Our Wack Media publication of the week is The Chicago Tribune. Last week, the Tribune published an article titled “Hip-hop, teen sexuality under the microscope,” about a three-year experiment conducted by Columbia University’s department of sociomedical sciences. The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not hip-hop’s “explicit lyrics” encourage early sexual behavior in teenagers.

Now for the interesting part: As part of this “study,” public health researchers spent three years venturing into dance clubs and dissecting rap lyrics. Most of the teenagers in the study were already sexually experienced. And in the end, they concluded that “the overt sexuality of the music and dancing was not the main influence on sexual behavior.”

In light of this, my initial thoughts are the following: First, who was it at Columbia University, which is supposed to be one of the better schools in the New York area, that approved a three year study with the purpose of finding a connection between sex and hip-hop - yet limited research to dance clubs? Second, what editor at the Chicago Tribune, the fifth biggest newspaper in the United Stats, published such a rediculous story? Whoever they are, they should both be fired.

I’m tired of so-called researchers trying to discredit hip-hop with one-sided and non-scientific studies. How can you conduct an experiment with only one environment? If you want to find a relationship between hip-hop and sex, of course you’re going to go to the clubs. You will find a relationship between music and sex at any dance club, because that’s the type of music they play at the club - whether hip-hop, rock, techno or country western. It seems unfair to base such a study completely on hip-hop music.

If you want to create conclusions based around hip-hop culture, you should probably realize that dance clubs represent a very small percentage of hip-hop social experiences. In fact, I don’t know anyone who actually goes to clubs - mainly because the music they play there is wack. Most of the hip-hoppers I know go to local underground shows, open mic competitions, or spoken word readings. And the content at such events is rarely sexual.

Thank you Chicago Tribune for yet another example of how wack the media can be - especially when attempting to cover hip-hop! Peace.