Congress Looks at Hip-Hop Language

from the NY Times: Congress Looks at Hip-Hop Language

I love hip hop. As a feminist, I have always struggled with those songs and artists that uphold misogynist, racist stereotypes. But I hate that people still generalize ALL of hip hop, saying that hip hop as a genre is the problem. What these people fail to realize is that:
a) Not all hip hop artists and fans subscribe to misogynistic language and images,
b) It's not a symptom of hip hop, it's a symptom of the entire music industry--many artists/songs of other genres use degrading language and objectify women (see Emo: Where Girls Aren't), and
c) The people who ultimately really control the hip hop industry (and pretty much all media) aren't necessarily the artists, but corporations headed by mostly white, heterosexual males.

I'm glad that Congress is giving this issue some attention (and notice what Dr. E Faye Williams had to say). I'm also glad that Master P not only apologized for his demeaning language but pledged to produce clean lyrics. But the solution is not censorship, in my opinion. The solution is making it so that it is no longer acceptable to produce degrading and misogynist images of women. We have to create a diversity of perspectives and viewpoints--those that will depict women in a context outside the heterosexual male fantasy--within the hip hop industry (and ultimately, all music and other media) if we want to see real change. To be honest, Levell Crump has a point when he says, "If by some stroke of the pen hip-hop was silenced, the issues would still be present in our communities. Drugs, violence, sexism and the criminal element were around long before hip-hop existed.''

Thoughts?