“It’s a money thing.”

Those were the final words of a CNN on-air personality, as he berated music industry execs on the foul thing that was hip hop. He also managed to put in the fabled “as a parent” in there, somewhere.

There was an industry rep to represent the opposite side (as well as an old school hip hop artist), but the reporter gave neither a chance to reply. To conclude, a particular song was called into question, which to be honest, wasn’t all that lewd. I’d post the lyrics here, so that you’d have an idea of what I’m talking about, if it was legal to do so.

In any case, of course it’s about money. If the song is catchy, it sells. Lyrics aren’t all that important. Think about all the people that like Nirvana out there. Now how many of them do you think actually know what the songs are about? I just don’t see what’s the point of grilling the industry over this. It’s not like it’s even real hip hop.

If they have a problem with lewd material during Much Music prime time, that’s something else. If they want to enforce a ratings system to protect minors from such crap, that’s something else. But it’s almost as if the reporter wanted the complete elimination of this genre. Somewhat anachronistic.