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Posted by: kwflatbed

K.C. HOWARD
Las Vegas Review-Journal





A university system regent who is also a cop is leading the charge to ban gangsta rap groups from Nevada college campus venues.

After the death of Las Vegas police Sgt. Henry Prendes, who was shot and killed by a budding rapper on Feb. 1, Sheriff Bill Young asked state gaming regulators to urge casinos not to book gangsta rap acts, such as Snoop Dog and 50 Cent. He called the ban a crime-fighting strategy.

Regent Stavros Anthony, a police captain who heads the Metropolitan Police Department's vice unit, said Monday he felt compelled to do his part and wants to prohibit events that promote felonies such as assault, murder and battery from university and college campuses.

He has drafted an agenda item that likely will be discussed but not voted on at the Board of Regents' March meeting.

Critics said the proposed ban is unconstitutional and worried it could lead to the prohibition of all rap.

"The most violent rap music is the most popular music. You can't remove it from the clubs," said Andreas Hale, head of the local chapter of the National Hip Hop Political Convention. "It (Anthony's proposal) is more of a political platform because nobody has really been talking about it until the events on February 1 so I think this too shall pass."

Hale's organization will host a panel discussion at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Friday about Prendes' slaying and whether hip-hop music is to blame. The event will start at noon in the Dungan Humanities Building.

"We feel hip-hop is getting a bad rap in this ordeal," Hale said.

Allen Lichtenstein, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, criticized Young and Anthony's proposal.

"The constitution does not permit the Board of Regents or the police from saying, 'We don't like this particular type of entertainment, we don't like what these people have to say, therefore we're going to pick and choose what kinds of messages we want to be allowed,'" he said.

"Didn't anyone learn anything half a century ago when they tried to do the same thing with Elvis?" he asked referring to attempts to censor Elvis Presley, who despite controversy thrived in Las Vegas.

Anthony said he's not out to ban all rap and believes his proposal is constitutional.

"These are commercial events," he said. "The Thomas & Mack is already picking and choosing who they want (to book). I think they should pay a little more attention to these groups that promote violence and illegal activities."

He suggested a small committee of campus police and events people could determine if an event should be prohibited. They could research a group's Web site or study lyrics to determine if it promotes felonies, he said.

"Someone like 50 Cent, the guy is a gangster. He promotes violence and murder and the exploitation of women, and I don't believe those events fit with the values of our institutions," he said, noting the rapper's Web site shows him pointing a smoking gun.

The rapper, 50 Cent, played the Thomas & Mack at UNLV in July with Eminem on their Anger Management tour.

"If he (Eminem) promotes something like that, he should be banned too," Anthony said.

Las Vegas' gang unit was working the concert, where known gang members were expected to attend.

"They said it was absolutely ridiculous," Anthony said. "It was just a promotion of drugs and violence."

Board of Regents Chairman Regent Bret Whipple, pointing to Prendes' death, said Anthony's proposal had merit. But he said it will raise First Amendment questions and warrants a debate.

Rap that advocates shooting police and chaos should be banned from campuses, said Morey Alexander, owner of Kent Entertainment Group, which produces blues and rap music. But he questioned how to classify gangsta rap, noting the entire genre of rap is full of social messages, many of them positive.

"I classified rap as the newspaper of the kids because they don't read," he said.

UNLV Student Body President Peter Goatz also called rap an educational tool. He said that in his classes, professors bring up violent rap lyrics that prompt discussions on social problems, including violence against women.

"The heart of the issue is taking away some of our pop culture," he said. "As adults we're entitled to listen to what we want and discuss what we want. It's the beauty of America, right?"

Gangster rappers have become commercial icons that people are going to see no matter what, said Mike Pizzo, of Hiphopsite, a music store near UNLV that sells rap CDs .

"Same goes for Snoop Dogg, he's good enough to do an AOL commercial," Pizzo said.

"Bump dat Street Mix" by 50 cent

"My son ask 'Daddy why carry a gun, you ain't a cop'

Looked at him and said 'Sometimes you gotta shoot or get shot'

Wanna go to show-and-tell and show the class my Glock?

Show 'em the clip

Show 'em the beam

Show 'em how Daddy lean

In the convertible Jag

22 inch mags

For a high school dropout, (expletive), that ain't bag

I'm not a blood or a crip, I'm doing my own thang

G-UNIT

(Expletive), I done started my own gang

I don't go that funny dance

I don't throw gang signs

But I'm a gangsta to the core so I stay with a nine

You think all I do is rap, then you don't know me good"

Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Posted by: JoninNH

Excellent!

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Posted by: RPD931

Wasn't "Notorious B.I.G." killed outside a vegas casino?

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Posted by: OciferpeteHPD3500

Hey dummy How fast can your "porche" go. You might get some looks in a Porsche! Learn to spell!

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Posted by: LA Copper

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPD931 Wasn't "Notorious B.I.G." killed outside a vegas casino?

Tupac was killed in Vegas. B.I.G. was killed in Los Angeles in alleged retaliation to Tupac's murder.

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