In a time that histronomers refer to as the "mid-ninteys" I would be forced to sit and listen to preacher's, teachers, and parents rant and rave in opposition to these rap artists that were corrupting our ever so impressionable youth. They would throw out names like Snoop Dog, then speak on his violent gang activities, or, Two Short, and his misogynistic behavior or his frequent use of the word, Biiiitch!

I listened to all they had to say, but walked away confused, because these people would always reference the same rap artists. I would think to myself, well that's odd, because if they really wanted to be horrified all they had to do was dig a little deeper.

You see, when I wanted to relax after a hard day of smoking weed, playing video games, skateboarding and generally doing nothing productive. I would light a few candles, draw a warm bubble bath, and drift away to the soothing sounds of one Brotha Lynch Hung.

Brotha Lynch Hung was a Semi famous rapper from my hometown of Sacramento, California, but instead of rapping about boring standards such as how cool it is to be in a gang, or repping your set to the fullest, or getting money and women, he preferred to testify his love of, as he puts it " eating baby's nuts and guts like bar-b-q ribs," having sex with womens private parts with his gun, and my personal favorite "shooting infants in the face for talking that shit."

Here is a little taste. this is an excerpt from his song "Rest in Piss," from his now classic album "Season of tha' Sick"

When I'm at your set betta pack you a tech/
cause I'm at your neck with a clip full of that shit/
ni*** don't trip when i put one in your dick that Ripgut Cannibal/
Hannibal shit ni*** nuts and guts all over my chest/
and stomach running to the Lac threw my strap in the back/
twist me up a sack and I'm back on the Garden block/

This guy was far and away rapping about the most psychotic shit ever. no taboo was safe from his eviscerating vocal styling. And when I listened to him I would feel like I was in turn committing some cardinal sin, as if I were intercepting transmittances from Satan. I would feverishly read the news or go to sermon just to hear if anyone of authority had yet gotten word of this demonic rapper that was speaking about violence and sex in a far more graphic manner than anything on Snoop's Doggystyle.

But to my surprise, to this day no one has ever spoken out against anything the guy has ever rapped. no one seems to care. I used to always wonder why this was so, but now I understand that for the general public to take umbrage against something, they first have to know about that something, as in that something has to be popular, and also that something has to offend a particular group, in a very specific way. and if this is not the case, then a person is almost literally able to get away with murder.

I am only reminiscing on this because I have recently finished playing SEGA's latest effort, The Club. During play I was noting the group of multicultural characters killing indiscriminately for points, and I almost instantly thought of the recent flack that certain games have caught over the race of the protagonist (not gonna name any names), or another for the use of shallow, stereotypical characters that kill for personal gain.

But the Club when released was greeted by crickets, even though the main characters, that kill waves and waves of enemies of varied backgrounds included...

- A Cop, shooting dudes

-A Spanish biker literally named "Killen," shooting dudes

-A schizophrenic man in a Gordons fisherman outfit, shooting dudes

-An African giant, shooting dudes

-A guy from Jet set radio, shooting dudes

- An Asian man, shooting dudes

- A Russian stereotype, shooting dudes

- A white guy that I am going to assume is an Irish stereotype with a gambling problem, shooting dudes


Sure, the game had a barely fleshed out storyline involving each of the guys being forced one way or another into the tournament. But the bulk of the game simply asks you to run laps as fast as you can through a level, shooting enemies that resemble your neighbor, or a DJ in a club, or your English teacher with an uzi in his hand, in the face or the nuts, if possible, with stylish kills yielding even more points.

I don't dislike this game, nor am I claiming that there is a double standard in society that puts things that are of higher order in the national zeitgeist to a unfair standard of political correctness above other, more underrepresented works of art that are far more riske. no, wait, I do dislike this game because of the horrible characters that move like they are underwater, bad level design, and woeful lack of depth. And Ditto on the second point.