I stopped by Cardinal Ritter last Thursday night to check out the panel discussion on the influence of hip-hop music on African-American youth. Some of St. Louis’ finest sat on the panel and had some interesting things to say, especially Dr. Rodney Brunson, criminology professor at UMSL. He said we have to be careful before we start blaming hip-hop for everything that’s wrong in the world. Then the moderator read the results from a study that found that teens that listen to rap music 14 hours or more per week are 3 times more likely to hit a teacher and more than 2 and one-half times as likely to have been arrested compared to teens who listened to less rap music. I don’t know how they figured that, but I figure people who live drastic lives are highly likely to rap about those drastic lives. I listen to love songs, but I know there’s no way I’d do half of things they sing they would do. Anyway, a video presentation that included a half-dressed Lil’ Kim made a good case. I’m sure it made people think about the impact these images have on young people sitting at home watching videos after school. I talked to THISL (which stands for This House I Shall Live) after the Q & A session. He’s a local rapper who put it down before the discussion started with his single Not Too Late Mommy from his self-titled CD (available at www.thislmuzik.com). He said when he was thuggin’, that’s what he rapped about. But, now that he is saved, his raps are clean, positive and represent what the Creator has done in his life. Alice Prince, PR director of Black On Black/Quit Playing Entertainment, said that the only way to change the violent and explicit messages in some rap music is to change the environment that young people grow up in. Word.