Editorial: Music deserving of a bad rap

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 | 12:33 p.m.

The day after memorializing a veteran Metro Police officer who was shot and killed by a local rap singer, Sheriff Bill Young again called on valley casinos, clubs and gaming regulators to cast a wary eye on entertainers whose music glorifies gangster behavior.

Young has raised the issue since last year, and in June asked the state Gaming Control Board to encourage the casino industry to crack down on gangster rap acts, according to a column by the Las Vegas Sun's Jeff German. State gaming regulators issued a memo last week stating that casinos hosting such performances will be held accountable if violent acts occur.

"The entertainment industry should be ashamed of itself for prompting this gangster rap genre that espouses violence, mistreatment of women, hatred for the authority of police officers and emulates drug dealers and two-bit thugs," Young told the Sun. We agree.

Sgt. Henry Prendes was fatally shot Feb. 1 by a Las Vegas rap singer who was then shot and killed in a gun battle with other Metro officers. Prendes' death was the most recent in a string of violent crimes connected to rappers in the Las Vegas Valley that started in 1996 with the unsolved shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur.

In its memo to the casino industry, the three-member Gaming Control Board reminded casinos and club executives that they need to exercise "due diligence" when booking such entertainers and that the establishments will be held accountable for any violence that occurs as a result of the shows.

It is important to respect artists' free-speech rights and also the rights of casinos to book entertainers - even those whose ideas we find repugnant. But the hosts of such shows should be held accountable for any violent fallout the entertainers inspire. The shame lies in the fact that people still want to hear music glorifying drug dealers, misogynists and cop killers.