Music is one of the world’s oldest art forms and continues to be an important part of modern society. For many, music is an outlet for creative freedom and self expression. However, some of today’s popular artists are abusing their right to rock.
Modern day music is filled with obscenity and sexual euphemisms, most of which perfectly legal. The music industry is subject to little to no censorship, even though songs exist that blatantly violate freedom of speech laws.
“Even though the First Amendment represents our blueprint for personal freedom, its’ protection is not unlimited. Obscenity… true threats and incitement to imminent lawless action are a few of these categories,” according to the First Amendment Center website.
Examples of these threats and lawless action can be found in many popular rap songs. Rapper Eminem uses direct references to violence aimed at women in his music, like in his song “Kill You.”
“[Promiscuous woman], you think I won’t choke no [prostitute] ’til the vocal cords don’t work in her throat no more? Oh, now he’s [abusing] his own mother, abusing a [prostitute], snorting coke, and we gave him the Rolling Stone cover? You God [darn] right [woman], and now it’s too late,” sings Eminem.
Other examples of violence and threats include the song “Yonkers” by Tyler Gregory Okonma, also known as Tyler the Creator.
“I’ll crash that… airplane that that [loser] B.o.B is in and stab Bruno Mars in his… esophagus,” he sings. “I’m stabbing any blogging… hipster with a Pitchfork.”
Tyler the Creator is not the only music artist guilty of stretching his First Amendment rights, but he certainly is famous for it. He came under fire for the multiple uses of homophobic slurs in his album Goblin.
“Well, I have gay fans and they don’t really take it offensive, so I don’t know. If it offends you, it offends you,” Tyler said in an interview with MTV News. “If you call me a [racial slur], I really don’t care, but that’s just me, personally. Some people might take it the other way; I personally don’t [care].”
Most of today’s music industry has adapted this same flawed mentality. Artists think that just because something does not personally offend themselves, it should not offend listeners. However, by using racist, sexist, and homophobic slurs casually in songs, a message is being spread that it is acceptable to be hateful to these different groups.
“I don’t think music should be censored, point blank. The whole point of music is [freedom of] expression. But at the same time, some of this is just ridiculous,” Hannah Bellamy, sophomore, said. “[Modern music] is a prime example of why just because you can say or do something doesn’t mean you should.”