Queen Latifah has become the latest hip-hop artist to urge her peers to tone down their language, insisting black rappers should show off their vocabulary instead of rhyming expletives.

The rapper-turned-actress has called for hip-hop to start policing itself - to make sure the stereotype of uneducated, thuggish stars disappears.

She says: "We should start encouraging people to clean certain songs up because it's just not necessary.




"When you get used to hearing the clean version of a song in the clubs or on the radio all the time and then you hear the explicit version, it's shocking and it's not very creative.

"If you could clean up this record and make it sound this good, why did you ever need to make it like that in the first place? Sometimes cursing is an excuse not to use more vocabulary."

Is this the reason why she retired from the hip-hop industry and became a successful Hollywood actress and even recorded an album full of jazz and soul standards?

silverchild said:

I don't know what her deal is with making hip-hop. She recorded a really fun song for that stupid Steve Martin movie...Something to do with a "Shaking Up the House" or some shit...I forget what it was called but I really dug that song. She was making an album a few years ago I think for her own label...not sure what happened...maybe her movie career got too big and overwhelmed the project.

So I take it that none of u all, agree with her? As Chris Rock once said, I am love hip-hop, but I am tired of defending it. Hip-Hop, is getting worse daily. You can turn on BET and see that. It used to be that it was fun to listen to or u could learn something from it. Now all you hear is a "dumb-down" version of a minstrel show and it is just a waste.

Nas was right, Hip-Hop is dead.

shorttrini said:

I don't know what to think because nowadays (even if rap music does or doesn't have any vulgarity) over 75% of it sucks anyway. It really doesn't matter what the politicians think about it because they've always been against hip-hop and rap artists like Queen Latifah, who have used explicit language and said the "N" word in the past and are now against it are simply hipocrites. I too am in love with hip-hop, but the climate of hip-hop has evolved for years and nowadays I don't think I'm interested in it as much. So, I don't really care about if lyrics in hip-hop should have clean lyrics or not... But two things hip-hop has missed is its consistency and focus.

And Nas is right, Hip-hop is dead
[Edited 7/1/07 19:44pm]

funkpill said:

This is not surprising at all. Because during the time when Latifah started in the game, profanity was not a priority and skills along with groove was the focus.

and this is what it needs to go back to, Skills and the groove. What has been coming across the airwaves lately, has been pure shyt. If I hear another "Chicken Noodle Soup, based song, I am gonna scream. I miss the days of conscious rap, that still had a groove to it. I was listening to Arrested Development's debut, and looking back, it was an amazing album. This is what happends when something that we love, becomes a business.

shorttrini said:

We still got alternative rap!

shorttrini said:

Queen Latifah is right.There's just no need for all the profanity.For one thing,it's played out and predictable.These rappers think they're being bold and courageous but really,what's so unique about cussing on record? Using words like "nigga","bitch" and "ho" isn't really creative,is it? It's become rather boring.

I come from the "Old days" in hip hop, and not one record had any kind of cussing in it, okay maybe one or 2, but back then rap was all about skill,timing and good writing in routines, and Chris was right it is a dumbed down Minstrel show.

IAintTheOne said:

You know. I just don't understand why there are some out there that think that hip-hop should be "dumb-down", in order for us to understand it and for it to be good. Everything that has been coming out lately, just sounds the same and like it come from the bottom of the barrel. Even these "so-called" masters of the game, have not stepped up their game. Jigga, last CD was just wack. I was like, is this what you call coming out of retirement? But, just like everything else these days, there are some that will buy it.

shorttrini said:

She actually attacked the words in "U.N.I.T.Y."

I love this lyric: Instinct leads me to another flow/every time I hear you call a woman a bitch or a ho... And of course "WHO U CALLING A BITCH!?!" I can see why she would say this.

Timmy84 said:

silverchild said:

She's not a hypocrite, she simply grew the fuck up and evolved into somebody else just like any human being.

And her music's context wasn't about explicity, it had a purpose just like MC Lyte's had a purpose, if you take an N-word or a cuss word, the message is STILL there. Whereas nowadays, these youngsters just "cuss" for the heck of it,,,and when you clean it, you got another WHOLE song(which is as dumb).

Hip-Hop was the epitome of black pride, now its the epitome of coonery & buffoonery. just like what those who feared it wanted it to be.

Harlepolis said:

The current offenders are the ones that are going to have to come out against minstrel rap.

PurpleCharm said:

And they would do that to take the pressure off of themselves, to come up with some good hip-hop. It really does nothing to solve the problem.

Timmy84 said:

Co-sign


These days maturity and having mortals seems to be a bad word.

Harlepolis said:

if i were straight and a woman i'd ask you to have my baby right now.

funkpill said:

Or, to put it another way:


"GATHER 'ROUND THE GOOD STUFF"





.
[Edited 7/8/07 21:20pm]

Didnt The Beastie Boys change all their lyrics in order 2 clean up and now all their new stuff is profanity-free!!!

They are almost Christian Rap now!!!

Could not have said it better myself.

Could not have said it better myself.

"Hip-Hop was the epitome of black pride, now its the epitome of coonery & buffoonery. just like what those who feared it wanted it to be."


So is Classical music the epitome of white pride?

That's not true. Hip hop was never epitome of black pride. That was a statement implemented by white critics. Hip Hop is world wide, city wide. All hip hop will never be the same. Is all blues the same? Who wants to listen to cornball raps about eating veggies, etc.





Tell America to clean up it's country.




Queen needs to stop being a puppet for the industry she sold out to by playing a big fat ghetto ignorant buffon.



[Edited 7/8/07 23:56pm]

Alamine said:

Spin it how you want it!

I don't know where you got "never" from my friend BUT Hip hop and rap WAS the commentary that represented the lives of black people, and their struggles and their turbulences.

And white critics never supported that statement, in fact it has always been doomed by them. I don't know where you got this from either.

Timmy84 said:

ya call yaself a gangsta bitch cus ya saw apache's video...

Alamine said:

At least she's not a part of the pathetic "gangsta" minstrel show that many others are a part of.She's not going around using words like "bitch","ho" and "nigga" to make a point.She's not going around degrading or insulting people.


"Tell America to clean up it's country"

Yes,America has problems but somehow,I still don't see why you use this as an excuse for the rappers to behave that way.Taking part in a minstrel show isn't gonna solve any problems.