As most of you know, Wiz Khalifa performed at DePaul last Friday for our annual FEST concert. It was a fun concert and all, but was he an appropriate choice to be allowed to perform at the world's largest Catholic university in the country? As seen in this video and through many of his lyrics, Wiz loves smoking weed and being under the influence of other substances. Sure, I understand the notion of freedom of speech, however, at what does ethical norms and religious beliefs come into play?
I personally loved Wiz being here and think his music is awesome. With that being said, I am a 20 year old college student, not a University president. In the music video, Wiz is seen overtly rolling joints, drinking, and smoking. This all is cool for Wiz in freedom of speech and expression aspects, however, what are we teaching not only kids, but young adults? That if you're famous you can do whatever you want (even on camera) and avoid the law while still making money? I don't want to be a stickler about this, but people make such a big deal about what you post on Facebook, while here you see a public figure blatantly committing acts frowned upon in society. Also, if the cops were to see a picture (let alone a video) of me doing this stuff, I would get into trouble. Wiz is not only staying out of trouble, but making a fortune about breaking the law and singing about it. I don't know whether to call him an idiot or a genius, but whatever the case may be it is strange how our culture works.
The truth is, if you look at the artists that have performed in the past years at DePaul fest they have not been the poster children for religion either. For example, last years performer, Ludacris, is also a rapper known for rapping about women, drugs, and sex. Ideally, you wont find a mass vote in any university for solely music that is "safe" because though the university is Catholic, not everyone that attends is Catholic or even follows a set religion. There is a certain "burden of representation" that may associated with DePaul because of the image we try to manifest, but having an entertainer come that appeals to most young individuals will almost inevitably be deemed "inappropriate."
ReplyDeleteI didn't feel good about the performer being Wiz Khalifa this year either, but for other reasons. I was actually sitting in the Black Student Union's office which is across from DAB's office and they were singing Wiz Khalifa, preparing for the concert I am assuming. Wiz Khalifa often says the N word. I was listening because both of our doors were open and I was hoping they would stop singing before the word popped up, but they didn't. I was shocked that they felt that was okay. So I felt that Wiz performing here was welcoming more people to use the word without understanding the word, and I hate that we supported an artist that used the word as such.
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