Parental Advisory: what the 1990s moral crusaders misunderstood about hip-hop

I’m a product of the 90s. Born in 1985, my childhood was American Girl Dolls, Power Rangers, and The Babysitters Club. My political views were shaped by the Contract With America, Desert Storm, and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. As the kids say, it was quite a time to be alive.

Of all the things I cherish from my younger years, what I love most is the music. There’s nothing I enjoy more this time of year than rolling the windows down and listening to songs from middle school—roughly 1995 to 1998. It was an important time in music history. Unfortunately for 11-year-old me, it was also the zenith of conservative hysteria about explicit lyrics. (And my use of the word “conservative” in this article is not a stand-in for “Republican”: one of the leaders of the crusade against “explicit content” was Al Gore’s wife, Tipper.) According to my elders in the Roaring 90s, black music, especially rap, was like rust on the iron of America’s moral foundation, slowly eating it away. When my classmates’ parents—even my teachers—found out my mom and dad let me watch MTV and buy hip-hop CDs, they upbraided my folks for allowing me to be “influenced” by “those people.” They didn’t say so in explicit terms (no wonder these people hate “explicit” language!). But the overwhelming sentiment was, “I can’t believe you let your innocent blonde daughter listen to that black trash.” I vividly remember riding in the car with one of my best friends, listening to our favorite radio station, when an LL Cool J song came on. Her dad started mocking it in an exaggerated “rap” cadence, then leaned forward to snap it off. “I can’t believe you two listen to that garbage.”

It’s important to note that by age 11, I was a budding social conservative who, in a few short years, would be campaigning for “family values” candidates like George W. Bush, as well as writing for one of the most prominent conservative news aggregates, Townhall.com. Even as a tween, I was no fan of moral rot. I also loved LL Cool J. I wondered if the critics could even hear the lyrics they were slamming as “trash.” It’s true that LL Cool J crooned about sex. Frequently. In many people’s eyes, he was the stereotypical promiscuous black man, one of “those rap guys” who would “screw anything.” No need to know the girl’s name, let alone put a ring on it first.What was lost on the white audience was the fact that he also fantasized about marrying the girls he rapped about.He expressed his desire to treat his woman like a queen and abide by old-fashioned, conservative norms regarding love, marriage, and the role of men in the family. As a boy who had grown up fatherless, he made it clear he lacked respect for deadbeats and chumps. In his song “Hey Lover,” written to a woman he worships from afar, he fantasizes about taking her from her boyfriend, who doesn’t do enough to support and protect her:

I see you at the bus stop waitin' everyday

Your man must think it's safe for you to travel that way

But I don't want to violate your relationship

So I lay back in the cut with a crush that's a trip

He also fantasizes about what religious conservatives say we don’t take seriously these days: marriage.

Last week I saw ya at the mall

Standin' at the pay phone 'bout to make a call

I had a vision it was me on the other end

Tellin' you come by and then you walked in

I touched you gently with my hands

We talked about travelin' the distant lands

Escapin' all the madness out here in the world

Becomin' my wife, no longer my girl

Then, you let your dress fall down to the floor

I kissed you softly and you yearned for more

And that brings us to the most ironic part of the adults’ opposition to my love of LL: I went to a conservative Catholic school. A little known fact is that LL Cool J is a practicing Catholic. When he was 4, he found his mother and grandmother after his dad shot them in a fit of rage. Both were covered in blood and barely breathing. They survived, and he says it strengthened his Catholic faith. LL has actually been married to the same woman since 1987 (six years before he first attempted rap and 10 before he hit it big), and apparently, all his dirty sexy songs are just about her and their marriage. Even I was shocked to hear that as a longtime fan. I love his rap because I get all the spiritual and religious references. It gives depth to a song like “Ain’t Nobody,” with its talk of “paradise for a price,” that I just can’t get from other rappers. This is my favorite song.

Authors note: This article is Day 1 of a 30 day song challenge. Follow along or begin your own!