have we gone too far with our lyrics?

I love hip hop, and am a strong proponent of it.

I think most of the art that we call hip hop is grounded in real experiences and therefore its resonates with people. I preface by saying that at times hip hop skews reality in order to sell records and it creates a distorted view of reality that some, albeit a minority, try to live according to it.

I am a liberal as they come in reference to hip hop and sometimes I lean too much on the side of defending the most un-defendable lyrics, but I might have to draw the line on this one.

The other week I was accompanying my friend to her sons pre-school, and on the way back to his primary class, we had passed thru the older children. And while on the way I heard the unmistakably familiar and catchy tune of a popular song that I myself have found myself singing… but out of the mouth of babes, I don’t know.

“I’m in love with a stripper…”

Coming from the mouth of a four year old, I must admit, was quite disturbing. I know, I know.. he probably doesn’t know what a stripper is, or know what love is for that matter, but no matter. The sounds and the words coming out of this little boys mouth has stuck with me since I heard it.

Can I make a case for these kind of words being sung over the airways? No.

I remember when I heard my first gansta rap tape. I listened to Ice-T on a small portal radio player, we called it a box. I had to put the box under the bed and listen to it with my ear to the speakers with the volume to the lowest, for fear of my pops catching me listening to what I was sure he’d deem as garbage.

Now I’m almost sure that same Ice-T tape could run on the hip hop & R&B’s regular rotation in the middle of the day now with almost no censure. Maybe not the “Girls, let’s get buck naked and F$%k!” one.

It’s not just happening on the radio or with hip hop. You can hear four letter words on network TV during prime time. Movies that used to be regulated to cinemax after 1:00 or 2:00 o’clock in the morning with much T&A are shown at any time of the day.

Can you just imagine how many different ways a child could compute the words "I'm in love with a stripper?"

I don't know if it will warp our kids or not, but I've stopped listening to the radio for the most part. This just gave me another reason not to and to ask, have our lyrics gone too far?