Members Of 2 Live Crew example essay topic

RAP SHOULD NOT BE CENSORED! BY: FAR HAN YUSUF Rap should not be censored because everybody has the right to their freedom of speech, as it is in Section 2 of Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Us as rappers express our thoughts and the whole world is after us. (pg. 171, Sexton) Rap has done a lot to our world, as a result our society has improved. Laws are stated for music censorship.

Rap censorship is wrong, there are cases, songs, and interview to prove that. Lot of people think that rap music promotes violence and that it is negative to the society! While so much emphasis is placed on the detrimental effects of some rap music, theres little acknowledgment of raps positive cultural contribution and social activism. Jives KRS-One, known to his community as The Teacher is just one example of the good work being done. KRS-One now lectures at universities such as Harvard, Yale, Vassar and Stanford on his philosophies The deepest part of being black is being African.

The deepest part of being African is being human, he has started. The deepest part of being human is being universal. And the deepest part of being universal is being balanced. Its all according to where to start and stop studying. The rap artists have been involved with such organizations as Stop the Violence, Heal and the National Urban League (for which KRS-One raised $600,000) One of his projects Break the Chain, was made into an audiocassette soundtrack with his songs and spoken words. The project promotes literacy and cultural awareness and teaches black history.

Pubic Enemy criticized for excessively violent lyrics. Even they have launched a Black Awareness program. The members have also raised and contributed money for various causes such as Urb a Development Program, a nationwide program by which youths build houses for the homeless. In the States, Public Enemy toured 20 cities in the Unity for Peace tour and raised money for such local charities as the Boys and Girls clubs. Chuck D frequently speaks about issues of empowerment in a lot of universities.

Eazy-E participates with charity groups like the Athletes & Entertainers for Children and the Make A Wish Foundation. Eazy-E also filmed and narrated a public-service announcement on fire safety for the Compton Fire Department. There a lot of other rapers who work for their communities. Such as: The Coup who organized the Mau Mau Rhythm Collective. Which focus on African-American history and politics. D.J. Woody Wood of Three Times Dope (3 XD) is the project coordinator for Youth Outreach Adolescent Community AIDS Project.

He also founded the Celebrity AIDS Awareness Project (CRAP), a national AIDS education program. Doug E Fresh was a spokesperson for Voter Jam 94, a campaign for black and Latino youth. He works with the New York Board Of Education and speaks at high schools about issues of confidence and self-esteem Ahmad speaks at schools and centers such as Of man Learning Center, where runaways and gang members try to make a fresh start. Grave Digg az also can be found talking to kids at school and youth centers. MC Eight participates in performing and playing basketball games with well know athletics to benefit youth centers. Such as The Truce Foundation in Las Vegas.

There are also many record companies who help society out: Dangerous Records, uses rap to promote peace by releasing some albums about street violence. They have given $5,000 to the Stamps Youth Foundation, a Los Angeles-based organization that works with gang members trying to change their lives. Another label, Priority Records, has joined with Los Angeles radio station Power 106 to compile an album that will help fund the building of performing-arts center. There are some laws for music censorship.

Which is benefit to rappers. For the most part there is technically no such thing as music censorship Censorship is a very harsh word especially when it comes to popular music. Many musical artists claim to be censored by radio stations, religious and community groups, retailers and even their own record labels. They claim their rights and freedoms have been violated. The Freedom of Speech read as follows: Congress shall make no law representing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Music is not censored on the basis of art, it is censored on the basis of obscenity.

If a work of art, music, or literature is found to be obscene - then it can be subject to legal censorship. Again, that only applies to the government. The courts don't have the right to force Wal-Mart to carry an album. You have become the victim of attempted censorship, an effort to prevent information from reaching the public. It is a violation of freedom of the press, both of which are guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Here are a number of cases which have result in the arrest of shop owners and banned some albums.

January, 1990 In one of the most famous cases of music censorship, police in Dade County, Florida set up a sting to arrest three retailers selling copies of a record by 2 Live Crew to children under the age of 18. Objections to 2 Live Crew started with the break-through of their hit "Me So Horny". Similar prosecutions regarding 2 Live Crew record sales happen in Alabama and Tennessee. No prosecutions result in standing convictions. Members of 2 Live Crew were also prosecuted for performing the material live in concert. 1990 Members of the rap group N.W.A. receive a letter from the FBI saying the agency did not appreciate the song "Fuck The Police".

Law enforcement groups all over the country agree. April, 1990 A Florida grand jury determines that four rap albums (including "Freedom of Speech" by Ice-T) are legally obscene. Area retailers quickly pull the records from the shelves to avoid prosecution. In 1992 when 2 Live Crew put out an album As nasty as they want to be, within days, all retail stores in Broward Country ceased selling the record. 2 Live Crew brought this action under 42 USC 1983, seeking an injection and declaration of their rights.

Miller vs. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). To be obscene there must be proof of all three of the following factors: 1) The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest. 2) Measured by contemporary community standards the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensively way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law. 3) The work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. The US Supreme Court has defined prurient as material having a tendency to excite lustful thoughts Roth vs. U.S., 354 U.S. 476 (1957). Nasty lyrics and the titles of its songs are replete with references to female and male genitalia, human sexual execration, oral-anal contact, fellatio, group sex, sexual positions, sadomasochism, the turgid state of the male sexual organ, masturbation cunnilingus, sexual intercourse, and the sounds of moaning.

Mike Kinsley: Six sheriff deputies burst into a record store in Fort Lauderdale this afternoon, handcuffed and arrested the owner. His crime Selling a record album to an undercover cop. Omar: Freedom of choice. Freedom of speech.

Mike: The album was called As Nasty as they Wana Be by 2 Live Crew. Bestseller over 1.7 million sold. On Wednesday Florida federal Judge ruled it obscene. Quote, An appeal to the lois not the intellect Omar: There are some 600 words in the album which are either - most people would consider dirty, obscene, and filthy. Mike: A 2 Live Crew is not available in a gym locker room of a Catholic school. The lyrics are not written on the bathroom wall.

If some body does not want to listen to 2 live Crew they dont have too! Omar: The owner was arrested for selling it not to a child but to an adult. Is rap censorship a crime Here are some opinions and facts about the rap censorship and 2 Live Crew. Four hundred years ago, when black slave were brought to America, Africans who spoke the same language were separated from each other. Censoring rap music is just this same form of separation. Rap is the number-one selling form of music today.

Rap has brought black kids a new sense of pride. Rap has brought black kids and white kids closer together. Thanks to rap, white kids are gaining a better understanding and a new respect for black culture. Rap has done nothing but bring people together. So, whats the problem Its people who dont understand the music or the culture that are creating problems. says Chuck D, 2 Live Crew has been around since mid-eighties, but as long as black kids were buying their records, nobody said a thing. As soon as white kids started buying them, and MTV started playing them, now suddenly weve got a problem.

This hypocrisy makes me mad. 2 Live Crew sings about sex, a natural part of life. Advertisers use it every day. Whats next Playboy magazine How about Muscle and Fitness magazine It has a girl in bikini on the cover: Lets bust her! You cant slap the right hand without slapping the left. Same with 2 Live Crew.

If Clay were black, would they go after him How about Eddie Murphy or is he to powerful. What we are seeing today isnt only censorship, but also clear discrimination. As long as I was robbin my own kind The policeman paid me no mind Then I started robbin the white folks Now Im in the pen with soap on a rope Different subject same message. Cop Killer a song by Ice-T was discussed about. It was not banned at all. We, as members of the Chicago Police Department and members of their families, are appalled and offended that you and your company are willing to promote the Ice-T song Cop Killer.

We are urging you to remove this song from the record stores and the media. Until such time, we intend to boycott any and all products, movies, and amusement parks, such as your Six Flags, that are owned and operated by Time Warner. With all the turmoil in the world today this on promotes more civil unrest. If you continue to promote this song, rest assured that you will be held liable and accountable for officers that are killed as a result of subjects using this song as a plea in their defense. June 23/1992 By the Chicago Police Department We have received many complaints from policeman, their families, and others about the song Cop killer. We are threatened with a boycott.

These people dont understand. True, this song is crap. But what do you except We are in the crap business. When the rap group came to us with this song, we said: Boy, is this crap. It should really sell. And we were right.

Hey, if Mozart had written stuff like this, instead of just talking dirty at parties, he wouldnt have died without a pfennig. Naturally, we are sympathetic to the feelings of policemen. If someone put out a record encouraging people to kill executives at Time Warner, Im sure our wives and children would be hysterical. Wed probably sue. But then, we are a big, powerful media corporation and you aint, so tough tootsies, coppers.

In conclusion, we will resist all efforts to impede free expression and our rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the marketing of any crap that will sell. God bless America. Now, call security and tell them not to let any cops in the lobby. Response on June 23/1992 Lyrics from Cop Killer by Ice-T I got my black shirt on I got my black gloves on I got my ski mask on... I got my twelve-gauge sawed off. I got my headlights turned off.

Im about to bust some shots off. Im about to dust some cops off. (Chorus) Cop killer, I know your family's grieving Cop killer, but tonight we get even... My adrenaline's pumpin.

I got my stereo bump in I am about to kill somethin A pig stop me for nuthin! (Chorus) Die, die, die, pig, die! Fuck the police! (The last line was repeated dozen times) The song [Cop Killer] is fiction, not fact. At no point do I go out and say, Let's do it. I am singing in the first person as a character who is fed up with police brutality.

I ain't never killed no cop. I felt like it a lot of times. But I never did it. - Ice-T, National Review, July 20, 1992. Interview Ice-T. Explaining that is song are just his own philosophies.

I write a few songs that are purely for adult entertainment and the whole world is after me. Todays society is based on sex-just look at how many strip bars and how much pornographic literature is available. Why condemn me-a black artist and entrepreneur-for my particular brand of adult entertainment I own and operate one of the largest independent recording companies around, and that could be why I was singled out. People need to realize that Im not in stores with guns to customers head forcing them to buy my albums.

Its freedom of choice, and thats what America is suppose to be about. It seems to me that priorities are all in the wrong order. We have an outrageous amount of people sleeping in the streets and without anything to eat, but we find rappers more important. Our environment is slowly being pulled apart, and we put people in jail for a bunch of words. Kids cant read or write, but thats not enough. Sometimes I wonder what the starving people in Ethiopia would think about the money we wasted on taking this to court.

We have placed warning stickers on our albums and put two versions of each album-an adult and a G version-in order to satisfy the public. And as far as I know were that only band that does that. We know that today they are trying to censor rap and tomorrow it would be classical music or theater or... November 5, 1990 This survey was taken two weeks a go. There were thirty volunteers to fill this survey out. Twenty two of them wrote rap should not be censored.

The other eight said it should. There were a lot of interesting comments from people who were against censorship. Such as, If we censorship rap we should censor everything offensive. It is a way to express yourself and entertain people too. Freedom of speech. Who am I to stop people to listen what they want!

Freedom to express yourself anyway you want. Censoring rap is against the law! If you dont want to listen you dont have too. Rappers have every right to express themselves in any way they want to. Rap music has been positive to society. Rap music has informed people about black culture!

People always find out what is the bad thing about rap through the media. The never find out what good it does. WORK CITED LIST SECONDARY RESOURCES web Censored, David Burden, Greenhouse: Press Inc. : Sandiego, 1990. Censored, Carl Jenson, Seven Horses: New York, 1996. Censorship, Terry ON iel, Greenhouse: Minnesota, 1985.

Violence in the Media, David L Bend or, Greenhouse: Sandiego, 1985. Rap on Rap, Adam Sexton, Bell Publish: USA, 1995. PRIMARY RESOURCES Interview with Ice-T. Laws for Censorship in, Laws, Geese Gayle, USA, 1997. (Reader Digest Book). Cases of Mike Kinsley. Cases of 2 Live Crew.

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