“Eventually it was discovered that God did

not want us to be all the same. This was bad

news for the Governments of the World…

Mankind must be made more uniformly if

THE FUTURE was going to work out…It

was about the time that someone came up

with the idea of TOTAL CRIMINILATION,

based on the principle that if we were ALL

crooks we could at least be uniform to some

degree in the eyes of the law. Shrewdly our

legislators calculated that most people were

too lazy to perform a REAL CRIME. So

new laws were manufactured making it

possible for anyone to violate them at any

time of the day or night…which is on of the

reasons why music was eventually made

---Frank Zappa, liner notes from Joe’s

The first Amendment to the United States Constitution is as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (Friendly). Music, like

cannot be given the power to control what one chooses to compose, express or listen to. Every person has a right to choose what he or she will or will not listen to. If they feel that the music is not of their tastes and find it offensive, then they will choose not to listen to it. People will always have the right not to view material that they find offensive, but if the material is banned, people will not have the right to view it at all.

emotions. Another factor that deals with inequality is the fact that rap music is censored more than any other type of music. Inequality if found in many forms in our society, but as far as music goes, rap seems to be censored the most, and most rappers are black. Is music censorship really just about vulgarity, or is it a racial issue? As compared to country, rock, punk or classical, rap is suppressed the most. Music is definitely a social issue. Everyone listens to music; no matter age, sex, religion or stereotype one falls under, music is present. Sociologists can analyze the different types of people that listen to certain types of music, and study the backgrounds of some of the artists. Sociologists would notice that many of the rappers today come from the streets. A lot of ideas and emotions are expressed in music, which can be studied. Music is an outlet for many emotions for many artists.

Censorship of any form does not allow the people to decide, with their own judgment, what is right and what is wrong. Most attempts of suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary citizen, by exercising his

Censorship of music can take various forms. Parental advisory labels, banned concerts, banned cover art, rating systems, legislative bills and laws, and banned clothing are a few of the ways in which music and the artists that create the music can be censored. The variety of music comes from a wide range of artists with many different ways of expression. However, music is not necessarily the problem; sometimes it only tells us the problems, and the artists are merely expressing their opinion. Many of the rappers today come from childhoods living in the harsh, urban streets. These artists have grown up with violence and hate and therefore choose to express it in their music. This is all these artists have ever known; it is what they lived through, so obviously, this is what they rap about. These artists are not necessarily trying to offend any particular person or group, nor are they trying to deter youth to the immoral ways of society. These artists are merely expressing what they know and how they lived in a form of entertainment. Rap is their outlet for anger. However, rap is the most censored form of music on the market today.

Why is music censorship sociological, and how does it express inequality? Sociologists study people and their behavior. Music censorship deals with the rights of people. It deals with suppression of ideas and thoughts. As evidence that obscenity has no effect on behavior, it is clearly unfair to censor music. It expresses inequality because music censorship does not allow people to be free in expressing themselves and their

Some topics in this essay:
Association America, Friendly Music, Bill Ratliff, Stuart Mill, Dershowitz Wentz, Sir Mix-A-Lot, ICP Boehlert, United Constitution, TOTAL CRIMINILATION, Satanist Manson, music censorship, choose listen, insane clown, insane clown posse, clown posse, merely expressing, artistic expression, uncut version, explicit content, people view, artists merely expressing, music censorship deals, versions songs,