Throughout the history of hip hop, there have been efforts to limit rap's reach as the genre has been criticized. No matter the era, there have been factions who have complained that rap music is too loud, too vulgar, too violent, and overall too much of a negative impact on society. What was created in a Bronx, New York neighborhood now has an international influence and affects global culture and media.
However, there are still those who want to monitor hip hop to make sure that children aren't listening to lyrics that will steer them in the wrong direction. New York radio host Bob Law has partnered with Councilwoman Inez Barron with the hopes of restricting the types of hip hop tracks that will be played on radio stations during the day. According to WPIX-TV, the pair hope that the New York City Council will create an ordinance limiting any music deemed to be profane during the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
"According to the [FCC] website airing indecent programming at any time is a violation of federal law," Barron said. Law added, "The radio stations that market these kind of ideas refuse to play music by artists whose message is more life giving so that you have to be a killer rapper in order to get into heavy rotation."
The problem with this is, radio isn't how most consumers listen to music. If you don't want kids to listen to rap, you'd have to shut down the internet, dismantle every cell phone, nix all wireless services, and stop every rap artist from making rap music. Radio isn't a dead medium, but taking rap off of a hip hop station for 16 hours isn't going to deter kids from turning up to Lil Whoever.
