The Irony of Gore

It was over two decades ago when Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President and current global warming guru Al Gore, led the charge to get labels on albums to warn of objectionable content.

In recent days, the Don Imus controversy has sparked debate about the lyrical content of music, particularly rap.

An editorial in today's The Washington Post addresses the decency crisis and the responsibilities of free speech.

WHAT A NERVE radio shock jock Don Imus struck. His denigration last week of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" sparked protests that first cost him his deal with MSNBC and ultimately his perch at CBS Radio. But what Mr. Imus did is a symptom of a larger problem. And it didn't take long for the debate to move from his racist and misogynistic musings to gangsta rap, its artists and the record companies that have helped move hateful words and negative images of women and African Americans into the mainstream. Maybe now those who have been battling this for years will finally be heard.

The right to freely express one's views through art, music, writing and the spoken word is a jewel of American democracy. It is a right we cherish and will defend. But the right to express doesn't mean there is an obligation to consume. Degrading racist and sexist lyrics and images don't have to be celebrated and consumed. That's what led Tipper Gore more than 20 years ago to push for content-warning labels on record albums marketed to children.

When Mrs. Gore led that movement in 1985, it was in reaction to "Purple Rain" by Prince. Today, the lyrics of the songs on that album would seem quaint compared with the raunchy rhymes of rappers like 50 Cent ("P.I.M.P."), DMX ("My Niggas") Lil' Kim ("Shut Up Bitch") and Ludacris ("Ho").

...The common use of racist language and negative images of women, African American women in particular, won't end if those with the power to effect change sit on the sidelines. The late C. Delores Tucker railed against rap's misogyny. The Rev. Calvin Butts of New York used to bulldoze rap CDs on a Harlem street to protest their lyrics and lurid images of black life. And the Rev. Al Sharpton, who led the campaign to fire Mr. Imus, has spoken out repeatedly about this. If anything positive is to come from ending Mr. Imus's 30-plus-year-radio career, the revulsion at his comment will extend to the gangsta-rap artists and their record companies.

The Post tries to appear to be consistent. Even the libs at The Post realize that they cannot simply ignore the "common use of racist language and negative images of women, African American women in particular" that permeates rap while expressing outrage at Imus.

It would be too glaringly hypocritical.

That brings us to Al Gore. He doesn't seem to have a problem with enlisting some rap artists for his LIVE EARTH global warming consciousness-raising concerts. Gore is implicitly endorsing the racism and sexism in their music. A little awkward, isn't it?

I wonder if Tipper knows that Ludacris, one of her targets, is on the bill at Giants Stadium.

Read the lyrics to Ludacris' "Ho."

(WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT.)

[Chorus]
Hooooooooo (Ho)
Youza Hoooooo (Ho)
Youza Hoooooo (Ho)
I said that youza hooooo (Ho)
[Repeat 1x]

[Ludacris]
You doin ho activities
With ho tendencies
Hos are your friends, hoes are your enemies
With ho energy to do whacha do
Blew whacha blew
Screw whacha screw
Yall professional like DJ Clue, pullin on my coat tail
an why do you think you take a ho to a hotel?
Hotel everybody, even the mayor
Reach up in tha sky for tha hozone laya
Come on playa once a ho always
And hos never close they open like hallways
An heres a ho cake for you whole ho crew
an everybody wants some cuz hoes gotta eat too

[chorus x2]

[Ludacris]
Cant turn a ho into a housewife
Hos dont act right
Theres hos on a mission, an hoes on a crackpipe
Hey ho how ya doin, where ya been?
Prolly doin ho stuff cuz there you ho again
Its a ho wide world, that we livin in
feline, feminine, fantastical, women
Not all, just some
You ho who you are
Theres hoes in tha room, theres hoes in tha car
theres hoes on stage, theres hoes by tha bar
hos by near, an hos by far
Ho! (But can i getta ride?!)
NO! (Cmon, nigga why?!)
Cuz youza

[chorus 2x]

[Ludacris]
You gotta run in your pantyhos
Even your daddy knows
that you suckin down chocolate like daddy-o's
You hos are horrible, horrendous
On taxes ya'll writin off hos as dependents
I see tha ho risin
it aint surprisin
its just a hoasis
with ugly chicks faces
but hos dont feel so sad and blue
cuz most of us niggaz is hos too

[chorus x2]

(Ho)
Muthafuckas im so tired of yall niggaz always talkin
bout hos this, hos that, you tha muthafuckin ho nigga
I wasnt no ho last night

(Pimp)
Ho, bring yo ass!

(Ho)
Ok, hold on

Has Tipper loosened up over the years?

Are the concerts going to be adult affairs and not meant to be viewed by children?

I guess it might be necessary to have a warning accompany Gore's LIVE EARTH concerts.

This is not good.

It's possible that Gore's global environmental nightmare message is in danger of being upstaged by racist, sexist, obscene music.

Maybe Al Sharpton will lead the campaign against Gore to clean up his lineup and ditch the offensive rappers. At the very least, he should demand that they perform something positive, something Tipper would enjoy.

The Post should write an editorial sending Gore the same message -- clean up the lineup.

After all, this is just the beginning, right?