Hip hop is hated by many people because it’s often looked at as street and thug music which is a poor influence on children and society as a whole. Ever since the late eighties cursing, violence, misogyny, murder, drug references and various taboo topics have become a norm in hip hop music. This is largely due to the influence of gangster rap which came into prominence thanks to artists such as Ice T and NWA. Prior to that there was quite a lot of music which feature sexually suggestive and raunchy content albeit expressed with less explicit lyrics such as Prince’s 1985 song Darling Nikki which made a reference to masturbation. Songs such as the aforementioned played an important role towards creating rating systems which would eventually form into the now popular parental advisory sticker which is found in all forms of music from pop, hip hop, R&B, dancehall, rock, and various other genres.
Whenever the topic of the use of profanity arises it’s normally closely linked with artistic freedom. The argument goes something like; “I am an artist who speaks of the realities of life and I use language that you would hear in everyday situations. I am real so I do not pretend that negative issues do not exist in this world. I have the responsibility to tell it as it is. I am a social commentator. I do not want to pretend to speak differently in my music than I would in real life.” Others feel no need to justify the use of profane lyrics, and they indeed have the right to keep it that way if they wish. However, it’s important to understand that the words you speak as an artist will influence some listeners, whether you like it or not.
Some argue that using profanity adds to their music and as artists they have an artistic license to say whatever they wish. However, just because you have the freedom to do something doesn’t mean you should exercise it. The age old cliché of “with great power comes great responsibility” applies here. Words are weapons. They have the power to influence entire countries and even the entire world. Adolf Hitler’s words played a huge role in shaping Germany and resulted in the death of millions of people. The words of Martin Luther King Jr. played a major role in the civil right movement in the USA. Nelson Mandela’s words helped abolish apartheid in South Africa. The words of Jesus Christ which are documented in the Holy Bible have influenced individuals, families, communities, cities, countries, continents, and the entire world for 2000 years. Words are powerful; therefore you must choose them carefully. Musicians have the option of either being a positive or negative influence; there’s no in-between. Your lyrical content is the single biggest factor which determines this, that’s if your music contains lyrics at all.
Personally I’m of the opinion that the world is a sad enough place as is. There’s no need to spread more negativity via the use of careless words. Historically the vast majority of great (critically and commercially successful) music has been made without vulgar words. Just imagine if artists such as Abba, The Beatles, Bob Marley, Paul Simon, Sade, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley Elton John, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Bee Gees, Frank Sinatra, and Michael Jackson had littered their music with profanity. Would it not have taken from the overall experience of listening to their music? Have these artists not created some of the greatest music in all of human existence without the use of profanity? Modern artists such as Taylor Swift, Adele and Coldplay are massively successful without using explicit lyrics.
I’m thankful for the existence of mainstream rappers such as Will Smith who for many years made clean music that everyone can listen to and enjoy without cringing. The few times that I have heard Will Smith curse in a song the curse words are censored from the jump. In modern times you’ll be hard-pressed to find commercially successful clean rap music, but this does not mean it’s not there. Over the years there’ve been a lot of successful rap albums released which have lacked profanity such as Chamilionaire’s Ultimate Victory; the entire Lecrae, Trip Lee, and Tedashii catalogue; Hammer’s music; Will Smith’s catalogue; Mase’s Welcome Back; Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Lauryn Hill; and of course Run DMC to mention a few. Good clean rap music is out there; you just have to do a bit of digging because you most likely won’t find it in on the radio or most mainstream media.
Christian rap artists Dee-1 recently recorded and released a song with Lupe Fiasco. The story behind it is that Lupe cursed in his verse and Dee-1 who’s against the use of profanity took the bold step of having to ask Lupe to change his lyrics; a request to which Lupe obliged. The question is why did Lupe feel the need to curse in the first place if he was perfectly fine with changing his lyrics when asked to? Was it necessary for him to curse? Did it add anything to the song? Could he have gotten his point across just as clearly without using curse words? Did he do it just because he thought he could get away with it?
If you wish to read some statistics on how the use of profanity in hip hop has changed over the years click here.
