When it comes to controversy the one subject that has remained on the top of the list are lyrics. The music category that has been under the umbrella of controversy is rap music. The reason that rap has gotten so much attention is because of the vulgar or as The Source calls it “the real lyrics” (26). Because of these types of lyrics many politicians have spoke out about putting bands and regulations on the lyrics that the rap artists make. Many parents have complained about the music and tried to stop the sale of all rap in all stores. Even though rap has been under so much controversy it has managed to prosper very well.

The only way that the government has been able to do anything to the rap industry is by forcing all artists to put a parental advisory sticker on all of the CD’s. This was also brought on buy the parents because they were complaining that they were not able to distinguish between CD’s that bad language and the ones that are clean. After the government and the parents requested that all sales of rap music be stopped in all stores only one major company has accommodated that request and they even put a little twist on it. Wal-Mart is the only store that accommodated that request and they even put a twist on that. They decided to ask the rap artist to edit all their songs by cutting out all of the cuss words or they would not sell their records. So, the artist agreed with that request and did so.

The funny thing about lyrics is that in the sixties all the music talked about was drugs and sex and they didn’t have to worry about editing any of there music because back then people knew that that was part of life. But it seems now that parents don’t want their kids to know about life. The late TuPac Shakur said it best when he said, “You don’t like the lyrics and the music because you don’t want to hear about how some people had to sell drugs to live and how some people grew up on the streets.” I like this quote because it does seem that parents do not want their children to be exposed to a more real life, they want them to be sheltered. The reason that I like to listen to rap is because it gives me a view point on how other people have lived and how hard some peoples lives have been. Looking at rap in this aspect is good because I realize that really no matter how bad my life gets, I know that some people have had it worse.

It seems now that we have started to accept more things and not worry about the little things like lyrics in music. Artist in the early nineties started cussing excessively just to piss off the government because they knew that the government could not do anything about it. But now the artists have cleaned up their act and lyrics just because they realize they don’t have to be vulgar all the time. Rap music about three or four years ago was about drugs and killing people. Now rap is about making money and having fun which is good because I would rather hear about parties than killing anytime of the week. This paper was fun to write because I love music and rap and I love to talk about it.

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