Censorship

             Since the early nineteen forties America has had a serious problem trying to censor music. The problem did not actually surface until the nineteen sixties with the Vietnam War and the hippie movement. During the nineteen seventies and eighties heavy metal and hard rock were the two general types of music that was the focal point of censorship. Now in the twenty-first century the major focus of censorship is rap, mainly gangster rap. Some of the main factors of music in general that cause legal consequences are sexual content, suggestive violence, and obscene language. The media has been involved in the many problems that music causes in society today. In society there are many problems that experts feel are caused from uncensored music. Some of these problems are suicide, murder, and sexual assault. Many people argue that gangster rap is not only music made for entertainment purposes. Many parents and experts argue that rappers and musicians use vulgar, profane, sexually explicit lyrics to target the teenage market. The Federal Trade Commission recently held hearings on whether the entertainment industry, including record labels, should be held accountable for allegedly marketing violent material to children. The teen population of America has a voice on the opinion of censorship. "Censoring is not the answer to our problems. Censoring only kills freedom" (Ellyn, 10 para.).
             Lyrics that contain sexually explicit lyrics have constantly been under attack. Marshall Mathers, known better as Eminem, is a rapper who uses lyrics that are homophobic are a direct attack to the gay community. His unique style of rap has been rejected openly by several organizations. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, fined a Colorado radio station for airing a "clean" version of one of Eminem's songs. The FCC ruled that the song contained sexual references that were intended to shock a group of people (Boehlert, 2 para.