The Emporia Gazette

February 9, 2012

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It is easy to understand and even sympathize with State Rep. Peggy Mast’s decision to raise the flag against gangsta rap. Mast says she will sponsor a resolution in the Kansas House, condemning the music form that, critics say, demeans women and promotes violence.

There is no question that gangsta rap demeans women. In gangsta rap, women are portrayed either as casual sexual objects or as targets of misogynistic violence. It is the music genre that brought the word “Ho” into the nation’s vocabulary.

When Don Imus made the comment that got him in so much hot water last year, he was not being particularly daring or even creatively offensive. Imus was just a creaky, old white hipster parroting the successful spiel of younger, blacker performers.

In fact, Imus’ thoughtless slur did serve a useful public purpose. His words made it clear that gangsta rap demeans not only women, but men as well. It demeans the men who write it, perform it and listen to it — and everyone who imitates it.

Gangsta rap commits violence on the human soul, but does it promote physical violence? Common sense says it does, but common sense is not the gold standard for determining the ultimate effects of music, books and video. Years of research have failed to determine whether violence in the arts provokes real violence or acts as a harmless outlet in the imagination for anger and frustration.

Gangsta rap is all about anger and frustration. It is a music of anarchy and revenge, providing an expression of rage for young black men and, oddly enough, privileged young white men.

It is the 21st-century equivalent of throwing the window open and screaming, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Gangsta rap in its pure form is truly ugly stuff and people would be better off without it. But the problem is not so much the music, but the damaged culture — white and black — that has given rise to it.

A resolution decrying gangsta rap would not change anything much. The music would still be popular and profitable. Young men would still be angry enough to demean women and themselves.

The resolution would give legislators the chance to yell, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

There is something to be said for getting that first, angry response out of the way. Then the legislators could begin to think calmly about how to cleanse the poisonous soil that nourishes the roots of this homegrown American music.