I’m sorry; I have nothing of value to add, but this thread reminds me of an SNL skit from a year or two ago. It featured the two “Old School” rappers, known for the immortal lyric: “I said rip, rap, rip rap rippy, rip rap rippety doo!”
Their guest was a young white rapper (played by a woman–Mina Suvari, maybe?) who performed raps about birthday parties and riding his bike.
It was a hilarious skit because the raps were so darn clean and innocent.
I second Lauryn Hill. But just so you know, he will get his hands on Eminem and 50-Cent anyway. It’s just the law of the land.
ShortGuy, Wal-Mart doesn’t edit the CDs. The artists create edited versions to sell to a wider audience. I think the edited versions are sold in other stores as well, but because so many people buy them at Wal-Mart, I think they’ve just come to be called the “Wal-Mart versions” 'cause, ya know, Wal-Mart is super duper Christian clean and is associated with “family values”. If I am wrong, I am sure someone will correct me.
Not wrong, you just left a few details out.
It’s true that Wal-Mart doesn’t edit the CDs, but they essentially do. They refuse to carry Parental Advisory CDs, so the artists are “forced” into creating a clean version to place on Wal-Mart shelves (where something like 40% or so of all music is purchased). Some artists, on principle, refuse to create these clean versions.
Few stores besides Wal-Mart carry the clean versions. Amazon has them, and most large stores usually have one or two hidden amongst the explicit copies. But the only real place to get them is Wal-Mart. So they’ve been dubbed the Wal0-Mart versions.
walmart sells strictly edited cds. but they do sell rated r movies, i believe… oh well, you can buy “showgirls”, you can buy guns, but at least the kiddies can’t get their hands on any de la soul…
Not early Beastie Boys! Your son will be asking what is that dust the manager is on, and what did AdRock do with that whiffleball bat.
I agree with what seems to be the consensus: the kid’s going to hear someone say “fuck” on a record any day now, if he hasn’t already. This is unavoidable. So maybe the way to go, as his mom, might be to get him some hip-hop that isn’t about thuggin’ it up and, especially not about killin’ moms, but which may have a few cuss words here and there. To that end, I say buy the lad some Mos Def, buy the lad The Roots. The beats are phat, the rhymes are smart, and the albums weren’t made before your son was born.
'Course, you run the risk of turning him into a music snob before he hits puberty, but what the hell. 
Rachel Dratch played the young white boy rapper, Aaron Carter, who unfortunately is a real person! He is the younger brother of a Backstreet Boy, and he does kid-friendly pop music and rap for kids. Real “Disney Channel” kind of stuff.
Some of the made-up songs from that sketch were “I Like My Bike,” “Candy Tastes Good,” and “Help the Police.” The real-life Aaron Carter actually performed a rap with Shaquille O’Neal, about how he beat Shaq at basketball, and then they climbed into a treehouse and had Kool-Aid.
I’m not joking, either.
Oh, and Run DMC curses, too. When I were a lad of 10, I brought my copy of Run DMC’s Raising Hell into school, and had my music teacher play “Hit It Run” in class specifically because it included the word “motherfuckers.” He was not pleased. Ah, youth.
Try the black eyed peas. They are great. With them its great music, dancing and battling mcs. You can get an edited version because they curse a little, but nothing like most. They arent thug and all about sex.
The roots are really sweet. Again, great music, they play their own instruments and have thoughtful lyrics. Check into them, they may include some profanity, thats something thats hard to avoid…
The beatnuts are also insane. Not very familiar, but what I’ve heard wasnt nasty…
Beatnuts: not a great choice. I mean, I love them, but they do rap about violence and sex and such. Not extremely graphic, but still.
The problem is, every CD you’re gonna buy is going to have at least one song that you might not find acceptable. What about making him a mix CD of songs that you think are OK?
i dont like rap, i think its cheap garbage.
BUT i have had this phase myself, as well as a Metal phase, so i suppose there is no reason to fight it. buy him the damned Eminem CD.
Why not just sit down with the boy, have a serious talk about vulgar lyrics and maturity and civility, and then let him listen to whatever he wants?
I mean, I understand where the OP is coming from, but as others have pointed out, he’s probably going to find the stuff he likes one way or another – having Mom censor his rap is just going to reinforce the notion that Mom “doesn’t understand” and/or is condescending towards him, which will just make things tougher in the future.
And yeah, another Will Smith/DJ Jazzy Jeff fan here. “Parents Just Don’t Understand” really applies in this case… 
When my son was about the same age as yours he decided he liked rap music too. I “filtered” what he listened to by listening to it myself and dubbing what I felt appropriate to another cassette. As he got older and still insisted on listening to that stuff, I got him a nice pair of headphones. The rule in my house, even now (and he’s 23), is that I don’t want to hear it.
Unfortunately, my nephew (Lloyd Banks) is part of 50 Cent’s G-Unit crew. I make it a point to slap him uplongside his head whenever he’s home for all the cussing they do on tour 
However, I have younger nieces and nephews that do listen to that music because it’s their cousin “singing” it. What they do understand is that they cannot “talk” like that and they especially know that their cousin does not talk like that under ordinary circumstances either - his mother would slap his face off if he tried.
Bottom line is, Eminem and 50 Cent are what’s hot right now. You can’t go anywhere without hearing their music. “In da Club” (50’s hit) is used in the new movie Hollywood Homicide. I know you can buy “clean” versions of 50 Cent’s CD, but even the clean version does not disguise what’s being talked about.
I don’t advocate one way or the other. You have to make your own decision about what to allow your child to listen to. You know they will hear it anyway, but there’s nothing wrong with saying “not in my house” or at least, “not in my hearing.” You can also, as I did, endure listening to the stuff yourself and dubbing a cassette of songs you can tolerate.
Early Beasties is fine. I didn’t get the whiffle ball bat thing at first (and I was older than 10), but hey. The Beastie Boys are the one band enjoyed by myself [21], my mother [51], and my youngest brother [10]. And all he has is early stuff (me too, actually, I just have more of it). Fight for Your Right mentions porn and smoking too, but so what? It’s in good fun and it’s funny. Don’t get hung up on the micro-details.
I third (at least) the Beastie Boys.
Of course, if you wanted to be evil, you could get him some Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer.
I love me some Beasties. I just don’t see “Jackin’ Mike D to my dismay” as rated PG.
That’s fair - but at age 10, most kids have been to summer camp and probably know what’s what (more now than ever, I imagine). By age 10, I think kids are tired of PG stuff anyway…
So true, although I had comical and anatomically impossible ideas about sex and masturbation when I was a kid. And my exposure to bawdy classic rock lyrics didn’t fill me in on the details! I had this idea that adult penises were shaped like lemons, and I blame Led Zep.
But now we’re going into a debate about when it’s appropriate to let kids listen to raunchy lyrics, and dragongirl isn’t asking that- she’s asking specifically for music without raunchy lyrics. At least that’s how I’m interpreting her. And on “License to Ill,” the Beasties are singing about drinking Brass Monkey, holding up saloons, shooting their underage girlfriend’s father in the head, ect.
C’mon, there’s no excuse for encouraging anyone to sample that vile crap Brass Monkey.
Well, I can’t comment on the last, since I don’t drink. But I will say that while they do indeed sing about those things, to me the manner of presentation is so unserious as to make it a non-issue where kids are concerned. Holding up saloons? This was a rap album made in the early 80s. The fact these three obvious New Yorkers were turning their band into an absurdist Old West posse was very funny.
At least you never got into mudsharks.