My son's a talented musician and a real music lover, with a broad-range of musical likes and interests. Me? I like to think of myself in that way, but the hard truth is that when he turns on the hip-hop I start mocking: Loudly talking to the beat and speaking/singing in rhyme about how I don't have to be able to sing or play an instrument to make money; all I have to do is trash talk women and glorify violence. It's all done with smiles all around, because the other truth is I appreciate some of rap - the depths of some of the inner-city angst, the raw frustration of youth, yada yada yada.
But my son also knows, I hope and believe, that the anti-women and pro-violence slant to some rap music is unacceptable. And it shouldn't be rewarded.
I was thinking about our daily drive to school when a website called World Star Hip Hop made some news. What started as a YouTube-kind of site to promote new rappers, the website is now a vehicle for promoting violence - captured on video. Many of them are hate crimes.
One violent encounter was on a New York subway train, where some passengers, rather than helping the man who was getting beat up, were chanting "World Star, baby."
I'm just dumbfounded by the behavior, as I'm sure most people are.
And - rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly - it raises the question in some peoples' minds about the relationship between some rap and violence.
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If there are any developments with this website, we'll have them, tonight at 11.
We're also on the campaign trail with any new developments - especially in light of Rick Santorum's trifecta victory in three primaries last night.
And there's a new poll that shows a record-low 10 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing. How low is that? Consider that BP had a dismally low approval rating of 16 percent during the Gulf Coast oil spill the summer before last.
And some more comparisons: Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal in 1974 had an approval rating of 24 percent. And Paris Hilton had a 15 percent approval rating during the height of her - what to call it? - fame.
I'm just sayin'.
And for all those people who want to have children - but don't necessarily want a romantic partner - a new website designed to match would-be "co-parents." Can this possibly work? Our Stacey Sager investigates, tonight at 11.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg is tracking a bit of snow moving into the area tonight, and Laura Behnke (in for Rob Powers) has the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
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