Canada: American rap superstar 50 Cent to be banned
50 Cent is set to be banned from Canada - because he attracts too many guns, reports Headline News staff reporter Christina Ficara on November 30, 2005.
The "Get Rich Or Die Tryin" rapper has been shot nine times and the country's Junior Foreign Minister Dan McTeague is worried his music promotes gun violence. He is trying to stop the star from entering the country to perform seven concerts next month.
The politician tells the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, "There are indeed limits and restrictions on freedom of expression. Particularly if they incite hate or if they are the kind of activity that is killing our youths right now across Toronto."
The rap star was left badly injured after three gunmen pumped nine bullets into him in an attack in 2000. New details of the infamous shooting - which is featured in the rapper's new movie "Get Rich or Die Tryin'' - have emerged during the trial of Murder Inc.record label moguls Irving and Christopher Lorenzo. The pair are facing a hefty jail sentence over charges of money laundering for New York drug baron Kenneth McGriff.
50 Cent attracts too many guns, says Junior Foreign Minister Dan McTeague who is trying to stop the star from entering the country to perform seven concerts
In June 2004, the Committee of Censorship in the Democratic Republic of Congo censored all Congolese rap groups and foreign music. The reason given for banning rap is that it is 'obscene and violent, and causes the youth to behave badly'
For the last six years one of France's leading underground rap groups, La Rumeur, has been locked in a legal battle against current French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Canadian group that called for a boycott of Jamaica unless the country's government take action on homophobic violence has called it off after recieving an official letter
Online music stores that sell so-called 'murder music' (reggae with lyrics inciting to violence against homosexuals) receive complaints from Danish gay rights activist
The rap artist Azagaia was summoned before prosecutors to explain the allegedly violent lyrics of a song he has written about the February 2008 riots in Maputo