(BEEP) Edited (BEEEEEP) Songs

Let me start out by saying that I LOVE Satellite radio. From someone who despises terrestrial radio, SR is probably the best thing since Cable Television and $1.99 4 hour porn compilations. It's almost impossible to have SR and not love it. It has more choices than one would possibly know what to do with. For me personally as a Sirius Subscriber, I get Howard Stern and Bubba The Love Sponge. As a huge old school rap music fan, I get Backspin 43. A channel dedicated entirely to the old school. I'm also down with the 80's channel, the 60's channel, and the Gold channel as well. Of course I'm down with Sirius Love for those special occasions in the car in the Target parking lot as well but I digress.

As with anything, nothing is perfect. SR is no exception. However I am going to focus on one aspect right now. Backspin 43 - My old school haven. I'm not going to bitch about the fact their play list tends to be limited and repetitive despite having 20 plus years of good old school to choose from. No, my beef is with the fact that they play the edited versions of some songs.

See, I play 12.95 a month so I can here unedited radio. Whether its Stern. The Wiseguy show (Mafia Wiseguy) on RawDog, or Old School favorites on backspin 43. And don't get it twisted. While my man might say I like rap music because of the swearing…that’s not the case. I swear. However, if a song has a swear work in it, or some type of unsavory saying, I do not want it bleeped out. I'm a grown ass man paying to hear this service. I don't pay for HBO to watch an edited version of "Bad Boys II" ya heard? I mean that would cut out half the dialog and the movie would lose something. And see, not every song is edited on backspin and that might drive me even more insane. The perfect example of this is as follows. They play the edited version of "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Ole Grandmaster Melle-Mel doesn't curse at all in this track, however they bleep out the word "pissing". "People piBLEEEEEEEEEP on the stairs, you know they just don't care…". Really? I have to hear a "beep" because they want to bleep out "pissing"? Its not like the unedited version (a term I use very loosely) isn't available like ohhhhh everywhere. So after hearing this song one day, they follow it up with "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A. A song that has "fuck" in some form or another more times than anything, and it was unedited. Here is Verse 1.

Straight outta Compton crazy motherfucker named Ice Cube
From the gang called Niggaz With Attitudes
When I'm called off I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger and bodies are hauled off
You too boy if ya fuck with me
The police are gonna hafta come and get me
Off yo ass that's how I'm goin out
For the punk motherfuckers that's showin out
Niggaz start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Mix em and cook em in a pot like gumbo
Goin off on a motherfucker like that
with a gat that's pointed at yo ass
So give it up smooth
Ain't no tellin when I'm down for a jack move
Here's a murder rap to keep yo dancin
with a crime record like Charles Manson
AK-47 is the tool
Don't make me act the motherfuckin fool
Me you can go toe to toe, no maybe
I'm knockin niggaz out tha box, daily
yo weekly, monthly and yearly
until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly
that I'm down with the capital C-P-T
Boy you can't fuck with me
So when I'm in your neighborhood, you better duck
Coz Ice Cube is crazy as fuck
As I leave, believe I'm stompin
but when I come back, boy, I'm comin straight outta Compton

Wow. Lets edit "pissing" then follow it up with the uncut Compton cut. And hey, I like that song. I don't want to hear the edited version. I don't want to hear a track from Uncle Luke edited. "pop that ….. Pop pop that …." or "face down "hey" up, that’s the way we like to "hey"". I don't want to hear Everlast edited out for "smacking the hoe".

Seriously, if I wanted to hear the edited versions of songs, I'd save my skrilla every month and just listen to terrestrial radio and find a channel (good luck) that plays what I want to hear. That means I would go back to burning CD after CD of what I want to hear. This means I would be stealing more and more music and the RIAA would come after me. At that point I would then (in true pass the buck fashion) blame Sirius for including edited records in their play lists. Ya hear me Sirius. Watch out now. I'd hate for the RIAA to be unleashed upon thee. Not that it would ever happen, but for the sake of my rant, its perfect.

As SR continues to grow and improve, here's to hoping that one thing they square away is this BS involving edited tracks. Look, if I don't want my kid (should I have one) listening to bad language I will block out the channels he might encounter it on his receiver. Yes, as a parent I would actually take responsibility to teaching my kid! Anyway, help my neck twitch go away…give me people pissing on the stairs because they just don't care!!!