Why Censoring Hip-Hop in the 1970s was Wrong

Hip hop has been making enemies since its birth. Since the early 70s that the first hip hop artists emerged from the ghettos of Bronx, Brooklyn and the poorer surrounding areas of New York City, the American system loathed it. Besides, hip hop has often been the scapegoat not only to rationalize extreme social behaviors, but also to provoke them. And in the midst of harsh lyrics, opposition and violence, the alleged murder of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas (1996) and the gun-down of Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles (1997) has made hip hop even more controversial.

Glorifying Crime, Sexism and Greed

It was easy to censor hip-hop. Its lyrics were harsh glorifying sexism, street violence, alcohol, drugs, and gang life. Hip-hop was offensive. Hip-hop was challenging the system. Hip-hop was idolizing crime, greed, prostitution, misogyny and homophobia. But, wasn't it the same with Rock when nonconformist Jim Morrison was challenging White America with his offensive lyrics and erratic stage presence? Morrison was even sent to trial accused for obscenity, indecent exposure and open profanity after his behavior in Miami concert in 1969.

But it was only natural.

Hip-hop was born in the streets and represented all those people who did not have privileges, who were poor and were fighting for their constitutional rights against the middle-class White America . Hip-hop was spitting America on the face and America was holding hip-hop responsible for everything, dismissing it as noise and blaming it for gang explosion.

Only hip-hop was so much more than that.

Echoing the Voice of African Americans in a White America

Hip-hop echoed the desperate voice of African Americans and Latinos in a White America that was progressing, leaving them behind, uneducated and underprivileged. Their American dream was more related to police brutality, unemployment and poverty rather than huge corporate rooms and marketing campaigns. Hip-hop was their means to demonstrate their aggravation and opposition to a country that was moving in two gears: a White gear that was pushing forward any middle-class White American with a college degree and a Black gear that was pushing down any African American or Latino, down and out in the streets to steal for survival. Inevitably, hip-hop became the new street culture.

What White America couldn't anticipate was that as hip-hop was growing bigger it ultimately shifted from the ghettos to the suburbs and ultimately to corporate boardrooms. White kids started loving hip-hop, buying Tupac's records or selling out Snoop Doggy Dogg's concerts. In no time, hip hop swept away the masses becoming a colossal cultural phenomenon. For White America it seemed that there was no other option left: since hip-hop could not be disregarded, it had to be censored.

Censoring Hip-Hop Was Wrong

Hip-hop was censored for all the wrong reasons. White America deliberately ignored all the facts that basically had created the need for opposition and controversy.

First of all, considering the unjust political system of the 1970s against African Americans and the fact that Black America in the early 70s was greatly misused, opposition and social riots are justified to a certain extent. Malcolm X, the leader of Black Nationalism, was preaching"We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary."

It is a fact that, after the 1973 oil crisis that caused disruptions in the production and distribution of oil leading to sharp increases in oil prices and economic recession, the poverty rate for African Americans was above 30% on average. Besides, in poorest and most underprivileged areas the poverty rate of Black America grew by 164% whereas the poverty rate for White America grew by 24%. No doubt then why African Americans protested, demanding from White America to accept social change. And hip-hop was a means of social change. Through its lyrics it described the way of life of those almost forgotten second-class citizens, who suffered police brutality and violence every day in the ghettos. This is what they knew; this is what they expressed in their lyrics.

Second of all, music cannot be controlled by censorship. Freedom of expression applies to music as much as it applies to any other form of art. The oxymoron with hip-hop is that the more it openly irritated, the more it was selling. Its growing influence on the masses was directly proportional to its provocative lyrics. This was the truth of a music genre that could not be censored no matter what. People, both black and white, loved it, and the more it provoked the more they loved it. When N.W.A. released "F*** Tha Police" from their album "Straight Outta Compton" (1988), they actually referred to an actual event that had occurred in Southern California . The lyrics "F*** tha police, comin straight from the underground, young nigga got it bad cuz I'm brown and not the other color so police think, they have the authority to kill a minority.." were so familiar to so many black people that the album went double platinum.

Third of all, although corporate America censored hip-hop for its degrading language and bad influence on the youth, still it massively capitalized on its massive weight on society. Burger King, Sprite, Pepsi, Nike, Reebok, iPod and many other corporate giants used contemporary hip-hop artists in their advertising campaigns making hip-hop mainstream and, unquestionably, a highly profitable industry.

Undoubtedly, censorship does not help music. Hip-hop was censored in the US as punk was censored in the UK . Same era, different ideals, different races. Hip-hop was about the political and social oppression of the black youth in the White America of the 70s. Punk was about the resistance of the white youth against political hypocrisy. In both cases though, censorship only promoted music and made it more popular to the masses.

In conclusion, censoring hip-hop heated more resistance and social riots. Despite harsh language and connotations to violence, African Americans did not engage into actual riots because they realized that such behavior would most likely hurt their cause to achieve social equality. They chose hip-hop to express their opposition to the indifference of White America. Music cannot create violence. Music only echoes social truth. Hip-hop was real music for real people. No censorship could control that.

Sources:

http://www.westlord.com/murder-of-tupac-and-notorious-b-i-g/

http://www.doors.com/miami/one.html

http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/for_black_america_2010_looks_a_lot_like_the_1970s

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/17435.Malcolm_X

http://www.hiphopsite.com/2010/03/25/20-best-rap-commercials-of-all-time/