Imus backlash has rappers cleaning up acts

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Tolerance for such language may be diminishing. Corporations had cozied up to gangsta rappers in recent years, taking their message mainstream — both Snoop Dogg and T.I., for example, were featured in major car ads. In recent months, however, companies seem less likely to align themselves with rougher artists.

Verizon dropped its sponsorship of Gwen Stefani’s tour when a videotape surfaced of opening act Akon simulating sex onstage at a separate concert with a fan later revealed to be 14. (Akon says he didn’t know the girl was underage.) And while McDonald’s Corp. signed Twista on for their free summer concert series, they quickly dropped him after public pressure mounted due to his lyrics.

Twista’s replacement? Sean Kingston.

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“I know there are a lot of artists being blocked out of sponsorships because of the content of the lyrics,” says Chuck Creekmur, who runs the Web site allhiphop.com.

Ted Lucas, CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records, says he’s gotten some of the pressure himself. Lucas, whose label is home to thug rapper Trick Daddy, sex bomb Trina, gangsta Rick Ross and new star Plies, says in recent weeks distributors have tried to get him to persuade his stars to tone down their language.

“They have come to me and said ... ’This word right here is going to cause some heat down the line — is it possible you can get him to change it?’ I have ran into that with the N-word, ’snitching,’ different words,” he said. “But I tell everybody that these are things in our environment we see on a day-to-day basis. It’s hard for you to go tell that person that they can’t go use that word.”

50 Cent invoked the classic hip-hop defense: rappers are telling stories based on their own gritty streets.

“They forget that the art form is a mirror and what we’re writing is a reflection of where we grew up,” he told The AP. “They can be interpreted as glorifying it on some levels but they’re trying to capture a particular feel.”

His new single, “I Get Money,” features plenty of bleep-worthy moments — and he makes no apologies for it.

“I’ve made it this far without having to compromise myself,” he said. “Ain’t no changing what I’m doing now.”

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