Time Warner Ditches Gangsta Rap -- Dole, Media Watchdogs Credit Their Attacks

Succumbing to months of pressure from Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and media watchdogs, Time Warner Inc. decided yesterday to get out of the gangsta rap business.

The New York media giant said it will unload its $115 million stake in Los Angeles-based Interscope Records, home to such award-winning rap stars as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre.

Time Warner executives denied that the company was bowing to political pressure, blaming the split on contractual provisions that prevented the media giant from monitoring the content of Interscope's recordings.

Rap critics hailed the decision as a direct response to their attack on Interscope, a company they accuse of releasing rap songs that degrade women and glorify violence.

"As I declared in Hollywood last May and have repeated across the country, shame is a powerful weapon - and Time Warner has felt the sting of shame," Dole, R-Kan., said. "Parents and concerned citizens spoke out and now we're seeing real results."

The nation's former drug czar William Bennett said, "Let this be a warning to all the other big entertainment companies."

Bennett and C. DeLores Tucker, chair of the National Political Congress of Black Women, launched a highly public anti-rap campaign in May to force Time Warner's hand.

Time Warner's decision to sever ties with Interscope will have no immediate effect on the music available in record stores. Interscope will either distribute their upcoming albums

independently or link up with another major corporation.

This is the second time in three years that pressure over rap music has jolted Time Warner. The media giant stopped distributing Ice-T's "Cop Killer" in 1992.

"It's a sad day for Warner," said Ice-T, who now runs his own record company. "Warner has always been considered the biggest outlet for free speech. These special interest groups won't stop the music though. Rap and hip-hop will still be around long after the presidential race is over, long after all the politicians crawl back into their holes."

While selling Interscope may temporarily insulate Time Warner from rap critics, it could pose long-term problems for Time Warner with artists. Indeed, executives at rival labels said privately that they plan to capitalize on the divorce to discourage new performers from joining Time Warner.

Other record companies may be less susceptible than Time Warner - whose cable-television interests are subject to government regulation - to public criticism over lyrics. All five of Time Warner's major rivals profit from a variety of rap and rock acts whose music would almost certainly offend church groups, family organizations and politicians.

The difference, executives say, is that none of those corporations is involved in cable and all of them - unlike Time Warner - are foreign-owned and less accountable to U.S. stockholders.

Time Warner will continue to distribute rap artists, on some of their labels but not hard-core gangsta rappers that they cannot monitor.