Enough Already--It’s Time to Chill Out Over Ice-T

Just as the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots is “the story that won’t go way,” the furor over Ice-T’s now infamous “Cop Killer” song appears to be the media issue that won’t retire. Scores of salvos have been fired, some of the latest being by Oliver North (“North Steamed at Ice- T,” July 2, and by California Atty. Gen. Daniel E. Lungren (“Lungren Defends Call to Stop Ice-T Album Sales,” July 4).

But if this controversy is viewed in a historical context, its recent course should not be surprising, as pop music has had a long history of antagonizing various elements of American society.

When Elvis burst on the scene in 1956, there were fears among parents, educators and civic leaders--a.k.a. the Establishment--that he and his music would corrupt our youth. They reacted with speeches, editorials, boycotts and even some creative camera work. But in hindsight, Elvis’ gyrations and songs about being “All Shook Up” seem tame by today’s standards.

Any rational citizen deplores the idea of going out and killing a cop, the basic scenario presented in “Cop Killer.” However, its author’s defense--that it is not necessarily his sentiment, but that of the song’s protagonist--is not being taken at face value.

Twenty-two years ago, when Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones sang “Midnight Rambler,” he, too, placed himself in the first person as the song’s protagonist, singing: “I’m gonna hit and run, rape her in anger.” At the song’s conclusion, he warned: “I’ll stick my knife right down your throat till it hurts!”

Was Jagger really advocating rape and murder? Of course not. We tacitly understood that he was telling a story about an extremely unsavory character. So even though the song came after the heinous crimes of the Manson family, there was no public outcry.

Nonetheless, in recent years, the Establishment, led by Tipper Gore (wife of Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr.), has sought to label certain pop material as unsuitable for minors, and in at least one locality legislation has been enacted to deem specific albums as “obscene” and illegal to be sold to minors.

Interestingly, another art form, film, has no taboo--only ratings established by the MPAA. The inclusion of sex and four-letter words has not prevented films from being made or released or even from earning huge monetary returns.

Even more popular is movie violence, which translates well on the international market. The killing of cops has long been a staple of movie plots. In last year’s “One Good Cop,” Michael Keaton’s partner, a cop, is killed, which sets the plot in motion. In “RoboCop,” a cop is brutally, graphically murdered, and then brought back to life as a robot. Where was the outcry? Other than the usual platitudes that movies are too violent, there was none.

So if the cop-killing films went by unnoticed and Mick Jagger’s “Midnight Rambler” got off without a hitch, why single out rapper Ice-T?

Rap is but the latest stage in the artistic evolution of the displaced African in American society. Seventy-five years ago, that pain and anger were powerfully and eloquently expressed in the blues. “I’m a lone poor boy and I’m a long way from home” spoke volumes of the plight of former slaves, their children and their children’s children as they struggled to survive in an alien and unfriendly society.

Just as the blues was offensive to white America and reviled as “race music,” so rap has found an even more vitriolic backlash. More so because rap is angrier than the blues. It is meaner than the blues. But, most significant, it is more mainstream than blues. Whereas a number of important early blues artists recorded on Paramount, which billed itself as “the popular race record,” Ice-T is distributed by Time Warner, the world’s largest media conglomerate.

Beneath the obvious distaste for the content of “Cop Killer,” there are several underlying subtexts of concern. Fear No. 1: Ice-T is lying, and the song is not about an abhorrent character but is instead a message song. It is a call to arms. Maybe so. But if that was his aim--to incite blacks to kill cops, the enforcers of the rules of white America--why not take advantage of the public forum that he has now taken to center stage?

This brings us to Fear No. 2: Ice-T, the current de facto spearhead of rap music, has usurped a privilege usually denied the youthful strata of black America. He has staked out a position on the public forum in order to present a black point of view. And the message is loud, clear and offensive.

There really are only two responses to that message. We can overreact and demand more prisons, more cops and more censorship. But that is a reaction to the symptoms of America’s ills and not the underlying problems. These measures will only further dehumanize our society. Is that the world in which we want to live?

The alternative is to view “Cop Killer” as what it really is--an artistic reflection of the racial tensions of America in 1992. Art, in its highest capacity, illuminates. If it makes us see truth, then it has succeeded. But if, in seeing that truth, we want to crush it, then we have failed. In short, we can either listen to the music . . . or face the music.