For the past week Senator Bob Dole has been waging war against Time

Warner for selling rap albums by artists like Snoop Doggy Dog, Tupac

Shakur and Dr. Dre. In a sidebar to a front page article in

yesterday's (June 5) New York Times Dole, while continuing his

verbal attacks on Time Warner, was quoted as saying that he would keep

the $21,000 in political contributions made to him by Time Warner. "I

think it demonstrates that they didn't buy anything with Bob Dole," he

told NBC's "Meet the Press." This is, like all of Dole's actions,

convenient for the senator. If he really had a problem with rap music,

how could Dole take money that came, even indirectly, from the sale of

rap albums? Would that be taking "blood money?" But then it's

interesting to note that it's now, with Dole running for president,

that he has belatedly joined the chorus of right-wing dingbats who

think censorship is somehow All-American. Where was Dole over a year

ago, when Snoop Dogg released a blatantly sexist debut album? If the

timing of Dole's remarks is suspect, so is the very premise of his

arguments against Time Warner for dealing rap albums. Artists like

Snoop and Dre, The Roots and Cube, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Ice T (and

many, many more) have created a new American music. Rap is now as

unique and identifiable a style of music as country, blues or, for

that matter, rock.

Time Warner is in the music business. They sell

albums. They sell rock albums, pop albums, country albums, jazz albums

and rap albums. Artists like Snoop and Dre and Tupac are important for

a number of reasons. First, they clearly speak to America's youth.

From the ghetto to the hillside Hollywood mansions, teenage America

loves gangsta rap. Has it turned them into gangsters? Don't think so.

From where we sit, we see the same teenagers listening to the latest

Cube cut getting ready to head off to pricey private liberal arts

colleges, then on to jobs running this country. One wonders if Dole

ever watched a western movie. Or an action flick. Did he leave the

theater and mow down 6 people? Did he walk into a bar and challenge

anyone to a duel? This smacks of opportunism. Dole jumping on a

bandwagon to get front page attention from the New York Times

and all the rest. MTV News even reported on the controversy yesterday.

Mike Watt made a good point when he told MTV: "Personally I was

insulted. The man should get to have his say but he didn't say

anything about Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone....upstanding

republicans who make violent films." We recommend that Dole take a

look at the rap satire, Fear of a Black Hat , and get himself a

good dose of "Booty Juice" and "Kill Whitey." Yo!