More on the previously reported US Congress hearing on that issue of sexist and racist language in hip hop, and in particular the comments made by rapper and producer David Banner, who had some interesting things to say, putting the whole debate into a wider social context. He summed up his sentiments by saying: "If you fix our communities, we'll fix our lyrics".
Banner says that grass roots rappers "communicate their anger through music" and that that is why rap often uses words or covers topics some find offensive. He added: "In the [Hurricane] Katrina hearing, one congressman asked, 'Haven't we done enough for Katrina?' They live in a world that we don't live in, and it's hard to speak for a majority when you don't live under the same conditions. People don't sing happy songs if they're broke".
On the issue of the use of words like 'bitch' and 'ho' in hip hop, he did what very few people have done in this debate so far, and that's actually defend a rapper's right to use them, arguing: "Those types of women exist, and if they didn't it'd be different. Rap is an art and I can say whatever the hell I want to. I use the words I use because they are graphic and they hurt. It's supposed to get people's attention. Where we come from, we speak that way".