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# Entertainment 12 THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2007 A newspaper with issues Mothers protest vulgar rap
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/entertainment-12-thursday-may-31-2007-a-newspaper-with-issues-mothers-protest-vulgar-rap-2/
- Published: 2007-05-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:53:48.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Opinion, Mid-City, #archive-import

*Pressure mounting on rap artists*

MID-CITY A group of concerned mothers still fuming over the Don Imus controversy turned their attention towards the record industry on Wednesday, staging a protest outside of Interscope Records to demand that music labels silence hip-hop artists who promote violence and demean women.

Roughly 20 members of the Respect Me Coalition tried to gain entrance into the label on Colorado Avenue and confront James “Jimmy” Iovine, chair of Interscope, but were denied entrance by security. Members said Iovine has ignored invitations from the coalition to participate in a discussion regarding offensive and potentially damaging rap lyrics and the perceived lack of women in positions of power within the record industry.

“It’s time for us to have a voice,” said Glenda Gill, executive director of the Rainbow Push Coalition’s Entertainment Project, which supports the Respect Me movement. “We are the givers of life and it is up to us to take a stand and not let our communities be destroyed.”

Interscope, which carries such artists as 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and the Black Eyed Peas, had no comment.

The coalition, which seeks to empower women to make a change in the way black women are portrayed in the media, formed in the wake of the Don Imus controversy in which the popular “shock jock” radio host was forced to resign after calling members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos.”

Black leaders subsequently blasted Imus and called for him to be banned from the airwaves. The outcry put additional pressure on the same leaders to turn their focus towards hip-hop, a predominantly African- American art form that has been under fire for years for its misogynistic and violent lyrics that depict life in the ghettos.

Members of the coalition said there are many positive rappers out there who use the same beats as more popular artists, but are not given the same amount of airplay or support from the record industry, which heavily promotes “gangsta” rap.

Hip-hop artists are speaking out about the latest calls for a ban on some of their music. 50 Cent, who rose to fame after surviving an attack in which he was shot nine times at close range, told reporters recently that rapping is one of the purest forms of self-expression and should not be censored.

“Music is a mirror, and hip-hop is a reflection of the environment that we grew up in,” he told reporters on May 16, during the announcement of nominees for the BET Awards. “It’s the harsh realities that end up in the music... If I ask you to paint a picture of the American flag and not use the color red, you’re gonna have a difficult time.”

A representative from the Recording Industry Association of America said the trade group representing record labels had no comment on the Respect Me Coalition’s demands.

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, director of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, recently tried to calm the waters, calling on those in favor of censorship to chill their own speech while at the same time asking rappers and their labels to voluntarily bleep out or omit the words “bitch,” “ho” and “nigger.”

“Going forward, these three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as ‘extreme curse words,’” said Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records.

Instead of pointing fingers at the artists, some hip-hop stars have told parents to look at themselves and the job they are doing at home, which raises the issue of demand. If there wasn’t such a high demand for the racy lyrics and violent imagery found in some hip-hop, would there be artists like 50 Cent?

Members of the coalition recognized the role parents play, and called on mothers and fathers everywhere to sit down with their kids and explain to them why some of the lyrics in their favorite songs are hurtful.

The members also called on youth to really listen to the music and reflect on what artists are saying.

“Kids need to be more conscious,” Gill said. “They need to think: ‘What if it was your mother, how would you feel about that?’ Or: ‘What if it was your grandmother? How would you feel about that?’”

The coalition plans to continue protesting and will soon focus on advertisers and other supporters of rap music, including MTV, which distributes music videos to millions of viewers worldwide.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 31, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/053107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)