There are certain genres of music in which it is becoming increasingly common to have two different versions of a CD released--the original, "explicit" version, and an alternate "clean" version. While many hard rock, metal, industrial, and alternative groups are taking this path with CDs rap is the genre in which it is most prevalent. There are several different ways that an artist may arrive at the "clean" version of a song or album. The simplest way is simply to blank out the offending words. Parents, though, don't tend to be very enthusiastic about this option, because children have little problem determining what the words are. There have also been lawsuits related to the fact that so-called clean versions of songs with the problematic words mixed over actually do not effectively disguise the words at all, or "miss" them by just enough that you can still hear them. To address this concern, some artists voluntarily record significantly different versions of their songs. Much like they early days when The Doors were asked to sing "Girl we couldn't get much better" instead of "Girl we couldn't get much higher," some CDs rap artists release will alter lines to take out references to sex, drugs, violence, or other hot-button topics. In some cases, entire verses are removed or changed. A classic example is the D12 song "Purple Hills," previously known as "Purple Pills." The lyrics are completely different, and the "clean" version even has a silly, family-friendly video, while the explicit version is all about drugs. If you are looking into purchasing rap CDs for yourself, or are a parent concerned with the CDs rap artists are putting out, make sure that if you want "clean" versions of CDs rap artists release, you know just what to expect in that particular case, given how different it can be from one album to the next.
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