For years TON misunderstood the message of 2Pac's "How Do U Want It?" He'd only heard the radio version in which 2Pac says "all I want is money plus the fame." With the explicit lyrics TON would have known the true sentiment "all I want is money fuck the fame, I'm a simple man."
But that censorship I can understand. But I have recently been confronted with several instances of censorship not involving cursewords.
For instance, in Notorious BIG's classic "Juicy" the original lyrics are "time to get paid blow up like the World Trade." That's a reference to the 1993 bombing. But given cultural sensitivities after 9/11 you can no longer hear those lyrics on any radio station.
And if you hear Juicy on any station other than Hot 97 you will hear "peace to Ron G Brucey B, Kid Capri (edit) Lovebug, Starsky"
Why? Because the actual lyric mentions Funkmaster Flex, who works for Hot 97.
The radio station wars also affecting the lyrics of Nikki Minaj's "Your Love." "Hot damn, make you scream like Summer Jam" is edited on other stations, because Summer Jam is the annual concert sponsored by Hot 97.
One thing I would like these radio stations not to do, please don't use a police siren as a sound effect to cover an edited lyric. Many of us are listening to the radio while driving in our cars. Hearing police sirens is unsettling at best and dangerous at worst.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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3 comments:
You are 100% accurate in my misunderstanding. I'm also frustrated by the things that they choose to edit. Some songs are so insanely sexually explicit without actually saying a bad word. No edit. But other times, a song is ruined because of some other word that society says can't be on free radio, even if the context was fairly mundane.
That whole Hot 97 issue..is it Hot 97 claiming copyright, or is it the other stations not wanting to promote them?
BTW, one of my favorite things in the world is listening to a highly edited song with Special K, and then afterward, filling in every edit with the actual word (as long as it's not a proper name I've never heard of or something) just based on context. I claim 99% accuracy.
I think I was the one who burst your bubble on that 2Pac line.
By the way one time a professor was pronouncing my last name wrong so I corrected her. She said you'll be so famous everyone will know it. I said "all I want is money, not the fame, I'm a simple man."
Pretty sure she had no idea.
I think the other stations don't want to promote HOT 97 on their air.
As for your last point, wait until you hear tomorrow's SOTW.
the juicy one is the one I always think about. There are tons, but can't think of them right now. Outside of NYC, they don't edit Hot 97.
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