Above: Lupe Fiasco’s recently released CD which features "Super Star."
Hear Bus Radio introduce children to Lupe Fiasco.
From Jim Metrock:
Bus Radio is now playing an artist named Lupe Fiasco.
At least one of his songs "Super Star" is on the company’s playlist. This song shows up on iTunes as an "explicit" song, but it also has a "clean" version. Bus Radio obviously is playing the "clean" version.
The problem for parents and school officials is this song is from a CD with a "Parental Advisory – Explicit Lyrics" warning. Playing the "clean" version isn’t acceptable to most parents. A school can’t be promoting an artist like this, but how can schools effectively monitor Bus Radio?
Are bus drivers now suppose to be the ones who alert school transportation managers about possible problems with Bus Radio’s content? Do we really want to put this added burden on drivers?
A driver carefully listening to the lyrics of this particular song would say it’s "OK." The driver wouldn’t find out there is a problem with the song unless they investigated the artist on the Internet. Bus Radio is clever (by half) – they usually don’t announce who sang the song played on the program. Kids may know the artist but most adults won’t. Drivers would have to ask young riders who sang all the songs on that day’s "Mat and Lucia Show" and then check them out.
Schools can’t effectively monitor Bus Radio. Parents would storm their school’s Central Office if they knew what Lupe Fiasco sings about and if they knew their school forced their child to listen to his music to and from school. You get an idea of this Bus Radio-approved artist by what shows up when you type "Lupe Fiasco" in iTunes.
