NYPD CRACKING DOWN ON HIP HOP 
by Davey D 

The Hip Hop community has some serious soul searching to do.
...  It's great that so many of us are politically active
and trying to bring about social change.  An entire book
can be written about those accomplishments..  But as of now,
so much more work needs to be done. We can ignore politics..
 We can act like it doesn't exist or won't effect us..  We
can continue to separate the music from the social and
political situations that give rise to it.  However, not
being political is political.  Whatever actions outside
forces are conjuring up will definitely effect you.. 

Let's start with the latest's happenings on Capitol Hill.
It appears that the Cheney's in particular Lynn Cheney who
is wife to the vice president is coming down hard on Hip
Hop.  A recent report by the Federal Trade Commission has
shown that the record industry has done very little to
curtail the marketing of explicit recordings to underage
audiences.  These concerns were first raised a bout a year
and a half ago when the FTC held hearings and concluded
that the movie, video game and music business were
aggressively peddling products that carried adult ratings.
The FTC recommended that these companies police themselves
or risk facing government sanctions and mandates.  The
movie and video game manufactures have since stepped up to
the plate and improved themselves.  Unfortunately there has
been little progress with the recording industry. 

The RIAA has defending the follow up studies by noting that
they offer clean versions of their explicit material.  They
also noted that their current labeling system was effective.
 They cited reports from the FTC which noted that 75% of
the parents surveyed found the recording industry useful
and effective.  However, the recent studies show that 55
music recordings with explicit content were all targeted to
children under 17.  :Lynn Cheney again took swipes at rap
star Eminem and his current popularity and appeal to
underage youth. 

In a recent interview Liberman's chief of staff told
reporters that the former Vice Presidential candidate
Senator Joseph Liberman is dissatisfied with the recording
industry and that has promised to introduce a bill giving
the FTC authority to fine companies that market adult
material to minors. 

Moving along we have an extremely troubling situation
brewing in New York..  New York City police department's
has announced that they intend to monitor clubs, concerts
and other night life activities involving Hip Hop.
According to police officials, there is a culture of
violence in the Hip Hop world.  The NYPD's gang
intelligence unit has begun compiling dossiers on rappers
and others within the music industry with criminal
histories.  The main impetus is to protect both the artists
who are found to be frequent targets of violence as well as
patrons and fans of who frequent the establishments
attended by the artists.  Many are calling this latest
salvo in the war against Hip Hop 'racial profiling at its
worst'.  They claim its a violation of all sorts of
constitutional rights.  Police officials deny such charges.
However, they did state that at the current time it would
be impossible to ignore the slew of recent violent actions
and activities which have involvement in the music industry
as the only common denominator.