News: Rap Lyrics Debate Sparked By Don Imus

A faction of those who condemn Imus' remarks regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team are also furious over the reaction to his use of the word "ho" by blacks who appear to have tolerated the term for years and years within hip hop. The perceived double standard has been the byproduct of Imus' dismissal.

As journalist Gwen Ifill pointed out yesterday morning on NBCs "Meet the Press," Both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have spoken out against misogynistic rap lyrics for decades. Also, C. Delores Tucker's infamous campaign to hold record labels accountable has not been cited in the current national debate, and the widely-publicized coverage of Harlem's Rev. Calvin Butts using a steamroller to crush CDs with offensive lyrics appears to have been forgotten. Also, Essence magazine and HBCU Spelman College have held numerous forums to discuss the issue of demeaning rap lyrics. Still this issue is one of the hottest on the table in the wake of Imus' removal from the airwaves.

Both Jackson and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama believe there is no difference between Imus' use of the term "ho" and its use within hip hop.

Speaking Friday to a crowd of about 1,000 in Florence, S.C., Obama questioned the way some rappers refer to women in songs, saying the lyrics are similar to the derogatory language used by Imus.

They are "degrading their sisters. That doesn't inspire me," Obama said when a man in the crowd questioned him. The Illinois senator was responding to a question of what inspired him, and said God and civil rights activists.

Rev. Jackson tells Chicago's CBS 2 News that the use of "ho" and the N-word in rap music is comparable to the comments used by Imus. The activist says record companies also bear most of the blame.

"They record the music, they finance the videos, they are beyond the videos, they do the distribution and they must become our partners in ending the trail of smut and degradation," said Jackson.

On the opposite side of the argument sits the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. A statement released by the group's chairman, Russell Simmons, and president, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, expresses concern over "false comparisons some in the media are making between Don Imus and hip-hop."

"We want to clarify what we feel very strongly is an obvious difference between the two," their statement reads. "HSAN believes in freedom of artistic expression. We also believe, with that freedom, comes responsibility.

"Don Imus is not a hip-hop artist or a poet. Hip-hop artists rap about what they see, hear and feel around them, their experience of the world. Like the artists throughout history, their messages are a mirror of what is right and wrong with society. Sometimes their observations or the way in which they choose to express their art may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression. Our job is to be an inclusive voice for the hip-hop community and to help create an environment that encourages the positive growth of hip-hop.

"Language can be a powerful tool. That is why ones intention, when using the power of language, should be made clear. Comparing Don Imus' language with hip-hop artists' poetic expression is misguided and inaccurate and feeds into a mindset that can be a catalyst for unwarranted, rampant censorship."

Civil rights leaders feel heat after pushing for Don Imus to be fired.

Members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team aren't the only ones receiving death threats in the wake of the Don Imus scandal.

The Reverends Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, both leaders in the push for Imus to be fired for his racist remarks, have had their lives threatened according to the police in their respective cities.

The New York Police Department said it is giving Sharpton protection after the activist received several death threats, the most disturbing of which occurred Friday morning during his radio show on WLIB-AM, said Charlie King, acting executive director of Sharpton's National Action Network.

"Someone called into the radio program and said, ‘I'm going to hunt Rev. Sharpton down and shoot him like an animal,'" King told the New York Times. The call was not taken live and was not played on the air, but staff members alerted the police after the caller hung up, King said.

According to King, threatening e-mails and phone calls began to arrive on Monday following Imus' appearance on Sharpton's radio show to apologize for his remarks.

The number of threats increased to dozens by week's end, then, reached a peak on Friday - the day after CBS canceled the "Imus in the Morning" radio program, and two days after his TV simulcast was dropped by MSNBC.

Meanwhile, Chicago police say they are investigating several threatening calls to Jesse Jackson via his office, home and cell phones.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Jackson said he fielded a call Saturday morning urging him to "watch his back" and warning him to stay away from Rainbow/PUSH headquarters on the South Side.

A Jackson staffer received a call Friday from someone who claimed to have placed a bomb at the headquarters at 50th and Drexel. After an evacuation of the building at about 12:30 p.m. and a sweep using bomb-sniffing dogs, police found no incendiary devices.

Jackson said he has received 10 to 12 threats dating back to Wednesday or Thursday. Although he hasn't fielded most of the calls, he said he believes there are different people behind them.