Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Scholars Compass VCU Scholars Compass

Theses and Dissertations Graduate School

2015

Living in a Gangsta’s Paradise: Dr. C. DeLores Tucker’s Crusade Living in a Gangsta’s Paradise: Dr. C. DeLores Tucker’s Crusade

Against Gansta Rap Music in the 1990s Against Gansta Rap Music in the 1990s

Jordan A. Conway

Virginia Commonwealth University

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Living in a Gangsta’s Paradise:

Dr. C. DeLores Tucker’s Crusade Against Gansta Rap Music in the 1990s

by

Jordan A. Conway

Bachelor of Arts, James Madison University, 2012

My journey through graduate school has experienced many ups and downs. The overwhelming

amount of love and support I have encountered throughout this process has been extremely

humbling and for that, I am eternally grateful. I would like to thank the many individuals who

bringing this thesis to life and I will forever appreciate your support.

A big thank you to the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for allowing me

to explore Dr. Tucker’s papers on several different occasions. Your team was very gracious and

helpful during the research process and I thank you for that. Your help was more than I expected

during my research trips and very much appreciated.

To my friends and roommates, Alexandria Silva, Elizabeth Guzman, Twyla Fiocchi, Victoria

Lamm, and Bobby Creedon, I thank you for putting up with my research all over the kitchen

table, my late nights in front of my computer, and my unwarranted history lectures over coffee or

Lastly, I would like to thank my family. Thank you Nana, Poppy, Shayne, Bre, Bret, Elli and

Eva for always showing me the bright side of things, making me laugh, and believing in me

whole-heartedly. I could not have done this without your constant love and support. To my

father, Lea, thank you for countless nights of advice and for being an amazing listener when I

simply needed an ear. And to my mother, Jamie, I thank you for always believing in me when I

often did not believe in myself. Thank you for being my teacher, my friend, and most

importantly, my role model. This project is dedicated to you.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: “It ain’t personal, strictly business baby”: Dr. C. DeLores Tucker’s Crusade

Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………..17

Direct Action……………………………………………………………………………..17

Political Action…………………………………………………………………………..26

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….34

Chapter Two: “They wanna censor me; they’d rather see me in a cell livin in hell – only a few of

us’ll live to tell”: Tucker and the Crusade’s Inevitable Failure………………………………….36

The Response from Gangsta Rap Artists………………………………………………...36

Record Companies and Gangsta Rap Profits…………………………………………….41

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..59

Abstract

LIVING IN A GANGSTA’S PARADISE: DR. C. DELORES TUCKER’S CRUSADE

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015

Major Director: Dr. Timothy N. Thurber

Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University Department of History

This project examines Dr. C. DeLores Tucker’s efforts to abolish the production and

history, such as the issues of race, gender, popular culture, economics, and the role of

government. The first chapter thematically explores Tucker’s crusade, detailing her

methodology and highlighting pivotal events throughout the movement. The second chapter

discusses how opposition from rap artists, and the music industry, media coverage of Tucker and

her followers, and resistance from members of Congress contributed to the failure of her

endeavor.

1

Introduction

“Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west”:

The Beginnings of Rap Music and its Relationship to Dr. C. DeLores Tucker

released their album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, which included the song, “Me So Horny.”

The song contained misogynist lyrics such as, “I'll play with your heart just like it's a game / I'll

be blowing your mind while you're blowing my brains.” A few years later, Time Warner

released Body Count’s self-titled album in 1992. The albums’ song, “Cop Killer,” contained the

lyrics, “I got my twelve gauge sawed off / I got my headlights turned off / I’m ‘bout to bust some

shots off / I’m ‘bout to dust some cops off.”

about gangsta rap and its relationship to society, violence, and the treatment of women. Some

believed it was a form of self-expression or an extension of the already popular rap genre, but

2

In 1992, African American entertainers Dionne Warwick and Melba Moore came to

Tucker in disgust about the newly popular music genre, gangsta rap. The women felt

dehumanized by the lyrics of gangsta rap and were concerned about its effect on younger

audiences. Tucker listened to this music and immediately found it distasteful and harmful to her

to escape. And, when this angst became manifested in the later more militant

versions my only fear was that these artists might be tempted to go overboard and

thus invite official suppression of their artistry and talents.

Tucker claimed she was disgusted by what she heard and she believed that the lyrics she listened

to were “socially unacceptable” and poisonous to women.

In November 1993, Death Row Records released rapper Snoop Doggy Dog’s debut

Our young women are not sexual playthings subject to the whims of misogynist

thugs with a need to control their wives, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts,

nieces and girlfriends. They are the descendants of African American queens and

kings. They are God’s precious jewels to nurture and nourish future generations

of African queens and kinds. They are to be treated with respect. The ‘artwork’

included with Snoop Doggy Dogg’s album teaches them everything but that!

3

The release of this album began the spark that fueled the crusader’s fire. The attack on Doggy

Style became the first major milestone in the fight against gangsta rap.

Historically, music has always been a popular form of entertainment. The art of music

has brought millions of people together through a variety of ways ranging from religious

creating hyper sexualized teenagers. Historian Glenn C. Altschuler notes, “Rock n’ roll was

demonstrating the power of the libido, as the music pulsated, the guitarist fondled his instrument,

and the singer undulated sensuously. Rock n’ roll seemed to be an anti-inhibitor, provoking

erotic vandalism.”

music for drug use, sexual immortality, and other alarming behaviors. When rock n’ roll music

with explicit and obscene lyrics. By the 1990s, gangsta rap music had become the latest target

for those who felt the nation was continuing its slide into moral corruption.

Founding members of the PMRC included Susan Baker, wife of then U.S. Treasury

Secretary James Baker, Pam Howar, wife of Washington D.C. real estate developer Raymond

Howar, and Tipper Gore, the wife of Senator Albert Gore (D-Tn). Gore served as the PMRC’s

4

member of the Beach Boys, and Joseph Coors, the owner of Coors beer and a conservative

activist. The PMRC saw its mission as trying to educate parents about sexually explicit song

lyrics, lobbying the federal government for stricter laws regarding music distribution.

However, the organization didn’t believe its goals were an act of censorship. “Pornography sold

The PMRC initially wanted to establish a rating system similar to that used for films. It

wanted albums to be stamped with the letter “V” for violent material, “D/A” for drug/alcohol

references, or “O” for references to the occult.

The albums would have a single letter printed

on the jacket, or a combination of the three letters. Other solutions included printing lyrics on

record sleeves, removing albums from the shelves with “lewd” sleeves, and monitoring radio and

lyrics. There were two options for the label: a label that said, “Explicit Lyrics – Parental

Advisory,” or the lyrics within the album would be made available either printed on the back

sleeve or as a separate paper inserted beneath the plastic wrap of the album. It was also decided

the labeling system would be reassessed in one year by the PMRC and national PTA to judge its

11

Gitelson ruled in 1970 that the city’s schools were clearly and illegally segregated on the basis of

race, the California Supreme Court did not hand down its decision ordering the Los Angeles

Unified School District (LAUSD) to desegregate until 1976.” Different school busing plans

were considered but were ruled out as a solution by South Gate assembly representative Floyd

schools. Even two decades after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, racial tension and

racial isolation were too far along for a solution for racial equality in the Los Angeles area, thus,

leaving African Americans in a consistent game of “prosperity and poverty, progress and

decline, hope and frustration.”

The events happening in Los Angeles translated into the music of gangsta rap artists. In

such as samplers and drum machines.

According to Dr. Tricia Rose, “Rappers speak with the

voice of personal experience, taking on the identity of the observer or narrator.”

Rose argues

that rappers “tend to reinforce the male sexual domination of black women and confirm and

sustain the construction of black women as objects and status symbols.”

During the late 1980s

12

and throughout the 1990s, gangsta rap personified this argument by incorporating themes such

as:

(1) Glorifying the gangsta lifestyle and mentality. Borrowing from the

characterization of white male gangsters in the 1920s, gangsta rap projects the life

of the rebellious outlaw in which violence is the norm, and killing is a necessary

Additionally, researchers Terri M. Adams and Douglas B. Fuller of Harvard University state,

“The imagery projected in misogynistic rap has its roots in the development of the capitalist

patriarchal system based on the principles of White supremacy, elitism, racism, and sexism.”

More specifically, the theme of misogyny within gangsta rap music is the promotion,

glamorization, or justification of oppressive ideas of women. Adams and Fuller argue that

women as usable and discardable beings.

These themes present in rap music show how women are reduced to subhuman beings, which are

not worthy of compassion, love, or respect.

rap’s emphasis on awareness, empowerment, and ethnic pride among black youth brought about

by the Civil Rights Movement.

13

That transformation also brought about a new wave of activism from Dr. C. DeLores

Tucker. Tucker was born on October 4, 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the

daughter of Minister Whitfield and feminist Captilda Nottage, and married Mr. William L.

Tucker in July of 1951. Tucker and her sibilings were raised in a strict religious home and

Southern blacks who migrated northward for jobs, ran a grocery store and became a landlord.”

Tucker followed in her mother’s footsteps and became heavily involved in Pennsylvania State

politics, women’s rights, and the Civil Rights Movement beginning in the 1950s and 1960s. She

became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP) and raised funds for the Association. In 1961, she was awarded the NAACP Freedom

relations at Temple University in Philadelphia, and later received a Doctor of Humanities degree

from Villa Maria College in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1972, and a Doctor of Law degree from

Morris College in Sumter, South Carolina in 1976.

In 1971, Governor Milton Sharpp appointed Tucker Secretary of the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania. Tucker was the first African-American to hold the position. During her six-year

14

tenure, Tucker served as Chairman for the Commission on Charitable Organizations, Chief

Election Officer of the Commonwealth, Chief Registration Officer, Corporation Bureau, and

Overseer to the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs. She implemented new

regulations regarding charity distribution throughout Pennsylvania, reformed election procedures

Action Council, the Board of Martin Luther King Center for Social Change, Business and

Professional Women’s Clubs, the National Council of Negro Women, the League of Women

Voters, and a Founding Trustee for the NAACP committee against Discrimination in the Media.

Tucker also served as chairman of the Black Caucus of the Democratic National Committee for

eleven years. She and other members of the Caucus met with President Jimmy Carter in

The purpose and mission of the NPCBW was, and has remained, to mentor and encourage

African-American women to pursue political careers. The NPCBW encouraged women to,

“Participate in the development of political parties’ policies, platforms and strategies beneficial

to the needs and aspirations of the African-American community.”

She fervently supported

and embraced the goals of the NPCBW and became the National Chair for the congress in 1992.

15

The NPCBW was an important factor that played into Tucker’s political career that

began in the 1970s. With the emerging popularity of gangsta rap music, Tucker and the NPCBW

believed that the future political prosperity of African-American women had become threatened.

As a result, the Entertainment Commission was created in September 1992. It was co-chaired by

obviously prevents African-Americans from achieving equal opportunities as

artists and decision-makers; (2) To mobilize African-Americans in the industry to

join the struggle to resolve critical issues affection African-American

communities, particularly in the areas of education and health, where so many

serve as role models and spokespersons; AND (3) To offer strategic suggestions

and solutions for reshaping and maintaining positive images to preserve our

dignity and heritage for our youth … INSTEAD of continuously exposing our

youth to negative media that distort their images of male/female relationships,

undermine the stability of out families, communities and nation by encouraging

violence, abuse and sexism as acceptable behaviors, and perpetuates the cycle of

this.”

With the support of several national organizations such as the NAACP, the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congressional Black Caucus, the National

Newspaper Publishers Association, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, and

Concerned Black Men of America, Inc., Tucker challenged the African-American communities

and the remainder of the nation in 1993 to take responsibility and support the fight to end

16

encourages them to disrespect African American women,” encouraging and promoting

misogynist ideals.

Tucker stated:

What African American children are being exposed to through certain music …

only offers images of human relationships and too often only teach African

American men how to mistreat African American women – and for our women to

primarily on the record company executives.

Tucker said, “My crusade … is against the

executive and publicists who administer ‘gangster rap,’ produce and circulate it all over the

world, using vile, demeaning lyrics, encouraging and abetting some of their more aggressive

artists in personally defaming their critics.”

out of control and needed to be dealt with.

17

Dr. C. DeLores Tucker led the crusade against gangsta rap in the 1990s. Her mission was

to remove the music genre entirely, which sets her apart from her predecessors. The extremely

high profits generated by these albums meant that record companies were not going to eliminate

this genre. However, despite knowing she was fighting an indestructible form of popular culture,

Tucker did not quit and continued to protest gangsta rap music through a variety of means. The

following chapter discusses Tucker’s various attempts to shut down gangsta rap throughout the

1990s and illustrates variety in her methodology by thematically organizing her actions during

the crusade.

18

known in any way possible. These methods were effective in grabbing attention and spreading

word about the efforts to abolish gangsta rap music.

Beginning in the early 1990s, Tucker and the NPCBW began picketing record stores in

hopes of stopping customers from purchasing gangsta rap albums from artists such as Dr. Dre,

preach the purposes of the anti-gangsta rap crusade. At a protest outside of a Sam Goody record

store in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1994, she proclaimed, “[You] have gathered here … to

reaffirm our decision to engage in nonviolent, direct action in order to make our concerns heard

about gansta rap and misogynist lyrics that degrade and denigrate women … we now want

record [stores] such as Sam Goody to refuse to sell such cultural garbage.”

She added,

The following year Tucker began a second series of national demonstrations in front of

various Tower Records locations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The music retail chain was

targeted for its promotion of Tha Dogg Pound’s album, Dogg Food, as an excellent Christmas

gift. Tucker argued that the album celebrated drugs, sex, and violence as appropriate behavior

for children.

19

selling and promoting gansta rap music to minors. The record company dismissed her protest

efforts and left gangsta rap album promotions in their catalogues. On March 2, 150 protestors

gathered outside of Tower Records and picketed and marched against the company. Tucker was

arrested alongside members of the Philadelphia Coalition Against Gansta Rap and Violence, the

On January 15, 1996 Tucker handed out flyers with the lyrics of Tha Dogg Pound’s

music. She argued, “We are here today to continue our selective buying campaign against

retailers who insist on promoting and selling this defamatory, obscene and pornographic

material. We say ‘enough is enough.’”

Tower Records had a policy in effect that gansta rap

would not be sold to children under the age of 16. However, a month later, Bill Duffy, the

considered this to be an excuse and vowed to keep protesting until all of the Tower Records store

locations stopped selling gangsta rap music entirely.

Tucker’s determination resulted in yet another arrest in March 1996 while protesting

outside of Philadelphia’s downtown Tower Records location. Members of the Philadelphia

Coalition Against Gangsta Rap and Violence, Onah Weldon of the Philadelphia NPCBW, and

20

Reverend James J. Ebberheart of Mount Olive Tabernacle Baptist Church were also arrested for

assisting Tucker in blocking the door. They were released after agreeing to appear for hearings

regarding the protests.

Between the February and March protests, Tucker reported, “[The]

NPCBW believes that this music is offensive to African Americans and portray Blacks as thugs,

Tucker and several women’s rights activists held a press conference outside of the Time Warner

corporate headquarters in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Popular feminists such as Anita

Perez Ferguson, President of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Betty Friedan, Founder of

the National Organization for Women, entertainment artist Melba Moore, Eleanor Smeal,

President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, Gloria Steinem, Founder of Ms. magazine, Susan

Prodigy’s song, “Smack My Bitch Up” and its link to Time Warner’s corporate policy for

producing music. In a letter to Mr. Gerald Levin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of

Time Warner, the women stated, “What links the song to corporate policy is the link to gangsta

rap. While Time-Warner has sought to disassociate from gangsta rap, what remains consistent is

the attack against women and the promotion of drugs and violence.” The women accused Time

27

NPCBW. To defend her point, Tucker referenced Tipper Gore and her views on lyrics similar to

those in gangsta rap. “When Mrs. Tipper Gore became incensed about the negative impact of

‘nasty lyrics’ upon the values she had taught her children and launched her infamous campaign,

everyone concerned about the morality of our young welcomed her crusade,” said Tucker.

to inspect the “production, sale, and distribution in interstate commerce of music that is alleged

to contain lyrics that are violent, misogynist, and homophobic.”

Many witnesses testified

during the hearings, including music artists, record company presidents, and a wide range of

others affiliated with the African American community. While many witnesses argued that rap

music encouraged disrespect for women and glorified crime, the music’s defenders claimed that

Martin Luther King Jr., alleging “that if he were alive today, [he] would be marching and

demonstrating against the glamorization of violence and its corrupting influence, which has now

become a part of our culture in the name of freedom.”

deeply saddened by those in our community who abuse and misuse the freedom of speech by

28

dehumanizing, demeaning and degrading our own women.”

Tucker argued that for centuries

African Americans had maintained a sense of humanity and morality, but that “today, however,

our morality, which has been the last vestige of our strength, is being threatened by lyrics out of

the mouths of our own children.”

Tucker also stated that gangsta rap music provoked youth to

Rappers … made it sound so good and look so real (that) I would drink and

smoke drugs just like on the video … thinking that was the only way I could be

somebody ... My hood girls – became hoes and bitches. What’s so bad is that they

accepted it. You know why? Because they put themselves in the video, too, and

the guns, money, cars, drugs, and men became reality. Look where this kind of

thinking has gotten me … facing 25 years to life in jail.

On February 23, 1994, the Senate held a hearing on music lyrics entitled, “Shaping Our

two panels that included record industry executives, musical artists, and medical and community

activists, among others.

line of communication, “[would] educate, as well as inspire unity of direction … concerning how

we as Americans can curb the promotion of violence and misogyny in our society.”

There

were 17 witnesses who testified at the hearing including Hilary Rose, Executive Vice Present of

29

McKeever, executive Vice President of talent and creative affairs of Motown Records, and

entertainer Dionne Warwick. No rappers were present.

Senator Moseley-Braun contended that

the record industry should play a greater role in attempting to keep rap lyrics out of the ears of

children. She argued, “I truly believe that if we do not work together, to develop viable,

controversial lyrics even if there were a rating system … Music is different from movies. Kids

who want to hear certain songs find out how to hear them.”

Warwick testified against gangsta

rap, arguing that it isn’t an art form that should be protected. “Artists should have the freedom to

create music and images, but that creativity should not be allowed to demean an entire group of

people or foster hatred or homicide,” she declared. Warrick added:

depravity and greed.

The hearing displayed a variety of opinions, but a concrete solution proved difficult.

Billboard reported on March 5 that although the attendees of the hearing agreed that while the

lyrics of gangsta rap were troubling, “It would be wrong and irresponsible to attempt to mute the

messages of rage roaring from the violent, drug-torn neighborhoods of America’s economically

30

disadvantaged without a serious commitment by government, community grasps, and individuals

to attack the root causes of what one witness called ‘societal disintegration.’”

In November 1997, Tucker testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight of

Government Management, Restructuring and the District of Columbia’s hearing on “The Social

artists who create it, pander pornography to our innocent young children, hold Black people

(especially young black males) universally up to ridicule and contempt, and corrupt its vast

audience of listeners, white and black, throughout the world.”

further and stated, “Gangsta music is drugs-driven, race-driven, greed-driven and violence-

driven,” and the wealthy members of the music industry have looked to “prey” on the young

but rather, helping the industry in prioritizing principle over profit.

In early December, The Washington Times reported about the hearing and the subject of

album censoring. Tucker previously discussed this issue at a Seagram Stockholder’s meeting in

October, and again at the hearing in November.

According to the Times, Tucker referenced

Chad Anthony Sisk, a 15-year-old Philadelphia high school sophomore, who purchased several

31

X-rated materials that were supposed to be restricted to him due to his age. These materials

clearly had the black and white parental advisory label presented on the front of the album. In

response to having these in his possession, Sisk stated, “At first, I didn’t pay attention to the

parental guidance signs on them because I could still buy them … only once at Tower Records

that would ask for one’s age, would approve regardless of any age restrictions, and would only

warn customers of the cursing and inappropriate language.

music extremely easy for young children and teens.

The congressional hearings Tucker attended gained additional political support from

Senator Lieberman in 1995. The addition of Lieberman to Republican Bennett placed a bi-

strategy, Lieberman was indeed in favor. However, he believed that some of Time Warner’s rap

music required more drastic action than music on other labels. “I think the company should

conclude that some of this stuff is just bad for society and they should stop it,” he said.

August 1995 was a busy month for the anti-gangsta rap movement. After several months

of pressure from Tucker and her allies, Time Warner announced it was in the negotiating stages

32

of selling its 50 percent stake in Interscope Records. “I’m delighted,” stated Tucker. “I have

pretty good reports that Time Warner is getting ready to divorce itself from this gansta rap

entirely.”

She stated:

This pending decision with Time Warner is historic because it is a victory for all

against gangsta rap. However, Time Warner suggested that their impression of the situation

might have been too rash. She hadn’t won the war quite yet.

Following the announcement from Time Warner, Interscope Records Inc. filed a lawsuit

against Tucker on August 15. This was the first of many lawsuits against Tucker. Interscope

Records accused her of “interfering with contractual relationships and attempting to induce

convincing them to cut ties with Death Row Records.

The lawsuit stated that she supposedly

told Knight that if he divorced with Interscope and cleaned up his albums, she would negotiate a

distribution deal with Time Warner. Additionally she evidently promised Knight that Gerald

Levin would grant him $80 million dollars to separate from Interscope, but only if she controlled

33

the lyrics produced.

Tucker stated in an interview, “I wasn’t in this for personal profit… I

want Death Row Records to end their pornographic messages aimed at children … My record

speaks for itself – and their records speak for themselves.”

continued her quest of fighting against what she argued was the label’s supposed “love affair

Food by Tha Dog Pound.

“It was reported that this label was due to be released August 15,”

said Tucker. “Since our protest has had the effect of putting the album on hold, I believe this is

what has produced this frantic flurry of fictional lawsuits.”

Pryce replied, “Fine-tuning, not embarrassment, was the cause of the delay,” and that the album

would be released later in August instead of the projected release date sometime in July.

Time Warner declared it was separating itself from gangsta rap music by dissolving its

34

partnership with Interscope Records. Warner Music, moreover, would sell back its 50 percent

investment in Interscope Records and, according to Michael Fuchs, recover the $100 million

dollars it paid originally for the investment in the company. Time Warner stated that it would

not be producing the Dogg Food album, which Tucker called, “the filthiest rap album yet.”

The lawsuits didn’t stop there. Tucker also filed several multi-million dollar lawsuits

against major names in the music industry. Her goal was to direct the lawsuits straight to the

heart of the gangsta rap world. The lawsuits named Tower Records of Philadelphia, Interscope

and Death Row Records of Philadelphia and Los Angeles, California, Ted Field and James

Lovine, officials of Interscope, Time Warner, Seagram Co., and MCA, Inc., “a defamation of

35

March 2, 2000 and the Nashville Urban League Annual Dinner Keynote Address entitled, “Our

Children are Our Destiny,” on June 6, 2000. Presenting gave her the position to continue

awareness of her crusade and keep the spotlight on the harsh realities of the negativity projected

within gangsta rap lyrics and music videos.

yielded few results. Even after momentum slowed at the end of the 1990s, Tucker did not. This

sets her apart from her predecessors because there was no happy ending for Tucker unless

gangsta rap was shut down entirely. It is because of her determination and drive, that it can be

argued that if she had not passed away at a young age in 2005, Tucker would still be protesting

outside of record stores and requesting congressional hearings to make a real change concerning

36

gangsta rap music. She picked up national supporters ranging from political figures to popular

feminist icons, and appeared at several congressional hearings about the debates surrounding

music. However, the anti-gangsta rap crusade wasn’t warmly welcomed by all. Tucker

experienced a tremendous amount of pushback from rap music advocates. Rap artists defended

their lyrics by arguing they were simply speaking the truth about their lifestyle growing up and

the conditions of their environment. The record companies that Tucker attacked throughout the

years continued to produce the explicit lyrics because the music was making the industry a

tremendous amount of money and to eliminate gangsta rap would mean a major profit loss.

There were others who stood behind the First Amendment and emphasized that Tucker was

seeking to deny rappers’ rights to free speech. The following chapter discusses the major

43

Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24

considered to be one of the best hip-hop/rap albums of all time, was recently certified Diamond.

expression, and others insisted that this crusade was fighting against themes that had always been

present in music. The negative press worked against Tucker because it defended the rappers’

music and proved that the crusade was fighting a losing battle.

Tucker maintained that gangsta rap promoted violence and misogyny and should be

destroyed. George Yancy, a writer from Philadelphia, argued that rap music should be

recognized for its structure and internal meaningfulness. “What is needed is greater

understanding and appreciation concerning the unique felt-reality that is so blatantly articulated

by Ice T, Ice Cube, Snoop Doggy Dogg, School D., Dr. Dre, and others,” stated Yancy. He

believed that Tucker and her supporters failed to do so during the crusade and questioned the

black leaders of disassociating themselves from the “gangsta” lifestyle. Yancy claimed,

44

gangsta rap was merely a response to leadership failure conflicted with Tucker’s claim that

gangsta rap was affecting the American youth in a negative way.

Supporters of gangsta rap offered a variety of reasons as to why the crusade was

ineffective, including the unoriginality of the fight against music violence. Writer David

songs of John Lennon, Johnny Cash, Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, or Jim Jackson. At the very

least, charging that violence in rap represents a sudden threat to our society and culture shows a

serious ignorance of popular music.”

discredited Tucker and her efforts by referring to her crusade as a battle against a theme in music

that had been around for decades.

with society employing the heritage of the Black oral tradition.”

Gangsta rap became a way

for young Black artists to express their anger and frustrations. Richardson and Scott also stated,

“[Rap music] is far too simplistic to portray rap artists as perpetuators of behavior deemed

socially deviant without placing the artists and their life experiences in context.”

Still others questioned Tucker’s claim that gangsta rap music caused violent outbursts

45

Johnson Jr. of The Philadelphia Tribune denied the assertion that the music was “culturally

deforming children, destroying them and training black people to be not fit for decent society.”

They also contended that alcohol, drug, and domestic abuse, youth crime and other issues were

getting worse in inner cities long before Snoop Doggy Dogg, Ice T, Ice Cube or Tupac Shakur

undifferentiated form. Rather, reality is always filtered, apprehended, encoded codified, and

conveyed via some linguistic shape.”

relationship with social cognition and social behavior.”

Yancy believed that one should

openly listen to rap music by such artists as Tupac because he was “giving us his reality, he

[was] sharing with us his own perspective knowing and seeing. He [was] keeping it real.”

What if the so-called pornographic aspects of gangsta rap were eliminated? Our

young would still be awash in songs with strongly sexually suggestive content

that are played incessantly on the radio. Are civil-rights leaders saying its OK to

have lyrics about licking someone up and down and freakin’ them all night long,

as long as the object of this unbridled lust is not called a bitch or a hoe by the

singer?

46

Supporters of gangsta rap questioned Tucker’s motives and believed them to be inappropriate.

Overall, the media attacks showed that those in support of gangsta rap and gangsta

rappers argued Tucker and the crusade were not fighting against the root issue of violence and

However, the negative press didn’t stop her in her mission, but it did succeed in deterring the

success of the crusade.

Congressional Hearings and the First Amendment

During the years of Tucker’s crusade, many fought for strict regulation in the

entertainment industry. Like Tucker, these individuals were concerned for the nation’s youth

and believed that music, television, and film became a negative influence on children by

glamorizing violence and sexism. However, Tucker believed gangsta rap was especially evil and

needed to be abolished, not censored. Congressional hearings happened frequently throughout

were after an impossible fix to the problem.

47

On February 23, 1994, Tucker and many others testified during the congressional

hearing, “Shaping Our Responses to Violent and Demeaning Imagery in Popular Music,” to

discuss “gangsta rap and other popular music that is violent, racist, anti-Semitic, sexually

graphic, or demeaning towards women,” and examine possible solutions to better the influence

Senator Moseley-Braun, however, disagreed. She argued that corporations were hiding behind

the First Amendment. As an avid supporter of the arts, she objected to government involvement

as a solution to violence in media and challenged the music industries to take responsibility in

monitoring the material they were marketing towards children. “The First Amendment states

that the government shall make no law abiding freedom of speech… Corporate and personal

Tucker attacked the big names in music production throughout her crusade, but instead of

urging the industries to self-regulate, she demanded they end the production of gangsta rap

entirely. She noted during her testimony, “It is an unavoidable conclusion that gangsta rap is

negatively influencing our youth. This explains why we have more black males in jail than we

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have in college.”

and enforce change. She argued:

Congress should put forth measures to remove the offending product from the

marketplace. The people in the music industry that are proponents of this vile,

obscene, racist and anti-social music must be denounced for the pandering

not the answer. “I am adamantly against censorship,” she argued, “but I want us to find ways to

embrace and to transform rather than to confront, isolate, and marginalize.”

transformation rather than regulation. Waters worked closely with the Los Angeles community

and argued gangsta rappers should not be labeled as dangerous or vile criminals. “They are

young people who have been isolated and, until now, denied the opportunity to say who they are

The testimonies of Moseley-Braun and Waters show support for industry self-regulation

of music and other forms of entertainment. This directly hurt Tucker’s crusade to get rid of

gangsta rap music and demonstrated that the supporters of the First Amendment believed that

government involvement was unnecessary and wrong. To these two women, the abolishment of

gangsta rap would be violating the artists’ rights. Instead, they wanted the industries to take

49

would still be sold in record stores such as Sam Goody, and available for people of all ages to

buy. Tucker replied:

Opponents of the First Amendment, deniers of the freedom of expression, threats

to “the brothers’ making money” – all these accusations are no more than

smokescreens pushed forward by those who want to peddle pornography to our

Tucker had been fighting against gangsta rap music since the early 1990s, but it took a

tragic incident in Columbine, Colorado at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 for

members of Congress to regularly meet to discuss violence in the media. This tragedy sparked a

rise in national interest on the negative influence of video games, television programs, and music

on children. Shortly after, several hearings were held to discuss the opinions and thoughts about

crusade because the focus had shifted from the seriousness of gangsta rap lyrics specifically to an

all-encompassing regulation system to protect children.

On September 11, 2000, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report entitled,

“Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A Review of Self-Regulation and Industry

Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording and Electronic Game Industries.”

50

members of Congress: “Do the industries promote products they themselves acknowledge

warrant parental caution in venues where children make up a substantial percentage of audience?

And are these advertisements intended to attract children and teenagers?” The report concluded

that entertainment industries had taken necessary steps to identify what could be deemed as

sanctions for violations; Increase compliance at the retail level by checking

identification or requiring parental permission before selling tickets to R movies,

and by not selling or renting products labeled “Explicit” or rated R or M, to

children under 17, and increase parental understanding of the ratings and labels by

including the reasons for the rating in the label in all advertising and product

packaging. The Commission also calls on the industry to continue efforts to

educate parents – and children – about the meanings of ratings and descriptors.

On September 13, 2000, 13 state senators nationwide and a variety of representatives from the

entertainment industries was the answer, while Hillary Rosen stated “music is just music” and

parents seem content with the already in place rating systems.

over music keeps coming back to the same thing. Despite all of the trappings and new ways to

look at the issue, the fact is that some people just don’t like music. And that, is a freedom of

expression issue.”

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Conclusion

Tucker spent her crusade fighting to rid the music industry from gangsta rap music. With

would improve. She eventually called for government involvement when the record companies

rap remained on the map and increased in dollar sales and popularity, the American government

did in fact take notice in the perception of violence on children and actively sought out change.

On October 12, 2005, Tucker passed away from prolonged medical issues in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She fought against major record companies such as Time Warner

and rap artists like Tupac Shakur to rid the world of gangsta rap music, which she believed

promoted violence and threatened the health of the black community, particularly black women.

In the end, her extreme ambition and impressive protest efforts were crushed by the

overwhelming backlash from the music industry and the media, which called her “old-fashioned”

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and “unappreciative” of the gangsta rap art form. The announcement of the death of Tucker’s

death led many observes to look back on her crusade fondly. Several publications had similar

things to say about Tucker and her anti-gangsta rap crusade: she was an amazing woman who

should not be forgotten. The National NOW Times named Tucker a “Visionary Leader

seen in an article in the New York Times a month after her passing. Author Douglas Martin

applauded her gangsta rap crusade stating, “Mrs. Tucker achieved perhaps her greatest fame in

the 1990s when she campaigned against gangsta rap lyrics.” It was even reported that former

Vice President Al Gore called Tucker “a four-star general in the battle for righteousness.”

During the final years of her life, Tucker began writing a memoir about her campaign.

reinvigorate the anti-gangsta rap drive. “Determined to initiate a nation-wide crusade against the

greed-driven public propagation of this type of material, I began mobilizing the support needed

to confront this formidable foe,”

stated Tucker. She continued, “My view, at that time shared

by the organization’s entire board, was that this gangsta rap music was not simply a matter [of]

bad taste on the part of some artists and their distributors, but was essentially a concentrated

59

Dr. C. DeLores Tucker Papers. Pennsylvania State Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

(B) Newspaper

The Associated Press

Call & Post

Christian Science Monitor

Daily News (New York)

The Hollywood Reporter

The Huffington Post

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The New York Times

New York Voice

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Tribune

Tennessee Tribune

USA Today

The Wall Street Journal

The Washington Afro-American Newspaper

The Washington Informer

Between the Lines

Billboard

Daily Variety

Ms.

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(D) Congressional Hearings and Government Documents

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office/2014/02/27/remarks-president-my-brothers-keeper-initiative.

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