This is significant because Simmons is not only a bag of chips, he is a whole store of chips. So if the Simmons mandate is upheld by others in the music industry does this mean that we can unplug our ears? You mean girl or woman could replace the b-word and the n-word could be stricken from rap lyrics forever? As Kool and the Gang sang many years ago, “Celebrate good times, come on.” Or it could be what the Temptations sang when I was in graduate school, “It was just my imagination, once again, running away with me.” Only time will tell. 

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Russell Simmons weren’t the first ones to speak out against the harmful effects of rap music. C. Delores Tucker, former secretary of state for Pennsylvania, spoke out many years ago when rap’s popularity was beginning to soar. Tipper Gore was also a vocal critic of rap music. Both were ignored and called rebel rousers. Well, it appears that their words were prophetic because rap music is destroying an entire generation of young people. Children of color are growing up using inappropriate language at an early age due, in part, to what they hear in rap lyrics. In an effort to emulate rappers, young boys are going to school with their pants hanging loosely and wearing shirts three sizes too large. These negative influences portrayed by rap stars are unhealthy and thus put young people at risk.

Maybe Simmons and others will make a true, committed stand against these lyrics. Let’s not let their calls suffer the same fate as Tucker’s and Gore’s. We can do our part by calling record companies and expressing our disfavor with rap music. Ask whoever answers the phone if they have a daughter or a niece and then ask them if they want them to be called b------?  Rap music needs to clean up its act right now!

Dr. James B. Ewers Jr. is Associate Dean for Student Affairs at Miami University Middletown in Middletown, Ohio.