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You are better than me! I think its important to engage to challenge what's on the airwaves because not every kid has  great parents like you. I remember the wonderful poet Sarah Jones was fined by the FCC for a piece that satirizes all of this. Where were they while there are ads for the strip club on the radio???

The Stadium was the last straw. But the current rotation is nothing but stripper music. I would love to come back to PGC. I just need them to clean it up for good....

this is a great point. As I mentioned in my other answer, I agree. It is part of the reason I don't completely tune out. I think we can do both teaching criticial thinking and media literacy, AND have some basic standards for decency on public airwayves.

My initial thought is that you will have to be in the driver's seat to expose your son to "wholesome" conversations about sex. Sorry to say, but you may not find it in Hip Hop. It's far too tied to corporate interests. I'd like to also point out that you share with your son that "Hip Hop" is only a slice of our culture not all of it. It's easy for young people to forget that. My daughter adores the Cosby Show, which is far more wholesome than today's Hip Hop. But at the same time not totally representative of the African American experience.

Thanks so much for your comment. Sometimes it's easy to forget that sex and sexism is being commodified at served up to all of our children over the airwaves. But what's different, I think, for young black boys and girls is that we're not allowed to step outside of that narrative of hypersexualized beings like other groups can. It's not a contradiction for a young white girl to be an A-student and like Brittany Spears. But it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when talking about children of color and "racy" music.

No doubt, white pop stations are crass too. But they don't cross the line as far or as often as the black stations. They have more sunny, optimistic songs mixed in with their "pay for sex" lyrics. That's in Chris Brown's latest song. I actually try to stay off the grip as much as possible. But the question is why do I have to? Aren't these public airwaves?

It stops until they get to school, go to the playground, walk outside your circle of influences...then the magic ends.

I think number 1, the FCC needs to do its job and not allow strip club ads on the air. I hate to keep harping on it, but I think sometimes when you live with dysfunction so long you forget what "normal" is. 

C. Delores I hate to put my name in the same sentence with. But I did because I think some of the conversations she began were important. What kind of chance does a girl have if all she that's all she hears? As the previous commenter noted, media literacy and teaching criticial thinking skills in the schools is crucial. The radio is not the only bad actor. Without them in the picture, it is just as bad and worse online and and elsewhere. So kids need some tools to help them cope. 

I think we don't give young people enough credit. My 7 year old is very able of making connections. Just the other day, she raised the question "Why do we sit in the back of the bus, this isn't back in the day." In my particular case, I didn't want her to think that a "wife beater" was an actual t-shirt. She needed to know this so she wouldn't continue that sexist term. Believe it or not, young people have engaging in pop culture conversations subliminally all the time, whether we're having those conversations with them or not.

You should definitely check out Natalie Hopkinson's "Deconstructing Tyrone" a look at masculinity in the Hip Hop era. I think that's mostly where the problems stem from. Hip Hop is mostly the creative space of the male and that's a lot of hang up and myths about what it means to be a "real" black man. As parents we need to have these conversations with our children listening to this music.

Thanks for the plug, Abdul. My co-author Natalie Y. Moore and I did explore a lot of these issues in Deconstructing Tyrone. I'm going to think some more on some websites to suggest...There are so many out there. Progressive podcasts, webzines, etc.

It's easier for me to control which movies my daughter see since it's usually her mom or I who takes her to the theater. I don't take her to see rated R movies. Music seems more ubiquitious than movies. It's everywhere, cars driving through the block, television, radio, etc.

I think you raise a good point. I'm constantly contextualizing the images and lyrics that my daughter is exposed to. Pointing out the less glamorous aspects so that she knows nothing is as it appears in these commercial fictions of "reality".

i usually just pray my kids don't understand what they are singing. I know that I didn't when I was their age...But these kids are so smart. I don't know...

Paul Porter of the media think tank Industry Ears whom I quoted has been an absolute soldier on a lot of these issues for years. He has gone after a lot of folks, with some successes.

But I don't think in terms of a single figure being a savior or deliverer. The picture is so complicated, we have to fight for our kids on so many fronts it is exhausting.  But I think it starts with each of us doing our part to call people out and hold them accountable. I'm waiting for the shame or denial to kick in from WKYS or WPGC. Waiting...

Great point. Lectures don't usually go over too well! I like to think about it as a conversation, a dialogue about what they are hearing. I think you can do the same thing with books and other information they are consuming. I love book clubs. And my kids have sort of set up informal book clubs among their friends.

I agree, lectures can be such a drag. But, I think at a young age biographies are especially helpful. My daughter was so excited to learn about Madam CJ Walker (and the fact that her great-granddaughter lives in DC.) I think the reading and engagement should happen organically. What are your young people interested in? What burning questions do they have? Begin with that and mix it up a bit.

Well, to be honest, I think my daughter's initial response was to blow it off as in "it's just a song". Then I had to de-construct "wife" and "beater" and help her make the connection to domestic violence. Then I let her know that it's not cool for Lil Wayne to use this term and here's why. And I also let her know how much I love her and would never want her to think that it's okay for her to become a "beaten wife".  I think my daughter got it. Since then, I monitor what music goes on her iPod. Her mother and I have had a series of talks about this. THat's how it went down, in an nutshell.

Yes, you make a very good point. The internet has brough the "world" inside our homes. But, I believe there are parent safety precautions you can use with home computers and your children's computers. 

Honestly, I think we're seeing capitalism at its most nefarious. Black music--paritcularly--the Blues and Jazz, had at its roots an air of scandal, loose sexual mores. This has been exploited in Hip Hop several times over to sell alchohol, cigarettes, music, McDonald's. It's a question of us not owning the narrative that tells our story. I think it's really that simple.

My husband and I (not with the kids) were at a wonderful old hole-in-the-wall restaurant in DC this weekend. And on the jukebox they had none other than Mille Jackson. Scandalous! LOl. I'm guessing all those blues women were on the airwaves back in the day. But it seemed there was some artistry there. Some wordplay, coyness, some slick to it. Now it's just pedestrian in its filth. It's lame. Artistically these folks need to step up their game. And I think what Paul Porter was saying about deregulation, and Clear Channell, etc. means there is such a huge massic monopoly in radio, they don't have to. They can keep peddling the same formulaic tripe...Put on some personalities. Do a few contest/giveaways, and they can keep collecting their checks. Pretty soon, though, I think they'll find they have no audience left...