Stop using all this bad language, says hip-hop pioneer

The godfather of modern hip-hop has decided enough is enough. Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam records and the inspiration behind bands as diverse as Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, is as sick of the lazy vulgarity of rap music as many of the rest of us.

Yesterday, he called for a voluntary ban on the three words he considers the most unacceptable, and among the most common, describing "bitch", "ho" and "nigger" as "extreme curse words" that were inconsistent with any sense of social responsibility by rap artists or their record companies.

"The words 'bitch' and 'ho' are utterly derogatory and disrespectful of the painful, hurtful, misogyny that, in particular, African American women have experienced in the United States," Simmons' organisation, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, said in a statement.

"The word 'nigger' is a racially derogatory term that disrespects the pain, suffering, history of racial oppression and multiple forms of racism against African Americans and other people of colour," it added.

Simmons' statement triggered an immediate debate about "political correctness". His suggestion was welcomed in many quarters but denounced in others as little more than a token gesture that would not end misogyny or racism, only alter the vocabulary with which it was expressed.

"This is like abstinence-only sex education," one reader wrote to the Detroit Free Press newspaper in an online discussion.

Simmons countered in an interview with the Associated Press, saying: "This is a first step. It's a clear message and a consistency that we want the industry to accept for more corporate social responsibility."

His statement summarises many of the frustrations he and others have felt about the direction rap music has taken. When it first burst onto the scene in the 1980s, it was a powerful, even revolutionary new medium of expression born of the frustrations and deprivations of the black urban experience. Simmons has consistently pushed that idea, organising "Def Poetry" sessions and mixing his music producing career with civil rights advocacy, including an energetic get-out-the-vote effort ahead of the 2004 presidential election.

The commercial success of rap has pushed much of it in an entirely different direction, fetishising black prison culture and a language of violence and hate. The gangsta rap movement of the early 1990s was primarily responsible for pushing the endlessly repetitive references to "niggers" and "hos", and they have not let up since.

The reaction has been building for some time. When Michael Richards, the white comedian best known for playing Kramer on the US sitcom Seinfeld, was recorded spewing a string of racial insults at an LA comedy club last autumn, it prompted several black commentators to wonder whether everyone should stop using the word "nigger" given its deeply offensive historical resonances.

Two weeks ago, the white shock jock Don Imus was fired from CBS Radio for referring to players on the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" - an episode that once again raised the spectre of offensive language.

The standard practice of many record companies is to produce two versions of many rap songs - an unexpurgated version for CDs, often with a warning attached, and a "clean" version for the airwaves in which the lyrics have either been changed, erased or bleeped out. Simmons' suggestion is to ensure the three words are removed entirely.

He and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network also recommended forming a coalition on broadcast standards, in which entertainment industry executives would draw up guidelines for lyrics and video imagery.

"We also recommend that the recording industry establish artist mentoring programmes and forums to stimulate effective dialogue ... to promote better understanding and positive change," the statement added.