L.A. Times: Law Versus Lyrics: Rapper BG must have all future songs reviewed by U.S. government.
No!
No,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no,no.
NO!
NOOOOO!!!!
We have been very clear on this topic since the beginning of the blog. The government doesn't get to censor art, especially music lyrics.
I don't understand why we have to go through this every couple of years. It doesn't matter if it's Rap, Country, or Metal, musicians of all creeds and colors have Freedom of Speech. BG's lyrics are horrible? I'm sure they are.
But after watching BG's Gold Teeth Gizzle, he's not any worse than any other rapper. Just last year, we wrote: Does Every Rapper Hate the Police? Here's the ruse though, we didn't want any rappers' speech banned, we were only pointing out that both anti-police lyrics were protected and pro-police lyrics were protected.
Have I ever heard a song that was so morally reprehensible and outside the bounds of modern society that it should be banned? If there is such a song, I don't recall it.
This is the part where I post some of my favorite songs with dicey content.
The Salaminizer by GWAR
Takin' Retards to the Zoo by the Dead Milkmen
Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie by Nomeansno
Still Don't Give a F@ck by Eminem
Ted, Just Admit it.... by Jane's Addiction
Blam Blam by Killer Mike
@sshole by Denis Leary
Now here's the catch. None of the above songs that I liked were hits. I've never heard any of the above songs when I was shopping at Target. Where are people hearing BG's music that the government has to censor his lyrics? Your argument is that BG has to be censored because he is a criminal? I hate to tell you, but if you censor music from criminals, you just cut out half the hits in the Rock Era.
Elvis Presley had quite a propensity for 13 year old girls. If he wasn't the most popular artist of the 1950's, maybe the police wouldn't have looked the other way with his indiscretions.
Burning Love by Elvis Presley
The list of serious allegations against Michael Jackson in Leaving Neverland were shocking.
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Lisa Respers France at CNN left tears on her keyboard when writing about the allegations against Michael Jackson in 2019. She wasn't paying attention for about 20 years.
Seemingly every day brings new serious allegations against one of the most popular rappers of all time, Diddy.
Mo Money, Mo Problems by Biggie featuring Diddy
Yeah, Mo Money, Mo Problems indeed....
I would be remiss not to mention the unique case of Mark Lanegan.
Mark Lanegan was the lead singer of the Screaming Trees and came up with Seattle's grunge scene in the early 90's. The Trees' biggest hit was Nearly Lost You and it was one of the most beautiful songs every written. For about a decade, the band had a cult following before it blew apart, not with a bang, but with a thud. To my knowledge, there was never any issues with the content of the Screaming Trees' lyrics, Lanegan was a poet.
But after the break up, he eventually soldiered on and released many critically acclaimed solo albums and collaborations, including ones with Queens of the Stone Age.
But it was Lanegan's 2020 memoir Sing Backwards and Weep that was a revelation.
From a young age, Lanegan struggled with substance abuse issues and dropped this memorable quote, describing them thusly: "Heroin saved me from dying of alcoholism."
When the Screaming Trees broke up, that thud you heard was Lanegan hitting the ground. For many years, he was nothing more than a homeless drug dealer, living life as the human version of a sewer rat.
Which circles us back to BG. Lanegan would bounce back and go on to greatness in both song and writing. AT NO POINT DID THE GOVENMENT EVER CENSOR WHAT HE WAS DOING. When Mark Lanegan was at his lowest of low points, the government never dictated what his art could or couldn't be.
Even the concept of the government censoring a criminal's art is offensive.
What if that criminal murdered people?
<sigh>
I know it's not an exact correlation, but in Norway there's a guy named Varg Vikernes. He was in the Black Metal band Burzum. Actually, he WAS the Black Metal band's only member. Burzum's albums came out one after another and they never played live. (Because Vikernes was the only member.) Vikernes would join the Black Metal band Mayhem in 1992 and in 1993 he killed fellow Mayhem member Euronymous.
That story sounds vaguely familiar? Yeah, it was all over the news, Vikernes went to jail for 20 years.
And I didn't even mention the church arsons.
And then there was the 1998 book that made Mayhem famous: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground
And then there was the 2018 movie, Lords of Chaos, that brought Mayhem's name to the masses. The movie is told from Euronymous' point of view, so you know that the film ends in a bad way.
What did Varg Vikernes do when he got out of prison? He started Burzum back up. Despite a laundry list of serious and heinous crimes, Varg Vikerne, (Burzum) released more music earlier this year.
What do I have to say about THAT?
I'm glad I don't live in Norway.