Since our era's greatest race-relations problems apparently take place only in the realm of words and/or entertainment, Russell Simmons led an hours-long private meeting of music-industry figures yesterday to talk about offensive rap lyrics. Not surprisingly, it suffered from a serious lack of flow and severe wordplay deficiencies. According to the Associated Press, the meeting "did not result in any specific initiative" (well, does anyone except music execs really want that anyway?) though a publicist did come to the conclusion that it's a "complex issue that involves gender, race, culture and artistic expression. Everyone assembled today takes this issue very seriously." Sure, but seriously enough to schedule yet another meeting? Or to invite some actual rappers?
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