Thursday, January 6, 2011

O-est Of The G's

It's no joke to point out that eastern European, now free from the watchful eye of the Iron Curtain, is still trying to catch up to modern time. Sure they're late adopters, but try and even remember when Ice-T was the least bit controversial.

Hungary's media authority is currently investigating a radio station for playing Ice-T songs with explicit lyrics. His songs, "Warning" and "It's On" played in September of 2010 should have been broadcast only after 9 p.m., the National Media and Infocommications Authority said. Tilos Radio, the offending broadcaster, argued that since the lyrics are in English and the station has very few young listeners, the songs did not have an "adverse affect on the moral development" of children under 16.

Did we mention the tracks are from his album, "Home Invasion"...from 1993. Maybe the world wasn't ready for "Cop Killer" nearly twenty years ago, but Ice-T has spent the last 11 years on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", and he's as threatening nowadays as Ice Cube. So, Cube...are we there yet?

Currently, Hungary is under scrutiny for their new media law, which sparked international outcry. The new law greatly expands the state's power to monitor and penalize private news outlets on broadly defined grounds liked this, and is part of changes instituted since the current party won a parliamentary majority in April 2010 elections. And while it's claimed the Fidesz party has modified the Constitution several times to fit its political aims, I still think the most awesome display of power so far was to make Ice-T remotely relevant as a musician again.

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