Music News

US presidential nominee Donald Trump and the secret service demanded changes be made to two songs by rapper YG on his latest album released in June 2016 for anti-Trump lyrics, reported entertainment news outlet Vulture.

The two censored songs, FDT (Fuck Donald Trump) and Blacks and Browns, feature political lyrics that directly reference Trump and his actions and statements during the American presidential race. In the censored version of FDT there are now "awkward pauses" in the rapper's flow for the lines that he and the label were forced to remove.  Entertainment news Vibe featured an online radio interview by YG who explained:

The Secret Service called in on Universal and was like, 'Send me the lyrics to YG's album because we gotta see what he's talking about'. They did the whole album. That's why on 'FDT' on the album, it's parts of the song that I had to blank out. Then on the next song 'Blacks & Browns', when Sad Boy's spitting his shit -- he said some shit towards Donald Trump too -- they heard that, and we had to either change it or blank it out, so we put the static noise on top of that. But yeah, it was a real situation going on... Ever since John F. Kennedy got assassinated, they can't have no people promoting kill Trump, shoot Trump, pop Trump, all that. And we had those types of lines up in the song.

Local police in the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis arrested US rapper 50 Cent on 25 June 2016 for using indecent language onstage during one of his songs.

The rapper later pleaded guilty to the offence, paid a fine of USD $1,100 and was released, reported Rolling Stone on 26 June 2016.

According to the nation's Small Charges Act it is illegal to use profane language in public places.

Three Fianna Fáil senators introduced a private member's bill to the Irish parliament intended to restore the state's copyright to Ireland's national anthem

A Soldiers' Song was composed in 1907, with words by Peadar Kearney and music by Kearney and Patrick Heeney. The song was adopted as the national anthem in 1926 and was protected under government owned copyright until the end of 2012, 70 years after the writer's death.

Since then the anthem has not been under any copyright and Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly feels this needs to be rectified, saying:

Having copyright in place is the only way that we can protect our national anthem from being used in an inappropriate manner.

For example, the opening line of the national anthem was used on a range of Dunnes Stores clothing designed by former Kerry footballer Paul Galvin. Senator Daly has said that such commercial use was inappropriate .

The legislation suggest that the copyright can somehow be renewed but opponents point out that copyright is not meant to be a form of censorship. UCD law professor Eoin O'Dell said:

The function of copyright is to incentivise the production of cultural value and to reward the production of cultural value so that we all get the benefit of the things that are produced by the authors, poets and musicians, and then when it falls out of copyright we can all use it.

And the second thing is that, it's not just attempting to legislate respect by means of copyright, he's actually trying censorship by means of copyright, which is not what copyright is about.

Saudi Emir, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, of the eastern region of Makkah has banned the playing and carrying of musical instruments, headphones and speakers in public places within all governorates in the region.

The directive included strong instructions to carry it out strictly and to firmly punish violators, and came after reports were issued concerning inappropriate behaviours and activities in the Jeddah Corniche, a Red Sea coastal area in the city of Jeddah. Makkah is Saudi Arabia's most populous region, whose capital is Mecca.

The ban covers public places, such as public parks, jogging areas, walkways, and sports facilities, and also includes the banning of obscene behaviour, wearing indecent clothes, walking pet animals, the smoking of tobacco and shisha, and the lighting of firewood or charcoal.