So what kind of music are your kids listening to these days? I control what my teenage daughters listen to at home, but I know they're exposed to all sorts of things when they leave the house. So I regularly tune in to the R&B/rap radio station that I know my daughters listen to sometimes. For example, I hear a lot from a rapper named LL Cool J. He's a big star now. In the spirit of fatherly (and empirical) research, I picked up LL's latest CD.

Sitting through 15 (yes, fifteen) songs on LL's latest CD 10, the I was tortured with shallow and materialistic lyrics, accompanied by an endless stream of irritating and unoriginal music.

To LL, life is all about how much money you have and the size of your ganiktagazoin. He is misogynistic and glorifies violence. His music is at best one step above outright gangsta rap.

You'd do much better listening to KRS One or Chuck D who, incidentally, are outspoken critics of the gangsta/gun cultcha. Even better, you should go back to rap's roots, like Kurtis Blow or Grand Master Flash. They gave us worthy social commentary and fresh musical sounds.

LL Cool J's views are not unique within hip-hop (i.e., Eminem) or other musical styles (e.g., some of Led Zeppelin's tunes). Sexism and violence unfortunately appear in many facets of Western society. LL is blunt about his sexism and materialism.

On "Born To Love You," he's sure that any girl wants "to be my next hottie" because he owns a Mazarrati. He claims he's got the "whole community bouncing with unity" but gives absolutely no evidence for this. LL defends a girl's honor by "backhandin' your ex-man."

On "Luv U Better," LL pines for a time when he told a girlfriend her hair looked nice. Gee, how deep. The relationship hits bottom when "Every other sentence is, 'You make me sick.'" That's nice. He "can't see you bouncing with someone else." How touching. But he comes around and promises no more calling his love interest "foul names."

"Fa Ha" sounds good initially, but LL spoils it by ranting about "multiple homicides" and women who look really good but just want his money. "Niggy Nuts" is ruined with "I wanna bang ya'—that's all you need to know."

The CD ends with "Unconditional Love," an R&B slow dance dedicated to his grandmother. LL tries to thank her for raising him, but can't seem to get beyond her giving him "the best cooking a man could ever taste." LL's attempt to be touching is shallow.

Many rappers have become controversial because of such lyrics. Pepsi hires stars to advertise its products. Pepsi fired rapper Ludacris because of a conservative backlash to his words. But Pepsi replaced him with Ozzy Osbourne, known also for vulgar dialogs and for biting the heads off small animals in some of his concerts. Why is Ozzy "cleaner?"

On the other hand, some politically correct academics defend gangsta rappers' violent words. Peter McLaren justifies Willie D.'s explicit incitement to violence, saying the rapper "demands the type of change that would make the violence he calls for unnecessary." [1] This is pure postmodern sophistry. McLaren forgets the great strides Martin Luther King Jr. made through passive resistance.

Black males should certainly not take all the heat for violence in America. [2] Is movie garbage like "Reservoir Dogs" or "Cape Fear" clean entertainment while gangsta rap is not? We don't need censorship or rationalizations of violence. We need parents loving their children and taking the time to find out what they're listening to.

[1] Peter McLaren, “Gangsta Pedagogy and Ghettocentricity,” Challenges of Urban Education: Sociological Perspectives for the Next Century,” State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2000.
[2] Bell Hooks, “Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap? - Misogyny, gangsta rap, and The Piano,” ZMagazine, February, 1994.