Often, there have been lyrics in certain rap music and displays of women in rap music videos, that would make me wince at the amount of the vulgarity displayed! On the other hand, pornographic videos and prints also stir up a similar reaction, and there has not been any one able to stop porno production! And they should not!

Rap music, hip-hop and rap music videos, known to be offensive to black people, women and other groups, should be given a forum…i.e. radio station, tv station or something of that sort to allow people who want to hear that type of music can go to where they can indulge in it! Again, parents still have to be accountable for the actions of their children in a free society! Parents have to know what their kids interests are and show them that “adult” material is for “adults”!

Rappers are speaking from the “hood”. “Hood”, in the context of where you are from, is the shortened name of neighborhood! However, in the wikipedia it stands for “ghetto”.

A ghetto is an area where people from a specific racial or ethnic background and united in a given culture or religion live as a group in seclusion, voluntarily or involuntarily. The word historically referred specifically to the Venetian Ghetto in Venice, Italy, where Jews were required to live. It was later applied to neighborhoods in other cities where Jews were required to live. The corresponding German term was Judengasse; in Moroccan Arabic ghettos were called mellah. The term came into popular, world-wide use during World War II, in reference to Nazi ghettos.

The term now commonly labels any poverty-stricken urban area.

For rappers to be singled out for the expressions from their hood is placing judgment on an entire culture. As we continue on, check out this black exploitation film when you can for perspectives!

When Neal Boortz said former congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, “looks like a ghetto slut ” and “ghetto trash” and other unpleasantries, on the air on March 31, 2007, there was not as much hoopla about these verbal attacks. Cynthia McKinney, one a few people who can retaliate against her attackers since she is a public personality with access to media!


But, the Don Imus attack on the Rutgers Basketball team was the straw that broke the camels back, for demoralizing and demeaning black women by mainstream media personalities!

Now rappers’ are being challenged about the use of the words “whore aka HO”, bitch and the “N-word” in their lyrics and songs! Hip-Hop is music of the generation that it originated from and their expression is just that! The communities where most Rappers and Hip Hop artists come from are those areas mired in poverty and other social ills! Before the music is censored and eliminated, let’s examine it’s origin and meaning, to try and put it into context! Stay up on this blog, as next up, is the word “Whore”.