Doing hip hop dirty

By JIM FARBER
DAILY NEWS MUSIC CRITIC

Don Imus wounded a lot of people with his infamous words. But there's one group he did wonders for - those hell-bent on blaming pop culture for every ill that plagues society short of restless leg syndrome.

In the two scant weeks since Imus' fiasco, somehow the conversation has moved away from the man who spoke the words of hate and on to those who make the music that millions love.

The way the protectors of the public good currently carry on about their favorite bogeyman - hip hop - you'd think popular music just reached some heady new peak of depravity in which the airwaves are awash in a non-stop bitch-ho spew.

Even people as sophisticated in these matters as Russell Simmons have felt forced to keep foes at bay by issuing statements that sound like a call for self-censorship.

Pardon me if all this strikes the music fan as more than a tad behind the curve. As someone who actually listens to all forms of popular music - as opposed to those who spend their hours just attacking it - I have to deliver some disappointing news:

Not only are we not submerged in some new Sodom, we're actually suffering through the most squeaky-clean phase in popular music since Pat Boone came in to shoo away all the sex and cool from the likes of Little Richard in the '50s. Let's look at the facts:

1. What was the biggest-selling album of last year?

It wasn't something with a title like "Bitch Betta Have My Money." It was "High School Musical," which doesn't even allow a word as alarming as "darn."

2. What brand utterly defines this era of pop culture as we know it?

Not Def Jam but "American Idol," a show so clean it squeaks louder than a room full of irked mice.

3. What are the two most popular albums of the year so far?

CDs by Norah Jones and Tim McGraw.

In music made by African-Americans, the latest trend isn't hard-core rap but sweet-faced teen pop, by artists ranging from Mario to Omarion to Ne-Yo (who will likely debut in two weeks at the top of the charts).

It's not that offensive songs don't exist. But those who scapegoat music, especially rap, have become so recklessly incensed that they find examples even where they don't exist. Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin cited the humongous No. 1 single by MIMS ("This Is Why I'm Hot") as the epitome of a racist, sexist rant. But is it?

Indeed, you will find the word "bitch" in there, but it clearly refers to the act of complaining and not to any woman. And MIMS' use of the "N" word (crucially with an "a" at the end rather than an "er") beams with such winking affection and fraternal connection that only a die-hard racist could project hate upon it.

It's a measure of the ignorance about such issues, and the pressure out there, that Simmons felt he had to make his statement to begin with. His weirdly worded missive asks the recording industry, and radio programmers, to make sure none of the big three offensive "B," "H" and "N" words ever make it on the air. Sounds like a serious crackdown. But the co-leader of Simmons' Hip Hop Summit Action Committee, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, told me yesterday that these lines aren't directed at artists, who can write whatever they want. They're meant to make sure the industry's "clean" versions heard on public airwaves really are just that. (Some recordings marked as such haven't been so scrubbed, it turns out).

This parsing may appease the foes - at least for a while. But it's doubtful the issue will go away, and for a deeper reason than the haters expect.

It's not that the world actually is going to hell - at least not because of hip hop, anyway. It's because older listeners repeatedly forget that it's the right, and even the obligation, of youth to go too far, to be offensive, to push the bounds, to be young.

Their outrageous words have their place - and a more circumscribed one now than they did 10 years ago at the height of Death Row Records.

Those who are young - either in their bodies or just in their minds - understand the nods and winks that inform the words, the camp and contexts that lie behind them. Such codes help define a vital youth culture. Has everyone else forgotten that? Or were they never young to begin with?

jfarber@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2007/04/25/2007-04-25_doing_hip_hop_dirty.html