Time Warner Inc. is getting out of the gangsta rap business, blaming a lack of control and not the lyrics about sex, guns and getting high.
Still, the announcement Wednesday that the entertainment giant would sell its 50-percent stake in Interscope Records - the leading label for gangsta rap - left the music's critics feeling vindicated.Sen. Bob Dole said the move was a triumph of "common-sense values." And C. Delores Tucker, head of the National Political Congress of Black Women, called it "a great victory for our children and America's future, and it does show me that Time Warner does have a corporate soul."
Michael Fuchs, chairman and chief executive officer of the Warner Music Group, said his company simply wanted more input on the artists' lyrics.
"This decision is not about any particular kind of music," Fuchs said in a statement late Wednesday. "The nature of our agreement with Interscope precluded us from any meaningful involvement or discussion regarding Interscope's music."
Later, he added, "If we're going to be asked to defend the music we put out, it's going to have to go through the process we have here."
Both sides refused to disclose the terms of the pending sale back to the 5-year-old record company's founders.