular artist from Atlanta named Youngster Jeezy calls himself 'The Snowman'. His name and his lyrics are really street lingo advocating for people to steal cars. There's been a huge spike is grand theft auto throughout Jeezy's native Atlanta since he started releasing albums".

Currently the HHTF is trying to build a case against Jeezy saying that his lyrics were premeditated.

Franks went on; "There are two popular rappers out of Houston we been studying. Gangster rappers Paul Jones and Mike Wall has recorded numerous songs where they encourage to purchase false teeth filled with diamonds and other expensive jewels that they nickname 'grills'

Our study concludes that Wall and Jones and many of these other rap guys who are wearing these so called grills are actually smuggling diamonds filled while smiling for cameras. When these rappers describe the jewels they have in their mouth, they are actually sending secret messages to fellow diamond smugglers about the type of stash they are delivering"

Franks also pointed the hit song 'Tell Me When to Go' by popular artist E-40. "Here you have a young man who is blatantly advocating that young men and women participate in perverted sexual activities. When he instructs listeners at the end of his song to 'Ghost ride the Whip' . This is Bay Area street slang for bondage and S&M of the most dangerous type. Using whips while participating in sex acts is not only quite dangerous and can cause serious injury, but it's also a violation of the law in 37 states. Because Mr 40 has such a young audience he can be in big trouble with the law where bondage sex is illegal".

ACLU spokesperson Harry Thompson said that they fully intend to challenge the Constitutionality of this law should it pass along with the other provisions of the Immigration Bill. However, he acknowledges that in today's political climate it will be along hard struggle.

He encourages people to call their representatives and Senators to oppose Congressman Desour's New Indecency Bill HR 3312.

To see a full copy of this Draconian Bill Click Here:

http://p076.ezboard.com/fpoliticalpalacefr...picID=164.topic

[sonic1988]

damn, these times are WAY too conservative!! :shakehead:

ever since the movie Deep Throat, its been downhill.

Edited April 3, 2006 by sonic1988

[JumpinJack AJ]

I couldn't read all of that cuz it bored me outta my mind. The whole idea of this is silly. But at the same time, there are some good points. These rap losers who are regularly talking about hurting people. And they are boasting about being in jail like it's a cool thing...half of them never have been 2 jail. I'll just stop there.

[thePrince]

Yeah it's time to clamp down on the music industry bedwetters. But at the same time, it does infringe freedom of speech, etc., which is something I believe strongly in. So.. I dunno.

[bigted]

They can't attack only the rap industry, they need to go after the whole entertainment industry if they wanna make a difference, I think they're only attacking the rap industry 'cause there's mostly blacks in it, they won't go after the heavy metal industry where those white guys make violent songs and all those white mafia films that're violent too and have a lot of sex in too, it works all ways, I mean 50 Cent's not the only one to have a violent video game either, they need to criticise all of them as a whole, not just pick on the black rap artist, I notice they didn't mention Eminem in there and his music is more violent than most black rappers, it's ****ed up,it does take away freedom of speech, everybody has a right to express themselves, one again art immitates life there will always be perverted things and racial things out there no matter what you do to the entertainment...

Edited April 3, 2006 by bigted

[JumpinJack AJ]

Freedom of speech is very important. But i have a problem with the freedom 2 be stupid. People like G-Unit aren't expressing themselves or really using freedom of speech. They are just idiots talking. It's nothing but a big grey area 2 me.

[ash trey]

Freedom of speech is very important. But i have a problem with the freedom 2 be stupid. People like G-Unit aren't expressing themselves or really using freedom of speech. They are just idiots talking. It's nothing but a big grey area 2 me.

"Lost is when u hide behind da freedom of speech,

Sure ur free to do it,

Did u mean to do it.

Did u need to do it,

Did u take time to think about da seeds u ruined "- Fresh Prince

Edited April 3, 2006 by ash trey

[bigted]

There are idiots in society in general though, rappers like G Unit ain't the only ones, it's a collected effort and it starts with this crooked government who are more focused on shutting down the rap industry rather than cleaning up the schools in inner cities so that rappers like G Unit could get educated, now they came from broken homes and they show how uneducated they are, they think violence is cool 'cause nobody told them that it wasn't when they were younger, I think the word would be ignorant not idiot, the government is ignorant of thinking that rappers are making stuff up in their songs but they grew up in violence, maybe if there surroundings would be better then maybe they wouldn't do songs like that, banning these artists would not take away the ignorance out there in society, it's like it seems that the government had a problem with the rap industry ever since NWA and Too Live Crew came along but there was violence in entertainment way before gangsta rap came along, gangsta rap is basically reality rap, like 2Pac said before if you get rid of the violence then there wouldn't be violent songs and if you put those rich people in politics in a poor neighborhood they'd know how it feels, a lot of them were born rich so they think that gangsta rap is all just fantasy, and to quote Nas "Mr. Mayor imagine if this was your backyard/Mr. Governor imagine if it was your kids that starve/It's the ghetto life, I celebrate it, I live it", even if the artists are rich now they're making songs reflecting the feelings of those in the 'hood still to bring awareness, they wanna stay true to the streets, gangsta rappers are just telling it the way they see it and some of them obviously need guidance and they're crying out for attention...

The problem I think there is room for gangsta rap out there but at the same time the rappers who ain't gangsta deserve to get airplay too, I agree that it's wrong to have it be played on the radio 24/7 but still you shouldn't ban it altogether, rap has to be balanced out a lil' bit more 'cause you could say not all films out there that're popular are violent so why should all rap out there being promoted be violent but overall I think they're just trying to get rid of rap 'cause like Fat Joe once said: "We hit you with the real facts/That's why the government wants to kill rap"

I think they do that on purpose to make all black people look like criminals, I personally think that the government doesn't like seeing black people on top and they wanna taint our image 'cause they don't show love to the rappers who do have direction in what they do, that's why they gave an Oscar to Three Six Mafia, there was many rappers who made more inspiring soundtrack songs that deserved to win, they rather let the pimp rapper win so the conservatives could use it as fuel to diss the whole rap community with, sure there's some of us that're ignorant but that don't reflect all of us, some in the 'hood wanna make a difference and take care of their families but they don't get the same recognition as the ones who go out there trying to be kingpins and have sex with a million girls with no conscious,there's a lot of positive rappers out there too, they make it depressing like the news where they only talk about the negativity, positive things need to have shine too, the sad thing though is that a lot of these white kids love violence so much that if rap became less violent they'll start buying more violent video games and stop listening to rap, lol, it's almost impossible to get rid of all the explicit entertainment, the entertainment industry would go broke, I think it's also a reflection of the garbage that some people choose to pollute their minds and lives with, kids love the violence so much 'cause the parents and society in general doesn't tell them that it's wrong too and tell them not to imitate everything they hear or see, it's a reflection of society, kids are fascinated by violence 'cause they're ignorant to know better, "It takes a village to raise a child" and that village is in corruption so it's reflected that the kids are corrupted to glorify crap, companies only care about making money off of it, they'll probably pay it off so this law won't ever go through anyway, if society on a whole became more conscious then it'd be reflection in the entertainment, art immitates life, times are ****ed up so that's why the entertainment is too

Edited April 3, 2006 by bigted

[ash trey]

Well said Big Ted :kekeke:

[mfuqua23]

It truly is a shame. I honestly don't understand the fascination with some artists, but yet it seems like more people see it so than not. Music just might become so commercial and widespread that it won't sell. It will truly be a matter of taste and one person or genre won't dominate. This might just actually be history repeating itself, but in a more detailed version.

Jealous, greed, envy, bitterness, etc. All of this is destroying "ways of life". Ted, I understand your whole way of thinking, and you've gotta be sick of playing that race card. It's like, we don't want to be stupid and not open our eyes to "a truth", but we don't wanna be so stuck in our ways and exaggerate the situation. Too much credit, or not enuff. If whoever and whatever big organizations wanted to get rid of not just African Americans, but whatever different groups, they need to just do it now and all at once. I'm so fed up. The world will never be right. And that could make you question a lot of things. I sure do.

G-Unit actually has been pretty quiet lately. I don't understand what's the difference between all the different hip hops that get explicit and those rated R movies that they put out. Kids still sneak into those theaters or snatch a DVD. Nowadays, they don't even have to. You can catch that stuff on regular tv. Another thing I don't understand is how these rappers say "I'm speakin for this group and putting out for them", when in fact, they don't have any such income to even afford a house, let alone a cd. So how can they hear you? All of these problems, whatever they are, will just keep going until the end of the world (if that will ever come).

Now, back on focus, I wouldn't necessarily call "gangster rap"-reality rap. They exaggerate just as much another rapper doing a very creative song about something that's inanimate. Tupac denied making "gangster rap". He knew what it was, but not how it pertained to his own. I remember hearing him once reference it as "soul music".

Obviously, "they" want to take rap music away entirely, because of what it seems to be made up as. G-Unit=gone, Paul Wall=gone, Nas =gone. Just the same, the ones they more than likely don't know about will be done as well. Dead Prez=gone, Talib Kweli=gone, KRS One=gone, etc. Would it really be the worse thing in the world never to hear THE "N" word again? Yeah yeah, freedom of speech. Go figure.

It's funny that this actually comes up, becuz I was in lunch, and one guy said "For some business majors, we sure got some foul mouths." I was like "except me. I was just repeating what she said." Then he said "well, your a rapper." (Now what does that say? The stereotypical rapper is suppose to use foul language)

[bigted]

Well of course some of "gangsta rap"is exagerrated just like some parts of movies are exaggerated so it could be a lil' bit more entertaining for the audience, which on the most part can't really relate to it 'cause they live in a much more confortable position, in fact they really think that it's probably all fantasy themselves, just a catchy beat to dance to, in the deposition on "Tupac Resurrection" he says that he never did gangsta rap, he said he just made music reflecting his thoughts and feelings, which is what I think it comes down to

People always put so many labels on it but music is music, it gives people a chance to express themselves, every artist should have an opportunity to voice their thoughts whether we like listening to them or not no matter what type of music they do, as fans we have the choice to listen to who we want to, instead of complaining about what you don't like, buy CDs you do like and if you don't like listening to the radio don't listen, stop with the G Unit bashing, it gets annoying, I don't like them either but I just don't pay attention to them anymore, I think they've been overexposed and their 15 minutes is up anyway, people already know how I feel about them here so I don't have to go further on it, it's better for wack/hot/legendary/new artists to do music and make a living off of their talents instead of taking the music away from them which means a lot of them could end up in the same situations they was in earlier in their lives, and yeah people think I like to saythe n word too just 'cause I like hip-hop and that disturbs me, it does get tiredsome to drag the race card into the picture here but sadly that's what I think is going on here, no matter how many positive things a brother or sister could do there's always some things that they could get criticised for but that's just like any human, they shouldn't just point at a certain group of people and throw the blame on them for why society is violent, people in general need to be more conscious in their thoughts and actions for things to get better, dissing the rap community could only cause more anger, like KRS-ONE said in one of his songs:

"negative rap/ positive rap/forget that crap/ that is a trap to set us back/ they just don't like black youth, our expressions, our gold tooth/people say they don't like gangsta rap but conscious rap they don't respect it/ somebody has to die before you hear a conscious record"

Edited April 4, 2006 by bigted