"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (First Amendment of the US Constitution, 1791)."

The expressions given above are derived from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees the "free" exercise of speech. Music lyrics, in their original and intended form, should be included in this right, as they are extensions of songwriter's and the artists' speech. Nonetheless, artists are censored in many venues. "It's a fact of life for musicians~ especially rappers- that the original versions of their songs often get 'cleaned up' just so they can be aired on the radio or shown on TV (Benesch, 1994)." Reasoning behind censorship is related to the audience in which the music may be relayed, as well as the actual content of the lyrics. "So record companies sometimes release two different versions of the same song- the "clean" or radio form and the original, or "street" one

Some common words found in the essay are:
America Artists, Society America, Journalism Review, Race Hispanic, Development Madonna, Commerce Committee, Online Available, Billboard Online, Thunder Rolls, Rap/Hip Hop, rap music, parents yourself, sw sw, 2001 feb, feb 28, 2001 feb 28, http//ebscohost 2001, http//ebscohost 2001 feb, y parents yourself, y n, y parents, r&b rap, online http//ebscohost 2001, sw y, parents yourself sr,
Approximate Word count = 4332
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page double spaced)