Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." .
This is the first amendment to the Unites States constitution, and the most sacred one at that. What it gives us as Americans is the freedom of religion, press, assembly, petition, and most importantly, speech. The founding fathers probably didn't plan on the emergence of artists like 50 Cent, Eminem, and other such icons with their "explicit" lyrics, but so happens the evolution of a culture and there isn't much one can do about that. Censorship of these artists, as much as we may disagree with the content of their art, is unconstitutional. And if censorship begins of music, music being one of the most basic elements of our culture, what is to stop this further infringement on the first amendment from spreading to all aspects of our lives? Censorship is detrimental to the fundamentals of our values as Americans, it undermines the authority of the family by allowing the government to decide what is right or wrong for children, and lastly, imposing censorship laws will hurt the creativity of the artists and listeners, leading to ignorance in society.
Not only is lyric censorship a matter of legality and constitutionality, but censorship is also a matter of morality and personal preference. Parents, not government, should decide what is appropriate for their children. Violence and sex in the media is a way of life and it should be parents responsibility to tell their children what is right and wrong. Letting the government impose laws on children is giving them more power, power parents should have. Also, parents can censor lyrics for children based on their family's values, but there is no direct reason why the government should be censoring lyrics.